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.
