Faerie Dark

After approximately 5 or so months, the first draft of “The City With No Animals” is complete! Yay!

That’s kind of a big deal!

It’s a good story. It definitely needs some work, but I feel like I have a strong foundation to go on. Now – onto building more framework for this project.

Each story has a series of projects to go with it – ways of exploring the world deeper and getting more of a feel for it. I call them “Material Collections”, after the Sailor Moon artbook of the same name. I’ve always loved supporting materials to go with stories – things that help you get further and further into that world. I think this will help make a more entertaining experience, and maybe even help me write better. Now that the first draft is done, I want to set it aside and work on some of 001′s Material Collection. After a series of these projects, I think I can go back and look at the story with new eyes – maybe having learned more about the world and characters than I knew before starting it.

Because this is the first story, it’s going to be some extra work setting up how I want things to look and progress as I move forward. What are essentials for each story? What are my goals? How do I want to express this story?

I think every story should include a character study of the main character(s). I think this is kind of crucial. The City With No Animals is in present, first person point of view – which lends to an intimate view of the world. I love the characters, their affinities, their thoughts. I think it’s the collection of characters and how they experience life that makes me want to write these stories.

As a writer, I struggled a bit with Mylene’s story because I worried she was too much like me. So much of what I was experiencing while writing went into the writing. For Mylene, that works because she is a lot like me – but what about when I want to branch out and work on other characters? Not all of them are going to think and react so much like me – I’ll need to understand their intimate details to be able to portray them well. Character studys are a good way to do this because they’ll help me get into their thoughts, feelings, and understand more of their experiences. It’ll also help me check up on continuity – since I’ll have to link their life history to people and places, I’ll be able to make sure it all fits together.

Another positive about making Material Collections is that writing is really repetitive work – it’s in the head, it’s on the chair, it’s hunched over the computer. I want to be able to create in different ways – so making things by hand or creating things that can be enjoyed other ways than just reading I think will be very balancing and help me become a good artist.

I think each Material Collection should have a cohesive sense of style and aesthetic. I love picking themes, colours, and projects that go with the theme of the story. Choosing symbols and colours for each character, through the character study, will create a pleasing framework to incorporate all the projects of each Material Collection.

The last point is monetization. Creating and selling the books for the stories is one source of income – but I think it’s more reliable and better business sense of to have multiple sources of income. Some of the projects for the Materials Collection can serve as alternate forms of income – since part of my desire is to gain a large part of my income through this website.

My next step is is to pick the projects I’d like to do for Mylene’s Material Collection, a time frame to work on them, and then get started!

I finished watching Paradise Kiss last night. I love it! It’s so inspiring!

Today, I’m thinking about George. During the last few episodes, when the tiara and necklace for the Grand Prix are confiscated – he chooses to dye roses blue to match the dress. When Arashi tells him he should just buy then, George tells him that Isabella put her heart into growing the roses so their use has meaning in their show. At one point, he calls himself a charlatan, showing people fleeting dreams.

George’s dramatic flair is compelling. It shows a commitment to the moment and bringing his dreams into reality.

He says there isn’t anything that’s impossible in the world of art.

Hearing that, I recall moments of inspiration I’ve had – watching a show, or reading something, or listening to something. I wanted to capture that feeling over and over again – being swept up in something beautiful.

It never lasted though. Eventually it felt like I’d have to abandon hope of holding it. I think I forgot that part of that inspiration was enjoying what it inspired me to create. I didn’t just feel good because I had seen something beautiful, I felt good because I also wanted to create something beautiful. That spark that someone else had given me – it could become a seed. I could make it into something more – something that would inspire others and given them that moment of surrender. Nothing’s impossible in the world of art.

Something about George reminds me of Yurome. She has a serenity about her – she’s kind of a background character right now. But underneath is something unsatisfied. Like Miette, she’s looking for something. Unlike Miette, she doesn’t know what it is – or has already started to lose things.

In a way, Yurome is more an epitome of the White City than even Mylene because she has that longing, that wistful air. Of all the cities on this planet, the White City is perhaps the only one that is so close to the past. An entire quarter of their city is blocked off because of it. In other cities, it’s easier to forget.

In a way, I think watching George I can understand Yurome and myself a bit better. That longing for something beautiful, for paradise – that desire to bring your dreams to life.

I’ve been watching so much anime recently – which is awesome and kind of inspiring. But it can be so high drama sometimes. Paradise Kiss is the perfect remedy. Not only is it a bit more down to earth, a more mature story about very cool characters as opposed to magical girls and mecha – it’s also aesthetically very inspiring. The animation is great, quirky and the characters themselves are mostly design students- so they look awesome.

I’ve been having a good writing run recently on The City With No Animals, so much so that I feel like I’m almost done the first draft.

So – what do I find inspiring about Paradise Kiss?

Well, a group of design students working on their own fashion brand for one – totally awesome. Ai Yazawa’s stories always have great fashion in them which I love. Fashion is hugely self-expressive. Watching this makes me want to gut my closet and and start all over again.

The idea of an underground studio with a pink door, a butterfly emblem, and the name “Paradise Kiss” is also just cool. There’s something very inspiring about seeing someone, either alive or in media, making their own space. Something about it makes me feel kind of nostalgic – like I’ve been too serious about some things and not serious enough about others. I think I’ve gotten very comfortable with the way things are…

But that’s part of the reason why I’m writing here, making this website! I’m going to share my stories! It’s something only I can do…

Honestly, Ai Yazawa is very inspiring to me. I want to make something in tribute to her somewhere in the the dark world. Watching this makes me think of Yurome – and how she doesn’t really have a story yet.

We’ll see…