Alright, everyone! It seems that the Mighty, Mighty Kohdok (Menacing organ music plays) needs to toss around some ideas on how to write a good story. I mean, I could talk all day about proper grammar and stuff, but we learn that in school.
Still, that shouldn't stop you from using proper grammar and making each post a nice chapter. Your computer has Wordpad for a reason, ya know (NOT Word, but WordPAD). Write out a nice, long chapter in Wordpad and then post the whole chapter you've made. Try it in paragraphs, not scripts, blah, blah, blah and all that jazz.
What I'm here to talk about is how to write an interesting story, one that captures the imagination of your readers and will keep them turning the pages (Or in this case, keep scrolling down) and want more.
First of all, many people say you need to develop your characters deeply and have difficult and complicated back-stories to them. Honestly, I say that a back-story isn't terribly important It's not who the characters are that make a story interesting, but how they face certain situations and what they DO that makes a story interesting. If nobody does anything, then you don't have a story, amiright?
Sure, each character still needs a personality and a bit of a background to determine how they would act in such a situation. If confronted with a dangerous situation, would they run away or charge in headlong? How a character acts reveals who they are and can be used to give subtle hints about their history. When I write a story, I have a personality in mind and as I'm writing the story the character often writes him/herself.
Another prime concern is action. In a lot of TV shows, many people can tell that it is a foregone conclusion that the good-guy will beat the bad-guy. Even though everyone expects it, it's HOW the good-guy will end up winning that makes it exciting. If the good-guy simply trounces everyone he confronts, then it isn't much fun. However, if the good guy is faced with a situation and can't immediately deal with it, then tension builds and the watcher/reader has to see how the good-guy can beat this new threat, whether it is a foregone conclusion or not. Because the new threat is different and he will have to come up with a new way to win, some suspension of disbelief occurs. If you can make the conflict have high tension then climax when the hero pulls out the miracle, then you can create an interesting and believable win which will make watchers exhale in relief.
I guess what I'm trying to say is don't have the hero just totally pwn every villain he goes against, have him have to figure out how to beat said villain. The villain can seem unbeatable at first, but the hero eventually finds a flaw or weakness in the villain's plan and manages to exploit it at the right time to win. It can be even more stunning when the weakness comes out of nowhere, such as when the villain makes one little mistake that turns the tide. Try not to make this weakness to arbitrary, though (No random weakness to puppies, although this would probably be hilarious if done right).
As for specifically Bakugan writing, I find making exciting battles using the American rules to be surprisingly easy. If you have a strategy in mind for each player and have an idea as to how you want the fight to go (An epic showdown with each player's guardian Bakugan at the end, for example), you'll find that the cards and Bakugan can be tailor-made to your expectations without breaking any rules, as nobody has to deal with the creation process but you. Taking a page out of Yugioh's story writing can help for this, as well.
Another important thing is to remember how the main character and their guardian bakugan relate. Some, like Runo and Tigrerra, seldom have problems but others like Dan and Drago at the start of the first series was very turbulent and full of doubt. Not all bakugan are always "You got it, boss!" Two heads may be better than one, but not by much as clashing ideas can occur at pivotal times like in battle. However, after a fight, the two usually get along better once they let their feelings known to the other.
Also, not everything is fighting. There's also the buildup to the fight and the breaks in between where the reader can relax from the tension that may have nothing to do with fighting at all. Heck, in my fanfic I alternate chapters where one chapter is the setup and the following one is dedicated to the actual fight. Understanding the motivations of the brawlers can be done in both, but is better left to the setup.
Well, here's hoping I've at least help someone out there become a better writer. It doesn't have much to do with intricate characters or balancing out wins and losses or anything, but making it interesting and exciting that counts. Why do you think so many characters classified as Mary-Sues still make it onto TV? It's the situations, how they deal with them, and how it reflects on them as a character that counts.
'til next time, Kohdok.
If there are any questions, feel free to leave them below.
