Yeah i think i'll stick to my origionaL question. I think the manga comisc debate is a bit over me anyways, I'll refraim from calling it manga and call it an anime style comic
@ClockHand - Thanks for replying and i'm sorry I made you rant :/ you have opened up what I need to learn and concentrate on
@Psy - Yeah I guess that makes sense :L actually it makes lots of sense, sorry for wasting your time :/
@Owithrow - Surely thats just the same thing?and call it an anime style comic
v Makes sense
Last edited by Demonfyre; 05-28-2012 at 12:03 PM.
Just call it a graphic novel. That's about as neutral as you can get.
"Graphic novel: a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art."
The thing is that there is no word to used for the art style used in manga, anime and oekaki. For us outsiders, it's easy to get confused. For other styles, we mostly call it after the artist or the company. For instance, frank miller style = Highly realistic arts where it's mostly black and white with only 1 or 2 sharp colours coloured to show blood or flags more correctly. Or Marvel style = comics and cartoons usually controlled by Stan Lee that is always about super heroes and in a bold but realistic style with a strong on muscles and costumes.
But what do we call this? If not Manga, Anime or Oekaki style, what can we call it when there's hundreds of different companies and artists behind them? You see why we call it Manga? It's just easier than saying "Comics in black and white with humans that got good body structures, huge eyes, small noses, sharp chins and sharp and wild hair."
Why does it matter whether you call it comic or manga... Really youre just making a big fuss rather than helping...
Anyway, i think if you want to be a good writer is too look at other things that arent necessarily just manga writing. Read novels, scripts, etc. use them as inspiration. Also look around you and see what stories there are. Walking pass and hearing other peoples conversations or seeing something unusual can create a story. Personally, I dont think theres a specific method of creating a story for a manga. Usually I write what I want to write and then make it into a script. It'll probably the same as writing a comic book script, however the flow of the story would be different.
Seeing from your method, I think youre on the right track. After youve written the general stuff, you'll just have to write a script and youre good to go. Having a lot of references of your characters and environment would be a good way to keep the story consistent. Keep it simple at the start though... If you want a long epic story, you should ease in to it and not go full blown.
I recommend reading "Ideas for the Animated Short" and "The Anatomy of Story" by John Truby if youre really interested in writing. Its more hardcore writing than just comic writing but it'll help you in more ways than one. im sure of it
Whether it's comics, film, or literature, writing is writing. There are some things specific to Japanese writers that we identify as anime tropes, and if you want your writing to be "anime-influenced," you should look at those--which ones you like, which ones annoy you to no end--and pick and choose.
A lot of 'anime tropes' are just bad writing that is so widespread and endemic that ignorant people have come to confuse them for valid stylistic or thematic choices, when they're not.
Sturgeon's Law is as true of anime as anything else, but what seems to set anime apart in regards to Sturgeon's Law is that not only is 90% of all anime crap, but most of the fans not only fail to recognize this, but confuse the crap for gold.
Basically what I'm saying is that most anime should be taken as writing examples only by way of "don't do this. Ever." I really want to teach a class on just Naruto or EVA, in this regard. Both really are really good teaching tools and examples of how not to do things. Kind of like the Star Wars prequels.
In fact, I'd recommend watching Plinkett's Star Wars reviews. Not everything he says will be helpful to you, since film has a language, but a lot of it is also applicable to any storytelling medium. Also worth reading are the Dominic Deegan mock threads on Something Awful.
NOTE: Plinkett's gimmick is offensive and unfunny more often than not, but seriously stick with it. When he's funny he's hilarious, and regardless these are some of the best film critiques you'll ever see.
If you taught a class on Naruto or EVA, I'd take it. In fact, you should do a "how not to write" thread sometime.
Question: tropes aside, is there any particular thing that separates anime writing from other types of writing?
Good japanese comics are very frequently alot more cinematic in their presentation than american comic books are. This is sort of crossing into art style territory, but really it matters when I've far more frequently seen martial arts handled well in manga. The former shows impacts and the damage caused, whilst the latter shows a much greater understanding of technique; And, indeed, success in showing that in a visual medium.
Humor is pretty different between the two aswell. Super hero comics depend quite a bit on lampshade hanging dudes doing hollywood action movie kinda stuff, were as the cheaper manga use tons and tons of fan service. That's one giant "Your mileage may vary" right there.
Thirdly, you have to acknowledge the folklore of western comics. Manga is far more frequently stand-alone, where as western comics have a love of reboots and continuing stories that draw upon comics the writer expects you to have already read. This is always something that I have a massive problem explaining to comic book fans, even. A veteran comic book fan, who knows who spider man and the green goblin are, (and, indeed, already likes them,) will have a far different experience from someone reading a spider man reboot story for the first time... Everybody knows the story already, of course, but only the veterans are inclined to care before they have even read it.
I also feel like the japanese fair far better with stories involving technology, but that's a whole different can of worms and I'd be much obliged if somebody gave me a western example which proves me wrong... x_x
Western comics of the superhero mold in the big 2 are by and large modern mythology and should be approached as such.
But generally speaking the differences between Western comics and manga are stylistic choices, both equally valid (except when they are not) and there are no rules that apply to manga that don't apply to Western comics, and vice versa.
Comics have rules all their own, just like film, television, literature, and all sorts of mediums do. But manga really is not a medium - it's just comics that happen to share a country of origin and certain tropes that some people have arbitrarily decided is a unique medium apart from Western comics. It's not. It's a useful and helpful distinction from a consumer standpoint, due to the sorts of tropes and themes used, but from the standpoint of a creator there is no meaningful difference and the distinction is entirely meaningless.
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