Writing by cool bit
As those of you who ordered Project Blue Rose will soon see, I have a brief essay in it which is mostly about shame and shamelessness, but also explains how the story is basically a patchwork of elements and images which I thought were cool or sexy or touching. I don't have it in front of me right now, but I think the list included men in glasses, psychic kids, trenchcoats, black helicopters, barbecue, flower imagery, extreme competence as a compensation for loneliness and social awkwardness, and sexual tension between snarky bickering partners.
What I think is fun to write and fun to read generally makes an appearance in anything I write anyway, but some stories start with other things and then accrete cool bits, and some stories grow out of the cool bits. Butterfly Kick, my pet manga project which will find a home some day, grew out of one very specific cool bit, which is martial arts, but is otherwise not in that vein, as it's intended to be fairly realistic. Project Blue Rose, on the other hand, is more in the realm of fantasy, both in the sense of being science fiction and in the sense of the fantasies that run through our minds: daydreams, wish-fulfillment, and images that please the eyes. The story grew out of the cool bits.
telophase and I hope to continue Project Blue Rose, and are also beginning work on a new (temporarily) Secret Project. And will no doubt have more Secret Projects some day.
What are your cool bits? What are the themes and stories and images and moments that you love to see?
Now, don't give me any really specific plot you want to use yourself, because if I like yours too, I will be inspired to swipe them and use them in my next manga.
Do you love boys with wings, amnesia, girls disguised as boys, kisses on the nape of the neck, Meiji Japan, prominent collarbones, south Indian martial arts weapons, cold female assassins, one person lighting another's cigarette, sentient weapons, pyrokinesis, autumn leaves, izakayas, road trips, selkie legends, Old West gunfights, 1940s American fashion, or...?
Tell me what you love.
What I think is fun to write and fun to read generally makes an appearance in anything I write anyway, but some stories start with other things and then accrete cool bits, and some stories grow out of the cool bits. Butterfly Kick, my pet manga project which will find a home some day, grew out of one very specific cool bit, which is martial arts, but is otherwise not in that vein, as it's intended to be fairly realistic. Project Blue Rose, on the other hand, is more in the realm of fantasy, both in the sense of being science fiction and in the sense of the fantasies that run through our minds: daydreams, wish-fulfillment, and images that please the eyes. The story grew out of the cool bits.
telophase and I hope to continue Project Blue Rose, and are also beginning work on a new (temporarily) Secret Project. And will no doubt have more Secret Projects some day.
What are your cool bits? What are the themes and stories and images and moments that you love to see?
Now, don't give me any really specific plot you want to use yourself, because if I like yours too, I will be inspired to swipe them and use them in my next manga.
Do you love boys with wings, amnesia, girls disguised as boys, kisses on the nape of the neck, Meiji Japan, prominent collarbones, south Indian martial arts weapons, cold female assassins, one person lighting another's cigarette, sentient weapons, pyrokinesis, autumn leaves, izakayas, road trips, selkie legends, Old West gunfights, 1940s American fashion, or...?
Tell me what you love.