A tutorial designed to walk all aspiring authors from idea and characters, to completion of plot. Tips and advice on fan-fic creation to putting it all together in a magna form. Tricks of the trade and trial and error lessons will all be included.
"If you feel you have nothing left to improve, then you have learned nothing." - Oshiro Ren
Panels. This is the medium used to sequentially tell your story - and they can make or break you. Each panel is an individual work of art that, collectively, make up a whole story. Since you can't use prose to state, "he grew angrier", you must convey this through the panel without actually saying it.
Naturally, the first way to do this is the expression of the character in the panel. But you can further match the expression with panel background. This can be done in several ways. For example, in my post, Koden - Prologue, page 15, I have Ren facing off against the samurai. She remains calm (her panel background is neutral) and he is getting angrier. I made his panel background darker with each panel. Her face remains the same, while his gets progressively ticked - shown by the darkening colour and his expression.
A happy character against a stormy background might indicate that the character is crazy - so if your character has just heard some really awesome news (free box seats to Fenway Park?) but its storming outside, try to think of a way to convey the emotion while lessening the storm raging all around.
One thing you want to avoid is actually writing your character's emotions next to them in the panel and drawing a line pointing to your character. For example, if your character has just been handed free tickets to Fenway Park, don't write "insanely happy" next to your character, underline it, and point to your character. Your art is supposed to convey the insanely happy emotion - if you need to add three panels after your character gets the tickets to show her, say...running through a field of flowers or skipping in place with a crazy grin....do so. But avoid the "tells" - if your art is good enough, or your method of expression is good enough, you don't need it.
Gimme a Beat!
Panels are also used to set tempo in your story. In prose, in order to create tempo, you use either more description to slow it down, or less description to speed it up. For example:
To slow it down: Takashi's arm arched through the air at a ninety degree angle, sailing gracefully yet with force like a diving eagle about to take prey. His fist, clenched tightly, was in perfect line with his arm and elbow, displaying no flaws, exhibiting his years of constant training. So perfect was his line, so natural was the act, that it could be used as a ruler to draw a straight line. The air shrieked as his fist neatly and swiftly cut through it. When his fist made contact with Hitoro's cheekbone, an earsplitting crack of protest of bone echoed in the ears of both men.
To speed it up: Takashi reacted without much thought - his clenched fist made a cracking contact with Hitoro's face.
If you would be displaying a single punch, the slow scene would work better. However, if this is a fight scene, you'd want to use the faster method. Reason being, fights are fast. (Note: you may not want to go THAT fast...but you get the general idea).
In manga, you have to be able to recreate the above scenes with the right tempo, using your panels. Remember: more panels on one page slow down the action, less panels speed it up. So depending on how you want the tempo set for your particular scene would be the determining factor on how many panels to use per page.
Beware the Jabberwok
Action. Or lack thereof. If your readers have gotten to page twenty of your story and still have no idea what's going on...this is a problem. You don't have to reveal your entire plot in the first few pages, but neither do you want to have nothing happen. Within the first twenty pages of Ranma 1/2 we were introduced to a girl and her panda (with whom she apparently had a problem with), the Tendo family - we learned that Akane liked karate, they all lived in a dojo, and that Tendo-san was expecting his old training buddy to arrive with his son so that the children of the two men could marry and carry on the dojo. In Naruto we learned that the main character was a prankster, got in trouble a lot, was an orphan, and a somewhat mediocre ninja. The core of the plot is not revealed, but a lot of things are set up to keep the reader...well....reading.
If your first twenty pages can be told in two pages, then they probably should be. But wait, Yoshimi, you say...I can't cut anything out!! Its All Critical. Well, can you put it somewhere else? Can you cut down transition? Can you condense three panels into one?
Can you reword the story so that the same message is conveyed without so much time involved? If you spend seven pages showing your character in front of a cave covered with a rock slab and opening that slab, something better come out of that cave....like a hydra or orochi. If all you do after seven pages of opening a cave is hint at "something else going to happen" -then you have failed. You could condense the scene down to one page - character in front of cave, moving rock slab, standing in front of open cave and expressing disappointment that the item/person sought is not in the cave.
One thing you must remember that is if you spend several pages showing something mundane, like walking through the woods or sitting in the doctor's office, then it should be a build-up for a Big Reveal. When I was writing Koden, I spent almost seven pages on Ren's Big Reveal - and this was in chapter ten. But I peppered hints here and there leading up to it....if my readers have guessed by chapter ten what her big reveal was, they are rewarded. If they haven't, they are (hopefully) amazed.
Another fine example of this is Naruto. In Volume 25 of Naruto, during the big fight scene with Sasuke and Naruto, we are taken back into Sasuke's memories of his brother. The point of view is Sasuke's - at that age, he had no idea what was going on because he was not yet old enough to be let in on the plan. We just see things as he sees them. While it all holds together as a coherent story, if you really, really read it - you can see that there is something else going on underneath. Did anyone wonder why Itachi had his Anbu gi on when he was slaughtering the clan? Did anyone wonder why Fugaku was so intent on "the plan" and being so secretive if his goal as a policeman was protection of the village? Did anyone think back to when Itachi first appeared in the village and said to Asuma and Kurenai "I don't want to kill you." Pretty strange words for a man who seemingly had no problem slaughtering his entire family. We learn much, much later after Sasuke's fight with Itachi the WHY of it all...we get the Big Reveal. Kishimoto-san masterfully crafted the story. When he first created the characters of Sasuke and Itachi he probably knew what he was going to reveal 30 some volumes later (remember when I said to know your character better than you know yourself? This is why).
In prose form, another fine example of this is in Crystals of Yukitake, which can be found on this site. Tragically, I'm not really at liberty to reveal anything yet, as it would be a spoiler, but trust me - its good.
It's a Wrap, Folks:
When putting together your panels, you must remember that each panel is a work of art and should be treated as such. Cut out any unnecessary, empty panels unless you are leading up to a Big Reveal. While you as the author should know exactly how each scene transitions, it is not necessary to show every single step your character takes.
Next week I'll discuss action/fighting scenes. Those have always seemed most difficult to choreograph, so I'll share my ways of achieving them. As always, if any readers want to share their thought process or have any questions, please feel free to comment.
OK, so there's this girl, right....
To begin your wonderful masterpiece, obviously you need an idea. What do you want to write about? How do you want to approach this project? You've got a great idea for a character and a general idea of what you want her to do, but where do you go from there?
There are two basic types of fiction: character driven and plot driven. Character driven means the plot is pushed forward by your main character (a story of an assassin for hire) Plot driven means that your character is caught up in the plot (the person who is unlucky enough to witness the assassination and now has to run for their life). Then you must decide on point of view.
First person: This is telling the story using I and me. "When I woke up this morning, I remembered it was supposed to have been my wedding day."
Second person: Telling the story using you. This is not used a great deal in fiction writing, and reserved mostly for role-playing, self-help books, and similar. "When you woke up this morning, you remembered it was supposed to have been your wedding day."
Third person: This is probably the most popular use: it uses he, she, they, it..."When Angela woke up this morning, she remembered that it was supposed to have been her wedding day."
Now for the breakdown of Third Person Narrative:
Third person subjective: thoughts, feelings, action and ideas are conveyed through more than just one character. You know how Angela feels, but now you might switch over to see how the assassin who killed her fiancé at the wedding rehearsal is doing. "Angela remembered the horror of the night before, and the image of the shooter was burned into her brain. She knew she wouldn't be safe for long at her cousin's house, but where was she to go from here? On the other side of town, Jack was cleaning his gun from the hit last night. The only one who saw him was that woman. His eyes narrowed. He would have to find out who she was and take care of her as well."
Third person limited: where the reader only sees the thoughts and emotions of the main, or just one character. You may know how Angela feels, but only see Jack when he tries to eliminate her as a witness. As the story would unfold, the reader might discover, through Angela, that Jack is really working for the government and her fiancé was a terrorist...or similar. But the reader would never see this until Jack actually told Angela this.
Third-person, omniscient: where the narrator, or author, conveys the thoughts and feelings of all characters, like a story-teller, someone who is not part of the story, yet knows everything that is going on. Similar to the subjective mode.
Though I've just thrown all this technical jargon at you, in reality, the point of view becomes fairly obvious as you start to write. Its a lot easier than it looks, however, I would caution this: don't switch between points of view. If you have started out third person, don't switch halfway through to second person or first person.
Where Are You Going With This?
Now you have to think about where you're going with your story. Are you trying to teach a lesson to your readers? Are you conveying philosophies and ideals? Are you simply trying to entertain your reader? Fiction is mostly a mode of entertainment, but it can be used to teach lessons and such. This is where the dreaded word, "theme" comes in.
I'll be the first to admit, these are a lot of technical things I never really think about. But you have to have a general idea of what your theme is: I want to write a story that shows the world that the government really has secret assassins, but I'll put it in fiction form so it doesn't look like I'm telling on them. Or, I want to write a really good story so people will enjoy reading it. Or, I want to write about existentialism philosophy but I'll hide it as a fiction story. Or - one of my personal favorites: I want to make fun of society, but I'll do it as a fiction story (Jane Austin, anyone?)
So now you have the idea, know who's going to be telling the story, and have a general idea where its going. Very....cool beans.
Can I start writing now?
In my previous entry, I talked about fleshing out your characters, so I won't repeat it here. Creating original characters is the same, whether your putting them in fan fiction or a story of your own. So yes, now....you can start writing.
This is my own personal experience with writing manga. I'll share it here with you, my dear fans, however, there is one thing you must remember: You must do what works for you. If it isn't what works for me, that doesn't make either of us right or wrong.
When I wrote Baseball and Budo, I sat down with my ruler and pencil and pens and just started drawing. The story was all in my head. The problem with that is, I got in a hurry to get to the end, so I had to try and hold myself back while I wrote. Then I'd forget things.
Later, when the grain of the idea for Koden was growing, I got hit with a brilliant idea of how to start (originally, pages 18, 19, and 20 of Koden were pages 1, 2, and 3). But I was nowhere near a sketchbook at the time, so I scrounged up scrap paper and rough drafted out the first 10 pages (currently those pages are posted on my page). Now, I've never done a rough draft in my life prior to this, however, I found that I was able to write out the story quickly, which satisfied my urge to "get to the point" yet still keep the story coherent. But when drawing out the final version of the drafted pages, I hand wrote in the speech. When I went to scan in the pages and do cleanup, I found it was a royal pain in the neck to take out the hand-written words and put in the typing. So.....
When I wrote Saiban, my short, I did a rough draft, then when I did the final drawings, I left the words out. Then, when it was scanned in, I was able to add the typing by using the draft. Whole thing went a lot quicker.
One of the advantages of drafting your manga first is that if you get to page 30 and realize you forgot to mention something critical on page 10, you can go back in your draft and add it. Its a lot easier than re-drawing ten pages. My draft also allowed me to see how I wanted to lay out my panels, where I wanted everyone positioned, and what type of shot I wanted to use for that scene. My drafts are just quick boxes and stick figures. I've attached a copy of my draft from page 8 of Saiban - you can see that in a draft, you don't have to be perfect. I've made notes in my panels (for example, I might note to make the background black) - these help me with the final version. Oh yes, I'll say...here I want to give Ren a shocked look.
You may want to simply write out a draft.
Page one, panel one: see outside of fancy reception hall
Page one, panel two: show inside, lots of people dancing.
Page one, panel three: show assassin lurking in shadows through window
Page one, panel four: Show laughing, happy people - make it obvious its a wedding rehearsal party
However drafting it out works for you, do it. But I would suggest you do it, since it is easier to make the story flow.
Next week I'll discuss the differences between writing prose and writing manga.
If any readers want to share their ideas on how they approached writing, please feel free to comment.
Writing fan-fic is a lot of fun. Its also a great way to polish your skills as an author. However, it is also the easiest fiction to ruin. A lot of fan-fic can be, let's face it, painful to read. There are some fan fics out there that make having a root canal without any Novocain a better option than reading the story. The question is, how do you make your fan-fic stand out and be fabulous? Like my karate teacher always said, "never forget your basics - they are the core of your training."
The purpose of fiction is to entertain (well, there are sub-purposes, but for the sake of simplicity, we'll keep it at the basics) As an author, you want to attract readers and keep them reading. If they can't even get through the first few pages of your story without wanting to kill themselves , you've failed. Not only will your readers stop reading, but they won't look at anything new you wrote. In order to keep your readers entertained, you must pull them out of their world and into yours.
Mr and Mrs Smith
Creation of characters is vital to fiction. If you are writing fan-fic, you already have a whole set of characters ready-made to work with. If you are inserting your own character into someone else's world, then you must remember to follow a few certain rules. Lets start with character creation.
You should know everything there is to know about your character. Her name, her age, her height, hair and eye colour, fav food, likes and dislikes...and, most importantly but often overlooked: her hopes, dreams, and fears. Knowing that she likes to eat cake for breakfast is just not enough. What are her goals for her future life? How is she achieving those goals? Does she want to become a great chef? A famous author? Or something simple, like a mother...or maybe just have a happy life . Maybe she doesn't know what her long-term goals are...maybe her short term goals are to get a boyfriend or pass her final exams. It doesn't matter what they are - and here's the best part - or even if you tell your readers what they are - it just matters that you know. Personality of your character will begin to take shape once you know every tiny detail about her, down to what side of her mouth she chews on.
Don't skimp on personality: is she a klutz? A brain? Great at figuring out puzzles? Skilled at athletics? Does she love baseball? Or play soccer? Is she spiteful and mean or sweet and kind? The bottom line is: Know Your Character Better Than You Know Yourself!!
My How You've Grown!!
This is where the danger in creating a fan character, or OC, comes in. The general trend is to create what has been termed as a "Mary Sue" - or a completely perfect character. In order to generate sympathy for your character, to make your reader cheer for her, you must give her room for growth. This means that she is not born perfect. This means she has some sort of flaw or trouble to overcome. It could be as simple as overcoming dyslexia to become an honor-roll student, or overcoming her fear of confrontation to become a fine shinobi. But if she's already perfect and can do everything perfectly, and save the world because she's so perfect...YAWN. NEXT!! It makes for dull fiction. No, it makes for painful fiction.
A case in point are the Mary Sues generated by the glut of Naruto Fan-Fic. I've seen a lot of OCs from Naruto who have to do EVERYTHING...so they get the curse mark, join the Akatsuki, have a tailed beast sealed inside them....just so everyone knows, its already been done by Kishimoto-sensei. If you are creating a fan-fic character for a series you love, give them something different than what has already been used. Try something different! Remember, copying someone else's idea is just that: copying. It requires no skill on your part as an author and fails to pull your reader into the story.
It Was A Dark And Stormy Night....
Description is key. You don't have to go overboard, however. Description can be used a lot like colour in a painting to create a mood. This is an area where most people fall short when creating fan-fic. THEY ASSUME THEIR READER KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!! Yes. I yelled at you. Sorry about that, but this is the single biggest mistake that many, many people make.
Lets re-visit Naruto as your setting for your fan-fic. You've got your OC, and you've crafted her into a well-rounded character with hopes, dreams, flaws, and fears. She hasn't been bitten by anyone, joined any criminal organization, or had anything sealed inside her. Now you're ready to make her interact with the other characters in Naruto that were created by Kishimoto-sensei.
Wrong: OC ran past Naruto on her way to the Hokage's office. He was standing just outside the door in his usual clothes with a backpack on.
Here's what's wrong: for the sake of argument, we'll assume you've already introduced your OC. However, who is Naruto? What is a Hokage? What does Naruto's usual clothes look like?
You should write as if the person you are writing for has never, ever read Naruto, and has no clue who any of these people are.
Right: OC ran as fast as she could to the Hokage's office. "I'm going to be late," OC fretted. The Hokage, leader of the entire ninja village where OC lived, was not a woman who tolerated lateness. OC flew past Naruto, who was standing just outside the Ramen Shop. He was wearing an orange jacket with white cuffs and a white neckline and matching orange trousers that OC always thought resembled sweat-pants, in a way. She gave him a nod and he nodded back. She noticed he had a backpack slung over one shoulder and wondered if the misfit ninja was off on another mission. His short, spiky blond hair always made him look cheerful, but there was a determined set in his blue eyes.
There. From this paragraph your readers know the following: They live in a ninja village. The Hokage is the title for the leader of the village. Naruto is a blue eyed blonde who wears orange, and is probably a bit of a maverick and somewhat unlike the other ninjas in the village (remember the word "misfit"? - says a lot).
In order to pull your readers into the story, you must write it as if they had never read Naruto ,or Death Note, or Tokyo Mew Mew or Inu-Yasha. You must describe each established character as you would your own character. You must never assume that they know what Light's Usual clothes are, or who Sesshomaru is.
On a side note, when using description, don't say, "a big white thing that Seshomaru wore over his shoulder." This is not description. This "thing" could be a shower curtain or a dead polar bear. Better is, Lord Sesshomaru wore a long train of thick white fur over his shoulder that trailed down his back.
Remember, description should be used to create a mood, or simply to inform your readers where you are, what people look like, who everyone is....and, most important, Show -don't tell.
Brother, can you spare a Plot?
Ah, plot! Yeah, you have to come up with one of those. And when you are creating your own world, you can do whatever you want. If you want to have a monk that shoots lasers from his eyes and has a gun for a hand...go for it. Just don't set it in Warring States Japan - its not believable. You're readers will get that far and say, "yeah, right!!" and quit reading. You could, however, make your future Monk fall through a time hole and land in Warring States Japan. Now...they keep reading.
If you are creating fan-fic, you really must work within the world already given to you. This is the part where a lot of people are going to get mad at me, but here's the thing: Uchiha OCs. According to the world created by Kishimoto-sensei, the entire Uchiha clan in Konoha (the ninja village where they lived) was wiped out. The only three survivors were Sasuke, Itachi, and Madara. Unless your Uchiha OC was hiding in the bathroom or away on vacation, it Just Isn't Possible that they survived the slaughter.
But I WANT to create an Uchiha OC, you say. The Uchihas are wicked cool and can do all kinds of neat stuff!!! Ah, there is a way around it. Take what has been established by the author: The Uchihas were present when the village was founded. What if...what if a few members of the Uchiha clan, upset at Madara's attempt at total power, slunk off in the middle of the night and lived as rogue ninjas (or, like ronin). They adhered to no village, just lived a nice, peaceful life...wherever (create the place). They got married (not to each other) and had kids and some of those kids developed the Uchiha trait of the powerful eye technique, the Sharingan. Then, war or disease or whatever you want forced this small clan to move on...and your OC stumbles across the ninja village where the rest of the Uchihas were slaughtered. Then they decide to stay there, and Ta Da: you have created an Uchiha OC. While something like this is unlikely...it certainly would be believable that it COULD happen...which is all you really need.
Your plot must be believable. If it isn't, if it goes against the established rules of the world in which you insert your OC, then it will not suspend belief and keep your reader interested. In fact, your fiction would probably be used as a "what NOT to do" lesson.
A plot should have conflict and resolution. There should be something moving the story along. Reading about two people talking while at the beauty parlor or while shopping at the mall is DULL DULL DULL (unless something exciting is about to happen at the mall). The conflict can be as simple as two best friends fighting to saving the entire world. But you must have some action moving the story forward.
A word on advice: I have always read that you should "write what you know." I would change this to "know what you write." If you want to create an OC and put them in the world of King Arthur, then read as much as you can about what life in England was like at that time. If you can't convince your readers that they are there, you need to fall back and punt...and do more research. An Arthurian OC would probably not break a china plate, since those were not something they had in the days of yore. Since trade with the east wasn't established at that time, there is not much of a chance that your OC would wear silk.
The same holds true for putting your OC into Feudal Japan. Takahashi-sensei did this beautifully by giving Kagome the ability to bring her modern things through the well, which is why we see her riding around on a bike in Feudal Japan. Of course, she created the world, so she can make up the rules. Once you establish the rules of your world, you must stick with them.
If the rules of the world you put your OC in aren't synchronized with the plot you have in mind...Change your plot, not the rules. There are ways around everything...if you are clever enough.
Art of the Craft:
When you are drawing, you are already aware that your picture has to flow (if this is news to you, you probably should go back to practicing your art skills as well). Colours, shading, background...it all has to flow into one beautiful piece. Writing is much the same way. One way to flow is to vary the length of your sentence.
Wrong: OC got up. She took a shower. She went down to breakfast. Ninjas attacked. OC fought them. (anyone falling asleep yet?)
Right: OC woke up to a dull grey sky. Its probably going to rain all day, she thought. She liked the rain. As she ran down for breakfast, ninjas suddenly attacked. Nobody Interrupts MY pop tarts, OC thought angrily. (you get the idea)
Make sure your readers know who's talking. You don't have to put "said OC" after everything she says, but if the conversation is long, you may want to break in every so often to establish who is saying what.
I would like to thank the Academy...
Now you've got it all pulled together: you've crafted your OC. You know you have to write using lots of description, and you have followed the rules of the world in which you've put your OC (or cleverly worked around them so it still sounds believable). I'm going to stress this point again, since I can't stress it enough: you want your OC to be related to Naruto. It has been established he was an only child and an orphan. So your OC cannot be a sibling. However, it COULD be a cousin. Perhaps Naruto's mother had a sister in the village where she came from, and that sister had children. Instant cousin, related to Naruto. Changing the rules (she's Naruto's sister just because she is) is not acceptable. Changing your plot (she's Naruto's cousin and they are as close as brother and sister) is.
You are ready to create a wonderful story that will leave your readers wanting to read more from you. Go! Write! Be!
End
