Zachary Rawlins's Blog - Posts Tagged "light-novel"
Why I Wanted to Write a Light Novel
A quick recap, for those who don't know - light novels are a form of literature that is very popular in Japan, Taiwan and China. They are illustrated short novels (about the length of novella) designed primarily for e-readers, written in a peculiar, minimalist, dialogue heavy style. Very few light novels have ever been published in America, mostly anime tie-ins with major franchises like Spice and Wolf or A Certain Magical Railgun, but they represent a huge percentage of publishing in Asia. Despite the 'light' in the title, there is no limit to the subject matter or intended age of the reader implied - this is not like the Western 'Young Adult' label. Light novels can be experimental, complicated, even horrifying.
So why did I, an average guy from California, become interested in writing a light novel? And why did I bother to write in a style known for a poor reception in the US?
I'm glad you asked.
I am lucky enough to have some Japanese friends who are patient/obsessive enough to translate light novels that have otherwise never crossed the Pacific. While some of their work is a little muddled, and formatting problems are rife, I was fascinated from the first volume I read. This is partly due to my own preference for illustrated novels - Alice in Wonderland is my single favorite book, after all, and I have many of the illustrations tattooed on me - and partly due to the sheer novelty of the style.
I had been kicking around the idea of writing something using elements of the Cthulhu mythos (see HP Lovecraft), particularly parts of The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, an extremely pulpy adventure story in the style of Burrough's Conan novels that I had loved as a child, and found a bit more ridiculous as an adult (no offense to Lovecraft - he was a great writer, and he didn't think the book was any good either). My problem was that I didn't want to write a horror novel. I wanted to write something that would be psychological in nature, funny, dark and sexy, as a sort of working break from my science-fiction novels, The Central Series.
At just the right time, I was given a crude dub of the utterly brilliant anime and light novel, Bakemonogatari, a collection of experiment light fiction from Japan called Faust, and a rough homemade internet translation of a few of NisiOisiN's books (perhaps the most important Japanese author in the genre). I was blown away, super-excited to discover a literary tradition that I was completely unfamiliar with.
Soon, these two very different ideas begin to tentatively mix in my head - the beginning of my own humble work, The Unknown Kadath Estates .
In the next entry, I will talk a little bit about what I liked about Asian light novels, what I thought was wrong with them to attract a US audience, and how I eventually laid out my own theory on what an American Light Novel could be.
Thanks for reading, and, as always, feel free to hit me up at spook_nine@yahoo.com with any questions.
So why did I, an average guy from California, become interested in writing a light novel? And why did I bother to write in a style known for a poor reception in the US?
I'm glad you asked.
I am lucky enough to have some Japanese friends who are patient/obsessive enough to translate light novels that have otherwise never crossed the Pacific. While some of their work is a little muddled, and formatting problems are rife, I was fascinated from the first volume I read. This is partly due to my own preference for illustrated novels - Alice in Wonderland is my single favorite book, after all, and I have many of the illustrations tattooed on me - and partly due to the sheer novelty of the style.
I had been kicking around the idea of writing something using elements of the Cthulhu mythos (see HP Lovecraft), particularly parts of The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, an extremely pulpy adventure story in the style of Burrough's Conan novels that I had loved as a child, and found a bit more ridiculous as an adult (no offense to Lovecraft - he was a great writer, and he didn't think the book was any good either). My problem was that I didn't want to write a horror novel. I wanted to write something that would be psychological in nature, funny, dark and sexy, as a sort of working break from my science-fiction novels, The Central Series.
At just the right time, I was given a crude dub of the utterly brilliant anime and light novel, Bakemonogatari, a collection of experiment light fiction from Japan called Faust, and a rough homemade internet translation of a few of NisiOisiN's books (perhaps the most important Japanese author in the genre). I was blown away, super-excited to discover a literary tradition that I was completely unfamiliar with.
Soon, these two very different ideas begin to tentatively mix in my head - the beginning of my own humble work, The Unknown Kadath Estates .
In the next entry, I will talk a little bit about what I liked about Asian light novels, what I thought was wrong with them to attract a US audience, and how I eventually laid out my own theory on what an American Light Novel could be.
Thanks for reading, and, as always, feel free to hit me up at spook_nine@yahoo.com with any questions.
100K
I'm not sure why - maybe I just like round numbers. Maybe it's the addition of the sixth digit. Who knows.
Anyway, that's the number of words in The Far Shores as of today. Which feels like some sort of accomplishment.
I've still got a ways to go, obviously - the Central Series novels tend to average in the 130,000-135,000 range, and I'm not sure where this one will fall, but I'm certainly in the end game.
For myself, the beginning of a novel isn't so bad. It's the middle that's an uphill battle, a slog where I might only nail down a few hundred words, or just stare blankly at the Word document, on a bad day. But the end - that always flies by, at the rate of thousands of words a day. I'm well on schedule to finish the writing stage before the end of the month.
At that point, I will do a read through and rewrite of my own, bringing the beginning in line with the end, altering things that I changed during the course of the book, and making revisions that occurred to me long after the text was completed and I had moved on. Since I don't go backwards or revise until I have finished the entire text, this is an inevitable necessity for all of my novels. Then it will move to my story editors, who will critique the plot and character development, and I will make the majority of the changes they suggest. Finally, it will head off to the proofer, who will fix up my grammar and polish the text.
And then, finally, into the reader's hands.
I can't wait until The Far Shores is complete. I have a short story collection and two Unknown Kadath-themed light novels (The Mysteries of Holly Diem and the tenatively-titled Yael and the Cats of Ulthar) that are partially complete that I am just dying to finish. Next year will see at least three releases, and maybe even four, if everything works to plan!
Back to work. Best to you all.
Anyway, that's the number of words in The Far Shores as of today. Which feels like some sort of accomplishment.
I've still got a ways to go, obviously - the Central Series novels tend to average in the 130,000-135,000 range, and I'm not sure where this one will fall, but I'm certainly in the end game.
For myself, the beginning of a novel isn't so bad. It's the middle that's an uphill battle, a slog where I might only nail down a few hundred words, or just stare blankly at the Word document, on a bad day. But the end - that always flies by, at the rate of thousands of words a day. I'm well on schedule to finish the writing stage before the end of the month.
At that point, I will do a read through and rewrite of my own, bringing the beginning in line with the end, altering things that I changed during the course of the book, and making revisions that occurred to me long after the text was completed and I had moved on. Since I don't go backwards or revise until I have finished the entire text, this is an inevitable necessity for all of my novels. Then it will move to my story editors, who will critique the plot and character development, and I will make the majority of the changes they suggest. Finally, it will head off to the proofer, who will fix up my grammar and polish the text.
And then, finally, into the reader's hands.
I can't wait until The Far Shores is complete. I have a short story collection and two Unknown Kadath-themed light novels (The Mysteries of Holly Diem and the tenatively-titled Yael and the Cats of Ulthar) that are partially complete that I am just dying to finish. Next year will see at least three releases, and maybe even four, if everything works to plan!
Back to work. Best to you all.
