Seeking Duelist Choreographer Assistant

[MewMew3]

As you can probably see I am well under way writing my story, Legend of the White Dragon, in this forum. I have spent an extraordinary amount of my energy on the story and character development. But unfortunately it is difficult for me to spend energy on duels. It has been a very long time since I have last played the game. Not only am I out of touch with the metagame now but I was never in the professional level. I won a few local tournaments and that's it.

I am looking for someone who can help me choreograph my duels. You don't have to be a professional duelist by any stretch but you should ideally be experienced and a good player, someone who understands well the tournament scene and the mechanics of the game. If you are interesteed, please Private Message me and we can work things out. You will receive credit for each duel you help me with. 

MewMew1989

[Premier Alexander Romanov]

Welcome to one of the hardest parts of writing Yu-Gi-Oh! literature.

Trust me. It's no easy task to weave together a duel, but here are a few questions that you should ask yourself that will make things easier.

 

1. Who is dueling, and what are their motives?
This is key, as how a character acts and reacts determines their dueling style. Are they going for the kill, and are therefore aggressive enough to push hard, but use precise, calculated moves? Are they trying to protect someone, and are going to go all-out to accomplish that task? Do they have a unique strategy?

2. What cards do you want to feature?
The actual marketing key behind duels in the anime and manga is to promote the cards. They are essentially giant advertisements. A Yu-Gi-Oh! writer should think along the same lines as to what their characters will put on the field. And you should keep the character's deck consistent, but regularly utilizing new cards.

3. Created or Canon?
How far are you going to go in either direction between cards that you made yourself and cards that already exist? There are almost 6000 Yu-Gi-Oh! cards in existence, and countless more that are exclusive to only the anime and manga. In fact, there are some fun cards that were never made real that could really change a lot of existing Archetypes and gameplay, such as Bonfire or Command Silencer. Always make sure that, if you are making up a card, that there is not something out there that already does the same job.

 

4. Bridging the Gaps
So, you have your duelists, and you have your cards. Now, to weave the fabric together, and that occasionally relies on some cards that are mainly made for plot convenience and never show up again. The anime does this a lot, so try not to do that unless you absolutely have to, and if you do, make sure it's as organic as possible.

5. The Climax And Conclusion
Think of a duel as a story in of itself. Your hero and his opponent are building up their infrastructures to get out their ace monsters, or whatever cards they are going to use. Once the villain plays his big monster, how will your hero overcome the odds and defeat his opponent? Make sure you take the previous points into account when writing up the duel.

I hope these help. Anyone else, feel free to amend and add to these suggestions.

[MewMew3]

Thank you for your help. I'll definitely be thinking about it. What I am seeking in particular though is someone who is experienced with the metagame and real life dueling. I want my duels to be realistic while at the same time having the drama of the original YGO series.