Those who know me on Discord should be aware that I read a lot of "light novels", the term which is used in Japan to denote what we would normally describe as "young adult" novels. It does not actually mean anything about the size of the book (though a lot do tend to be on the shorter side; 200~300 pages). That said, though, there's some themes that I personally want to see, either at all or more of, which don't tend to show up in writing aimed at these markets. As a result, I've decided to try my hand at writing them myself.
That said, I have a really slow writing pace because I have a self-confidence issue, but I've been plugging away at it and have started to feel pretty good about what I've got. It's still early on, but I'd like to start putting it out there for commentary.
Right now there's a few projects I want to write, and I'll put their descriptions and link to any drafts below.
The Sword In The Darkness Came From Another World
I picked up a LN called A Wild Last Boss Appears!, which is about a MMO player waking up as their overpowered character, one of the "isekai" (lit. "Another World") sub-genres. In this one, the twist that really grabbed me is that the player (a guy) plays a girl character. However, the book doesn't seem to be interested in talking much about a transgender experience. So, wanting to be the representation I want to see in the world, I'm looking to do just that.
Draft (6 Sept 20)
Untitled Magical Girl Story
I'm still early on planning this one, but I've wanted to make a magical girl story for a while with an eye towards queer representation. I've always found magical girl stories to be "soothing", so I want to give back, so to speak. The rough concept I have going is that the girls get their power from accepting an aspect of themselves that they are repressing. Examples that I've been workshopping include one being gay, one being trans, and one dealing with being torn over expectations of "girlishness".
Matey Match
A while back I started planning out a Super Robot Wars-like setting for a game I wanted to make, plus for an old play-by-post SRW fangame I used to be a part of. The story was one of a small galactic nation finding an abandoned prototype mech and it turning the tides of the war against a large and powerful empire that's aggressively expanding. I don't think I'm capable of making the game anymore, but writing the story out as a LN seems more my speed instead.
That said, I have a really slow writing pace because I have a self-confidence issue, but I've been plugging away at it and have started to feel pretty good about what I've got. It's still early on, but I'd like to start putting it out there for commentary.
Right now there's a few projects I want to write, and I'll put their descriptions and link to any drafts below.
The Sword In The Darkness Came From Another World
I picked up a LN called A Wild Last Boss Appears!, which is about a MMO player waking up as their overpowered character, one of the "isekai" (lit. "Another World") sub-genres. In this one, the twist that really grabbed me is that the player (a guy) plays a girl character. However, the book doesn't seem to be interested in talking much about a transgender experience. So, wanting to be the representation I want to see in the world, I'm looking to do just that.
Draft (6 Sept 20)
Untitled Magical Girl Story
I'm still early on planning this one, but I've wanted to make a magical girl story for a while with an eye towards queer representation. I've always found magical girl stories to be "soothing", so I want to give back, so to speak. The rough concept I have going is that the girls get their power from accepting an aspect of themselves that they are repressing. Examples that I've been workshopping include one being gay, one being trans, and one dealing with being torn over expectations of "girlishness".
Matey Match
A while back I started planning out a Super Robot Wars-like setting for a game I wanted to make, plus for an old play-by-post SRW fangame I used to be a part of. The story was one of a small galactic nation finding an abandoned prototype mech and it turning the tides of the war against a large and powerful empire that's aggressively expanding. I don't think I'm capable of making the game anymore, but writing the story out as a LN seems more my speed instead.
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