WIP
What is the status of my current projects: progress made, length of time on the backburner?
Active
Grobug Series – 5 Books Planned
Manuscript Completed: Books 1 and 2
Drafts Completed: 0
Drafts to Start: Books 3-5
Outlines Started: Book 3, sort of. I have one outline paragraph written for the book.
Outlines to Start: Books 4 and 5.
Next Action from 10-14-22: make thumbnail sketched for all 32 pages of Grobug Book 1. As of 10-21-22, I am 1 week late.
Actions Taken by 10-21-22: Nothing. I thought about making sketches, but I failed to do it.
Next Actions:
Make sketches for Grobug Book 1.
Follow-Up
-Research Crowdfunding
-Make Crowdfunding Proposal
-Send to artist-Negotiate Rates and Terms
Back Burner
MTM – Breastfeeding Book for big brothers and sisters. (4 Weeks)
MTM – Next actions to publish: make text descriptions and thumbnail sketched for all 32 pages (4 Weeks)
Fantasy Dragon Book – Manuscript may need revision. On hold.
Completed Works
What did I accomplish this week as a storyteller?
-No writing this week–No drawings this week-
I analyzed the following shows:
Avataro Sentai Donbrothers 33 Analysis |SSS 033 – What IS the Conflict in Donbros?
Fuuto PI 12 Analysis |Half-Boiled 12 – Is This Finale Enough?
Kamen Rider Geats 07 Analysis – Is Competition Evil?
Lessons Learned
What did I learn from the world of story this week?
- Donbros 33 – Appreciate your editors and creative guides. It has been said that those who can not do teach. I can imagine someone saying those who can not write edit, or produce or even, heaven for fend: analyze. Haruka is in a slump and Sonoza her enemy-fan-and now chief editor has sharply criticized her further creative work, despite loving her debut Manga, First Love Hero. Haruka says she is still in a slump and he encourages her to push through and be her best creative self. She graciously accepts the correction and takes it to heart. You should do that, as should I.
- -Fuuto PI 12 – Find ways to balance out wins and losses for your heroes. I famously dislike Shotaro from Kamen Rider Double. Philip is the better half of Double and I like so much about him. Seeing Shotaro recognize and take a loss in this finale gives me reasons to like him as a growing character and root for him to have a comeback as a hero.
- -Geats 07 – Your hero does not have to be likable. They can even be unlikable and still be enjoyable to watch in their world. Ace embodies this in Kamen Rider Geats. How does it work? Why do I like him despite his prickly aspects? He wins, he does cool things to win, the actor is charismatic and there seems to be more going on with him which either justifies him manipulating other players or makes a decent excuse for it. Does an audience want to believe in someone? Is that just me? I may not have extracted a tactic or technique, but I think these questions I am asking are putting me closer to where I need to be to craft characters that people want more of.
Fabula Ex Machina
Part brainstorm, part drafting out loud.
First some background, I like some of the darker, edgier stuff. I used to be really into it as a kid and have grown out of it for the most part. I thought an anti-hero was someone dark and edgy and I think I came by that understanding after first encountering Guyver 2: Dark Hero. That phrase, concept, idea hit me like a ton of bricks. Seeing Guyver looking so cool on the (VHS) box art and reading that title, it cemented in my mind what a cool hero, a dark hero an anti-hero is. I did some research and found out that my understanding was quite lacking on the matter. I made a playlist linked below to better understand the concept.
There are varying lists of Anti-Heroes, but I like this list of 5: Classic, Knight in Sour Armor, Pragmatic, Unscrupulous and Hero In Name Only. I think I tend towards pragmatic. As I kid I was bugged the Power Rangers didn’t just squash Rita’s monsters with the Mega Zord right away. I also thought Batman should have just shot and killed Joker in The Dark Knight, especially because he was ALREADY SHOOTING BULLETS AT HIM. I also watched Keaton’s Batman kill people as a kid and I didn’t realize that “Batman doesn’t kill” is one of his ethics and I don’t get it.
Below is a list of characters I think of as fitting the mold of dark or anti-hero. I don’t think it is entirely accurate, but they were top of mind.
Prompt: What makes a Dark Hero shine?
X Words
10 Minutes
[TRANSCRIPTION PENDING]
Mentioned
Guyver 2: Dark Hero – Sean Barker
Guyver – Guyver III, Agito Makashima
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – Raphael
Megaman – Protoman
Gatchaman/Battle of the Planets – Mark, IIRC
Digimon – Matt; Ken; Rika; Koji and Koichi
Yu Yu Hakusho – Yosuke Urameshi
Burn Notice – Michael Westen
Army of Darkness – Ash
Spider-Man – Peter Parker
Buffy, then Angel – Angel and Spike
Kamen Rider – Takeshi Hongo
Kamen Rider Black – Minami Kotaro
Kamen Rider Kiva – Wataru Kurenai and Otoya Kurenai
The Hobbit – Bilbo Baggins
Bible – Samson
MJ Muñoz 