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Supreme Slayer

Hirohiko Araki's Thoughts on Writing (Creator of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)

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Posted (edited)

Since I saw that there is questions and advice in here, I thought I'd share the notes I made from Hirohiko Araki's "Manga in Theory and Practice" which I purchased and read some years ago. This is NOT everything, nor is it meant to replace the original book, which while I am not advertising, I fully endorse, just a series of notes I made, and the book itself goes much more in-depth on these aspects. So if it interests you, I'd recommend checking out the book itself for more info. While this is meant primarily for manga, it can be applied to any writing.

Because the formatting is weird, here's the google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hLk0wx7WyAbWvtEpQrdYrwZU4S3HV5PU48xDJJqpWJA/edit?usp=sharing

Major Takeaways - The key points of what he talks about, and what I think are most important

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  1. Use this information only as a guide. Understand them and their reason, but when the time comes, you may choose to forge a different path. Do so only with understanding, not with ignorance.

  2. The first page is most important. Give them a reason to keep reading!

  3. Ki-sho-ten-ketsu. Story should follow the style of Introduction (Ki), Developments (Sho), Twist (Ten), and Resolution (Ketsu). Turn this into muscle memory.

  4. Story should either always be taking the protagonist into the positive, or always bringing them into the negative. Do not have constant rising and falling.

  5. Avoid the taboos of writing. Your audience will become annoyed with you.

  6. Accept criticism and use it to learn. Only children learn from praise alone.

Turn the First Page - The first page is most important. If it doesn’t seem appealing, the audience will not find a reason to keep reading. You will have lost them immediately.

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  • Make a list of images that provide appeal and that apply to your story. Pictures of women, comical pictures, pictures of beautiful landscapes, etc.

  • Create a compelling title. Think about what makes popular titles compelling themselves.

  • Make a list of what makes good dialogue. Comedic dialogue, heated dialogue, passionate dialogue, etc.

  • Answer the 5W1H: who, what, when, why, where, and how. Try to do this immediately, but do not get overly detailed or perform the same trick repeatedly or the audience will catch on.

  • Try and depict multiple pieces of information simultaneously. “I think I will make spaghetti for dinner tonight.” < character likes to cook their own meals, likely lives alone, likes italian food.

  • Seize unclaimed territory. Try to use a setting, theme, or type of character that has not been done before, or not done very often.

  • Be sure to preview and foreshadow events before they occur. The audience will know when something has no reason to be happening, and they won’t like it.

The Four Fundamentals - There are four major fundamentals you must know. In order of importance, they are:

Spoiler
  • Characters. A good character can write a story themselves.

  • Story. A work can rarely sustain itself without a story, but cannot sustain on story alone.

  • Setting. A compelling setting can make your work last, or stand on its own.

  • Themes. This should permeate throughout the other fundamentals.

 

  • Art and writing ability is intertwined with all of the fundamentals, and elevates the work.

  • To better understand these fundamentals, analyze best sellers. Especially popular media you do not personally like. Find which fundamentals they work best at.

  • Analyze others’ works, become inspired by them, but do not directly copy.

Character Creation - Motivation is key for a good character. Make their motivations apparent as soon as possible, unless you are properly applying suspense.

Spoiler
  • A good main character must garner interest and empathy. Even if they are not necessarily good, their view must be empathetic.

  • Make a list of your character’s motivations.

  • Everyone can empathize with the basic human desires. Even if they do not understand the specific aspect. Be sure to give them a reason to act upon these desires. (Example)  Infidelity is wrong, but if you depict it in such a way that it is not just raw sexual desire, but as something wrong but a relatable temptation, readers will think “yeah, that’s just how it is.”

  • Bravery will naturally breed empathy.

  • Good characters have weaknesses. Be sure to show them.

  • Make sure you have a firm grasp on who your main character is, and what they are about. Make sure all of your characters differentiate from the protagonist, and do not overlap.

>Villains

  • Contrast the hero and the villain

  • A good villain will provide an outlet for the bad and ugly feelings of the audience, a sort of catharsis.

  • Heroes fight alone. They do not get innocents involved or others hurt, and they should not be saved by god or bailed out by someone else unless properly foreshadowed.

> Side Characters

  • Work best when you show them overcoming their flaws.

> Character History

  • For every character, write a character history. Their history will help inform you how they act, and a fleshed out history will enable you to write for the character automatically.

  • Try and write 60 facts about the character! Research what this could say about them, what their psychology might be like due to these facts.

  • It can be useful to write a character’s abilities first, and infer what such abilities entail.

  • Characters can be changed or erased. Do not be afraid to start over, or to use the character for something else. Also do not be afraid to make lots of character histories. It may prove useful down the line.

  • Try making a sample history for yourself, your friends, your family, and/or heroes.

Story - Nothing can stand on its story alone.

Spoiler
  • In your story, your characters should stand the test of time by growing and adapting to the current time. But do so organically, and only if it fits your goal.

> Story Taboos

  1. The author speaks, not the narrator. This distracts and annoys the audience, ruins magic

  2. Coincidences. Nothing should be a coincidence. Foreshadow occurrences!

  3. Protagonist blunders. The characters should not be creating their own problems, especially in a way that is not fitting for them. (A police officer forgetting their gun and badge)

  4. It was all a dream. “Was it all just a dream?” is a question with only one response: “Give me back the time I wasted on reading this.”

 

  • Do not seek reality in entertainment. Real life is complex, full of negatives and uncertainties. Readers want to be in a different world.

  • Approach negative arcs only with understanding, not ignorance.

  • Sometimes, a negative can be a positive. (The main character dying at the end of the series so they can secure the defeat of the villain)

  • Hurl your protagonist into peril. As long as you know the character and have ideas for situations to put them into, you can have a story. Simply let the characters act, and follow the Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu formula.

  • The hardest part should always come not before the beginning, but just before the end.

  • SHOW, DON’T TELL!

 

> Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu

Introduction (Ki) Show the protagonist. Do not delay!

Development (Sho) Protagonist encounters antagonist or hardship.

Twist (Ten) Rising to face the challenge, but another problem or complication appears.

Resolution (Ketsu) A victory or other happy ending

 

  • Internalize this. Turn it into muscle memory.

  • Think of examples of this in everyday life. Everything that occurs in real life & media.

  • (Examples) Two people meet (Ki), they call in love (Sho), they face trials in their relationship (Ten), they live happily ever after or break up (Ketsu).

  • The whistle blows (Ki), the rival team appears and game builds (Sho), the teams cycle between attack and defense (Ten), a victor emerges (Ketsu).

  • It is okay to mix it up once you understand this fundamental. (ki-sho-ten-ten-ten-ketsu, ki-sho-ten-sho-ten-ketsu)

 

> Rising and Falling

The main character should be constantly rising. You can reverse this (always falling) but do not have them constantly going up and down.

  • The character should always be getting stronger, and the stakes constantly raising.

  • The tournament structure is flawed. Makes it impossible to show real scale and rising tensions when you are constantly resetting. It feels forced.

  • Weak enemies are okay, but they should make up for their weakness in other ways.

  • Characters should not hit walls and return to the negative.

  • Do not have a character return to 0. The audience will know they will return, and be annoyed by it. (Ex. Hit Girl quit being a super hero in Kickass 2. At the end of the movie, she became a hero again, thus only returning to 0.)

 

  • Do not overthink your dialogue. Let your speech come naturally, and only change it when it is needed for the character.

Pursuing a mystery creates suspense.

Setting - Your setting must immerse the reader. To do so, it must be grounded in reality. Even the fanciful must have its own ground rules and inner logic.

Spoiler
  • Be thorough as possible in your research. Learn what is around the subject, not just the subject itself. (The rooms behind the clerk’s desk, what the cleaning routine is for a chef)

  • Don’t draw or write all of what you research. Only use it as a reference.

> How to make a Setting

Make a list of the things that relate to your work’s subject, as you would write facts about a character.

When writing an organization:

  • Who is the top? What are they like?

  • What are the goals?

  • What is the source of income?

  • What kinds of special permits do they have?

  • How was it formed? Who formed it?\

  • Roughly how many members?

  • What are its internal rules?

  • How are responsibilities divided?

  • Do they have ties to the underworld, perform foul play?

 

When writing a historical period:

  • What is society like?

  • Who is the ruler?

  • What is the religion?

  • Fashion

  • Architecture

  • Food

  • Currency

  • Current affairs

 

Writing Geography

  • Topography, guide books

  • Location of places in relation to each other

  • What kinds of roads?

  • How far away is the nearest airport?

  • What are the local industries?

  • Kinds of hotels and restaurants

  • Other local info you would look up before vacationing

 

Sushi Chef

  • How does the chef go about sourcing fish in the morning, prep work, cleaning?

  • Hand motions and amount of force used when making sushi.

  • Preventative measures against food poisoning.

 

Science Fiction

  • What is the infrastructure like?

  • WHo is the head of state?

  • What is the fashion like?

  • What types of flora exist?

  • Do animals even have sexes? How are they born?

  • How do robots move? What are they made out of (including qualities of material)

Theme - This should pervade throughout the other elements. Think of Frozen, and its theme of cold providing a distant feeling that adds to the story, the characters, and its setting.

Spoiler
  • Do not change your theme unless it is natural to do so! Only tell the type of story that you intend to tell.

  • Themes reveal the creator’s intent and psychology.

  • Do not choose a theme just because it is popular or might sell well. Only if it resonates with you. The audience can sense when something is being faked.

Art - There are three things all good art must have:

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  • A cohesive design

  • Accurate depiction of light

  • Provide a sense of shape

  • Make a list of what kind of art is appealing. Think of examples of good art, and analyze what makes them good.

  •  

> Realism and Signification

  • Signification is drawing so that something is recognized immediately from a distance or in silhouette. (Mickey mouse, goku, etc)

  • Strive for both, but understand it is nearly impossible to have them simultaneously. However, only the important parts must be entirely real (A basketball in a sports image, a gun in a gunfight, etc)

  • Strive to make the art feel real. Research and learn its inner workings, its skeleton, its gears. Draw only once you understand it, even if you are breaking the norm. If you do not understand how a gun’s mechanism works, or where the handlebars of a motorcycle connect to, the audience can tell.

  • Always aim for more than just mimicry.

 

Edited by Supreme Slayer
Weird formatting...

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