JX Valentine's Nominations

Sidewinder’s pretty much kept it up this year. Requiem’s always been something fresh, new, and exciting for me, but this year’s chapters added even more depth and intrigue to an already pretty awesome story. Everything from the characterization to the most minute plot points were executed with fantastic care. It’s just a fic that shouldn’t be passed up, plain and simple.

AU is definitely right here. Monsters Among Us is a gritty fic in which Pokémon are equal to humans in pretty much every way except, you know, dignity. But it’s a gritty fic that doesn’t go into over-the-top grimdark territory (which really is a difficult thing to maintain), and it constructs its world so carefully and thoroughly that it’s very easy to buy.

Mad props to anyone who can write a really good, highly detailed trainer fic/game retelling using script fic. That sounds like a formula newbie writers use, but my God, johno1995 shows off how that can be so very good.

It’s an adorable fic in which Leaf thrashes Blue Oak by being the coolest six-year-old ever.

Because how can you argue against a fanfiction based on Serebii? For reals.

Fan of Adventure Time? Want a heart-wrenching story about the end of humanity, taking place during Simon’s slow descent into the Ice King? Well, grab a box of tissues and pull up a chair, folks, because here we have a solidly written story wherein there is no happy ending.

Man, how long has it been since I read a fic about an ordinary guy in the real world suddenly finding himself in an adventure because fate spat out a real, live Pokémon for him to mess with? Far too long, but the point is, Cyn delivers it wonderfully, with a nice kick in the tail to the story’s slackerish hero. It only gets weirder from there when he subsequently finds a portal to the Pokémon world, and shenanigans ensue.

You have a pretty ordinary brother and sister chasing after a super-powered sociopath driven by the dedication to six disembodied kings. Requiem is straight-up not like any other Pokémon fanfiction I’ve read, first off, and second, it’s a fast-paced fantasy thriller with more twists than licorice rope. It’s that good.

This may be Serebii’s first successful CYOA story, and it comes complete with Cutlerine’s usual flair for surrealism and storytelling. This fic is most certainly something new, different, and original.

It’s a fic about a Pokémon villainous team told from the perspective of inside members. Sure, that sounds like it’s been done. BUT! This is Team Aqua, and the fic’s focus is on making these characters think they’re just doing some ordinary, everyday job. It’s fascinating to see their minds work and catch glimpses of the darkness of their organization in the background, and starliteevee certainly knows how to make us want to know more about these characters and how her version of Team Aqua works.

A dry, very British sense of humor is something that’s frequently attempted but seldom done well, but Cutlerine speaks it like a second language.

SilentMemento’s strongest suit is most definitely his attention to detail regarding characters. Every character he writes feels alive, and given that this is a story told entirely through editorials, you definitely get a sense of that here. So not only do you get a good glimpse of the way the Pokémon world works thanks to its essay-like format, but you also get a sense of a passionate voice driving each point. Sure, what he’s saying might not be 100% believable or agreeable, but hey, the point is, it’s authentic.

Just … yes.

Sure, it’s pretty much 100% description with no discernible plot beyond that, but my god, is the description poetic. Behold—the end of the world. And apparently, dying is like going really ****ing insane via sensory overload crossbred with existential crisis. Who knew?

All of it. Like I’d mentioned earlier, GingerDixie sets out to create a complex world that’s both recognizably Pokémon and something completely different from what we see in canon, and Ginger pulls it off with an incredible amount of detail.

In short, I really do appreciate the fact that this isn’t just a trainer fic or a retelling of the BW canon plot. It’s also an exploration—an attempt to add character depth and explain a lot of what goes down in the games. So in that sense, this reads less like a traditional trainer fic (in which a writer sends a character off on a journey as wish fulfillment) and more like an attempt to capture everything that is BW.

While it promises to eventually be a trainer fic about the darkness of the League, for right now, it’s a fascinating retelling of the original RBY games because it’s told entirely in posts from a normally mute character. As such, it does a really good job of exploring the canon characters and the beginning of the game from Red’s perspective—the exact perspective you’re supposed to assume when you play.

It’s a short fic, but you really get everything that is Blue/Green/Gary/whatever you’d like to call him summed up in one convenient package, starting from literally the first sentence.

Like I said, you really do get a good sense of who Pryce is by reading his thoughts and voice throughout the fic, and given this format, that’s really what makes this whole shebang.

It’s amazing to see these two play off each other. Sometimes, you get that sense of closeness and I-will-do-anything-for-you-ness that you get out of a brother/sister relationship, and other times, they smack each other around with fantastic levels of gloriousness. Emotions definitely run high between these two, so when one spirals down pretty dark paths (as Dorian wonts to do), you inevitably see intense reactions from the other.

Directionless psychic and a snarky Espeon, both with hilariously little foresight. Enough said.

(NOW NOMINATED IN AN APPROPRIATE YEAR. 8D) You have to admire the amount of detail elyvorg put into Archopy. Certainly, it’s an alternate evolution for a canon Pokémon, but it’s really that exact relationship—between the fan-created evolution and the canon evolution—that really makes this species so interesting. You do get a sense of that primal rivalry emanating at least from the Sceptile, but there’s this grace and serenity from the Archopy as well. It’s just fascinating to see it all play out.

It’s several pages of watching a small child die slowly and painfully. NO, IT’S OKAY, 33WHIMSICOTT33. I NEEDED THE CASUAL REMINDER THAT I’M HUMAN TODAY.

Yeah, it's not a Pokémon fic, but hey. Regardless of whether or not you're an Adventure Time fan (I'm not, for one), it's very easy to feel for the main character. And then sob grossly at what happens to him by the end.

Just in case you needed to know what it looks like when a script fic is done well … *motions to this fic* Also, although it’s a retelling of the BW games, it has a lot to offer, with carefully built characters and a lot of explanation added to the shiftier parts of the canon storyline. It really is a well-done expansion of canon as well as an entertaining look at the trainer fic genre.

Indigo is already promising a lot, what with the premise outlined in Red’s opening post and the format of the fic in general. But also, it’s hard to argue with a retelling of a game plot pretty much everyone is familiar with, starring incredibly likable characters and told from the perspective of the actual hero protagonist. Indigo is fascinating already, and it can really only get better from here.

What’s horrifying? A story about a small child dying. What’s even more horrifying? A story about a small child dying told from the perspective of the small child dying.

Psychic just gets everyone and everything spot-on, hands down. Even if she doesn’t use names, you can totally tell who’s who, and you can’t help but laugh at how overdramatic our Serebiiland selves are.

Deadly sets out to parody the Hoenn games using a healthy dose of dry, British humor … and let me tell you, it’s refreshing to read. All too often, you see OMG LOL humor when people set out to write comedies, but here, the writing is tight, the wit stands on its own (without any lol randomness thrown in), and how can you argue with a fic whose main characters’ primary troubles involve tax evasion?

It’s a rather cute transformation fic as it is, but I think what really makes it is how hard the main character screws himself over, just by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That somehow makes all of his struggles to adjust to his Pokémon self all the more fascinating to watch, if only because you know all of this could’ve been averted.

And over here, you have the pleasant story of why humans shouldn't **** with nature. No, but seriously, Lost Evolution feels a lot like a classic sci-fi flick. You have your slow build up. You have your monster that isn't even named until chapter three. You have your possibly mad geneticists and your everymen getting roped into chasing after the monster. And while this might seem like I'm describing a formula for an "oh noes something escaped from the lab" kind of fic, it's not. Here, you really do feel the intensity of the chase and the drama, and all of the characters get enough focus that your attention isn't focused on just the titular creature or the everyman human hero but on a whole bunch of different, fleshed-out characters all at once, which makes for a rather nice experience for a sci-fi fan.

Okay, it’s a reverse PMD story, but the premise is so hilarious it’s hard not to immediately nominate it. This fic tells the story of a boy in the human world who meets a girl who insists that she’s a Vulpix, and then shenanigans ensue like a fantastically cheesy 90’s harem anime. It’s awesome.

bobandbill does a fantastic job at capturing the dedication and empathy of a Gardevoir raised from a Ralts. You can sense the closeness between the Pokémon and the trainer here with the tiny details—the pangs of jealousy Gardevoir experiences, the sense of pride when she battles and wins for her trainer—and it all culminates into a rather fantastic moment at the climax where she’s torn between being a Pokémon and being a companion. It’s all rather heartwrenching.

I’m just really, really fascinated by the voice gorgonfish gives to this character. We all know about him, but in gorgonfish’s hands, Red seems like a new, unique character who’s absolutely fascinated by this new task heaped onto him … because gorgonfish is one of those rare authors who remembers that Red is eleven.

Edward continues to be basically the only beacon of sanity in an otherwise fantastically insane world. He may not be the chosen one, but he’s the most rational, intelligent one out of the group, the one who will most likely drag the chosen one away from apparent danger. And hey, it’s not every day that the main character isn’t supposed to be on an epic journey in the first place, right?

Bubbly, somewhat ditzy Emolga with a penchant for being fantastically kickass at the seemingly most random moments. Oh yes.

Celebi literally shows up out of nowhere, and like many legendaries in this story, its aim is apparently to wreck Nuria and Edward’s lives. And it does a fantastic job at it too, what with its tendency to drop exposition … or drop everything for the sake of candy floss.

It’s always amazing to see how loyal this Pokémon is. It even landed one of the main characters in the hospital, just because he kinda sorta looked like he was threatening! :D But seriously, Kirlia is die-hard dedicated to Nuria, and this sets her apart from any other Pokémon simply because of the way that loyalty plays off of the personalities of the other Pokémon in this fic.

Ethan is straight-up terrifying. He’s super strong and religiously devoted to his cause, and he most certainly can kill the main heroes with his pinkie finger if he merry well pleased. And by God, he tries.

Speaking of priorities, is your chosen one getting thrashed by Houndoom? That’s nice. THERE IS CANDY FLOSS TO BE HAD.

Even though part of his behavior in the prologue is fueled by a compulsion to finish what he started, this is still a guy whose response to knowing that he’s about to die is, “Welp. TIME TO WHIP OUT THE SKETCHBOOK.”

Cutlerine has a knack for clean prose and inventive stories, and with one of the most unique fics published last year, it’s hard not to nominate them for this place.

Let’s face it. If I could nominate Requiem for more awards this year, it would turn up in every effing category. Sidewinder’s one of those rare authors whose fics I keep going back to willingly because he just plain knows how to set up a scene, how to develop characters, and how to build a fantastic, inventive plot. What’s more, he’s taken the canon universe and made it into something new and different and believable without once making something overly dark. So, yes, this time around, I do think Sidewinder deserves a nomination for being a pretty kickass storyteller.

Where the everloving crap did this guy come from? And where did he go? No, but seriously, here we have a writer responsible for fantastically written script fics that should literally be used as an example for how script fics should be written. His prose was always wonderfully tight, and his spins on canon were incredibly fun to read.

Skidding in at the tail end of the year is Phoenixsong, who, in the space of her modest little short fic about boys, girls, and video games, managed to capture the characters of the three Kanto protags better and more succinctly than most authors I’ve seen. Here’s to hoping we see more of Phoenixsong in 2014.

On a similar note, Butler is also an author who does not update every week but still is die-hard dedicated to his story. Not only is he one of the fastest-improving authors I’ve ever seen outside of my nominations for this year’s Most Improved Writer, but also, Butler puts in an inordinate amount of thought to the world he tries to create. He’s very responsive to reviews, very quick with an explanation to his thought processes, and very apt to creating side material in order to build a more immersive experience for a reader. With a Butler fic, you know that that baby is going to get finished eventually, and along the way, you’re going to get a glimpse at someone who works himself to the bone to make sure that happens.

While Knightfall might not be the quickest at updating, he’s fantastically dedicated to improving and crafting a deep, complicated story. That and his chapters are forty bloody pages long, so he practically updates with the same amount of content as a weekly author.

Not gonna lie. When I first read Brutaka’s work last year, I ripped him a new one with a list of concrit longer than his actual story. But with a solid year of hard work, he’s come back with a reboot of one of his first fics … and you can certainly tell the difference. He’s shown off his ability to create likable characters, he’s clearly put a lot of thought into the world he’s creating, and he actually knows how to use commas now. No, but seriously, Brutaka’s done a fantastic job at improving himself, and it’s impressive to see the amount of progress he’s made in a short time period.

Praxiteles has an eye for detail, no doubt about that. He can spot even the most minute issue that the more experienced and well-received authors on the forum encounter. (Here, have an example involving Cutlerine.) Moreover, when he presents his thoughts on general concepts, he always goes in-depth in a pretty likable and conversational manner, so it always feels like he has something to say, even about the changes he’s suggesting. That and it feels like he’s trying to engage you and make you think about what he’s saying, rather than simply pointing something out about your story.

Not gonna lie. It was a tough decision this year. There were a lot of names I could’ve chosen for this category because a lot of reviewers stepped up their game to help new and improving authors. But what makes Dragonfree stand out in particular is her objectivity. Dragonfree is thorough and to-the-point, even if she likes you, and because of that, it really feels like she’s pushing you to do better and to be a better writer. Just look at how she handles Lost Evolution, a fic by probably one of her favorite authors on this forum. And, really, that’s a refreshing stance to take. It’s great to see someone who doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind.

One of the many reasons why I love Prax is the fact that if he likes you, you can expect him to be one of the first reviewers to every installment you post. And remember how I said he goes in-depth and examines your work to the point where he’s shooting off literary analyses? He does that every time he reviews.