Tuesday, October 19, 2010

How Fanfics Should Be Written; Squall

I have not read too much fanfiction in my day. I've browsed Kingdom Hearts fanfiction on a wiki related to the KHWiki, and I've read a few pieces some acquaintances of mine have written. One thing in common with almost all of them is that the story is not developed to a high standard, and many elements are left that any basic story should have. All of the effort put into the fanon, if any, is completely worthless when none of it is going toward establishing a good story that follows a diagram of how a story should be constructed.

This is why I cannot read fanfiction: I immediately start criticizing it and thinking of all the ways it could be better. Example, a fanfic being written by an acquaintance of mine's ending was told to me recently, and the whole thing is going to be have a terrible ending. The actually good fanfic is going to crash and burn.

On that note, 0.0000001% of all fanfiction is quality work. The other 99.9999999% is total weaboo/illogical/poorly written nonsense.

And so now, my readers, I introduce to you this fanfiction-writing guide, conceived by Tabbeh and I. Final Fantasy VIII is the base of this fanon, for familiarity and... well, FFVIII just is horrible and laughable in its own right.





First Half: Squall vs. Ultimecia
Basically, the first half of your game should immediately introduce your main antagonist. None of the sequencing we find in most Final Fantasy games, that is too much filler to build a quality game. The story should include several battles with the antagonist that do not even need explanation. In fact, the story may flow better without explanation, just to show the aggressiveness of the two characters towards each other. Do not conclude your story here.

So, basically, in the first half, Squall meets his enemy Ultimecia, who is destined to battle with Squall during her life. Day after day at various times and locations, Squall battles Ultimecia for various reasons, most of which are violent and aggressive. The plot mirrors FFVIII's slightly, though does not depend on it.

Second Half: Squall RAEGING

Too many games still follow the old pattern of ending once the antagonist has been defeated. To this, I say, "No more!" The character should still have a man vs. self or inner conflict to deal with, to show a conquering of all troubles.

So Squall pretty much RAEGS during the second half of this. Is there a good reason? Possibly not. Maybe he's upset because he figured out he's in SeeD. Or he figured out that his duds are much less cool than his KH for. Or, at worst, he finally figured out that he is from the terrible Final Fantasy VIII. Squall RAEGS on and on and on to the joy of the audience, getting mad at even the simplest of things. Like manime.

Third Half: Kefka and Shantotto laughing in unison.
A game needs comic relief, especially after all of the second half. You don't need to incorporate the plot at all, you just need it to be funny as smeg.

So, all of a sudden, KAFLOOEY-BAJAMA-NEELA-QUESTA! Kefka and Shantotto appear, in all their out of place, Dissidia-rendered glory! And, as Squall looks up to see these ethereal beings...

UWAHOOHOOHOOHOOHOOHOOHOO
OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO

Fourth Half: Everybody else laughing at Squall.
There is nothing less tasteful than a predictable story or ending. Plot twists give a story its edge and show great talent from the writer.

So you would thought that Kefka and Shantotto were laughing just "for the lulz," right? Oh no, they were formed just to laugh at his depressing state of existence.
Suddenly, Squall is transported around all of the worlds of Final Fantasy, being laughed at by every character ever created. Qusistis, Barret, Kain Highwind, Xande, Snow, Fang, Vaan, Gabranth, Yuna, Richard, and even the silent Black Mage all rejoice in bringing down Squall's self-esteem even further.

Fifth Half: Squall having nightmares of the voices.
In the next half of your story, you need to be sure to show an after-effect of the conflict that can spur into a long story or quest.

And so Squall is kept up at night by the horrific reliving of the memories of the screaming warriors of the worlds' laughter. On the outside lies a peaceful, sleeping Squall, softly nestled into a bed near Ultimecia's Castle. And yet, he fights a mental battle to the bodiless voice, deep, high, and odd, slowly destroying his sanity from the inside. By the time Squall wakes up from the last of this series of nightmares, he shall never be the same again.

Sixth Half:
EVERYBODY SALSA!
Yes, you read that right. The continuing after-effect of the after-effect is glorious comic relief, so that your fanfic does not plummet into a pit of a low point of darkness, rants, and detailed laughter of disembodies voices.

Finally, Squall gets a chance to wear those salsa shoes! The lion marches over to Seifer's ship, grabs Selphie, and the two are off into a blur of Spanish dancing! See his form, his style, his elegant movement of his black, red, and green vest! Such a thing, the people of the world had never beholded!
¡Arriba!

Seventh Half: Squall hangs self.
Wait, isn't this story getting to be just a bit too odd? To cut off the rush of odd events, immediately kill of your main character. Draw your reader into a sense of lament and shock, to bring back worldly, normal, humane emotion.

So here we are, Squall. After Selphie left you on the floor during that last song, life just isn't worth living any more. It's time to put down the machine gun, Mr. Lion, unless if that's the tool you choose to carry this task out with. You could probably fashion a rope from the curtains of the dance room in Seifer's ship. But, however you choose to do it, just know this--death awaits you, Squall.

Eighth Half: Squall wakes up in the Underworld and battles Auron for his soul.
Yes, you have now successfully tricked your reader and brought them back into a somewhat normal feeling at the same time! The main character is alive, and probably very confused from the change of scenery. And in at all, there he is, just like in Kingdom Hearts II! Auron, here to take the life of your protagonist, and free himself from the dark world below by claiming his soul!

Squall rubs his eyes, and suddenly realizes this is no heaven... or hell. It all becomes clear, Squall is in the Underworld. How, he doesn't know, but he does see that man in the red coat coming at him rather quickly. Is that Vincent again, asking for another round of pain and bullets? No, this time it is Auron, master of the sword! Having extensively studied the Underworld during his worldly days, Squall knows that he can free himself by defeating Auron--and claim his soul.

Ninth Half: Hades. Admiration.
Bring back the comic relief, but blend it in as easily as possible to not ruin the moment. And what better way to do this is there than Hades admiring your character's physique? If done correctly, the product will be something most people won't notice, yet those with an eye for detail will be sent into a rampage of laughter.


Only with Squall, and it's in the dark Underworld.

Tenth Half: Tenth Anniversary Fanservice
Congratulations, you have made it ten units of time with readers! Celebrate with fanservice.

Squall rips off various parts of clothing and does some stretching at a party to celebrate his adventures so far. You wants pictures? Go to deviantART, shouldn't be hard.

Eleventh Half: Continuation of that.
Keep 'em hooked! Continue the celebration and enjoyable scenes from your anniversary fanservice.

Here, I'll even make it easy for you. http://www.deviantart.com/

Twelfth Half: Squall Mows the Lawn.
And this is where things get weird. If you've heard of "Cloud Mows the Lawn", you know just how deceiving a title can be. And that's what you want to do, change the fanservice into something wild and scandalous, or immediately stop everything and start this.

"Suddenly, Rinoa felt a slight rumble in her stomach, but she ignored it. She was having too good of a time watching Squall.

She felt her stomach rumble again, and sighed. She really didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay there for the longest time, watching her husband do the yard.

Rinoa’s stomach rumbled again, louder than the first two times. She realized she had to think of what to do, and quickly. She could run and return immediately, but then she would miss some of the lawn mowing. Her second option was to stay and clean up after herself, but the fear of getting caught made her feel uneasy. This feeling caused her stomach to rumble more. Rinoa looked down. The floor was a brand new and very expensive tile floor. It was not a very pleasant idea for her to mess it up..."

Thirteenth Half: LINEAR FANTASY VIII.
In the thirteenth half, the story needs to be so linear that all that could possibly happen is to move forward. There is no option for Squall to move back.

Squall, having been branded by a fal'Cie, is now traveling with his other l'Cie friends, Rinoa, Seifer, Laguna, Selphie. They need to go back to save Ultimecia and Edea from being crushed by boulders, but they can't go back. Anywhere. They can never go back. They can't even go back to where they started their adventure. GOING BACK IS IMPOSSIBLE.

Fourteenth Half: Let's Play Linear Fantasy VIII!
Next, you need to establish how this whole thing works. With such a linear story, you cannot have any hope of creating something that makes any sense. It will be awkward, but it will explain things.

Suddenly, Cosmos from Dissidia Final Fantasy appears and explains that Squall and his friends have been given superhuman abilities from the beastly, powerful fal'Cie Shiultiatomoifritamos. They can summon Eidolons now, and they must destroy Cocoon because it's bad and ruled by SUPERPOPE. Then, Squall's head explodes from the rush of information so inexplicably. But hey, now he knows what to do!

Fifteenth Half: Squall's odd thoughts about this story having too many halves.
Basically, the main character should start to wonder why he continues, and why things just keep changing.

Wait, wasn't he just in the Underworld? And when did Cosmos get here? Since when did Hades show up? How does this all connect?? This story is obviously too long for one story...

Sixteenth Half: Squall is killed (again) for contemplating the way the universe works.
You don't want your readers to start contemplating things themselves, so punish your character to show them what happens to people who wonder!

Squall is then away from Cocoon, killed by a monstrous Cie'th. This is why you don't question things, Squall. Don't question how you got from battling Auron to being in Cocoon. Don't you dare contemplate how you got from fighting Ultimecia to mowing Rinoa's lawn. This is what you get, man.

Seventeenth Half: Squall wakes up in FFVII. Where he encounters Satan, Stan, and Teddy.
Familiarize your audience with simpler and recognizable atmospheres and scenery, and then throw in a twist to keep things up.

Is this... Shinra, he knew it. Squall brushes the dust off of his clothes and lookes up and the massive Mako Reactor. Who are those figures on top... are they dancing? Wait, are those ducks!? To Kingdom Hearts music? And where are the getting that ice cream that keeps stacking up? Those are those demonic fiends from Disney Town who made me play their stupid music for items! Wait, Squall has to control the music? Oh, the humanity!

Eighteenth Half: Final Fantasy VIII! The Secret Ice Cream Beat!
Change this to be a bit more normal, with a title referring to a central culture or home of the game.

Squall cannot handle two terrible things in one, and his very hatred of them teleports him to his homeworld to keep him from going insane. Oh, but the ducks are not gone! The Ice Cream Beat continues secretly, just to torture Squall! Those horrible fiends shall never finish, not until you finish "Destiny Islands" on the highest level! Bwahahahaha!

Nineteenth Half: Final Fantasy VIII: Ice Cream Beat (US) release! Now with R1 pushing action.
Okay, if you haven't gotten by now, this is a total joke blog, concocted by Tabbeh (SSC) and I, now given a long and extensive life. There is no hope to make any more sense of this store, so just sit back and enjoy the show.

Squall's horrific adventures throughout Shinra and SeeD are now being released on PSP, coming to the United States in 2020... before Final Fantasy Versus XIII! As with all Square-Enix games, expect this version-exclusive ability: rocket-launch your hellish duck rulers with R1! No longer are you powerless to end the nightmare. Costs $400 USD as the minimum down payment to pre-order.

Twentieth Half: Squall Attempts Arithmetic Sequencing... In America.
Squall is learning math, everyone! Struggling in Algebra or Pre-Calc? Can't master those pesky sequence and sum formulas? Well now you can fail even harder, with Squall! Witness Squall attempt to conquer seven different mathematical bosses in this America-set story, narrated by Bandit Keith... in America!

Twenty-First Half: Final Fantasy VIII: Ice Cream Beat FINAL MIX. Now with more ice cream that are impossible to get.
Don't you just hate it when Square-Enix re-releases a game for the second time, just for themselves? It's as if they are saying "We have awesome stuff, and you don't! Nyaaaaah!" Well, since Squall's Mathematic Adventure didn't do so well, our good friends at Square are re-releasing their recent hit under the name Final Fantasy VIII: Ice Cream Beat FINAL MIX. This version features twenty new levels against the torturing demons, only this time, the levels are actually impossible! The game is so addicting that you'll never know they're impossible until you've applied every possible in-game strategy! Pre-order TODAY!

Twenty-Second Half: Squall Creates SquallWiki.
Don't worry, this does end as badly as PenceWiki. Squall, realizing that the Squall video game series is getting pretty popular, needs an outlet for his love of the series. And as such, the SquallWiki was born! Come help Squall edit over sixty mainspace articles, apply to receive rollback, and knock vandals out with state-of-the-art warning template ACTION! Let's show Wikia just how great the Squall games are!

Twenty-Third Half: Young'ins Create SquallFanonWiki.
As with every wiki, the nine year old editors don't like to do work! They just want to talk on the talk pages and run all over the constructive work! So, the young'ins created the SFW, dedicated to only the... well, any fanon work about the Squall series. Be sure to check out such instant hits as "Squall Meets Sephiroth", "Squall 3: Return of the Squall", and "Squall's Revenge: A Ballad".

Twenty-Fourth Half: Squall Finds Peace In Discovering There Are Lower Life Forms Than He (Young'ins), and Achieves Nirvana, which is actually the FFVIII world.

This is it--everything is over for Squall. His wiki is abandoned, his friends went on in Cocoon without him, he could never win at Ice Cream Beat, and even Rinoa left him to watch other men mow their lawns. Squall would rather be in the Underworld, battling Auron for his soul again... nothing better to do than check his e-mail.

But wait, what is this Wikia notification? Squall... Fanon Wiki? What is this!? After reading the content of SFW, Squall learns that there are people worse off than he who will never be able to have such wild and enjoyable adventures that involve him dying and manipulating the worlds with his emotions. Squall is consumed by a glorious green ray of sunlight, and is lifted into the clouds--Nirvana has been achieved, all is well... he has returned to Rinoa and Selphie, in the FFVIII world.

Twenty-Fifth Half: The End. Unlocked New Game+.
And that's it, Squall's adventures are over. Now he's probably playing beach volleyball with Selphie and Rinoa in FFVIII Heaven. But is the adventure over? Not at all! Relive the adventure--all the humility, battles, devils, and wikis again, with new augments and bonus bosses! That's right: New Game+ is all yours!

...

Again, this is just a silly little joke blog created by Tabbs and I. Rather than RAEGGUY about its stupidity, feel free to leave a hilarious comment about which is your favorite or what you would do in the twenty-sixth half. Thanks for readin, ciao.

2 comments:

  1. Twenty-six halves? That's too much, lol.

    Squall Attempts Arithmetic Sequencing… in America.

    It's like what happened to Zelda when Nintendo let Philips make Zelda games of their own.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Part 26 is a sequel, not considered part of the main Squall series, featuring Zell, Irvine and a new guy who we've never seen before, flying around in the Gotterdammerung airship, playing Pretty Prince Dressup and looking for Squall.

    I'm not sure when Squall disappeared again, but if you get 100%, he comes back.

    ReplyDelete