I'd like it to be a visual novel eroge, actually, but I am prepared to go forward with it as just my own work if I can't get art assets. Coding and writing can be taken care of, though. It all depends.
Anyway! HERE IS WHAT I HAVE.
The setting would be Vietnam, 1943-1945, and protagonist-kun is a Japanese soldier in the occupation force. Occupation of indochina is comparatively peaceful, but the shame of being far from the front is never far from your mind.
Lassitude and sickness, along with senseless and seemingly self-defeating drills, are the order of the day. The humidity is stifling, and so is the oppressive military culture. Vietnam is about to burn for thirty years, at the mercy of policymakers in Washington, Tokyo and Paris. As one man, your fate is completely subsumed into the inferno of WW2, and your attempts to find love and meaning in life seem frail and foolish as the destruction of a world looms ominously over you. Francophone Indochina is a doomed construct, and as traditional order in Asia burns around you, the flickering illusion of the Co-Prosperity Sphere promised to replace it seems increasingly ephemeral, a mirage of militarism that won't even outlive the brave young men sacrificed in droves in it's name.
First heroines i've conceived:
French Colonial Administrator's daughter- Ojou, literate, resents the decline of French as a world language, knows vietnamese, has only ever lived in Vietnam; Saigon is the big city.
Gone-with-the-wind type character, knows her world is gone no matter how the war goes, and hates the Japanese for it. Bit of a drinking problem.
Vietnamese plantation owner's daughter- eldest daughter of a widower with no sons, handles all her father's business affairs. Social climber with aspirations on the colonial class's land; courts the favour of local Japanese garrison because she anticipates having much to gain in the event of the french having to sell off their ownings to the natives. A materialistic, independent and driven woman who views the Japanese as a stepping stone to her own economic security.
Certainly more- a comfort woman feels obligatory.
I'd like to write about the relationship between asia for the asiatics rhetoric, Japan's shockingly good relations with the french colonial regime that was allowed to continue largely unobstructed, (unique in Japanese WW2 occupation!) and the triangular interplay between Vietnamese nationalists, the French colonial regime, and the Japanese occupiers.
It is felt this project will contribute to the development of the sonnet project rather than obstruct it.
I'd pick the one with a good balance between sluttiness and breast size.
It's an intriguing setting but you'd have to do a ton of research to try and get it right. You're also going to have to fight hard to prevent it from turning into imperialist apologism.
You know most advice for first time writers starts with "write what you know". If you're going to write a novel why not place it in the modern day south? You have no shortage of inspiration to draw from...
One of Dazai's best works was written about a greek legend- I think it's possible to write what you don't know as long as you have a healthy respect and interest. Besides, I am not completely ignorant on the subject- it's been a special field of interest for awhile now, and I am reading increasingly specific books. You are right I'd want a vietnamese advisor though. And I can't write the modern day South- it'd be too depressing and crushing to have to live it in my mind. Plus, speaking of apologism, I positively couldn't help myself if that was the subject. I'd castigate and glorify the South simultaneously and never get anything else done.
As for apologism, visual novels have many branching paths. I think it is possible protagonist-kun may reject his country and military obligations in at least one of them, but this is an incredible step for a man of his times and place to take. No matter what he does, it will likely end poorly; the best ends would be said surrender, deciding like Anatoly Sergievsky from Chess that his heart was his greatest obligation rather than any country's loyalties, and that he wanted to live for the sake of his own aspirations. Milling in a camp with others, mostly vietnamese and Japanese who had been wounded/unconscious at the time of surrender, both groups avoiding him for obvious reasons, he'd be at his darkest hour in doubt at the decision he made, when he received a letter from the girl he had pursued, an acknowledgement that her affection for him extended even in the absence of Japanese occupation of Vietnam.
Alternatively, another "good" end would be his decision that his time in Vietnam had been worthwhile, and that he'd found beauty and happiness while he was stationed abroad. Acknowledging the beauty and value of his experiences, he could face death more readily, and be one of the empire's countless falling blossoms in its darkest hours.
Alternatively alternatively, he could repudiate the affections of any women while in Vietnam, but this would only increase his restless misery. Searching for something intangible to place his ambitions and hopes in, he'd find an enthusiasm in army life he never knew before, and become only more fervent, restlessly stalking Saigon in impotent rage as the allies finally close in on Vietnam, reinforced from other theatres in preparations for an apocalyptic final struggle.
Most ends would be pretty bad though, and end negatively not only for Protagonist-kun, but also the woman indiscrete enough to give her affections to him.
It's really intended to be a branching story with many paths and no true one, and no path more "right" than others. If it ends up being nothing but a mere novel though, i'd go with the French Ojou as the canon heroine, and a tragic ending that ends in the ruin of both parties as the canon ending. A visual novel would afford the reader opportunities to grasp at the slender prospects of a "happy" ending, though, whether happiness is interpreted as betrayal of country and ideology for enduring love, or meeting death in the service of your country with a happy outlook and fond memories. One of the main goals of this work is to communicate mono-no-aware to a western audience.
Quote from: Lettow77 on January 13, 2012, 04:43:15 PM
And I can't write the modern day South- it'd be too depressing and crushing to have to live it in my mind. Plus, speaking of apologism, I positively couldn't help myself if that was the subject. I'd castigate and glorify the South simultaneously and never get anything else done.
No offence, but that sounds much more interesting than anything else you have talked about in your post.
Is Ojou supposed to be a Vietnamese chick's name?
MLK day is just around the corner...cheers
Ojou is a character archetype.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Ojou
Protagonist-kun is almost certainly from tottori, and a poor rural family.
I know you say it'd be interesting, but I have no interest in writing about the South. Not necessarily ever, but probably not soon.
An idea I liked for a story, but ultimately scrapped:
Two mormon missionaries in Japan, protagonist-kun and his mission companion and lifelong friend. protagonist-kun has homosexual feelings for his mission companion, but is a pious mormon. His mission companion is cynical and rejects the church's teachings, but went on mission anyway because it's social suicide not to do so for his entire family in rural Utah where he lives. One is jaded by mormon culture and more interested in secular Japan weeaboo crap and its glittering temptations, while the other struggles with his forbidden love and is agonized by his friend(?)'s loss of faith, knowing that any move he made on him would only make it worse.
Any ero content would result in a bad end, and the best end would be seeing the one person you succeeded in baptizing attend church service for the first time, after you successfully denied self-temptation and reinforced your best friend's belief in heavily father's plan. Themes would be self-delusion, self-denial and the optimistic pursuit of a greater good and sublimation of the individual.
Quote from: Barrister on January 13, 2012, 04:54:27 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on January 13, 2012, 04:43:15 PM
And I can't write the modern day South- it'd be too depressing and crushing to have to live it in my mind. Plus, speaking of apologism, I positively couldn't help myself if that was the subject. I'd castigate and glorify the South simultaneously and never get anything else done.
No offence, but that sounds much more interesting than anything else you have talked about in your post.
Indeed.
Haven't y'all heard enough about the South from me in one lifetime? Why is the peanut gallery not sick of that one? The South makes *me* sick. I don't like to think about it. It's a horrible, conflicting thing i've shoved deep into the recesses of my being and would rather have be something that unconsciously effects everything I do rather than something I openly consider.
Quote from: Lettow77 on January 13, 2012, 06:06:43 PM
Haven't y'all heard enough about the South from me in one lifetime? Why is the peanut gallery not sick of that one? The South makes *me* sick. I don't like to think about it. It's a horrible, conflicting thing i've shoved deep into the recesses of my being and would rather have be something that unconsciously effects everything I do rather than something I openly consider.
That seems exactly what a self-loathing, crazed Japanese otaku thinking America is like the world of Superman and Spiderman would say about Japan and Japanese society.
Right- unpleasant accusations about my understanding of Japan aside, I'd love a Japanese otaku to do for me what I can't do for myself with regards to the South. I've even met one like that.
However, I am more comfortable writing Japan.
Quote from: Barrister on January 13, 2012, 04:54:27 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on January 13, 2012, 04:43:15 PM
And I can't write the modern day South- it'd be too depressing and crushing to have to live it in my mind. Plus, speaking of apologism, I positively couldn't help myself if that was the subject. I'd castigate and glorify the South simultaneously and never get anything else done.
No offence, but that sounds much more interesting than anything else you have talked about in your post.
Yes.
I agree. You should write about what you know, as the cliche goes. So write about going around pretending to be blind at UT-Martin, growing up in Memphis obsessed with the Confederacy, mew, squee, etc. You clearly already have a literary style.
Lettuce: have you read Confederacy of Dunces?
I *LOVE* Confederacy of Dunces.
I'm not emotionally prepared to write about my own experiences. It'd be unpleasant. I feel my existence and identity as a Southerner are a heavy burden. I feel as if the South is an unhappy, benighted place, and taking up the Confederacy as a cross makes me an unhappy, benighted person. I think that was what my first sonnet was about. I try not to think about it, and focus on other things that make me happy. Japanese culture makes me happy. My experiences as a Southerner and Confederate nationalist inform my writing topic, word choice and the ideas through which I perceive Japanese culture, and that is enough for me.
What languish is asking me to do, regardless of the quality of the work that would emerge, would drive me into a terrible place I don't want to be in. I can't write the South.
Edit: Those who like Confederacy of Dunces should read Cry of the Sloth, which is a similar and wonderful work.
Do you know what it is like to be a white man who can summon fire from the sky?
Quote from: The Brain on January 13, 2012, 06:59:55 PM
Do you know what it is like to be a white man who can summon fire from the sky?
You mean like Curtis LeMay? Wish I could. :Embarrass:
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on January 13, 2012, 06:34:49 PM
I agree. You should write about what you know, as the cliche goes.
Or write about shit that's completely made up. One of these days maybe I should revisit my version of the Trojan War myths recast with modern weapons and nation-states (a lot like Loncraine's Richard III, but with 100% more homosexual main characters, and about 1000% more rape--not my fault, blame the source material).
So, how many people here have aspirations to write a novel? Oh and Confederacy of Dunces is a great novel. It's like meeting Raz in person. Except for the jerking off to dogs part. I don't do that.
Quote from: Razgovory on January 13, 2012, 10:16:03 PM
So, how many people here have aspirations to write a novel? Oh and Confederacy of Dunces is a great novel. It's like meeting Raz in person. Except for the jerking off to dogs part. I don't do that.
Does a comic book count?
Sure.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 13, 2012, 06:41:38 PM
Lettuce: have you read Confederacy of Dunces?
Is it one you'd recommend in general or just to lettow?
Quote from: Razgovory on January 13, 2012, 10:16:03 PM
So, how many people here have aspirations to write a novel?
:blush:
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on January 13, 2012, 10:50:21 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 13, 2012, 06:41:38 PM
Lettuce: have you read Confederacy of Dunces?
Is it one you'd recommend in general or just to lettow?
In general. It's hilarious.
As said, I've already read it. it takes pride of place in my top ten, i'm sure. Raz, I am not quite Ignatius J. Reilly, fortunately. I think I used to resemble him more.
I would recommend, again, The Cry of the Sloth, if maybe only to you. I don't think the others here can appreciate it properly.
I'd second the write about the south idea. At least drop the visual novel sillyness. You'll never manage that.
Quote from: Drakken on January 13, 2012, 06:18:11 PM
Quote from: Lettow77 on January 13, 2012, 06:06:43 PM
Haven't y'all heard enough about the South from me in one lifetime? Why is the peanut gallery not sick of that one? The South makes *me* sick. I don't like to think about it. It's a horrible, conflicting thing i've shoved deep into the recesses of my being and would rather have be something that unconsciously effects everything I do rather than something I openly consider.
That seems exactly what a self-loathing, crazed Japanese otaku thinking America is like the world of Superman and Spiderman would say about Japan and Japanese society.
Hey, they don't even have to be that otakuy. There's quite a lot of the grass is greener on the other side of the pacificism amongst the general pop here.
To be born Japanese is a pretty grim fate.
Writing a novel? Shouldn't be hard, since most of your posts probably qualify as novellas. :P
And he can just publish it on the web without convincing some editor that it's any good.
Quote from: Lettow77 on January 13, 2012, 11:23:27 PM
As said, I've already read it. it takes pride of place in my top ten, i'm sure. Raz, I am not quite Ignatius J. Reilly, fortunately. I think I used to resemble him more.
I would recommend, again, The Cry of the Sloth, if maybe only to you. I don't think the others here can appreciate it properly.
I'll pick it up.
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on January 13, 2012, 10:50:21 PM
Is it one you'd recommend in general or just to lettow?
In general. Book is not a life-changer, but interesting and amusing and thought-provoking. And the best back story of any book ever written. Some dude came out of nowhere and wrote this book in his 40s, then never wrote again (died? killed himself?).
Psychology students are sometimes assigned that book and asked to give a diagnosis of the main character. Which is how I found the book, I was looking for information on my particular illness which is what fits the character best.
Quote from: Razgovory on January 14, 2012, 02:35:50 AM
Psychology students are sometimes assigned that book and asked to give a diagnosis of the main character.
That's dismal.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on January 14, 2012, 02:28:41 AM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on January 13, 2012, 10:50:21 PM
Is it one you'd recommend in general or just to lettow?
In general. Book is not a life-changer, but interesting and amusing and thought-provoking. And the best back story of any book ever written. Some dude came out of nowhere and wrote this book in his 40s, then never wrote again (died? killed himself?).
He killed himself when he was in his early 30s. Then his mother shopped the manuscript around for a decade or so.
Quote from: Capetan Mihali on January 14, 2012, 03:07:05 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on January 14, 2012, 02:35:50 AM
Psychology students are sometimes assigned that book and asked to give a diagnosis of the main character.
That's dismal.
I dunno, I didn't take the class. I just found some stuff about it online when I was looking up what I got on the Psych tests.
Coincidentally, early death is the easymodo route to renown with your literature. Having killed yourself makes this true, but more so.
Doubtlessly it is why A Confederacy of Dunces is such a fine work.
edit: I'll try to have samples of writing from both the story I want to write and the horrible South-thing you desire sometime tonight.
I found it in on Amazon
Narrative of the War Between the States - General Jubal A. Early (http://www.amazon.com/Narrative-Between-States-Capo-Paperback/dp/0306804247/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1326569688&sr=8-3)
Learned some things about my characters. The protagonist's last name is Nakamura, and he is from Tottori. He turned 18 in 1941. His first name I have not yet decided between- Santaro or Osamu.
More to the point though, thinking I could get anything done was over-optimistic, just as I am feeling overly negative now. When I feel, as I felt yesterday, in my highest spirits, I delude myself into imagining grand vistas of possibility. I want to leave a great work behind to mark my existence, but the sonnet project (also largely stalled) is the better bet. Better still than either may be the realization that I will not achieve anything of note.
I wrote a small snippet without any real direction. I attempted, entirely for Languish's sake, to write something about the South, and as predicted it caused me the worst sort of pain. I simply cannot, at least not now.
The novel I will never create would be an I-novel, both in line with what is common for visual novels and as a tribute to Dazai. Here is a paragraph.
"With the bayonet affixed, the type 99 does fine service as a spear. Solitary practice with the bayonet was one of the only indulgences looked upon favourably and tolerated by the lieutenant, so I seized upon it fairly frequently as an opportunity to be alone. I have always held the spear to be the true weapon of Japan; the gunto wielded by Samurai was more properly the weapon of the Zaibatsu and the navy, with its dramatic flair and adventuresome ways. The Army represents, I am sure, something more dependable than that. The Samurai have no place in the people's army; the lowly spear, entrusted with protection of the fields and defense of the woman's virtue, is the proper symbol for what the Emperor's army brings to Asia. I keep these thoughts to myself, but they are a comfort as I go through the motions. "
Writing what you know, or the perils of not being able to do so, were apparent: Not about Japan, but humans speaking to each other, and the social hierarchy of military. Both seem distant and foreign to me, and I cannot understand it well. I should perhaps observe humanity more and socialize so that I can write dialogue. Failing that, the character would have to be trapped inside his mind too often, and it seems unfair to sentence him to that, even if he is lowborn.
Will the main character get to torture Vietnamese prisoners as being sub-humans and use Korean comfort women on permission? -_-
The main character would have a complex relationship with the Vietnamese, but certainly would not torture them. Thinking little of their level of civilization and society would be part of his world view. He'd tend to place them below the french and japanese hierarchically, but believe they are within the Japanese sphere, while the French are an oppressive intrusion.
For the Koreans he'd have a more visceral contempt. I didn't imagine including any Koreans. Or torture, for that matter.
Edit: Mood stabilized, after plunging a bit deeper. It's odd how I know tea will always make me feel better, but I will be unable to work up the motivation for it. The immense lack of motivation to do even things I know I will enjoy grips me so powerfully it's a cause for despair. I know what I want to do in life and can achieve some of it, including the most important part. Also, this anime is pleasing.
Quote from: Razgovory on January 13, 2012, 10:16:03 PM
So, how many people here have aspirations to write a novel?
Me. It's not going to be autobiographical though. Nobody wants to read that boring shit.
I shall write a novel too.
Black people conquered Egypt, and from there expanded, first to the middle east all the way to india, and then invaded Europe. Their carthaginian allies conquered Rome, and blacks from Asia Minor conquered Greece. The great Nubian Empire collapsed into smaller competing states, but continued to expand after adopting Islam.
Southern Europe are a collection of poor border marches, with the exception of the Great Emirate of Cordoba, part of the Great Khalifate (like the Holy Roman Empire), and central and northern europe are a source of slaves for the great black muslim States. The competition between them let to a fast development of technology, and by 1492 the sailors of Cordoba have discovered America, and the route to China. By the middle 1800s, the Emirates of America are getting ready to declare independance from the Khalifate. But they also have to deal with their masses of white slaves.
Black people rule the world, the standard of beauty is black, the darkest skin with the widest nose and thickest lips. They have rewritten history, and Mohamed was black, so was Hannibal, and every other major world figure and important ancient civilization. Even budda was black, instead of looking like Keanu Reeves.
I was going to suggest you switch black with jews, but then I realized you were going for alternate history. :P
Quote from: Siege on January 15, 2012, 01:48:13 AM
I shall write a novel too.
Black people conquered Egypt, and from there expanded, first to the middle east all the way to india, and then invaded Europe. Their carthaginian allies conquered Rome, and blacks from Asia Minor conquered Greece. The great Nubian Empire collapsed into smaller competing states, but continued to expand after adopting Islam.
Southern Europe are a collection of poor border marches, with the exception of the Great Emirate of Cordoba, part of the Great Khalifate (like the Holy Roman Empire), and central and northern europe are a source of slaves for the great black muslim States. The competition between them let to a fast development of technology, and by 1492 the sailors of Cordoba have discovered America, and the route to China. By the middle 1800s, the Emirates of America are getting ready to declare independance from the Khalifate. But they also have to deal with their masses of white slaves.
Black people rule the world, the standard of beauty is black, the darkest skin with the widest nose and thickest lips. They have rewritten history, and Mohamed was black, so was Hannibal, and every other major world figure and important ancient civilization. Even budda was black, instead of looking like Keanu Reeves.
:D