(Please don't tell anybody else about this or share it online or anything. Its just between us)
I have been on twitter, hate it, instagram, hate it less, tumblr, no opinion, and pixiv, luv it recently and not on theO.
I really wonder what happened and why suddenly lots of people became inactive on her. For me it was my friends in college got me to use different websites instead of this one...but I always compared evetything to theO. It's literally paradise here.
In my entire time on here I remember only one bad comment from a user who was new to theO and didn't understand that you can't be rude on here. Maybe others had different experiences, but my was overwhelmingly positive.
Anyways I always come back for an update eventually lol. And there's something I have been wanting to get off my chest but I don't think I should say online for numerous reaaons, I don't want my boss to find out and misunderstand. I don't want it to suddenly disappear, although I know now that I can just try again.
I'ma stop being cryptic. lol
Yknow since the beginning of my time on theO, or just the majority of my life I have wanted to be a manga artist. So in college I studied hard in Japanese and moved to Japan as an English teacher to study Japanese, get a well paying job, and to understand Japanese culture more...And I'm still an English teacher and would like to keep this job for the time being.
So working hard at work, working hard outside of work to go to publishers. And recently I decided to just try my favorite manga magazine for fun just to see what the office looks like. My favorite magazine is called Hana to Yume. If you liked Ouran High School Host Club, Oresama Teacher, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun, Vampire Knight, Fruits Basket, God Child, Akatsuki no Yona etc etc extremely famous shoujo manga magazine.
Wait, let me a explain a thing! There are many avenues you can go through to publish a manga:
The Bakuman route is the most common: enter a contest, win it, get an editor, enter another contest, make a series
But little ol me doesn't understand how to draw a manga or Japanese culture so I can't deal with zero feedback. So instead another route that I am going for is apparently the scary route (manga artists are all shy shut ins with no social skills apparently)
The route I'm going for is: physically bring the copy to an editor and have a one on one meeting at the office, get an editor who will help you win a contest, win the contest, get serialized
There was another route I was going to try:
bring copy to editor, get recommended to be an assistant for another mangaka, learn the ropes, network, get serialized
But surprisingly that route didn't work out.
So the story is this:
I decided to write 5 manga a year and go to editors to see how to improve as an artist. Also important point: I did 1 manga by myself in two and a half months giving me plenty of time to relax and have fun with it. So the outcome was pretty nice too.
Then when I finished I made a list of magazines I should go to. To be honest, it was more of a shounen manga than a shoujo manga, but it was about girls so I assumed girls might want to read it, so just for fun I went to my favorite magazine...more as a tourist than as a serious dream...
I accidentally got there 4 hours early, went to Starbucks, died because the matcha lattes hate me and literally went to the bathroom every 10 minutes because that latte killed my stomach. Then when it got closer to the meeting time I went to go to the office and of course got lost, found it, then walked around in a nearby park for half an hour. Lololol, the nerves.
Then I went inside and was asked to sit in one of the meeting rooms (depending on the company you might go into the actual offices like in Bakuman, but in my experience the really big magazines have you meet in a meeting room on the first floor)
The one I chose had pics from Shimizu Reiko and I just died staring at it. The room next to it had Berserk paintings hung up and then I realized that Kentaro Miura publishes under the same company and died again. Many deaths that day.
Then the editor came read my manuscript. I sat there in silence as she read and reread it 2 or 3 times.
Previously at other companies the editor just read it once and fairly quickly. Everyone has a different style.
So because it was so slow and my Japanese isn't great and the fantasy elements I knew were a bit confusing I thought that probably she didn't get it at all so she had to reread it. My previous manga that I showed to different editors were action or comedy so pretty simple stories. This one was fantasy so I had to alsi explain the setting.
Also! Other important information I somehow misunderstood for like 3 years:
You can and should show your manga to different magazines if you are unsuccessful.
So my plan was to show to different magazines , but based on my first experience I would choose the others because again, I didn't know if it was.a shoujo or shounen so if the editor told me it was shounen I'd go there. I even put it on my calendar when to call and wgat days to have meetings before I try writing a new story.
Back to the meeting
I was waiting for a while for the feedback, trying to calm my nerves and set my brain to Japanese so I could actually discuss my story.
She put it back in order, straightened the papers and said. "I love it...I mean I really think its interesting"
WHAT?!
She loves it, but its no a shoujo manga, or its a good premise but the ending is bad.
We went through the problems and maybe some ways to fix it and I was like "this is extremely helpful, I'm glad I came, I'll try better next time" (in my head)
Then that conversation ended and she said "So I'd like to be your editor and help you on the next step"
.............
My brain broke. I couldn't show my joy from those words because in my head I was thinking about how I would be rejected and it wasn't really the best story for the magazine etc etc....Also I was aiming to be an assistant first because I don't feel like I understand Japanese culture well enough. Definitely not Japanese. Also the previous editor told ne to try smaller magazines because the big magazines are more strict about who can join and the previous editor said even though he liked my story I would need more skills in order for him to be my editor.
So my brain didn't connect...then she had me read some examples of winners in the past and told me that this is what we're shooting for.
And I have been doing that ever since, trying to write something good enough to win. It's really diffucult and I keep getting fabulous feedback and I am happy to be able to grow as an artist and writer.
However, again, in Japanese communication is super hard, writing is super hard and generally I am doing everything on hard mode.
The easier way:
Webcomics, selfpublishing, writing in English
Winning a contest (not sure how this is easier, but I heard it was)
Just generally the avenue I chose, ignoring the fact that I am not even Japanese is considered harder for some reason. Maybe editors are more strict? Maybe its difficult if you live far away? I'm not sure why its difficult but...
I have only been learning Japanese for 6 years or so, am not Japanese, but I'm choosing to write in Japanese as my main focus and I can't seem to find very many artists who choose to do this with my background.
I was born in the suburbs, moved to a decent sized city to spend my youth, then moved to an extremely small rural town for high school and college, went to another super small town in Japan for studying abroad, went to a bigger city to try living the city life in Japan, and now I live in Tokyo.
The main then I'm just flabbergasted by is just...the amount of times somebody told me my dream was impossible, too difficult, unrealistic.
I beat Eve in Nier Automata without healing and that was super hard but I still did it.
Basically I wanted to post 1 to give a happy life update 2 to remind you guys to never give up on your dreams no matter how hard they are.
Want to get manga published in Japan but aren't Japanese and don't speak Japanese and lived in a rural town most of your life? Eho cares go for it.
I am sure there are some things that are out of your control so you can't do it, but find a way to put it in your control.
I think a lot of people get burntout, disillusioned, and just negative towards themselves when they fail so they feel a sense of helplessness and that their dreams are actually impossible so they give up. I've felt that so many times and its perfectly okay. After I've felt that, though, it makes me want it even more.
There is nothing you CAN'T do, just a lack of imagination.
I kind of want to make youtube videos about how to actually become a manga artist because there's so much misinformation on youtube about it. I think Xenon comics does the best job. Bakuman was a dramatization. Aoi Honoo was also a dramatization, but also pretty true. You don't have to be good at drawing to become a manga artist, you just gotta be ambitious and have good work ethic. There's that one youtuber that was super popular...Joeywolf or something? They told people how to become a manga artist literally with no idea how it worked and so many people including me watched it, feeling less than and making manga seem so much more impossible. Then there's all the self published artists, who are still good snd their route us valid, but also their avenue is not the manga publishing route, its the self publishing route, a lot of them also talk about how its too hard so they went for self publishing.
You should self publish if:
You don't want to learn Japanese
You prefer writing in English (not because its easy but because you know how to write very well and use the language to your advantage)
You don't want to draw manga for the rest of your life
You have bad time management skills
Its just a hobby
You want to write your baby and nothing else
You want to write a story the way you like it, not the way others want it
You want to write something without a genre
etc etc
I don't want to make youtube videos though because I am afraid of my boss finding them and misunderstanding. Currently I am just writing to eventually get serialized, I don't work for that magazine, I am only being advised, its not a job. And also because I am not published yet, so I might be wrong about some aspects of the process and am definitely not a an expert at all. I am still a beginner. However, I do want to fight back against the naysayers.
And if this post isn't long enough, one more thing I WAS happy about but because of recent events affecting all of our lives it was cancelled...but...maybe I've talked about odorite on here...I'm not sure? But I waa taking classes by one of my favorite odorite groups called SLH...another thing which is a secret probably...
I've been their fan since high school so seeing them every week (previously) in place of my normal dance schedule was a dream come true. Also they are the best teachers I've ever had. Some say its because they are kind of celebrities and need to keep their image, but they don't have to be so helpful. There are four so during class one teaches and the others help correct individuals so everyone gets some help. I am bad a stetches and other stuff and they helped me specifically there and I have been asking for help from every teacher I have had up until then and they were the first to actually help me.
They are actually extremely talented at teaching and I was so pleasantly surprised by this.
So I am fulfilling two dreams lol
Thank you for coming to my TED talk and reading this massive essay.
Repeat: Please don't tell anybody else about this or share it online or anything. Its just between us
I hope that my story inspired some of you especially during these crazy times that are really out of your control. No mattee how scary something is, or how many times you might be rejected, difficulty doesn't mean its impossible, so don't give up!
