General & Others What are some rules you think all mangaka should follow when writing? Are these good rules?

lee33

lee33

‎
#1
#1
Here are a list of some of the fundamental, basic rules I think Oda and other mangaka should follow when they write:
  1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
  2. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
  3. Keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
  4. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
  5. Trying for theme is important, however you won’t see what the story is actually about until you’re at the end of that story. Now rewrite.
  6. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
  7. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
  8. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
  9. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
  10. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
  11. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
  12. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
  13. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
  14. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
  15. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
  16. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
I had a similar thread up months ago but the title was controversial and everyone was discussing the title instead of the actual post so I am redoing the thread but with a less controversial title...sigh.
 
B

Ballel

#5
#5
lee33 said:
Here are a list of some of the fundamental, basic rules I think Oda and other mangaka should follow when they write:
  1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
  2. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
  3. Keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
  4. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
  5. Trying for theme is important, however you won’t see what the story is actually about until you’re at the end of that story. Now rewrite.
  6. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
  7. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
  8. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
  9. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
  10. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
  11. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
  12. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
  13. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
  14. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
  15. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
  16. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
I had a similar thread up months ago but the title was controversial and everyone was discussing the title instead of the actual post so I am redoing the thread but with a less controversial title...sigh.
Click to expand...
That's the Pixar list again, right!?
 
H

Herrera95

#9
#9
lee33 said:
Here are a list of some of the fundamental, basic rules I think Oda and other mangaka should follow when they write:
  1. You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
  2. Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
  3. Keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an audience, not what’s fun to do as a writer. They can be very different.
  4. You gotta identify with your situation/characters, can’t just write ‘cool’. What would make YOU act that way?
  5. Trying for theme is important, however you won’t see what the story is actually about until you’re at the end of that story. Now rewrite.
  6. Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. You’ll feel like you’re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
  7. What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
  8. Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
  9. Finish your story, let go even if it’s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
  10. When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
  11. Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
  12. Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but it’s poison to the audience.
  13. Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it.
  14. If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
  15. What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.
  16. Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How d’you rearrange them into what you DO like?
I had a similar thread up months ago but the title was controversial and everyone was discussing the title instead of the actual post so I am redoing the thread but with a less controversial title...sigh.
Click to expand...
  1. Admire is for fans not mangaka. This doesn't make sense.
  2. Coincidences gets on both sides. Can always be good luck or bad luck. Makes no sense either the key is having the same amount of luck and bad luck. Not only that but also not relying on luck to deal with every problem.
  3. Hard to say writers have to please their audience instead of writting what they want to. Every writer/story has no audience at beginning and people starts to like for what author is writing. So changing that later on is not good.
  4. You are basically saying that character can be badass out of nowhere(example). Right? This is hard. Part of what we like in those stories is that take us out of reality. But being consistent with your character is what really matters.
  5. What?
  6. Not sure what you mean but "less is more" for me is a good way to go with anything in life.
  7. Not sure if this is necessary but this is how character grow happens.
  8. True. Thing is fans doesn't want good stories to end. So when they do it seems that beginning and middle were much better. To end well it has to be better than what you build up.
  9. Like I said, fans doesn't want good stories to end. And having a huge story is not a problem since you created a huge world in it.
  10. I'm noticing that those are not actually rules but advices. Good one.
  11. Disagree. Talking about Oda the huge problem of him is trying to be unpredictable and doing stupid things so no one guess right what happens next. No problem to be obvious since you are following a logical path.
  12. That depends on characters personality. Just be consistent with it.
  13. Not so sure about this. In one story can exists many other stories that writer is telling.
  14. Like I said, this stories takes us out of reality. And characters personality doesn't have to fit writers personality. They have their own.
  15. No reason to have stakes if they don't actually happen.
  16. Like I said, those are not rules but advices.
 
Inzziuma

Inzziuma

‎
#10
#10
1. Don't change big plot points in the middle of the story. Surprising your readers is good, but it's best if those surprises are planned

2. Take risks, not the easy way out

3. Don't let outside influences control your writing. It's good to keep other opinions in mind, but no one knows your story better than you
 
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