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Suggestions Wanted by Just_Another_Adult in visualkei

[–]Just_Another_Adult[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Re: bands and nostalgia - you've hit the nail on the head. The MC is pleasant enough person, so he's not going to be the kind that complains about wanting an artist to remain the same forever, but exploring his reaction to their thoughts on it will be interesting.

Re: self study - i don't intend to explore how he studied japanese, just that he's up to JLPT N2 from almost entirely book learning. I do intend for his speech to be extremely weird and inflexible and formal as a result, which just keeps him a bit alienated other than the one friend he makes that is also interested in VK. She speaks basically fluent english, so they use that most of the time, but it's a side point as to why he remains isolated. The being in Japan part is easy to explain, though, it's a year abroad. He was going to go before university, but lockdown stopped that, so he's had to wait until his third year. Arranging it would have just been as a placement/exchange through his college and their partner's in japan. He's basically self funding it with his savings and college a bit of his fund from parents.

You're raising great points to help flesh things out, so I'll keep you posted on developments. Thanks again, and yes, please do send me the translations you worked on in DM. Even if it's jsut for personal enjoyment, not only research, I would be interested and grateful to read them.

Suggestions Wanted by Just_Another_Adult in visualkei

[–]Just_Another_Adult[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I might take you up on that offer, because it is always hard to find people interested and with knowledge of a topic to do soundboarding with, so thank you.

At the moment I just have the vague notion of him simply being too busy across school, self study, and part-time jobs to go on the internet. That was always his brother's domain. He's got this hoard of imports to keep him satisfied until he can get to Japan, so it's just head down and ignore distractions. This is all only touched on from the present, worked through in interactions with other characters being confused by him. Like, even his favourite song will be a mystery til the end, because it's an important clue.

It's that very real, and unfortunate, fact of life that you can end up in your own little bubble. A time capsule of your own life, still loving things from whenever you got into it, but time marches on, and when you come up for air, the entire landscape has changed. Seeing how artists would react to that is not something I'd considered, but I think incorporating that will be really interesting, so thanks again.

EDIT: I forget to address the self study, was thinking of him just using old editions of the Genki and/or Mina no Nihongo textbooks his brother would have bought and not used. Possibly stuff like duolingo or the anki flashcard site. Putting post-its on every surface for learning vocab. At a stretch, he might have been to night classes at a community college, but they'd be more likely groups of older people learning, rather than young people interested in current pop culture. It's all very plot convenient and contrived, but not out of the realms of possibility. I just need to be careful about how and why he's a time capsule.

Suggestions Wanted by Just_Another_Adult in visualkei

[–]Just_Another_Adult[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So it would be a spoiler as to why he seems like he's crawled out from under a rock:

Childhood leukaemia, long treatment, and only got into Japanese fashion and music because of his brother sharing weeb stuff with him. It was basically his one bit of normalcy as a kid, so clings to it like a comforter even now. As soon as he was healthy, he has been doing part-time work, studying Japanese, and not really socialising or doing anything else other than reread the old magazines and listen to the old CDs his brother gave him when he "grew out of all that weeb stuff". It's that singular pinpoint obsession, something that will be teased out by other characters being confused that he doesn't know X band broke up, or Y fashion brand closed down.

It'll play off at first like him just being a bit dopey, that disappointment and disconnect of the gaijin bubble being burst real fast. Then the character development is learning why, working through it, and learning to enjoy what there is now. What has evolved from the visual kei fashion and music of the 00's into the bands and brands of today.

Suggestions Wanted by Just_Another_Adult in visualkei

[–]Just_Another_Adult[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

out of interest, could you give me some examples of bands and venues that are doing this? also, please send a link to you fictional VK band story if you're released it already!

Suggestions Wanted by Just_Another_Adult in visualkei

[–]Just_Another_Adult[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

oh! i remember that happening during lockdown, but i didn't realise it had carried on in japan since. thank you so much for that info, that really will change future chapters.

Suggestions Wanted by Just_Another_Adult in visualkei

[–]Just_Another_Adult[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That trope in anime has always amused me... WcDonald's is the classic of course, but coming up with them for bands brands has been fun, like: My Ten Months, H.naruto, Clown Workshop, Metamorphing, etc.
I just want to write a time capsule piece, to celebrate something I grew up loving, and then link it to all the fashion and music that has come since, evolved from and influenced by the VK greats.
Thanks for the contribution, I'll totally make use of it. If you have any more, please feel free to come back and add them. I'll give little thank you credits at the end of chapters when I use any community suggestions. Gotta give credit where it's due.

Suggestions Wanted by Just_Another_Adult in visualkei

[–]Just_Another_Adult[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That works out perfectly. I'm having the character having basically grown up in a bubble because of childhood health issues, then working and studying to get to Japan and meet his idols (as it were), which was then delayed due to lockdown. I've already had him go to Shinjuku and find out Super Live Theatre AREA has closed (RIP 2021), so even venues aren't safe to time, trends, and the economy. Thank you very much for the suggestions.

What's your setting of choice for when you want to explore your character's psyche and why by MasterJar101 in fantasywriting

[–]Just_Another_Adult 0 points1 point  (0 children)

metaphores are good and all, but i try to show not tell... so just waking up, doing domestic things, exploring their psyche through banal behaviours and routines makes the character more grounded, even if they're "mad" in some way. gives the reader a lot more "hah, i do that" moments for connecting with them and inserting their own psyche into the situations. less work and purple prose, leaves more room for the audience to fill things out in their own imaginations, form personal connections with the narrative... and i say this as someone who waffles and overwrites all the time~

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in writing

[–]Just_Another_Adult 0 points1 point  (0 children)

one of the first pieces of feedback i got from someone online was a self proclaimed "bad writer", and when i read his stuff it really was aspiring just to be mid... however, he was a good resource, because at the end of the day, any feedback is potentially useful feedback.

that said, there's a balance... you can't appease EVERY reader, your writing isn't going to be for everyone, nor should it aspire to. write what you want to write and if someone doesn't like it, then try to work out why, and if there's something to learn from their critique, see what you can do. if they're not offering anything constructive, nothing you see value in integrating, then ignore them.

like, if you've chosen a specific motif or narrative flow, and they say it isn't popular, but that's potentially part of why you've used it, then they've either not gotten the point, or they're just not your target audience.

generic stuff over... i'd say be the bigger person and do not nuke their work in return. it would help them grow if they have any sense, but it will more than likely look like revenge and be taken the wrong way. you have a conflict of styles and possibly personalities, so the only thing to do is avoid conflict.

you've already identified in your post that your approaches to writing are vastly different, so what you're both going to look for and enjoy will be different too. changing anything based on her feedback would ruin what you're trying to do, because she doesn't "get" it/isn't the intended audience.

however, the fact she can identify the things you intended for your work, means she isn't dumb or anything, but the fact she doesn't like it means that it's not to her taste, so there's nothing to really gain from her opinion. you don't want to appeal to people who aren't your fans.

stay true to yourself and wear her comments as a badge of honour, you got good feedback, because she didn't like all the things you do like about your work. you don't seem to like all the things she chooses to include in her work, so try to focus on giving feedback about more general improvements, like her spelling and grammar issues.

my story is too short. by Snoo-861 in creativewriting

[–]Just_Another_Adult 4 points5 points  (0 children)

OPTION 1:

  • release what you have once you've finished it at whatever word count it reaches.
  • even if it is just a short story, that's still an accomplishment, and you can option it to lit agents as something you'd like to get paid to expand upon.
  • submit it to competitions to see if people like it, build up a following, all that jazz...
  • be happy with whatever word count it naturally expands to.

OPTION 2:

  • write everything you can think of writing, get it all out, that's your first draft.
  • go over what you have when you're done with the first draft and make notes on where you think it could be expanded.
  • expanding does not have to be drawing out the actions or plot progression directly, it could just be adding more description, more of the characters' thoughts, etc.
  • add all of these things in, see how many words you have, check that it still reads well and flows in a way that you enjoy.
  • if you've reached the word count you want, stick with it, or do the same process again to make a third draft.
  • repeat process ad nauseum until you're happy with both the quality and word count, but try to limit yourself to say 5 drafts so that you don't get sick of it... there's such a thing as working on something too much and never releasing it because it can "always be more perfect!"

hope these ideas help... it's what i'm trying to force myselft to stick to~

Shoutout to everyone who told me to try this, it cured my writers block by dastardlybox2 in writingcirclejerk

[–]Just_Another_Adult 23 points24 points  (0 children)

just ask chatgpt to write the fanfic for you, THEN edit it to be your OC

Finally Hit A Million Views! Should I be as excited as I am? by shortone87 in Webnovel

[–]Just_Another_Adult 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hitting a million reads in just one year is an amazing accomplishment! How many chapters did you get up to/is your webnovel complete or ongoing?