[Writing] The Effect of an Anime Series on a Writer's Brain

[jon_chaisson]

emmalyon and I just recently finished watching the Cowboy Bebop series via Netflix (and yes, I have had "Tank!" stuck in my head ever since), and are contemplating renting some other series after catching up with some single-dvd movies and/or animes. I have to say the thing I like about a specific-length series like CB or Trigun, or even longer-yet-finite ones like Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist is that they can be stand-alone episodic, and yet still work with an overall plotline that eventually gets resolved by the end of the series, or at least the season.

To this end, I had a dream last night that, upon waking, made me think of turning it into a story. I dreamed that me and my sister had somehow gotten lost during the winter, but had somehow made it back to my parents' house. Only when we got to the house, we realized that it was no longer theirs...someone else was living there, the house looked different, and somehow...we'd gone ahead in time. We were now in the future. The person who was there actually knew who we were and took us in, but now we wondered what had happened.

A little later on we realized that if we used our cellphones, we could actually still contact our friends from the past, in their time and not ours. Of course this led to the both of us realizing we could start a 'network' in which we could save (or at least help) lives, since we were looking at events from the future. At the same time, though, the both of us had agreed that we wanted to get back to our own time as soon as we could.


Of course once I woke up, I immediately thought, "Aha! A story idea!" and my brain automatically started trying to build one around the dream. The weird thing is that one of the people in the dream (one of the people we'd saved) reminded me of Faye from Cowboy Bebop, which led me to think about the format of the story. I could have just set it as a distinctly normal novel with your typical framework...but due to the fact that Faye had popped up, my brain went in that direction instead. I started to think--what if I built the framework of the story like an episodic anime? The novel itself would contain the overall plot of the two people trying to get back to their own time (and of course, what they learn in the meantime), but the chapters would end up being like self-contained (yet sometimes linked) episodes that may or may not completely push the story forward, but are integral nonetheless.

Am I a bit crazy for thinking of something like this, in this format? Because this idea won't let me go, and I'm sorely tempted to waste time this weekend building the framework for this story idea instead of doing work I should be doing (like the rewriting, which I sorely neglected this past week).

If I come up with any further ideas, meet me over at die_joncswerk and I'll share some of this with you. Any suggestions, comments, and cruel laughter at my insanity are welcome. :)

Comments

[dollydelusion.livejournal.com]

That is an AWESOME story idea man. I love it. I hope something comes of this one.

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

Thanks!! I'll definitely keep you updated on it. :)

[dasmarzipan.livejournal.com]

I say don't worry about format. Just go with the inspiration. The format concern is the left brain too worried to let the right brain just create!

Re-writing is also left brain. When the right brain starts talking, listen...'cause it doesn't talk all that often...(well, from my experience, anyway...)

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me! I usually don't worry too much about these sorts of things...I just have a feeling it might end up being a difficult sell, but I'll deal with it when it comes to that.

And I totally agree that Mr. Rightbrain doesn't chat with me all that much, but since making that intensive to-do list at the beginning of the year, I think he's been visiting a lot more...