Author Journey (September 9, 2024)
Last week, the day job kind of took over everything, which has continued into this week… However, that didn’t stop me from discovering something that has awoken a long-since-forgotten dream.
Author Journey (September 9, 2024)
Favourite Moment!
Obviously, having the day job take over my life was not my favourite moment. No, that came when I took a brief moment to inspect a new delivery – a couple of doujinshi! These are the first two doujinshi that I’ve ever bought although I knew about the concept for a while. I guess I had held off since my initial understanding was that doujinshi were basically fan-made erotic stories, often involving fan fiction. Now, this is true, but there’s also a lot more to them than that. Did you know that some mangaka actually release doujinshi under an alias when they have something that can’t be published through the traditional channels? Did you know that the creators of doujinshi often work in small groups called Sakuru (Circles in English)? They also produce lots of original fiction and some of it isn’t erotic.
Anyhow, having read my first doujinshi (the review is coming out on Thursday) a lightbulb went off in my head. I remembered how I spent a lot of my childhood drawing. In the early days, I loved comics like Garfield and would read the comic section in the daily newspaper every day. I drew my own and one day dreamed of having a published comic book. Then, life took over and things that were seen as childish got pushed aside for more grown-up stuff like sports and partying (I know! The irony!) However, having seen the world that doujinshi exist in made me realise that I can make my own comic. Of course, it will follow a manga format as that is almost exclusively what I read now. Not only that, but I have a pile of short stories that would be perfect for converting into a forty to sixty-page doujinshi (and yes, most are not erotic). This has been an exciting revelation. The more I explore the world behind the scenes of doujinshi, the more exciting the prospect becomes.
The Week That Was…
With work occupying the day and evenings, I was left trying to catch up in the nights. That meant that I could only really focus on a couple of things. I decided to prioritise my exercise and managed to total more than ten kilometres on six out of seven days. It felt really good to get back into the swing of things, even if my cold hasn’t completely gone. During my runs, I continued to watch Delicious in Dungeon and having a show like that has been a big help. The more I watch, the more I enjoy it and that makes me want to get back on the treadmill and watch some more. I had a similar experience with Hell’s Paradise.
I did manage to finish the final two episodes of Keijo!!!!!!!! just in time and even squeezed in the second half of The Banished Former Hero Lives as He Pleases which was a challenge. Spoiler, I did not enjoy that one, although it will be a couple of weeks before my review is ready. Anyhow, I managed to read two and a half books on the weekend, but other than that there really wasn’t much time for anything else. In light of my doujinshi discovery, I have been coming up with ideas on how to proceed there. I don’t intend to do that instead of my writing so I’ll have to find a way to pull everything together.
Anime!
- Kaiju No. 8 (Season One) – Kaijuu 8-gou
- Keijo!!!!!!!! (Episode 10) – The Second East-West War Race!!!!
- Keijo!!!!!!!! (Episode 11) – The Castle of the Final Match!!!!
- Keijo!!!!!!!! (Episode 12) – The Heated Battle’s Rear-End!!!!
Manga!
- Parallel Paradise (Volume 1) – It’s a Curse!
- Gigant (Series Review)
- Kaiju No. 8 (Volume 4) – Looks Like This Game is a Draw
Goals
| Tasks | Goal | Completed |
|---|---|---|
| Anime Watched | 3 Episodes | 24 Episodes |
| Manga Read | 3 Books | 2.5 Book |
| Posts Scheduled | 7 Posts | 5 Posts |
| Chapters Written | 2 | 0 Chapters |
| Chapters Edited | 2 | N/A |
| Artwork | Cover | N/A |
Aspirations for the week!
I’ve decided that I will attempt to turn Samurai School for Girls into my first doujinshi. It’s a short story that I think would work nicely as a comic and I already have a few of the pages pictured in my head. My goal will be to turn the story into a script and then start storyboarding it with some rough images to see how it will work. Hopefully, all goes well and then I can start trying to draw them for real. As I said already, this is exciting.
I want to get my web novel going again and much like the doujinshi, those things are dependent on the day job calming down. In fact, this post going out later than normal is a result of that extra time pressure. I also need to keep the exercise going because it’s only through consistency that I’ll see any benefits of my efforts and I want to see those benefits.
As a result of things getting a little crazy, I am now in a situation where I only have four scheduled posts and only three of those are for this week. I have five season reviews to write up and I need to get started on the episode reviews of the next show that I’ll be covering after Keijo!!!!!!!! once I’ve written up its season review. There’s so much to do and so little time. I guess, I had better get to work. Thanks for reading!
Pesky real-life obligations! They’re getting in my way, too!
I know, right! Shouldn’t AI and robots be doing all the work now so that humanity can focus creative projects and advancing the species. That’s what sci-fi in the 80s was telling us… Damn it! We were lied to.
Interesting revelation about doujinshi! Sounds like you’re leaning into both writing and visual art, and that could be interesting.
I grew up reading Marvel comics. I am deeply disappointed in what’s happened in the US comics/graphic novels genre — so many reboots and retreads. I’m trying to limit my consumption (because if I don’t, there goes my writing time!), but when I read anything like that, it’s manga now. to the point I picked up an old graphic novel I have lying around and wondered why it was out of sequence (I’d tried to read it right to left).
I’ll second ChibiChonk’s observation about real life. It’s kinda relentless in terms of demands on my time.
Yeah, It feels surprisingly natural since when I’m writing, I see every scene like a director watching it happen. I’ve always loved to draw and this seems like a great way to pull everything together.
I read a fair amount of Marvel comics too, but like you I got tired of the reboots and reimaginations. Now, there’s not easy point of entry. At least with manga, when the story ends, that’s it. Go pick up another manga and start a new story. Their reluctance to let a story end is killing them.
And yeah. We should be working less with the advances in technology, but things just keep piling up. Never enough time for the things that matter, which is really sad!
May you be able to handle your day job along with family duties and the creative stuff with a balanced attempt though I can understand robots (as long as they aren’t built with a “too much intelligence” CPU) needed to run the household, especially cleaning stuff.
And yes, generally doujinshis are often erotic works self-published and sold at a Comiket kind of event. I do believe your words when they don’t always have to be drawn and written with erotic themes.
As for drawing, it’s good you decide to socialise that area. I wish I got the same motivation since I acknowledge the importance of visual impacts, but for now, I’m busy in handling so many words to describe every scene in my ongoing series, especially the fight scenes which the latest one is the most difficult to describe so far, not to mention it must aligned with my protagonist’s mindset and the equipment/skills she must use.
If I can either find a robot maid or give up the day job I think I would be fine, however, neither of those things seem like something that will happen in the near future…
Yes, I’m aware of Comiket and the way that has influenced the fair use copyright laws in Japan and how it only becomes a problem if the owner of the original material objects. I wonder how that will change now that doujinshi are available online. I ordered mine from a website and they are completely original, but I’m sure there are places that sell the fan-fiction stuff too. Erotica does seem to be a large part of it, but it’s not everything.
Bizarrely, I think having images in the work or a work that is entirely image based like a manga or doujinshi opens up the path to anime. Being able to see the characters makes it an easier project to adapt… at least, that’s my hopes anyhow. I just need to brush up on my skills, but I think if I put the time in, it’ll come back to me in no time. It’s just finding the time. Where is my robot maid?