The Troubled Soul Plot – The Manga Gold Standard?
There is no one shonen plot to rule them all, but there is a plot that has basically become a “gold standard” for shonen manga targeted at...
November 22, 2022
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KiShoTenKetsu in Manga Revisited
Recently I read The Shonen Jump Guide to Making Manga, and while the book itself was underwhelming for what it claimed to be, I did find a...
October 25, 2022
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Paul Chato’s Rules for Writing Manga?
I recently posted Paul Chato’s rules for writing sitcoms, which is an excellent discussion of the topic by someone who spent years in the trenches producing sitcoms....
September 2, 2022
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Paul Chato’s Rules for Writing a Sitcom
Canadian writer, comedian, and “Former Network Executive” Paul Chato recently released a video about how to write his favorite form of television – the Classic Sitcom. It’s...
How to Start an Isekai Story
Isekai, or “second world,” stories are a staple of light novels and webfiction for many reasons. They start with a natural hook that makes readers interested, and...
Five Old Writer’s Tricks that Never Fail to keep Readers Reading
The greatest criticism you can say about a story is that it’s boring. But have you ever wondering why that’s such a criticism? Why is it that...
March 29, 2021
General Writing / Light Novels / Novel Writing / Stories Made Simple / Writing Audio Drama / Writing Formulas
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Four Essential Stories to Make Your Writing Stronger
While there are an infinite number of possible stories, the vast majority of them fall into one of four categories. These four “essential” stories are the most...
Exploratory Manga – Educational Manga That Take You For A Ride
There are a few less common manga genres that probably deserve more attention than they get, and one of these is the Exploratory Manga. Now, when I...
The Onion Method: Building Better Stories by Talking to Yourself
Reimena Yee’s Onion Method For Outlining Graphic Novels is one of the more interesting approaches I’ve seen to planning a story in a while. At first I...
September 7, 2020
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Mary Robinette Kowal’s Short Story Building Process
I recently posted about how author and writing teacher Mary Robinette Kowal uses the M.I.C.E. Quotient to help focus her stories, but while going through her blog...