Because I have no clue what to name this. Contains information, fun facts and any additional things about my Arc-V fic, Six Dimensions (https://archiveofourown.org/works/44069829/chapters/110808180) that I feel like sharing :) Currently setting up! Personal account @extinguishedchandelure, though I just use that to look at pictures of literal grass.
(Will be sorted in several posts, starting from within the post below! Once again, spoiler warning!)
Link here.
OC Character Appearances here.
Miscellaneous asks/topics:
Link here.
Tags
Once I start posting all the background stuff, I'll probably sort them by tags. So the current tags I'm planning on using are:
six dimensions fanfic - That one's pretty obvious, but it'll be tagged to all things related to the fic.
six dimensions character profiles - Specifically for the six character profile posts.
spoilt milk do not drink - This one will probably be put on posts that spoil the most recent chapters because I'm talking about them. So, maybe the most recent two chapters or so? So that they can be filtered out.
my single surviving brain cell - Any long explanations or nerding out will probably be tagged with this.
blaise answers - tentatively the tag that I'll answer asks with! :)
chewing the scenery - Background details, info that I might dump, such as my (very badly) drawn maps, etc.
hey here's a fic - If I write something, I'll probably post about it with this tag. That applies to other fics I write too.
blaise’s 1am jokes - Character memes, etc.
Chapter X - The number of the chapter depends, but usually, if there's an ask or I go on an authorial spiel, I might tag the chapter involved.
6arcAUs - Alternate universes, oneshots, etc
I might come up with more over time, but yes. :)
Decklists:
(Links to a Google doc.) Here you go! Updated to Chapter 81 for now. There will be spoilers.
Other Fics:
Where I shamelessly pitch my other fanfiction at you, if you want more stuff to read! I'm of the firm belief that the YGO fandom doesn't have enough longfics with dueling (or longfics at all), plus I also want to encourage more people to write YGO fics with OCs in them, because screw fandom standards. :)
So, what other fanfics do I have for you?
If you would really prefer to stay with canon characters, my oneshot collection has a few different ships, etc within it. It's not as polished as I would like though.
Alternatively, Twin Dragons is an AU of Six Dimensions, where certain characters, such as Nue, Kyorin (well, that group) don't exist. In their place are several girls that serve as the Yu-boys' twin sisters! It's actually pretty good in its current state, though it's weighed down by being tied to Six Dimensions, because it carries several worldbuilding spoilers early on. However, it probably will become my main focus once Six Dimensions itself is done.
Or, my other pet project, Shadow In The Mist! This one's kind of experimental. It's:
Chock-full of OCs, most of which carry some kind of plot relevance to forgotten concepts in canon that I wanted to work with.
A fic that starts three years pre-canon, in order to redo some of the weird worldbuilding of early Standard.
Has the central themes of emotions and self-determination.
Is literally filled to the brim with romance arcs that tie into the plot, because I was curious on how many I could stuff in there.
Has a lot of wholesome moments.
It is the 'baby of the family' in terms of size though. While it's likely to overtake Twin Dragons in word count soon due to me actually being able to update it without spoiling another fic, it's likely to be the shortest overall of the three fics, because it doesn't completely rewrite canon events in the way that the other two do. Plus, there's no Ritual or Link Dimension to deal with there. :)
Blog Policies:
Please don’t spam me to update, or in general, be impatient. While I do take out some time to work on chapters, daily life is also rather difficult to deal with.
Anonymous asks are on! If you ask questions, I might respond to them over time. :D Or not. Depends on my mood. And time constraints.
If you're coming from ffnet or AO3, feel free to mention your username if/when you send asks! I'd love to talk to you guys beyond just comments, and I do have a good memory of usernames.
I have no clue how Tumblr works, so it’ll be a learning process as I go. :)
Introduction:
Don't ask me why I put this last on the masterpost. *sighs*
You can generally call me Blaise. I use a lot of names on the internet, but that's the most regular one. I don't care what pronouns anyone uses for me, but I generally prefer gender-neutral ones. Asexual, but not aromantic. I've dated people of both genders, so that's really not a big deal to me. Vaguely speaking, I studied English and Psychology in university, and I work in a job that requires writing.
My general background with YGO is that I started playing it when VRAINS came out, aka at the start of Master Rule 4, which was a wild time to start. It's part of why I prefer to write fics including Link Summoning and the Extra Monster Zone. I'm just more used to dueling like that. I started watching VRAINS and Arc-V simultaneously, and watched the rest afterwards. I haven't watched the dub of any of the anime.
Six Dimensions was born entirely out of love for Arc-V... and VRAINS, as a result. I don't think it's too much to say that I love both shows. They both suffered from disappointing final arcs, but they also had a delightful amount of worldbuilding and interesting themes for me to work with. I'm just happy that so many people found my fic and enjoyed it too, and if the themes that I added to the fic resonated with you, I'm glad too. :)
Shun here is treated as really strong, like top 5 of the Lancers strong and that made me think. Did Sora beat him during the Standard invasion like in canon? I remember Shun being in the same area but I don’t remember that duel being brought up at all.
Have a good day!
Hi! Sora does beat Kurosaki during the Standard Arc, as per canon, which is why Kurosaki is injured and Serena can be found carrying him, once again like canon. :D I didn't cover it, but in my brain, I attribute Sora beating him in this universe to 1) being overprepared and specialising his deck to beat Kurosaki out of pettiness and 2) Sora being generally more used to Action Duels than Kurosaki, both of which are no longer factors. I do think it could go either way though--Sora's pretty strong both in canon and in this universe as well :)
So given that you turned off DMs, I'm going to ask here:
-Was there any archetype or support for one that you wish you got sooner and rewrote a Duel? Like Charmers who got a Fusion now and you have to wonder if you're going to make a big deal out of it? Or Dragunity who got a Link 4 and you wanted to include it? Or on the other hand, you were writing a duel and the deck got support, so you rewrote the duel a bit?
Wow, I'm sorry that I got to this so late, haha. I just completely didn't see it. To be honest, I don't think I've ever really regretted writing a duel just because it got new support. Power curves are important to me, and I really dislike the idea that every deck needs to show off its full combos, etc, if it shows up, which is one that's been presented to me before. It's more important to me to maintain a good relative power level, and for a large part of synchro, upgrading it to the modern speed would have been really bad.
That being said, the one time I have actually rewritten a duel to include new support is exactly Vector vs Reiji. Just because it came out as I was writing and I was like eh. Why not. Would be a good sendoff and I'm on sick leave anyway, may as well use it to write a bit more.
Hi. Your fic is one of few that inspired to do an Arc-V fic myself (with some Vrains elements). I originally did start something, but it was a flop as I just didn't like how it turned out. So I decided to actually better plan for what I want to do. I probably won't be top tier, but as long as I enjoy myself, that's fine with me. And also I am hoping to do something at least decent. Because of that, I am looking for some advice. They are the following questions:
-What is the ideal ratio for dialogue when using simple terms like "said" vs more complex ones like "cajoled"?
-Are there any good sites that list more complex words? So I can use a word like "trepidation" at times rather than say simple words like "fear" all the time.
-I also am looking to tap into war themes so I will have scenes like this: "Academia soldiers form into line formation anf the Resistance form their line formation. Duel Disks aimed at each other." So the question here is what should I like strive for when writing an active battlefield that even consists of Solid Vision blowing up people (like what happened to Barrett) and infrastructure?
Take however long you need. I am still very early in development anyways.
Hey! I'll answer each of the questions in order, though I don't really have very long responses for any of them :)
There's not really such a thing as an ideal ratio of spoken verbs to use, just like most things in the English language. While it might sound like a copout, stuff like this tends to be written by feel for most writers. As such, something like this really does come with experience. Writing and rewriting the same paragraph over and over, for example, varying it and seeing which one appeals to you best as a reader (is it easy to read, does it flow better, etc?) is the best way to sort of get a feel of how to make it work.
thesaurus.com should work for you I think! but a good way to pick up more words is just to read more fiction, rather than fanfiction.
I'm not quite sure what you mean by this question, since it's pretty widely encompassing. What works in a specific scene doesn't work for anything else either, since you can't really boil down a war scene to a formula like attack + response + etc. Unfortunately, writing just doesn't function like a checklist of details in that manner.
(Hi everyone! Blaise here. It was a server member's birthday recently, and I happened to have a small amount of free time, so I decided to ask them what they wanted. They asked for Kaname/Makoto fluff, so I've done a bit of a University AU/Slice of Life snippet. Enjoy! And to that specific member of the server, thank you for your support all this time!)
There is a new tenant on the fourth floor. Kaname knows this because she’s been woken up by another alarm at four in the morning, and she knows for a fact that none of the others in the dormitory have classes this early.
So, whatever. That’s nice. It’s not like everyone else needs to sleep anyway. That guy can just disturb everyone. Who cares? Not her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Apparently, her younger brother does care. Very much.
“I’m going to kill him,” Yugo vows over a bowl of instant ramen. Kaname sips her juice, reading the book that she needs to finish for her next class. “You know no one’s even seen him?”
‘Really?’
“Yeah, really! I can’t believe you’re still so calm about this—that alarm clock’s gotta be some kind of demon instrument! Rin plays the trumpet in her room and it’s not even that loud!”
Kaname puts her juice box down, signing at him. It’s annoying, but I just go back to sleep after. Maybe he has classes in the morning?
“No one has classes at six in university!” Yugo yowls like a cat that’s just been treated unfairly. “Get angry for me, Kaname! I can’t go and complain, the admins hate me!”
Kaname shoots him an unimpressed look, gesturing to her own throat.
If anyone thinks she’s the one that’s going to complain, then they’re in for a rude awakening.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaname knows everyone that takes the bus from the Hexagon Dorm to the main campus. She doesn’t ‘know’ them in the sense that she’s close to them, but rather, she at least knows everyone’s names and what they study. When she gets on the bus at seven in the morning, she already knows where everyone will be sitting. At the front of the bus is Shino, who’s always carrying some kind of theatre prop with her—she’s not a great example, considering that she and Kaname are cousins, but she’s still a part of the common image. Then there’s Rin, Yugo’s girlfriend, reading a music score as she sits by another window seat. Twenty-six people take this bus at this time, and Kaname knows each and every single one of them.
And then, one day, she doesn’t.
She gets on the bus, settling down—the bus driver hums impatiently. There’s still another minute before the bus is due to leave for the campus.
Kaname takes out a book, and then, there are footsteps. Out of habit, she looks up—
And she does not recognise the person that has entered the bus.
He is… a year or two older than her, maybe? He has a head of messy black hair, some drops of sweat visible on his forehead. He has clearly just been out jogging, considering that he’s still wearing running shoes. His bag is slung over his shoulder, half-unzipped, the books within it visible. All in all, he’s one of the messiest people Kaname has ever seen.
Kaname tilts her head, and does not look down at her book.
The man speaks a few words to the driver, before walking to another seat in the bus and sitting down. He twists a pen between his fingers and frowns at his phone. He briefly glances across the bus, and his purple eyes glaze over her like she’s not there—she’s used to it though. She barely has any presence at all.
She watches as he settles down, scrolling social media on his phone.
… hmm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The bus stops. They go their separate ways. Kaname spots the keychain of a cat on his bag, along with a keychain from that franchise that Yugo likes—Pocket something?
This bears investigation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the end of her first lesson of the day, Kaname has memorised the name of 900 Pokemon. She has also learned nothing from the lecture itself.
She sees the man on the way back to the bus stop. She types a message in her phone notes—‘is that Drampa?’ and then deletes it, then types four more variants. By the time the bus comes, she’s given up. She walks past him and sits down in the bus, refusing to look in his direction.
… she’s not sure why she wants to start a conversation, but she just does.
She’s going to need an easier way to do this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaname finds herself woken by that alarm clock again. She turns over in bed, even as her phone lights up, likely with complaints from Yugo and Shinji. She’s not sure what they want her to do about it.
… well.
Maybe it’s the lack of sleep, or the sudden awakening, but an idea comes to Kaname. She gets out of bed, ignoring the homework that she was definitely supposed to do last night.
There’s a way to do this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She makes sure that she reaches the bus thirty seconds later than usual, and enters it right before the objective. The mission target. As she does, she makes sure that he catches a glance of the sketchbook that she’s holding onto, page open to her newest drawing—a sketch of the Pokemon that he likes.
Point one. By doing this, she indicates that she has interest in a common conversation topic. This is likely to prompt further discussion.
Point two. Through indicating that she can draw this specific Pokemon, perhaps he will ask to see more. This prompts future interaction as well.
Point three. Drampa is a good-looking Pokemon.
Those are the fundamentals of her plan. She does not know if he actually sees the sketch, but they leave the bus without talking to each other.
She will try again tomorrow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I haven’t seen you draw in a while,” Kyorin says as they sit together for lunch—they happen to both have classes today at the same time, so it’s not uncommon for them to do so. “And, Pokemon…? Did Yugo finally get you into it?”
Kaname taps her pen on the paper, making sure not to touch the drawing. She shakes her head.
“Huh…” Kyorin tilts her head, smiling. “Then, uh, if you don’t me mind asking! Uh, mind me asking. Why are you drawing them?”
‘Curious.’
“Curious?”
Kaname shrugs helplessly. She has no clue how to explain it—and she’s never felt this way before, either. She’s run missions like this, sure, but usually, she never has to be the one to start the social interaction.
“... well, Yugo will be happy to know!”
Don’t let him know yet.
She’d have to explain, if he did…
Kyorin laughs. It’s a cute laugh. “Well, okay! I won’t question it too much.” Kaname knows she won’t—she’s a good friend, and she has experience dealing with people like Kaname. One of her best friends is… similar, in a way. “Just don’t tire yourself out!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
By the end of the week, Kaname has a pretty good idea of what she’s dealing with.
The man’s name is ‘Makoto Toyama’. She knows this because it’s written on his student card, which she saw when she was at the cafe near the west side of campus. This brings her to her second point—Makoto Toyama drinks coffee with milk, and often visits the cafe after classes.
At this point, she thinks she may generally be considered a stalker.
… um. She has no defence.
Kaname cannot drink coffee. Her stomach is sensitive to it, and even the smell makes her stomach curl. Still…
She has no clue what to do with that information. And the alarm clock really doesn’t help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“If I just knew what apartment that motherfucker stays in, I would set it on fire,” Yugo hisses as Kaname comes down the stairs. When he sees her, he immediately covers the cup of coffee that he’s drinking from. An espresso, huh?
… he must be really suffering from this. Kaname thinks she may have taken this a little too lightly.
In fact, she’s somewhat annoyed now. As Yugo turns back to his phone to continue complaining to their older sister, she takes a while to consider the situation.
… she’s been too distracted with stalking scouting out the situation with that man, when she should have been dealing with the problem.
“If we talk to him now, then it’s like losing! He’s gotta figure this one out himself! Like, seriously, doesn’t he realise how much damage he’s causing?”
Kaname pats Yugo on the head. He turns to look at her, tilting his head.
‘Give. Day,’ she signs.
That’s all the time she really needs for this.
She’ll solve the dorm’s problem.
(Minorly inconveniencing Yugo is one of the biggest sins a person can commit.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaname finds out all the information she needs in a moment.
It is impossible to find private tenant information—she would need to contact an actual hacker for that, and while she knows that one of Yugo’s friends is one, she does not want to involve Yugo in this more than she has to. Still, she sees enough to know that Apartment 404 is the one that the new tenant has moved into, and she manages to filch the spare key from the drawer of the dorm manager. Then, it’s a matter of cutting all the power in the apartment building temporarily to turn off the cameras, setting off a false fire alarm, and calmly climbing up the stairs amidst the chaos to the offender’s room.
(Some might say that it’s a bit too elaborate of a distraction. Kaname thinks it’s probably necessary.)
She unlocks the room and steps in.
The room is… very clean. That’s the first thing that she identifies about it. A half-unpacked suitcase can be seen next to the table, but the clothes are neatly packed and the tenant has clearly been sweeping and vacuuming the floor.
Kaname walks through the room until she sees it.
The Alarm Clock.
She picks it up—it’s a rather ordinary-looking alarm clock. How has it been making this much noise this whole time? Well, she can simply take it from here and dispose of it, and hopefully the person staying here can use the extra money she leaves in a nook of the room to buy one that is not awful.
Then, as Kaname is about to leave, the door opens.
Kaname stays calm. She hides next to the wardrobe.
“Huh. Wonder why everyone left the building…” She hears a familiar voice say. Risking a peek, she sees the figure that has just entered the room and freezes in place.
… the pieces fall into place as well.
Of course the newcomer to the bus is the Alarm Clock Demon of the dorm.
He walks towards his table, and Kaname takes the opportunity to silently make her way towards the door—
There is a meow at the door. Kaname looks down.
A black cat meows at her. It looks sleepy. She has no clue when it got into the room.
Makoto Toyama looks over at the cat. His eyes rest on her.
Ah, Kaname thinks. This may be what Yugo might call ‘being cooked’.
“So,” Makoto says. “Wrong room?” And he sounds… amused, but not angry.
Kaname figures that it’s probably the best time to stand her ground, if that’s the case. She raises the alarm clock, pointing to it.
“Uh, yeah. That’s my alarm clock. What are you—” Makoto stutters for a moment as Kaname strides to the desk, grabbing his hand and moving it aside. She takes a crumpled piece of paper, pulls out her always-ready pen, and scribbles down four words in thick, capitalised letters, just to make sure she’s gotten the point across.
WE CAN HEAR IT.
After a moment, she adds another line, just to really drive it in.
NO ONE CAN SLEEP.
“... oh, fuck,” Makoto says, eyes widening. “How bad is the soundproofing on these walls?” Kaname shoots him an unimpressed look. “No, okay, that’s fair. Fuck. Uh.”
With her righteous indignance transformed into words on paper, Kaname now feels the awkwardness of the situation wash over her. She is in a stranger’s room, holding onto his alarm clock, after stealing it and the key to the room.
Hmm.
Maybe if she pretends nothing is wrong, it’ll be fine.
“I sleep with earplugs because of Kemuri,” Makoto says, gesturing to his cat. “Not that I don’t love him, but he tends to like jumping on me and meowing really loudly. So uh. I guess I set my alarm really loud to get through the earplugs.”
Kaname folds her arms disapprovingly.
“If I promise to fix it, can I have it back?”
Fine. She hands it back to him, and he sets it on the table. The cat slinks around his legs, seeming smug.
“So, uh…” Makoto seems unsure on how to proceed now. “Huh. I didn’t think the cute girl from the bus was gonna show up in my room.”
Kaname shrugs. She didn’t know it was his room anyway.
“I saw you drawing Pokemon, uh… do you like it?”
Kaname takes the piece of paper again, and considers what to write. After a moment, she admits the truth. You interested me, so I wanted to know more about it.
“... huh.” After a moment, Makoto’s mouth twitches—then, forms a full smile. It is, unfortunately for Kaname, devastatingly attractive. “Then, well, this may not be the best way to meet, but uh, we can do something with that, yeah? Wanna get a coffee with me?”
Kaname blinks once, twice. Oh.
Was that what this was?
Well…
I don’t drink coffee. But if we go somewhere that also has smoothies, then it’s a date. She then puts that piece of paper aside, and begins writing on something less crumpled.
“... nice! Uh, I never got your name though…”
Kaname finishes writing, handing him the card. Then, she turns around, heading out of the room.
(Behind her, Makoto Toyama stares at the card, a grin forming on his face.)
(Kaname Mizuchi, the card says. I’ll see you after class. And then, a phone number is scribbled below it.)
Hi! I want to make my own fic like yours, but I’m a bit scared of having my protagonist be called a Mary Sue if she’s too strong, especially because she’s a bit of a self-insert. How do I avoid that?
Hi! So lowkey, I think that the term "Mary Sue" is one that's a bit outdated, because it tends to give people the idea that you can't make your character powerful or even have them form close relationships with canon characters without creating a "Mary Sue". I think the most important part is that there's reasoning behind the things that your character does, that you make sure that things don't feel like they happen too conveniently for her. Don't be afraid to make your character powerful, as long as she doesn't fully 'swallow' the story (i.e. make it feel as though it all revolves only around her.) It takes a lot of practice, but just don't be afraid of making OCs! Making more and more helps you get better at it. :D
For your other asks, if you'd like to discuss it more, feel free to join the server! :)
Was thinking more about 6ARC and how crazy it must be to have so many characters with different decks and it got me thinking:
Is there a banlist in the story? The fact I remember a couple of Graceful Charity plays makes me think in-universe the answer is no, but I’m also interested if there are any cards/decks you personally have decided won’t be used in the story
Either for plot reasons (the original Stardust Dragon likely won’t appear since your version of Yusei is dead and he used a retrain) or personal reasons (I personally would never write Self Destruct button into one of my stories because I question the purpose of a card that seems only designed to be annoying)
Answer will obviously be non-binding because Konami might just release new support for a cool deck that makes cards you wouldn’t normally use exciting but I was curious
Hi! There's not really a banlist that exists in-universe, per se, but the cards that I prefer using just don't really exist. Obvious examples that come to mind are Pot of Greed and anime Card of Sanctity, both of which I don't fault people for using but that I don't really want to use myself because I'm afraid of treating it like a crutch? (Though Graceful Charity may have become that, heh.)
You're right that I probably won't use og Stardust, Black Rose, etc. But in general, I try not to completely exclude the idea of certain cards, because I don't want to limit my ideas. The most I do is to try and think about possible implications the card might have and try to limit it in-universe if I think its existence is a problem (i.e. a really rare card only one character has!)
Hi everyone! It's been a while! After the last chapter, I decided to take a short break and try practicing my drawing again, so I drew a scene from the Yuno vs Miharu duel in Chapter 51, as voted on unknowingly by my Discord members :) Take a look if you would like! It's read right to left, as one might expect :D Once again. Not an artist. Just trying to learn so I can draw characters a bit better.
So I’m re-reading the chapter where Hitoda confronts Berserk Yuno and something she says jumped out at me: while she waves her hand to get the debris off of the unconscious Yu-boys at the scene, she mentions that she escaped Link when her board should have been stopped with a wave of her hand
Was she being somewhat literal in that case and truthfully meaning she used mild reality warping powers at that time?
I had previously been working under the assumption that Hitoda and her counterparts all got one miracle (like Mion healing Reira) but if she used her powers twice that seems more like everyone has a finite amount of power and can use it until they run out of charge similar to the bracelets
Asking here rather than on the relevant chapter of the fic so as not to spoil first time readers if they read the comments as they go
Heh, it's been long enough that I don't mind talking about it directly! Yes, the Hitoda scene where she helps out Yuno at the start was intentionally supposed to be a hint at something not quite being right, since the jammer is area of effect and not specific to Yuno (back then.) I'm not gonna go in detail on what exactly happened though! :D Good catch!
It's been a while! I come with a gift for the people here who aren't in the Discord server :) This is a personality quiz for 6ARC, made in Google Sheets. You can make a copy of the sheet, fill in the answers to the questions and then check your results in the second tab! The second sheet only shows results if you answer all questions, so just be aware of that! :D Enjoy! Let me know what you got.
So hello everyone! It's been a while since my last post about this topic (see: Blaise's Really Long Post) so I thought that I could give a few more thoughts about the subject, and some other trends I've noticed recently :) So yeah, just some tips and suggestions! (Some spoilers up to the most recent chapters of the Xyz Arc!)
Start Small.
Seems like a strange point, but... we've all had that moment where we have this one really big fic that we want to do, right? It's going to rewrite all of canon, it's going to change the fates of certain characters, you have a whole OC cast ready to go--
But um. Start small first. I don't mean "don't write that fic, write a smaller scale fic." I mean smaller-scale ideas that you expand later on. I mean pick your protagonist early, for instance. Find a focal point. Find specific things you want to change, and draw connections between them to see if you can form something larger and more cohesive from them. It's easier to say "I want to make Roget a better villain, as well as Leo" compared to something as vague as "I want to rewrite Arc-V". It gives you a good starting point to come from!
Let's say that you're writing a fic like 6ARC (because you're very inspired by me? hehe /lhj) You write two extra dimensions, you write six extra counterparts, you decide that you need more OC antagonists, and then...
It's easy to get very, very stuck. I don't mean this in a bad way. I love all of my characters so much, I think they're cool and I want to give them screentime. I have a feeling that it's how a lot of us feel about our OCs. But at the same time... it's easy to get lost in the sauce! To introduce all of your characters and plot points early because you really want to give all of them screentime... but it muddies everything about your plot structure. You have to be able to accept that you cannot give every character the exact same plot relevance at the start. Your characters are not all protagonists, and that's okay! They can still be cool! They can still do cool things! But to be honest, well...
No One Remembers The Tsunami of OCs
To clarify, I don't mean "introduce only a few OCs". I mean "be clear about which characters should be the foreground of your first few chapters". Let's take a look at the start of 6ARC for a bit of a reference!
See what I mean? If it's a new character, I choose to give them space to breathe. Even if 6ARC's various OCs show up early, a lot of the time they are intentionally kept in the background so that they can integrate into the cast properly and be memorable.
To reiterate--we all love our OCs! But because you love your OCs, please respect them and give them room to breathe. If you go "This is A and this is B, and also C is watching them, and D is talking to C, and now E is dueling Academia nearby", and you try to give all of them the exact same narrative weight, it's impossible for the chapter to have 'focus'. In this above idea--the one who the chapter should focus on is E, and then the rest should stay in the background until E has gotten his space to be himself. :D Imagine if I had thrown Tsubaki, Kaede, Mariko and Hisako at you guys in Chapter 6--no one would have cared about them because there would be too much going on, and no one would care about Nue either because her duel would stand out less. That's not what I wanted--and it's not what I want for you guys either! :)
Power Scaling + Duels
This one very much applies to decks. So, I talk a lot about power scaling and speed and being careful to keep certain cards out of characters' hands...
And I stand by all of that! It's nice to have overpowered characters, obviously, but there still has to be a baseline you hold your universe to. It's why I always stress that there's no need to go for the most efficient play, if it's not the best play narratively. Your duels are not a Master Duel simulator where you need every move to be the best, they are a storytelling device! Treat them as such and the quality of them goes up :D Justify things in universe and the characters feel more human.
Make sure to back up your claims in universe too. If a character is supposed to be one of the best character in-universe but all they do is lose, then it doesn't justify anything. You have to prove it.
And obviously, one of the things I always say is to leave room for characters to grow! Let them make mistakes, let them recognise their mistakes, let them get new cards. Yuya doesn't have every Performapal and Odd-Eyes card from the start, and rightfully so! He needs the chance to grow, and cards are the easiest way to symbolise something that has changed, so please don't get rid of that easy method for yourself.
So yeah! Duels are a tool for storytelling in a fic! :D And make sure that when characters play cards, let them grow. But...
Duels Don't Substitute Storytelling
This one, I feel particularly worried about saying, because it's easily misinterpreted. I think that it's important to have both Yugioh and good storytelling in a Yugioh fic, though obviously it can be enjoyable with just one. In that way...
It's important to come up with a justification for your duels. Yes, it can be cool to have two characters with interesting decks face each other... but then, it feels hollow if they don't have an in-universe reason to be fighting in the first place. The characters need to be characters, not just vessels for cool card games :)
Something I guess I'll bring up is Serena and Sora vs Makoto. Is it cool to have three extremely aggro decks going at it with barely any way to stop each other except for removal and self-protection effects? Yep! Does it mean more because of the small parallels that are set up between the characters, because this is personal to Serena? Of course! Serena and Dennis vs Makoto and Chino doesn't nearly have the same impact, and it's not intended to--because it sets up that motivation. So yes, make sure your duelists have a reason to duel, even if it's just as small as "i want to prove i'm better than him".
Write.
This is such a basic piece of advice but like. As much as I advocate for making sure that you have things planned out, please do yourself a favour and start writing. I don't mean outlining duels, I don't mean writing small snippets of funny dialogue, I don't mean plotting. I mean writing your first chapter. I mean writing your fic properly, as though you are going to post it.
Why is this so important?
Take it from someone who outlined a fic for five years and then never posted it--it's easy to lose motivation for a project that you cannot see progress in. If you get caught up in all your planning, you run the risk of something that I like to call false progress, which is something I'll go into in the next section. Regardless, it exhausts people to just keep doing something with no end in sight.
Another thing is that writing helps you to figure out your voice. You can plan out your whole fic in minute details and yet you'll still get stuck on Chapter 1 because... who's your POV character again? What tense are you writing in? How 'close of a perspective are you writing in?' You have all these details, all this cool foreshadowing you have to put in Chapter 1, all of these characters you want to introduce early! But suddenly, you're just... stuck.
You need to write your first chapter. It might feel like wasted work, but it's absolutely not, because that allows you to spot problems with your current planning and what you're planning on doing.
Let me give you an example of something I saw once, a year or two ago. Someone decided to write a fic with about four or so main OCs in each dimension. They started it, and then they were completely unable to figure out how to introduce anyone, because X needs to do something cool, but so does Y... and Z needs to be introduced... and there's now six duels in the starting chapter and it's difficult to get attached to anyone. Returning to one of the earlier points--start small, and figure out what your voice is. That way you save yourself the effort by not forcing yourself into something broken. Perfection is overrated--you will never be able to create something that completely has no flaws to it. Isn't it better to just create something, in that case?
False Progress
This is something that I see a lot of people fall prey to, and it relates heavily to the last point. A lot of the times, it goes back to the idea of 'doing too many extra things to plan out the fic', when in reality, this doesn't need to happen. None of these things are needed for the planning of the story at the point that they're at.
So, what do I mean?
Let me ask a question. Do you think that it's necessary to make a decklist for every character in your fic? Let's say it's a character like Yuri or Yugo. Do you think you need a list of every single card that they use? Firstly, there's resources online. You can search up either of them and get their full decklist. Secondly, if there's an additional OC card you want to give them, then you can simply make a note. There's no need to have all of that stuff exactly planned out. It's not necessary to go through all the Speedroids and be like "hmm... this one wouldn't be used by Yugo..." because that's something you can do later when you actually write the duel!
"But Blaise!" I hear you say. "You have exact decklists for everyone! You're not practicing what you preach!"
Well, uh. I made those decklists for you guys. My way of keeping track of specific cards is definitely not that document. In fact, if not for the fact that it helps you guys keep track of things, then I would actually think it's a waste of time.
Think to yourself--why am I doing this? Why am I planning all of this out? What do I get from this later on? Obviously, there's nothing wrong with doing things for fun, but if your goal is to eventually write a fic, then it's important to... well! Write the fic!
It's easy to fall into the trap of 'planning too much' to the point where suddenly, you're procrastinating without realising it. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with having fun, but it's also important to not mistake fake progress for real progress, because if you do... you'll be thinking "I've done so much for my fic" and yet you'll never have gotten started. Ok? :)
Have Fun!
I really mean this. I think this is the most important tip. The idea that you create, everything that you write... make sure that the writing process is fun for you. That's what's most important :) It may be sappy, but I think that a person's heart really shows through their writing--how much they put into it, how much they love it. So make sure to let your heart shine through!
Write what you love.
Be kind to yourself.
Accept that you're going to have some flaws.
It's all about you! Don't ask people "is A or B better" because then, you end up sabotaging your own confidence. Make choices for yourself because they're good and not because you think they'll get you the approval of someone else in the community.
Hi! So I was originally writing a oneshot for Valentine's Day, but I got really sick and ended up not really being able to push through and finish it, so I've delayed it for a later time in the year. I decided to make something short and sweet in the meantime--in other words, I made small little flower-themed moodboards for each of the main couples in the fic! :) Enjoy!
(All flowers are listed from the top left corner going anti-clockwise.)
Yuya/Yuzu - Fruitshipping
Plumeria/Frangipani - New beginnings, perfection, love, affection, resilience
I’m thinking this question does not count as a spoiler because I don’t see the card appearing again in a major role, but feel free to ignore if it is a spoiler
But my re-read got to the point where you revealed Stardust Expiation Dragon, and I noticed it is a Tuner. Was there a particular reason for it? I saw it has the clause to be treated as a non Tuner so it could still go into Stardust’s evolutions, but I was wondering if there was certain synergy I was missing with it being a tuner. All I could think of was it being a target for Synchro Overtake in the grave but I was curious on more of the design of the OC card and figured asking here would avoid the potential of people getting spoiled when I say it being a tuner doesn’t seem to come up in either duel it is used in.
Mm that’s a good question. What I will say is that Expiation Dragon is based on not just OG Stardust, but also the manga version, where it’s a Tuner :)
Happy two year anniversary! Been busy recently, but I'm trying to get something out for the anniversary, even if it might end up a day or two late :) Thank you for everyone's support!
How do you write filler dialogue between Duels that isn’t just “HOLY MOLY NO ONE’S EVER DONE THAT BEFORE” in Duels?
Honestly, I just put myself in the brain of whoever I'm currently writing. Essentially, I think "how would character A interact with character B if they weren't throwing cards at each other, and how can I relate that to the cards they're playing?" I kinda just go with the flow, it's one of those things I got used to doing over time! :3
