How To Write a Bit Beast, a beyblade fanfic

How To Write…

Bit Beasts

Yurii: Because I promised I would; not to mention how many people asked for one.

Again, this is basically a long author's note.

I'm not telling you that this is how you should make a bit beast, just giving you some tips to making one yourself, because any of us who have made a bit beast know it takes a fair amount of effort.

The attack names especially.

Critique is welcome, flames laughed at. You know the drill.

Bold stanzas are things that'll be good to remember.

Bold and Italicized stuff is things you may want to write down.

Bold, Italicized and Underlined stuff is muy importante and you WANT TO REMEMBER IT.

Onward!

PROFILE

Yes, there's a profile for the bit beast; if you read the 'How to write an OC' tutorial, you'll know just how handy this really is.

The ones I use look like this: (you'll find it's significantly shorter than the OC's profile)

Beyblade Model:
Specialty:
Weakness(es):

Bit Beast:
Gender:
Species:
Element(s):
Attacks:

Once again, I'll explain the purpose for each space and how to fill it out accordingly. Since this profile is much shorter than the one for the OC, this one will be significantly shorter than the first.

BEYBLADE MODEL

This one is relatively simple; however, not a lot of people ever really come up with a name for the model of beyblade their OC is using.

Take my word for it, you can use it a lot and still never get repetitive.

You can generally get very creative when naming the beyblade, but there are a few components you'll want to follow so it doesn't sound ridiculous.

1) The beyblade model should begin with the name of the bit beast

2) The initials in the name (HMS, MS, V, etc) should be short for something, not just placed there because it looks cool (Ex. HMS- Hard Metal System, RT- Riptide [Danica's blade, etc.)

3) If there's a third word at the end, don't make it too gibberish-y. It helps if it hints at the bit beast's element or the blader's style.

Examples include some of the names I used on my own characters: Arseni HMS Z-Armageddon, Gundula HMS Z-Scythe, etc.

SPECIALTY

This part pertains to what the beyblade and style of the blader specializes in, and the characteristics can apply to the OC, the bit beast and/or the beyblade.

Pick just two areas of specialty: more than two or three usually makes them TOO good, and thus a Mary Sue is born.

The main traits are as follows: (email me if you can't figure out what kind of beyblade is required for a certain area of specialty)

Attack

Defense

Endurance

Assuming you pick your two strengths from this list, the remaining trait will always be the weakness. THIS IS STRONGLY RECOMMENDED FOR FIRST-TIME BEYBLADE WRITERS.

However, the list can continue with minor other traits that more experienced writers can use, such as:

Balance

Speed

Maneuverability/Evasiveness

Stealth

Adaptation

Strategy

Force

Having an area that the character is strong at will determine how you write your beybattles as well as the composition of the blade, which if you feel like writing, I'm more than willing to help.

A quick run-through of beyblade builds:

Lightweight: (Mitsu's beyblade)
Strength(s): Speed, Maneuverability/Evasiveness
Weakness(s): Endurance, Defense

Being lightweight makes a beyblade able to move much faster because the engine doesn't have to push around as much metal. However, that also makes it easier to hit out of the arena because less force is needed.

Average: (Blader varies)
Strength(s): Varies
Weakness(s): Varies

Unfortunately, I can't say much here. Average blade always vary, so if you choose this area and don't know where to go, send me an email and I'll help you out.

Heavyweight: (Drayea's beyblade)
Strength(s): Attack/Force, Endurance, Defense
Weakness(s): Speed, Maneuverability

This type of beyblade is most commonly used, but most people forget that having a lot of attack power, endurance, and defense requires the beyblade to be extremely heavy, and thus it becomes much slower. Even if it can attack with a lot of force, a heavyweight beyblade will have a hard time chasing down the other blade.

Defensive: (Max's beyblade)
Strength(s): Defense (duh), Endurance, Balance
Weakness(s): Attack, Force

This is usually the least-picked of the types, and while the Attack being the weakness isn't entirely true in Max's case, remember that our favorite blonde turtle gets his fair share of butt-whoop because his main strength is being able to keep his place in the dish.

WEAKNESSES

THIS PART IS CRUCIAL.

Every beyblader has some kind of weakness…well, except apparently Tyson Granger/Takao Kinomiya, but that's an entirely different rant since he's a canon character.

For example: forTala, it was lack of defense; Max, lack of attack, and so on.

You get the gist of it.

NO CHARACTER IS A PERFECT BEYBLADER.

The key here is that after choosing your two strengths, choose one or two weaknesses; it's more convincing if the weakness is the opposite characteristic of the strength you chose.

Keep in mind, though, there will always be at least two (that's right, TWO) beybladers whose specialties play into the OC's weaknesses.

BIT BEAST

The name of your badass bit beast. This part tends to get tricky, but here's a secret that will make your whole life easier.

Make the bit beast's name of the same nationality as the blader.

If you decide to take this tip, I recommend naming them with a surname instead of a first name, just because it's less recognizable that way, and there tends to be more variations of names.

I STRONGLY ENCOURAGE NAME-TWEAKING HERE.

If you decide to go with a first name, make it gender-appropriate of the bit beast.

Now, if you don't want to give your bit beast an already-existing name, you're in a bit of trouble here unless you can pull random names out of your head. In this case, if you can't come up with something yourself, the best you can do is consult someone (I'm open for this- email me) who can.

NAMES TO AVOID

(I know they look familiar; a lot of people aren't very creative with names- OC or bit beast)

1) Hikari or Hikaru

2) Kage

3) Tenshi

4) Ryuu

5) Any anagram or variant of an existing bit beast's name

6) Any anagram of an existing canon character's name or surname

7) The name of an animal with a few letters added on (ex. Dragonara)

I ENCOURAGE:

(Because everyone loves tips)

1) Using names from folklore, religion and legends of the OC's origin (ex. Inari- Japanese demon fox)

2) Surnames and gender-appropriate first names of the OC's nationality

3) LOTS AND LOTS OF TWEAKING. Tweaking is good.

4) Coming up with random names (ex. Rycarraea, Kaexalea [MG Effect)

5) A word translated into a language the OC speaks, preferably their native tongue (Minor P.V. spoiler: Anniina's bit beast Yakushkin, aka 'Yaku'- yaku meaning 'burning' in Japanese- relation to Mitsu and training in temple w/ her...see Pyeremena Vyeter, Chapter One) You can only get away with random translated words with bit beasts.

GENDER

Okay, this part is incredibly easy; just make sure the bit beast's name is appropriate to their gender.

Personally, what I do, if theOC is being paired up with another character (canon or OC), I'll usually make their bit beast the opposite gender of the bit beast belonging to the person your OC is paired with.

For instance, Taylia's bit beast Arseni is male; Taylia is paired with Kai, whose bit beast Dranzer is female.

Got it?

Moving on.

SPECIES

This part tends to make people indecisive, mostly because they don't want to pick an animal that's 'weak' or 'lame'.

DO NOT MAKE YOUR BIT BEAST AN ANGEL, GHOST OR ANY NON-ANIMAL SPECIES. THEY'RE CALLED BIT BEASTS FOR A REASON.

Hybrids are acceptable; keep it to two species, though.

Anyway, when you pick an animal, keep in mind that you're also choosing something that will play a role in determining its element. Obviously, if you pick something like a dolphin, it's not going to be a fire type.

As for mythical creatures and hybrids, if you decide to choose that, keep a few things in mind:

- Some people may not know what they are; subtly slip in a hint as to what it is (Ex. Manticore, griffin, etc.)

- There is already a Wind dragon, Dragoon. To avoid Mary-Sue-ness, if you want a dragon, make it something BESIDES Wind.

- Avoid giving all of your OCs mythical animal or hybrid bit beasts (if you have more than one OC)

Feel free to armor up your bit beast; actually, it's not much of a bit beast without it, so it's strongly encouraged. Just pick a color (gold, silver, bronze, steel-gray) and add any details you want (different parts of armor, designs on it, etc.).

I also recommend making the OC's bit beast an animal that actually lives in the area/country that the OC does (especially if you can't decide on a species). This will require some research if you decide to do this.

ELEMENT(S)

Just so I can get this out of the way:

I STRONGLY DISCOURAGE GIVING A BIT BEAST THE ELEMENT(S) SHADOW/DARK AND/OR LIGHT UNLESS IT'S ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL TO THE PLOT.

Okay, this part may get a bit tricky, so read carefully.

1) Make sure your bit beast's element is appropriate to its species.

Like I said up in the 'Species' section, you're not going to have a Fire-element dolphin or an Earth-element hawk; they just don't go together. Consider the environment the animal lives in, and assign it an element accordingly.

Arseni (a phoenix), for example, is a Lightning and Fire hybrid. The former can be associated as Fire in its purest form, or as a starter of fire when it strikes. Both are generally heat and power types, so they go well together.

2) If you give the bit beast more than one element, make sure they compliment one another.

Some people, including myself, make their bit beasts capable of handling more than one element. However, when some people do this, they wind up giving the bit beast two polar opposite elements. The idea behind making the elements compliment one another is to make it easier to describe and design their attacks. You want to make the elements work together to increase the force and effectiveness of their attacks or defenses.

I only get away with Gundula the Wind/Earth hybrid because of a detail in the plot concerning fusion of bit beasts.

Basic Elements:

1) Fire

2) Water

3) Wind

4) Earth

5) Thunder (also associated w/ Wind and Sound- noise of thunder created by displaced air from lightning)

6) Lightning (not the same as Light)

7) Ice/Snow

8) Sand

IMPORTANT NOTES

1) Wind/Ice/Snow can qualify as one element

2) Make sure the element(s) fit the characteristics of the element in the real world

Good Combos:

- Wind/Ice/Snow

- Fire/Lightning

- Fire/Wind

- Water/Wind

- Thunder/Lightning (be warned; attack names for this is difficult)

- Earth/Sand

- Sand/Wind

- Ice/Snow/Water

Feel free to drop a line suggesting other combinations.

ATTACKS

(Note: Keep the attack names to two or three words each; don't overdo it please.)

Oi… this is guaranteed to be the hardest part of creating a bit beast, which is understandable. This will also wind up being the longest part of the whole tutorial, so don't be intimidated; I'm giving you my best advice here.

It's hard to come up with names that aren't cliché and don't suck. I know, I have just as much of a hard time with it as any beginner does.

When making your list of attacks, you will want to arrange it like this:

Attacks:

- (Offense, element)

- (Defense, element)

- (Final Attack, element)

THE CONCEPT OF A HEAVY OFFENSE IS MY CREATION. DON'T COPY IT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION UNLESS YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH.

The point of arranging it this way is so that you remember which attacks/defenses are which; you don't want to mix up the names of your attacks, now do you?

NOTE: Your list will have more Defense slots than Offense slots if you chose Defense as part of your specialty.

NOTE: The 'element' space behind each of the Offense/Defense tags is if you have a dual-element bit beast.

I intentionally put the attacks and defenses in a certain order, which I'll explain here: (also note that by each section I put TWO WORDS or THREE WORDS- basically telling you how many words you want to use per attack so you don't go overboard)

Attacks:

- Average Level (Offense, element)

- Above Average Level (Offense, element)

- Defense (Defense, element)

- Strongest Attack (Final Attack, element)

First Attack: TWO WORDS

The first attack is an average-level attack, generally the first one a blader will pull out if a special attack is needed. You'll want to make this attack just two words so it doesn't get mixed up with your final attack when your OC shouts it out in the battlefield.

Second Attack: (TWO/THREE WORDS)

Slightly stronger than the first attack, mostly used when the first one doesn't work, and tends to be more showy and forceful. Don't forget to keep in mind that, again, this attack is stronger than the first one, and it will have more effect and force when used. This one can be two or three words depending on how much stronger than the first attack it is, but save the really strong one for the final attack.

Defense: (TWO/THREE WORDS)

This one tends to be a tough part. With defenses, you want the name to incorporate the element and imply that the defense is strong- some kind of shield. Two or three words are acceptable if this is your only defense. Two words if you have more than one defense.

Final Attack: (THREE WORDS)

The final attack name tends to sound much better when three words long, mostly because everyone likes to have a badass name for their grand finale. Anyway… the final attack is basically where the OC and bit beast go all-out and putting out every ounce of strength they've got. The bit beast will pretty much always appear during the final attack. If you have trouble coming up with a final attack name, it usually helps to copy the name of the second attack, tweak it and lengthen it by a word if need be.

WHEN COMING UP WITH NAMES

Obviously, you're going to want to make them fitting of the bit beast's element.

AVOID USING AN ATTACK THAT JUST STATES THE ELEMENT AND PAW/CLAW/WHATEVER. THIS SUCKS.

Examples of this include things like:
Fire Paw
Wind Claws
Water Fang

You get the gist.

FOR THIS PART, I USE A SITE CALLED 'SEVENTH SANCTUM' WHICH HAS AN 'ANIME POWER GENERATOR'. THE LINK TO THIS SITE IS ON MY FREEWEBS SITE, WHICH IS POSTED IN MY PROFILE AS THE 'FOUR WINDS HOMEPAGE'

Should you decide to use this (it's saved my ass many times), don't actually use the names it gives you. They suck.

Take words from different attacks and string them together to make something cool, and always feel free to tweak it.

Tweaking is good.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Never, under any circumstances, should your bit beast have the same attack as one belonging to a canon character's bit beast.

On another note, if you want the attacks to be in another language (your OC's native tongue, otherwise it's just pointless), feel free to get them translated so long as you put the meaning of the attack name somewhere within the story.

Well, that's all the advice and tips I can pull out of my head.

As I've stated many times throughout the How To Write series, feel free to drop me a line for suggestions, questions or just to chat.

I'm almost always online.

Best of luck, my readers!

-Yurii S.