Question about creating manga

[Pencil Samurai]

Hey I'm new to the site but I have been drawing for about 12 years now. One of my ultimate goals is to create my own manga. But I have been having trouble deciding what it should be on. My two top choices are to have a manga that is set basiclly on martial arts in a past time period the would be no guns just swords and other things of that nature. The other idea involves military,police, bounty hunters and so forth. This idea basiclly will use more guns rather than hand to hand or swords. The problem is I don't know which one I should use. Which do you guys prefer. I had spoken to one of the people at a convention and they said that the publishers are looking for unique ideas. Got any suggestions.

[Sharingan]

something that combines both (e.g. final fantasy 7).

[Naota]

Both sounds nice, mixing sword combat with guns. If I was in your shoes I'd make the guns different than today's. Make it sort of a sci-fi fantasy theme.

Just remember weapons dont create the story, they just enhance the theme and make it more exciting.

[Fiend]

Please, for the love of God, don't be inspired by Final Fantasy!!!

*runs away*

[Kyoushu]

Especially the seventh one.

I'd like to help, but I have the same goal, and I'm doing worse than you are.

[Naota]

Final Fantasy can't be the only thing that would mix guns and swords. I can't really think of any off the top of my head. But that's what would make the whole thing unique I guess. Ah, Fullmetal Alchemist, that has a little bit of mix there.

[ghostNAVI]

may i suggest; for a way to go about creating the basic idea:
1. world concept (geography)
2. tech level (guns, swords, blasters)
3. insanitly level (beleivability, are the events and fights possible?)
4. definig aspects of world (locations to base events in)
5. world history (not a novel, jsut a rough outline of the whole world to make refferences to
6. chars
7. storyline
etc... drawing time



(im currently developing my own manga along with quite a few storys(20+) all with originol world and story concepts at least to my knowlege

[Non Existent IBW]

start stimple and buildup, make an interesting character who is not perfect and has to deal with his own internal problems as well.

[Professor Az]

You haven't stated whether or not you have taken any creative writing classes. I would start there if you haven't already done so. Once you have a firm grasp on the fundamentals of story-writing, with your experience in drawing, the rest should be easier to accomplish.

Great comics/manga start with a great story. Don't fall into the trap of drawing-first-story-later, as I've seen in so many comics lately.

Good luck on your new venture. :)

[FigureFour]

Thank god for Az here offering some quality advice.
You shouldn't be worried so much about if you should be drawing swordfights or gunfights. You should be thinking about what you want to say with your story.

Once you know what the message behind your story is, everything else should follow along from there.

ghostNAVI's list isn't that bad either, as long as you don't take that numbering to be indicitive of an item's importance.

Story and characters come first.

[Professor Az]

Actually, I really didn't answer the original question... which do I prefer, police/guns or historical/swords. The real questions is:

Which do YOU prefer?

*steps on soapbox*

Screw what other people think. Let's face it, unless you're on a deadline working for some big publishing house that is paying your bills, this project is for YOU, right?

Ask yourself some questions:

Do you have any background knowledge on either subject? The best writing advice I can give you is write what you know. I'm a history buff, I love historical stories. I'm also a retired veteran, I spent 20 years serving in the military. I know quite a bit about war, so I could write about it, in detail. I've also been an anime nut since Speed Racer was on channel 52 in Los Angeles, CA, in 1968. It took me a while, but now I can draw in a fairly decent manga-style. Put it all together, and you get a story, based on life experience.

What if you don't have any experience? Time to do that homework, and research your subject. Use what little you do know, and expand that knowledge base by studying historical references, police magazines, the encyclopedia, you name it. Heck, with a computer, you have the largest library in history at your fingertips, just waiting for you to jump in there and find out what you need to know to make your story believeable. Believablilty is the key to any successful story.

*steps off soapbox*

:unibrow:

[Sharingan]

Believablilty is the key to any successful story. i would have to say not neccessarily to that. Fantasy and fiction do not have to be believable to make a good story. Some examples would be...george orwell's Animal Farm, uh...basically every fantasy story,manga,anime,etc. out there (magic is definately not believable..), some sci-fi stuff like the last couple books in the orson scott card's ender quartet, and many others. Many stories play on the idea that, "if this were to happen, wouldn't that be great/horrible/whatever" (but it never will).
Believablility is only the key to a great historical fiction story (e.g. Rurouni Kenshin).

Edit: 1968? how old r u? :squint:

Older than you think - Az :unibrow:

[dfacto]

No actually, believability is the key, just in certain areas. The story elements need to be believable when taken in context, and most importantly, the characters and their actions need to be believable. If you have poorly motivated characters doing stupid crap, your story will suck 9 times out of 10.

[Professor Az]

Ah, but believeability also applies when writing about mecha (which don't exist like a Gundam yet) or to swords and sorcery (again something that doesn't exist). If the world the story revolves around is mythical (dwarves, elves, wizards), then it's believeable when mythical things happen. If the universe the story happens in is sci-fi (mecha, androids, lasers that make noise in space), then it's believeable when sci-fi type things happen.

I'm going to take dfacto's point one step further. Poorly written scripts can kill a story faster than stepping out the airlock, you bet. I don't care how great the art is, I won't pluck down my hard-earned cash to buy schlock. I know a lot of collectors who will tell you the same thing.

Here's an example: Why do you think stuff like Garfield still sells after 20 years of the same old fat cat, Jon, and Odie drawn the exact same way for decades? The story, or in this case, the gags, are timeless, and are funny (to a lot of people anyhow). They are well-written, and even though the art has become almost cookie-cutter in appearance (meaning they all start to look the same), the comic is still popular.

Story first - art later. Lather, rinse, repeat. :)

[Faliat]

Hey I'm new to the site but I have been drawing for about 12 years now. One of my ultimate goals is to create my own manga. But I have been having trouble deciding what it should be on. My two top choices are to have a manga that is set basiclly on martial arts in a past time period the would be no guns just swords and other things of that nature. The other idea involves military,police, bounty hunters and so forth. This idea basiclly will use more guns rather than hand to hand or swords. The problem is I don't know which one I should use. Which do you guys prefer. I had spoken to one of the people at a convention and they said that the publishers are looking for unique ideas. Got any suggestions.
I suggest you think outside of the box and do a little research on a different variety of subjects.

To make stuff seem interesting enough, you gotta go a bit "Stigmata", do a little research on something that'll grab someone's attention and not make it just another garden variety fantasy comic...
Both of the ideas you have come up with, in my opinion, have been re-used to the point of being.. y'know... uninteresting...boring...timewasting...

Everybody's always influenced by it and that has caused a major boom is a lack of original opinions and ideas.
Square Enix itself has no new ideas. They never make up any new monsters, and they always have some stupid old dude in each game called Cid... and every single damn game is focussed around this:

Slight outcast dude. Has accident. Meets girl. Meets other characters one after the other. Falls in love with first girl. Meets evil dude with long lady hair. Evil dude with long lady hair goes crazy, does evil thing.
Dude saves girl, game ends.

WTF? :confused:

[Juni_Korozuke]

:laugh: That is sooo true. Square Enix sells the same plot candycoated multiple times... and they STILL make money.

Like what been said before... thinking outside the box should be numero uno on your list. The martial arts and military/police themes have been done to death so badly, it's hard to come with something that isn't a cliche. Some good police anime that could steer you in a different direction could be Patlabor, Dominion Tank Police. Nothing's "really changed" in the martial arts area, so I can't really help you there.

[Faliat]

I think it got that big because of its so-called "Groundbreaking CGI". Which in itself is only better in the movies, which are the only things based upon Final Fantasy with a different storyline.

Another rant, why the hell is it called "Final Fantasy" when sequels in either movie or game form are popping up all over the place?
I mean, Final Fantasy X-2 just ain't right...

Ne ways, read all the advice on here, and you'll soon be acheiving your lifelong dream if you just add a little more dedication.

[Pencil Samurai]

My comic was going to be based on a thai warrior. And no this was not fully inspired by the movie Ong Bak(if thats what you are thinking.) I was going to start out the storyline with the boy's father dying. But all of a sudden people want to take the easy way out and make the parents die. I am getting tired of peoples parents dying. So I guess its back to the drawing board. I wanted to try like a gigantic city tournament where all of the fighters who entered wear these wristbands that pulsate when a challenger is near by. It seems different than the whole everybody is in the one big arena. Instead of a stadium the whole city(world) would be used as a fighting grounds. For example two of the contestants could accidently cross paths in the park and engage each other. I really don't know if this has been tried before but let me know if it has. Tell what you think of the idea. Don't be shy etheir if the idea sucks just let me flat out know.(By the way the manga is set in modern day time period.)

[gmpilot]

I hate to say it, but both of those are way too trite. Try doing something a little more...creative.

[Fishlike Samurai]

Exactly, combining the things would be great, but in almost all roads lead to FF. I was thinking of 2 parallel worlds, one sword one gun, but realised that 1) I was thinking of using it myself :P 2) A lot of things already have parallel worlds, such as Digimon (sorry but it was popular you have to admit). Story's are being written down for over 2000 years now, so if you want something very unique and new, you would really have to think hard, listen to all of the other peoples ideas for inspiration, always look around you for inspiration, and somehow put the raw inspiration and ideas together into something productive. It may look like a soup of randomness, but if you handle it well you have something you can use.

I do it this way (or something like it), but keep in mind that I'm a foocking idiot :D

*edit*
gmpilot, for no real reason I clicked the link in your sig and I really like those lil dudes! As you can see, inspiration is scattered everywhere.

[dfacto]

I actually like the city battlegrounds idea. However, I like it for the same reason I enjoy DBZ, and that is the prospect of mindless violence. You'll need to justify it if you want to make a good comic, and that might be a little tricky.

[aisuru]

Another rant, why the hell is it called "Final Fantasy" when sequels in either movie or game form are popping up all over the place?
I mean, Final Fantasy X-2 just ain't right...the guy that wrote the original Final Fantasy ( can't recall his name at the moment ) was going to retire, and the game was to be his final project at Square and it was his Fantasy game idea. the sequels can probably be explained by Square wanting a brand recognition.

anyway, back on topic. everything has pretty much been done. there really are only so many stories in the world, and it's all been done before. it's not so much that you need to have a unique story, but do the same basic story in a different way - in a unique setting with unique characters.

here's an example: the broadway musical ( and then movie based on the stage show ) West Side Story is basically William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. the plot is basically the same, but the setting is changed from Elizabethan Verona to 1950s Manahattan. the characters are changed: Montague and Capulet families become the Sharks and Jets street gangs - one caucasian one hispanic. West Side Story was hugely original when it was first shown, despite being basically a story that's over four hundred years old.

so, think of a unique setting and unique characters and just write a great story.

[K_x_uksami]

the guy that wrote the original Final Fantasy ( can't recall his name at the moment ) was going to retire, and the game was to be his final project at Square and it was his Fantasy game idea. the sequels can probably be explained by Square wanting a brand recognition.

anyway, back on topic. everything has pretty much been done. there really are only so many stories in the world, and it's all been done before. it's not so much that you need to have a unique story, but do the same basic story in a different way - in a unique setting with unique characters.

here's an example: the broadway musical ( and then movie based on the stage show ) West Side Story is basically William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. the plot is basically the same, but the setting is changed from Elizabethan Verona to 1950s Manahattan. the characters are changed: Montague and Capulet families become the Sharks and Jets street gangs - one caucasian one hispanic. West Side Story was hugely original when it was first shown, despite being basically a story that's over four hundred years old.

so, think of a unique setting and unique characters and just write a great story.

Then there's the basic story line shared by Star Wars, The Matrix, and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

[aisuru]

Then there's the basic story line shared by Star Wars, The Matrix, and Neon Genesis Evangelion.star wars was a complete rip off of Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress

[K_x_uksami]

star wars was a complete rip off of Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress



Exactly the point being made here. Everything these days is a ripoff.

[s3xyv3xy]

we could try to prevent this by creating a child, and hatching him in a lab where he then lives ontop of the area 51 moutain range, eating thick potatoe skins as a delightful treat, or we could learn to accept that are surroundings will inflict are brains, thus creating a semi multiplicative copy universe which we live in.

Damn im bored.

[Faliat]

we could try to prevent this by creating a child, and hatching him in a lab where he then lives ontop of the area 51 moutain range, eating thick potatoe skins as a delightful treat, or we could learn to accept that are surroundings will inflict are brains, thus creating a semi multiplicative copy universe which we live in.

Damn im bored.

That idea's also a major cliche. I've heard it several times over.

[K_x_uksami]

I know. It's so hard to come up with something original. I mentioned my idea for orgone-powered bioships on another forum and apparently, it's a ripoff of Eva. I never realized that and now I'm back to square one with no ideas on how to be truly original.

[the shining]

well, you could look at it from his perspective. in the beginning (of television of course) there was millions of Ideas. Since then most of those Ideas have been used. some were good, some were bad. with few origional Ideas left, most shows, movies, ect. are copied to some extent. plus only some origional ideas make it into the media today. the ones that don't might have a chance but get shot down for being too outlandish. most people do rip-offs because there aren't many origional ideas that haven't been tried in some form already.

I understand what your saying. I am in the developing stages of making several awesome anime shows. but I realize that one too much like the .hack series (even though I've never actually seen it). another is a lot like Star Trek. another one is like this one Tokyo Pop thing I saw advertised on TV. and I have no doubt that my last idea has been taken.

[Hakk]

First of all you should never write a story while thinking about anyone elses or trying to be like someone elses. Forget about every manga or movie you have seen and use your own damn imagination. That is if you ever want to do anything more than crappy web comics. 12 yrs of art exp. is nothing if you have an uninspired story that sounds like it was written by a stupid fanboy.
If its too hard for you try woring with someone. You draw they write story.
Im not trying to mean in particular but its my opininion that being nice isnt going to help you make any progress.But you have only come up with to settings you might use, try developing charcters or something.

[Pencil Samurai]

I totally understand what you mean. It does not hurt me that you sounded a little harsh. Hey!! At least you were telling the truth! Beleive me I am somewhat a nice guy and a bad guy but no matter how nice you are there is no way in the world that I know of that you could tell the truth to someone and be nice about it. I tell people give me the truth straight up if it sucks it sucks I just learn to deal with it. Thats how it is in the real world. Harsh and cold! But back to the subject I have made some chracter designs and the evil guy finally does not have long black hair. I am tired of people with all this long hair. In fact my bad guy has no hair at all. I still don't know wheater his father sould live or die. I beleive that if his dad dies it will put in a vengence element into the story. I should make his dad die in the tournament.I do not know what should be done. The one thing that I do know is that I will stick with city tournament idea. Do you guys think that the story would be more interesting if the boys parents were married and together or dead and seperated?

[the shining]

first of all what is the core storyline of it. that would really help. Plus the whole Divorce thing is being completely over used. in my opinion, you should just have the father off to war or lost some where if you want him gone. if not have living at the house with his family. but like I said it depends mainly on you storyline.

[Pencil Samurai]

I wanted it to be about a young boy who's father was a Thai boxer. As the boy got older his father taught him in the art of Muay Thai. As the boy aged he got better and better,stronger and stronger. Around age 15 his father had entered the inner city tournament. Where he accidently killed Pampadur's(villian) father. 2 years later Pampadur returns for vengance for the death of his father. Pampadur(Age 27) is also a thai boxer that was trained by his father before he died. But back on track to return the favor Pampadur locates where ace and his father live. He beats the crap out of ace then he kills his father right in front of Ace's eyes. Ace then sets out for a quest fueled by vengance.