How Pokemon Makes Me a Better Writer
Gotta build ‘um all!
Morning readers! Last post, I talked about my passion for story theory. This week, I want to show you how it helps me be a better writer. And no better topic came to mind than using the phenomenon of PokéTubers to make my point.
For those who don’t know and didn’t read last week’s blog, PokéTubers are people who make money doing videos about theories or facts about the video game franchise Pokémon.
I got into these videos when I came home from my mission and was trying to reconnect to my younger sister. The only thing she was into I even half understood was Pokémon. So I bought a 3DS and got back into the world of Pokémon. And it was weird! Pokémon had a temporary evolution, a real story and lore, and people on the internet were mean to each other talking about Pokémon. It was a whole new world for me.
But it helped me meet one PokeTuber who got me playing other videos games and has already made me a better writer and world builder. His name on YouTube is LockstinGnoggin or @Lockstin on Twitter. And this man has taught me three neat skills from watching his videos that make me a better world builder. Here are the top three:
1. Making names is about doing some deeper research. I’m working on a series with a co-author where almost every name we’re using has a deep meaning. We took days to work out our villain’s name because we used techniques we’d learned from Lockstin about how Pokémon found their names. Now my readers can enjoy character names with layers of meaning if they look into them. (Free copy of books 2 and 3 of The Custodian Chronicles if they can figure out the full meaning of Cedrick’s name.)
2. How to make sure stories have layers in their mythology and religion. My books deal heavily with world religion and mythology (theirs not ours). And Lockstin has shown me how small clues make a big picture that makes a story more real without adding an information dump. So helpful!
3. It’s made me a better marketer. Yeah, I’ve learned so much about listening to what fans want and like and how to respond to them from watching Lockstin react and comment on the Pokémon fanbase’s… vocal complaints of late.
Lockstin isn’t a guy who talks about literary theory or world building or any kind of writing at all on his channel, but I’ve learned more about all those topics from his videos than any other videos on the internet. (Apart form HelloFutureMe @TimHickson1 maybe, but that’s for another day.) But he’s such a good analyst he’s shown me by example how to be better at analyzing my own and others works.
I feel like I could go on for hours about the things I learned from him. You can see what I mean by watching his videos on his YouTube Channel. Leave a comment here on any of my social media channels to tell me what you thought of his videos and enter for a chance to win a free copy of The Custodian Chronicles Burning.
Also, Leave Lockstin a comment if you do check out his videos and tell him I sent you. He didn’t ask me to do this or anything, I want him to know how great he is at finding and therefore teaching how to make hidden lore. So please drop him a comment so we can see if he’ll find out how helpful he’s been to our little fandom.