Category Archives: Japanese Tid-Bits

The yin-yang is all about balance.  The Japanese are some of the healthiest people in the world, balancing out their McDonald’s to plenty of veggie plates.  Many struggle for feng-shui, or balance of large to small object to a room.  And almost all large cooperation offer gyms or have a morning stretching programs, usually outdoors.

We can use these examples in our writing.  Does the manuscript have an array of characters?  If you have a shy side character maybe toss in a boisterous one to bring up the balance.  Also, make sure your lead characters are a good balance. True masculine and feminine, soft and hard are opposites.  But if the female is all about power, and the male is fine being underfoot, then that’s not a tension building mix.  Both have to be matched, or if one is all about physical power have the other balance it out with brains.

And what about the over all story?  I have a problem with talking heads, especially on my first draft.  So I need to go back and layer inner thoughts for my characters to even out the pace.

Also, what about you?  Is your writing time balanced?  This is something I struggle with, too.  Once finished with a manuscript you should spend some time editing, then some time creating a new story.  Editing uses the left brain while creating uses the right.  If you are lacking a piece to edit, or you don’t have a new idea to spill out on paper then do something outside the writing world.  If editing then paint or craft something.  If creating then pause and play a puzzle game, like bejeweled or tetris.

Hope you have a balanced week 🙂

  In Japan right now, the anime shows are starting new seasons.  Some are ending. Some are starting. And some are so long, like Bleach and Naruto, that they keep going.  I brood on weeks like this.  One of my favorite shows ended last week.  It was a romance called Kimi ni Tadoke.  The sexual tension for the two main characters had that tensile strength that was driving me mad.  Every week I would anxiously tune in to my 24 minute program dying to see if the two would realize their affections for each other. 

  And now there are all new shows.  Some are downright annoying. Some are crazy. And some are so pointless I have to turn them off.  But then there are those that leave me wondering, “What will happen next?”  And every once in a while there is one that has me hooked from the first episode.  I want to write like these rare episodes.  I want to grab my readers so quick and tight they can’t put that book down.  The one thing I’ve noticed about plots that grab me is the main characters all have secrets.  Only, they aren’t aware of them.  But because of it, their lives are completely turned up-side down.  Some of these secrets include a person being raised as someone they’re not, or a main character was born with a curse that makes others fearful, or another one has a parent that isn’t human. 

  But we never know this secret at the beginning.  We see their world completely changed by the end of the first episode (or chapter). Then we hold on to see how the character will handle the situation.  Along the way little hints are dropped about the secret that leaves you constantly guessing. And how will the love interest handle that secret?  There always has to be a touch or romance somewhere for me. 

  How about you?  What are your favorite books or shows?  Watch the first episode or read that first chapter again and find what it was that hooked you.  Then, write like that!