Ryan Dave Jimenez

Oh yeah I forgot about that. You're right there might be promos or so. But I just really hate crowds. haha

As suggested by @ArchieKun I am re-posting this from my Anime Forums Blog. Well actually, I'm moving it here. Because it seems this is where it belongs. I can always blog about something else anyway. Disclaimer: I am not a professional writer. I don't even see myself as a writer. But I do want to create stories and so I am learning how to make them. I just want to share the things I've picked up along the way. And hope it can help others. So here we go. Every creative project starts with an idea. This idea compels an artist to act. The artist then starts creating. And in the end, you get something creative. A manga is no different. Before you can draw, you have to write, and before you write, you have to get ideas. Particularly, story ideas. But how do you get story ideas? And not just any story idea. How do you get good story ideas? Mind Mapping Start by getting a pen and piece of paper. (Or use your computer like I did.) Write down any word that comes into your mind. It doesn't matter what it is. Any will do. Ball. (That’s a word that crossed my mind as I’m typing this) Next, write down another word that is related to the first one. Basketball. (Ball was my first word) Add a third word that is related to the second one. Lebron James. (Basketball was my second word) Keep going until you can’t think of any related words anymore. Let’s say I got stumped at my fourth word. (LA Lakers) Ball > Basketball > Lebron James > LA Lakers Go back to the previous word and think of a new related word. (I go back to Lebron James) GOAT. (A new word that relates to Lebron James) Continue until you run out of words. Go back to the previous word if that happens. Repeat until you’re out of new words. Ball > Basketball – Lebron James > LA Lakers > ??? Ball > Basketball > Lebron James > GOAT > beard > ??? Ball > Basketball > Slam Dunk! > ??? Ball > Volleyball > ??? Ball > ??? I can now come up with story ideas thanks to my finished mind map. Here are a few: A manga where the main hero is trying to get in the NBA. A great basketball player reincarnated as a goat. A manga where there is a futuristic sport combining basketball and volleyball. Mind mapping is a technique that helps you generate ideas. It’s typically used in business but I found it to be effective in creative endeavors too. However, the quality of ideas generated will depend on your ability to read between the lines. Do not look at a mind map literally! Let your creativity flow to get the best results. Once you have selected a story idea we can now move on to the next step. Expanding that story idea. What ideas did your mind map generate? Feel free to share them below. Or add any other tips and tricks you have for brainstorming story ideas.

Linus Tech Tips. A channel that combines comedy and anything Technology related. The Anime Man. For anything anime related. Thin Matrix He's an amazing guy who makes games. Ur Avg Consumer Sometimes I like to watch unboxings of things I will never buy. And like most people I also randomly watch videos. I wish You Tube would come up with a random video generator. I know there are unofficial ones out there, but it would be so much easier if it was built right into You Tube. You Tube recommendations are great, but sometimes it gets repetitive. I want to broaden my viewing habits and not just watch the same stuff over and over again.

I'm also a big fan of School Rumble. Probably my favorite comedy series. Sure wished they made another season. Aside from the great recommendations already mentioned, Welcome to the NHK. It's about a shut-in (he never leaves his apartment) who tries to overcome his social anxiety and turn his life around. K-On! Cute girl doing cute things I suppose. Skip if you hate those types of shows. Other than that, its just a pleasant watch. 4 girls who are in a school rock band just hanging out sometimes playing music mostly just eating sweets. Great Teacher Onizuka A delinquent when he was young, now a teacher in highschool. He basically helps change the lives of his students. Genshiken A slice of life about an otaku club in school. Watch if you're into doujinshi, Gun Pla, Cosplay, Videogames anything nerd related.

Valentines falls on a week day here so like most people, I will be working. After that, a simple date with my girlfriend. Nothing special or fancy. Just a regular date. It could get annoying though as there will be a lot of couples out too. So every park, mall, restaurant will be packed for sure. I guess that's why some have their dates at home.

Welcome! Hope you enjoy your stay. Is Riah your real name? That would be pretty cool.

Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. It might help a lot more people. Thanks for the compliment but I don't really see myself as a writer. haha But I can do casual simple blog posts like this.

I use a free mobile app called Series Guide. It's made my life so much easier. It also works for TV shows not just anime. Here's a screenshot: It keeps track of my progress in watching. So for Haikyuu!! I'm at season 2 episode 17 For Clannad I'm at season 2 episode 1 and so on. Before I used to just memorize my progress. Well that didn't work out too well. haha @ArchieKun can you share a screenshot too? Of how you use a spreadsheet.

Wow!! You're really good at coloring. Is the third one water colored? The first drawing is amazing.

I haven't seen it yet because there are so many of them? I don't even know where to start. Are they sequels? Prequels? Spin offs? I'm just confused. Maybe someone can elaborate?

Can you tell us more about the project? To help get people excited to join?

This is the third entry in a series on how to make your own web manga. The story structure we came up with in the previous post is good enough that we can start drawing. However, you might want to expand it more so your story will have polish. Here’s a look at our current story: As previously mentioned, a basic story structure is composed of a beginning, middle, and end. An advanced story structure meanwhile has a: Beginning Beginning (that’s not a typo) Middle Beginning End Beginning Beginning Middle Middle Middle End Middle Beginning End Middle End End End Confusing isn’t it? It will start to make sense once you realize what’s going on. We are just taking our 3 main parts (beginning, middle, end) and adding another 3 parts to each one. Beginning gets its own (beginning, middle, end) Middle also gets a (beginning, middle, end) and the same thing happens with End. Let’s see it in action. Beginning Beginning Takeji is a nerdy highschool boy. He’s quite tall and gets bullied for it constantly. This makes him want to quit school. Middle Beginning The bullies who usually give Takeji trouble are 4 boys from the school swimming club. Their leader is a boy named Kaiba. One day during gym class, Kaiba steals Takeji’s shoes without him noticing. He then hides it somewhere leaving Takeji no choice but to walk home on barefoot. End Beginning Because of this latest act of bullying, Tajeki no longer wants to go to school. He cries and begs his parents to let him drop out. He would start looking for work instead. His parents eventually give in and agree that in a week he would be stopping school. Beginning Middle On his last day, Takeji bumps into a transfer student named Hayato who is also tall. Hayato asks if he plays basketball. Takeji says he has never even heard of the sport. Shocked, Hayato shows him an NBA game. Middle Middle Lying in bed that night Takeji couldn’t sleep. He was thinking about the basketball game Hayato showed him. For reasons he didn’t know, he wanted to play basketball. The next day he shocks his parents telling them he wants to continue school. He then finds Hayato who agrees to teach him the game of basketball. End Middle While training, Takeji surprises Hayato by telling him he wants to try out for the school basketball team. When Hayato asks why? Takeji says he wants to make it to the NBA and play against the best players in the world. Beginning End Takeji and Hayato sign up for the upcoming tryout. There they meet 2 players from the school basketball team named Shinzo and Chinatsu. Shinzo is surprised as to why the nerdy Takeji wants to try out for the team. He then warns him that he would soon regret his decision. Middle End The tryout begins. Takeji and Hayato pass the first 3 cuts and are on the final one. The final cut pits aspiring members against the school’s basketball players. It’s an intense game as Shinzo matches up with Takeji. End End Takeji and Hayato make the final cut and are now official members of the team. Takeji also earns Shinzo’s respect. But deep inside Takeji knows he barely made the team and realizes he has a long way to go.

All credit to @Greeneyes for starting the mini creative corner. And thank you to the staff for giving it another chance. I hope we all do our best to keep it spam free from now on.

It looks good. Are you gonna color it?

I've heard bad things about Black Clover. Mainly on how annoying the main character is. haha I haven't watched it though. Have you watched Cells At Work? It's quite popular even if you're not into biology Or A Place Further Than The Universe? Heard really good things about it Violet Evergarden. A must watch anime for me. If you want something about mature romance. And Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Senpai. Heard good things about it too

Oh wow. I didn't know that. It sounds cool. I better try it out

Cool. I'm trying too as well. But I'm starting with fan made stuff first. To get better. Keep up the good work though @Greeneyes made the backgrounds. That's if you were referring to me. haha

@Greeneyes created a mini creative corner. You can post there for now. It's right here: If it has enough interest the staff might consider bringing the official creative corner back.

This is the second entry in a series on how to make your own web manga. Now that you have a story idea we can start expanding it. For the sake of continuity, let’s say my chosen story idea is: We have an idea. Not a story. In its current form, it’s useless. It doesn’t give us much information. We have to take it from concept to actualization. We can do this by adding structure. Basic Story Structure Every good story has a beginning, middle, and end. Think of your favorite movie, book, or anime. They all have that. It’s what separates a good story from a bad one. Stories that don’t follow this tend to be incomplete and confusing. Beginning Takeji is a nerdy highschool boy. He’s quite tall and gets bullied for it constantly. This makes him want to quit school. Middle One day he meets a transfer student named Hayato who is also tall. Hayato shows him an NBA game. This motivates Takeji to learn the sport of basketball. With Hayato’s help he gets ready to try out for his school’s basketball club. End Takeji makes the cut and is accepted into the club. However, he also realizes how far he is from making it into the NBA. He has a lot to improve on first. This was only the first step of his long journey. Try reading this story again but skip the middle part. Confusing isn’t it? Club? What club? He wants to make it in the NBA? But why? I thought he wanted to quit school? Try reading it without the end part. It feels unfinished right? It makes you want to know what happened next. Was that it? That’s the whole story? Did he make his school’s basketball club? What is the “Beginning” for? This is where you do the introductions. Where does your story take place? Show the time period and setting. Reveal the main character and side characters. Give a taste of what people can expect. What is the “Middle” for? This is where you tell your story. This part will be longer than the beginning and end. The climax (highlight) of the story takes place here. The middle is the part that people find the most exciting. What is the “End” for? This is where you wrap things up. And provide a satisfying ending. You can also setup a sequel here. Like what I did in my example. Your story’s message should have already been delivered at this point. Our story idea has now been transformed into a complete story. Albeit a very short story. Next stop is to flesh it out some more.

Do you make anime wallpapers? If yes, I want to see some. Nice! Are you a webcomic artist?

Wow I agree with all of you. When I was at MAL I felt kinda ignored? If that's the right word. I guess it can't be helped as there are so many people there. Here in AF, it's a lot smaller but everyone is given equal attention. If that makes sense. Like a small city compared to a big city. And yes everyone here is nice and understanding.

What types of anime do you usually enjoy? Currently I'm watching Haikyu! Never been in to volleyball but it's a good show.

I actually started an account at My Anime List first before coming here. I was active for a short time on MAL but eventually left. I will return though in the future. This is not a, Which is better? topic. Both communities will have their pros and cons. But what are your experiences on the MAL community and what are your experiences here? Are they different? Or mostly the same?

Thank you. I hope it helps you. Yeah I want to get better at drawing so I didn't want to do any story writing yet. So I'm just turning the story into a manga. But in the future I want to make my own stories. Coz I have some ideas brewing in my head.

It's so mentally taxing. haha Do you have a blog here too? I want to support it.