Project-ish?
Project-ish? Yes. It's just an idea right now, but I do intend to work on it later, perhaps over the summer. Just 5 days left of school. That means more time for graphics, hopefully, if my parents don't end up banning me from the computer over the summer. And at a request, I've cut the project-ish-thing to save space :)
First, an explanation of how the idea came about. I am a terribly, terribly shy person. I actually suspect I've got a social disorder. In kindergarden I was held back. Why? My teacher noticed I made absolutely no social advances to other children. I vaguely
remember prefering to stay in a corner playing by myself. Even now, I have difficulties confronting others, and it just doesn't feel normal. I look around and see kids chatting or goofing off with each other, while I sit there and wonder why I can't do that as well. I simply can't bring myself to approach someone and greet them, or hold conversations, or even speak in front of people. I've tried to break my way past this but I just can't seem to.
So this year we had some foreign exchange students from various parts of Asia. Two are from China. One is Lu Hong Yi. For some reason, I'm attracted to reserved, soft-spoken people, and that's what he is. I talked to him when I got the courage to. I was the one that did most of the forced talking. We were doing pretty well routine wise at the beginning of the year. I'd say hi to him in Chinese class, talk to him a bit during lunch, and say bye when school was out. And then my English teacher, Robert Tindel, died unexpectedly. After that I had no interest in anything and broke contact with Lu Hong Yi. A few times after that I tried talking to him but didn't see interest. I decided to give up when he kept making excuses to leave in the middle of conversation. I'd say hi to him every now and then and he would just..nod. I pretty much knew the problem lied in myself when I saw him talking (not just nodding and saying 'yeah') to other people on various occasions. On a last ditch effort, I wrote a little note in Chinese asking him to please e-mail me, if interested, and stuck it in his locker. I went outside and saw him talking to his host brother, and I assumed he'd gotten the note. Well, I forgot my homework and went back to get it. Either someone knocked the note off, because there aren't any openings in the lockers, or he had tossed it himself, I found it on the carpet. So much for my effort. I saw him a few days ago asking people to sign his yearbook. Did he ask me? No. I didn't expect him to. He'll be leaving for Taiwan tommorow and probably forget allll about me. I guess next time I take an interest in someone, I know not to beat around the bush for a fricking year and not get my hopes up in case of a let-down.
OKAY. For those of you who read through my long-winded explanation, here's how all that crap relates to my idea. Instead of staying in a depressed pit about it all, I've decided to convert it into a nice batch of Creative Juice. I think that will be my new slogan. Catchy? Eh, whatever, moving on. The idea will probably center around three main characters. Yes, the dreaded, overused, beaten-to-a-great-bloody-pulp Love Triangle. But not the normal 'girl must choose between two guys' shtick that's been plauging the creative world for ages. Although the story will center around a girl, she isn't the one who has to do the chosing. Instead the role is reversed to two men who must somehow come to a truce over this (un)lucky girl. Why will the conflict be interesting? Because humans are greedy. We almost always want what's best for ourselves. The conflict will not simply solve itself when there's two selfish, competing humans involved. The plot is so cliched because it's just so damn popular, especially with the Japanese audience, and a majority of the U.S audience as well. Not that I expect this to make it outside of my very small LJ.
Names, you ask? Names you'll have. The name Harumi stuck with me, and that's what the girl will be called. The first man will probably be named Kazuo, and the second, maybe Hiroshi. Will think of surnames later. As for the meat and potatoes, those can wait, because all this is still working itself out in my head. What this will have to do with my explanation is this: Harumi met Kazuo before at school..high school or junior school depending on her age. Like me, she beat around the bush too long and they went their seperate ways. Later on, she meets Hiroshi, doesn't beat around the bush, and makes various attempts to catch his interest at work, or school, or wherever the hell they'll be. The point is, they work with each other on a daily basis. But they aren't exactly friends, not enemies, either. His interest is only caught when she so happens to meet Kazuo again, and this time, he is interested. Or desperate. Whichever your little heart prefers. Oftentimes people only notice each other when there's someone in the way. Isn't life great like that?
Now, how exactly this will make it from my head onto paper is the problem. I'm caught between either writing it or drawing it. The one major problem is that I can't call creativity up at will, and that applies to both possibilities. My problem with writing is that I often get long blocks of absolute blah before I can cough something halfway decent up. My problem with drawing manga is I have very little patience for it. I just can't bring myself to draw manga! One thing that confuses me is the panel placement. I just don't know where to put it all, or what shapes they should be, or how to convey the story well through panels. So we'll just have to see. Comments? Suggestions? Omg-please-don't-do-it flames? Any feedback would be great.
First, an explanation of how the idea came about. I am a terribly, terribly shy person. I actually suspect I've got a social disorder. In kindergarden I was held back. Why? My teacher noticed I made absolutely no social advances to other children. I vaguely
remember prefering to stay in a corner playing by myself. Even now, I have difficulties confronting others, and it just doesn't feel normal. I look around and see kids chatting or goofing off with each other, while I sit there and wonder why I can't do that as well. I simply can't bring myself to approach someone and greet them, or hold conversations, or even speak in front of people. I've tried to break my way past this but I just can't seem to.
So this year we had some foreign exchange students from various parts of Asia. Two are from China. One is Lu Hong Yi. For some reason, I'm attracted to reserved, soft-spoken people, and that's what he is. I talked to him when I got the courage to. I was the one that did most of the forced talking. We were doing pretty well routine wise at the beginning of the year. I'd say hi to him in Chinese class, talk to him a bit during lunch, and say bye when school was out. And then my English teacher, Robert Tindel, died unexpectedly. After that I had no interest in anything and broke contact with Lu Hong Yi. A few times after that I tried talking to him but didn't see interest. I decided to give up when he kept making excuses to leave in the middle of conversation. I'd say hi to him every now and then and he would just..nod. I pretty much knew the problem lied in myself when I saw him talking (not just nodding and saying 'yeah') to other people on various occasions. On a last ditch effort, I wrote a little note in Chinese asking him to please e-mail me, if interested, and stuck it in his locker. I went outside and saw him talking to his host brother, and I assumed he'd gotten the note. Well, I forgot my homework and went back to get it. Either someone knocked the note off, because there aren't any openings in the lockers, or he had tossed it himself, I found it on the carpet. So much for my effort. I saw him a few days ago asking people to sign his yearbook. Did he ask me? No. I didn't expect him to. He'll be leaving for Taiwan tommorow and probably forget allll about me. I guess next time I take an interest in someone, I know not to beat around the bush for a fricking year and not get my hopes up in case of a let-down.
OKAY. For those of you who read through my long-winded explanation, here's how all that crap relates to my idea. Instead of staying in a depressed pit about it all, I've decided to convert it into a nice batch of Creative Juice. I think that will be my new slogan. Catchy? Eh, whatever, moving on. The idea will probably center around three main characters. Yes, the dreaded, overused, beaten-to-a-great-bloody-pulp Love Triangle. But not the normal 'girl must choose between two guys' shtick that's been plauging the creative world for ages. Although the story will center around a girl, she isn't the one who has to do the chosing. Instead the role is reversed to two men who must somehow come to a truce over this (un)lucky girl. Why will the conflict be interesting? Because humans are greedy. We almost always want what's best for ourselves. The conflict will not simply solve itself when there's two selfish, competing humans involved. The plot is so cliched because it's just so damn popular, especially with the Japanese audience, and a majority of the U.S audience as well. Not that I expect this to make it outside of my very small LJ.
Names, you ask? Names you'll have. The name Harumi stuck with me, and that's what the girl will be called. The first man will probably be named Kazuo, and the second, maybe Hiroshi. Will think of surnames later. As for the meat and potatoes, those can wait, because all this is still working itself out in my head. What this will have to do with my explanation is this: Harumi met Kazuo before at school..high school or junior school depending on her age. Like me, she beat around the bush too long and they went their seperate ways. Later on, she meets Hiroshi, doesn't beat around the bush, and makes various attempts to catch his interest at work, or school, or wherever the hell they'll be. The point is, they work with each other on a daily basis. But they aren't exactly friends, not enemies, either. His interest is only caught when she so happens to meet Kazuo again, and this time, he is interested. Or desperate. Whichever your little heart prefers. Oftentimes people only notice each other when there's someone in the way. Isn't life great like that?
Now, how exactly this will make it from my head onto paper is the problem. I'm caught between either writing it or drawing it. The one major problem is that I can't call creativity up at will, and that applies to both possibilities. My problem with writing is that I often get long blocks of absolute blah before I can cough something halfway decent up. My problem with drawing manga is I have very little patience for it. I just can't bring myself to draw manga! One thing that confuses me is the panel placement. I just don't know where to put it all, or what shapes they should be, or how to convey the story well through panels. So we'll just have to see. Comments? Suggestions? Omg-please-don't-do-it flames? Any feedback would be great.