Jump to content

Getting into the manga scene?


ItsSammy

Recommended Posts

I was just wondering how an aspiring writer would break into the manga scene ... I have this idea I've been working on for the last few months and I have the plot, all the character details, backstories and quite a few lines I already know I want in the story.

 

I could write it as a book but I would have to focus on only one of the main characters that way and although I do have a main main character I just think it would be way easier to understand and keep everything together better if I could have it focus on each character about the same amount of time ... You know?

If I write it as a book I'd focus on the main guy and you'd only see everything from his perspective, but if I wrote it as a manga then you could see it from his perspective while also seeing what the other characters are doing while he's not around, which is a big deal because this particular book deals with the secrets and struggles of each character.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
On 9/30/2017 at 9:27 PM, ItsSammy said:

I was just wondering how an aspiring writer would break into the manga scene ... I have this idea I've been working on for the last few months and I have the plot, all the character details, backstories and quite a few lines I already know I want in the story.

 

I could write it as a book but I would have to focus on only one of the main characters that way and although I do have a main main character I just think it would be way easier to understand and keep everything together better if I could have it focus on each character about the same amount of time ... You know?

If I write it as a book I'd focus on the main guy and you'd only see everything from his perspective, but if I wrote it as a manga then you could see it from his perspective while also seeing what the other characters are doing while he's not around, which is a big deal because this particular book deals with the secrets and struggles of each character.

It is not necessarily true that you need to focus on only one character if you write it in prose format. There are many different points of view found in writing overall.

Yes, a lot of a fiction is written in first person now, but you also have third person limited and third person omniscient. The latter is what you want to use when you want to put focus on more than one character.

Unfortunately, people think it is fine if you switch narrator every so often to do that, yet still keep the first person point of view.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Wedgy said:

I find that switching perspectives every so often turns out to be a really fun way to write the story, and can also be more fun to the readers due to the resulting meta-information it brings. The thing you want to certainly keep a close eye on however is to make sure you don't accidentally bleed meta into your characters' intended knowledge bases.

There is also the issue of characters not having their own voice. I kind of forgot which one it is in the trilogy (probably the last one), but the Divergent series is a good example of this problem.

For reasons like this, third person omniscient is usually the best when you want to cover multiple perspectives. It is not that first person cannot do it, but that it has far more limits than first person, which is why first person is meant to give focus on only a single character and what they do 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@brycec@WedgyI have read a few books with such perspectives but I was trying to figure out how to get all the characters perspective while also having it from their point of view so you could see what they were feeling and going through ... I'm not sure I could get this across in a third person perspective because this book is all about the emotions and inner turmoil within each character.
I have four main characters right now and I really need the main guys perspective because he's really complex and emotionally ... Strange. If I tried to describe him from a third person perspective it would be really hard and come across as kind of messy probably, due to the fact that he rarely expresses his actual thoughts I feel like I would have to use a first person perspective from him for the reader to actually understand him.
The secondary character is a little less complex and I may be able to describe him well enough from the third person perspective but I honestly think the story would come out really messy and sloppy here and there because it's based entirely around the emotions (or lack thereof) of each character ...
The third character is quite straight forward, although she does hide a massive secret from the main guy and therefor a third person view may work ... Although it's imperative to see what she's thinking as well, but I'm decently confident that I could at least get her feelings across from a third person perspective.
The last character is extremely hard to get across from a third person perspective since he's kind of a sociopathic mute child ... Yeah ... Not really much to work with in the department of possibilities.
I'm open to trying just about anything and I think I may ... Maybe, be able to work with the third person perspective, although I'm not really sure. I've also read some books with chapters that alert the reader to which character's perspective you're reading it from, but the thing is, I want you to get all the characters perspectives in each chapter because if you're just getting one side of the story you won't understand the guys reason for doing what he does, or you won't get to see what the girl thinks, you won't be able to tell how they all feel when something happens and I know I could try just using facial expressions and words to express it, but honestly ... I've kind of backed myself into a corner what with 3 of the main characters being the kind of people who don't say what they're thinking or feeling, one of them being completely mute, one being quite normal but you still really need her perspective to understand everything ... I just think a manga would work, what with actually being able to see the characters expression, body language, ticks and also being able to see what the other characters are thinking without it being from their "perspective" per say.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That makes a bit of sense.

Of course, it would not really flow too well in first person, which is why I strongly encourage third person omniscient over third person limited or first person.

with third person omniscient, you have a narrator that knows everything and can express what each character feels and such, which is why it is referred to as “the fly on the wall”.

As you say, many works on manga can do this quite well, and is mostly because it utilizes third person limited, in that you only get the thoughts of the characters that you see, but with what you want, omniscient seems better.

It is your choice to do what you want though, and I might be willing to check it out either way. Just don’t take my opinion too hard, since I can come across as harsh, even if I do not mean to be.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...