Wiggin's Manga

[wiggins]

I'm basically just curious, but to all the manga artists: When you get/ got an idea for your manga (especially the long-running type), did you quickly get the whole big idea, and the whole story, or a vague, general idea, and a slightly more detailed one for the 1st chapter/ episode, or did you get a general idea, and then slowly small ideas came along until your 1st chapter was eventually after a long time formed, or something else completely? So basically I'm asking, how did your idea for your manga come to you? I know that for some of you can simply say, God gave me the idea, but I just want to know how the idea came to you. Thanks!

[inkhana]

Heh, anyone who follows the Steelblood thread knows exactly how my mind works. It's like the light bulb in the fridge...the light comes on only when someone opens the door. OK...so it's nothing like that...LOL

No, seriously, I never get the big picture all at once. I get ideas for different parts of the story over a long stretch of time...beginning, end, somewhere in between, and some things that never get used at all. I'm still getting a lot of ideas. It just takes a long time to develop a good, well-rounded universe...I don't think anyone gets the whole thing at once, and if they do, I would either envy or question them... hehe

[uc pseudonym]

Generally my ideas are far too broad to be obtained at once. Most of the time I get a flash of inspiration and have the basic concept, but after that it is a slower process of thinking through things. Generally, when I am working on the exact details of the idea, I find in the clarification that it is improved.

Though with the number of ideas I've received, the method has varied quite a bit.

[Mave]

Hi there, wiggins...

I'll answer how I came out with KingdomCome, my current webmanga. I was reading Kaikan Phrase and Dragonvoice one day and listening to Christian Contemporary music. Why not write about a Christian band?

Then, suddenly, a thought came to me, "Why not have my main character do something no one in MTV or Hollywood would do? Leave all his fame, riches and popularity in order to seek and serve God" Can anyone imagine Justin Timberlake doing that right now?

So my approach is take existing secular stories and give it a Christian twist (like what I did my KCome). That alone, I believe gives you many ideas.

Examples
1) RK (Christian version): An ex-assasin wanders around, meets a Christian missionary, becomes a Christian, wanders around now, protecting lives but also bringing the Good News wherever he does. (hm...I like this one, I feel tempted to make a manga like this now hahaha)
2) YYH (Christian version): A young boy who almost died but rededicated his life to fighting evil spirits via praying, fasting and exorcising....(erm, but I say exercise A LOT of caution if you take on something like this...Personally, I can't handle a delicate topic like this yet!)
3) Naruto (Christian version): Various clans or "Christian" tribes (if there's such a term) training and fighting to protect their fellow Christian men. Your main character may have to fight an inner evil spirit in him but he relies on God to overcome and reject it.

Does this help? That's how I get the main ideas first. Then, the details come along as I start working on each chapter...

[uc pseudonym]

The Naruto idea is an extremely good one (that I can't take... I'm doing too much already), but I'd caution one thing. It is very difficult to keep your story within Christian boundaries while keeping it interesting. All I mean by this is that one must be very careful about what they endorse.

For example: Mave's Kingdom Come is great, in that it exists in real life, in a world basically like ours. What can Christians do? What they can do here?

Take The Fall: very nasty bit of work (in theology, not quality). For one, we know very little about angels and demons, or the spiritual warfare that goes on between them (though it provably does). The Spirit Realm is just as difficult. One has to tread very lightly on such grounds, and constantly keep theology in mind.

The Naruto idea, while appealing, would involve the Christians being pretty violent. Unless, of course, they fought non-human enemies (a la Temptations) or the story was meant as an allegory (battle = argument).

[Mave]

The Naruto idea is an extremely good one (that I can't take... I'm doing too much already), but I'd caution one thing. It is very difficult to keep your story within Christian boundaries while keeping it interesting. All I mean by this is that one must be very careful about what they endorse.

Hey, that's true. I kinda forgot all about the (relatively) violent content in Naruto. I was more focused on the concept of enemies relying on the dark spirits to help them fight while Christians relied on the Holy Spirit. It could get pretty dark coz the enemies would be completely ruthless and desperate, doing just about any form of evil in order to win.

At the same time, Christian would have to decide whether to fight back (kill 0.o) or to lay down their swords and die for their faith. oh boy oh boy...decisions decisions, isn't that what our lives are all about? yes, I agree with UC, that could be a potential story but one needs wisdom to present this story well and yet remain close to The Word.

One has to tread very lightly on such grounds, and constantly keep theology in mind.

Hear hear....my thoughts exactly. Wiggins, that's why I always stress strongly that one should have good spiritual understanding and theological foundation in order to produce good Christian manga. Remember that you are accountable to God for whatever you produce. I gave these more concrete examples to just help you kick off with a decent plot. I hope this helps...

[uc pseudonym]

At the same time, Christian would have to decide whether to fight back (kill 0.o) or to lay down their swords and die for their faith. oh boy oh boy...decisions decisions, isn't that what our lives are all about?

The reason this is so frustrating is that you can't have good characters with cool Jutsu, as they can't fight back. This would make a great one-shot (just the basic idea), but I don't like those (for my own works). Unless you did something else.

But don't allow me to get this off topic. Let's let wiggans respond, so he can change the thread's course to what would help him.

[Hitokiri]

I've been working on my main manga "Minajouroshijou" for a long time now and i got the idea way before that. Orginally it was just a video game idea to occupy my time but slowly transformed into a big manga. I guess once I get a idea of a possible manga, I slwoly and gardually plan out future chapters.

As for my second and most anticipated manga "Space Detective Go-Go", I had the idea for quite a while. Not sure how it got started, It was orginally going to be a....detective anime But slwoly turned into a Futuristic/Space Themed manga.

[wiggins]

Guys... I think you may have misunderstoood me just a teensy weensy bit... I already have the idea, as I said I was just curious, but since we're on the subject I'll tell you the story concept so far for now as spoiler-free as possible: 5 friends (1 senior, 3 juniors, and 1 genius kid who has gotten into freshman year ? years ahead of time) try to live life for Christ, in Christ, and with Christ. They go to the same church and attend a youth group. Their youth group leader is just like they are and all Christians are still learning, growing and walking in Christ. The church is trying to get the youth group to be a more independent branch of the church, and to go out and establish itself: The main church gives 2 reasons for this: 1)To overcome the stereotype that church is this boring place where people sing hymns all day long, and old lecturers give dry boring speeches that all say repent and accept Jesus or go to hell. The youth group is to be a more fellowshippy organization with its own facility where Christians fellowship and hang out and have fun, and non-Christians can come join as well. That way, the hope is that the Youth group will be a more effective ministry to non-Christians. Of course, the church acknowledges that it is a theory and conjecture and may not actually work. Some church members are against it saying that the venture is too expensive and too much money at risk for a venture that is mostly theory and has not been tested in real life. 2)Clash of whole church activities and youth group ones have been more and more frequent. Establishment of a separate facility would allow the youth to have their activites and the church theirs without fighting over precious church space. The whole youth group itself has different views on the push for the youth group to go out and get its own facility: some say the second reason stated above is the real reason and that the church just wants to get ride of them. Others genuinely believe in what the church is proposing. More and more support is coming for the idea because if a separate facility is established, it could provide a dormitory for the seniors who will be moving out from their parents' home soon to live on their own and for some, to go to university. Many in the youth group think tihs is a fantastical idea, but the seniors are in great support of it. In order to minimize fund loss should the venture fail, the church promises to give 10% of the weekly offering to the fund for the youth group's facility, any money which individuals wish to donate to the fund, and the rest would have to be from the youth group itself through earning money through fundraisers, and fishing out from the pocket money they have. Now of course not all students are obliged to do this and some don't. There will be occasional resentment towards the non-participants and it will threaten to split up the youth group and friends, but that's either in the past or a ways down the road. The main characters are the five friends. Now the task of finding a suitable facility that has room for a possible dorm and all youth group activities falls to the slightly inexperienced youth group director/ leader/ occasional teaching pastor(occasional because they mostly hang out and try to address each others problems in a what would Jesus do kind of way trying to follow Jesus as closely as they can. sometimes, if God lays it on his heart to say something as a teaching pastor and leader, he will, but those are seldom, and mostly he is just pretty much one of the group). He assigns three teams headed by seniors. One of these teams is the group of our five friends. Now all the stuff above is just a background. The real story is about the five friends as they search for the facility face ruthless buisnessman, doubts about the venture (Is it economically viable? Is it possible? What if it's not centrally located to the church and to more than 1 university? Is it God's Will?), as well as individual problems, some of which jumping out at them from their individual pasts. Some problems they will bring to the whole youth group while other more private ones will be sorted out amongst themselves the individuals in question, and of course God! At other times, they will meet new friends and enemies, whom they help. Some will respond to the help and become friends with them, while others will not. They will have to deal with failure and a bunch of other stuff from real life (I envision at least). There will be other stuff too since the concept is not fully developed, and you're right Mave, I do have to work on keeping it extremely close to God's infallible Word while trying to keep my story engaging and interesting. How I'm going to make a sypnopsis, I'll figure out later when the idea is more developed. Also on my brain is a system, whihc I am kinda proud of, although a) i shouldn't be proud and b) it's not that great since its based on other people's ideas. This system will be explained periodically through television like random inserts like Megatokyo's How and Why of Megatokyo, with the charactyers from the system itself (at least that's what I'm thinking now...) And finally, of course all this is subject to change. I hope God will lead me somewhere, because I want this to be and like to think of it as His manga... but I'm not sure if I can call it that... I don't know, but that's the general ideas on my brain for now...

[Pepper Kittie]

Wow! That's a lot of ideas going into the manga, Wiggins ^^ I think you're off to a really good start. It sounds really interesting! I'm sure things will change as you get farther into writing it, but if you stay true to your origional message and to yourself and God I'm sure that it will turn out wonderful in the end. I'm excited to see how this turns out ^^

Well I guess I haven't said anything about my manga ideas yet, even though I've asked for help about a few things already ^^v Whenever I come up with ideas for songs or stories it's always based on what I'm going through in my life at the time. I really want to show others the things that God has been trying to show me, and as well as encourage and uplift I hope that it will help me to grow as well. The message behind my manga, Advocate, came about because of issues I'm facing in my own life, like temptation taking over the believer as reflected in James 1:13-15 as well as God being our advocate and speaking for us if we follow Him. Hence the name of the story ^^ I won't go into the plot because I don't wanna ruin anything (lol!) but I guess as far as inspiration, it's come from what I've mentioned and the missionaries that I speak with.

Good luck with your manga! Can't wait to see where God takes you with it!

[Hitokiri]

whoa sounds very good. It sounds almost exactly what happened with our church and the youth group is a weird sort of way.

[Mave]

Wow.

Dear Wiggins, where did you get these ideas? Many of them are reflections of the reality of MY life. It's so similar that it's not even funny.

The team of my 'unofficial' fellowship consists of 5 students: 2 girls, 3 guys...one grad student (me), 2 seniors and 2 juniors.. We used to be affliated with a church but due to differences in our visions, we became independant of our church. We now envision to form a youth group that intends to provide a comfortable and safe haven for our remaining and faithful members and non-believer friends. We hope to be more efffective that way.

Since we are on our own, money and resources are provided by our own pockets. We meet at one senior's apartment, use two cars (mine and a senior), guitar (member's) and we coordinate our own activities. It's a struggle but we're persevering coz we want to do what our Lord wills.

I've personally had to deal with such resentment among my fellowship before and it threatened to break us up. We are definitely an inexperienced youth group who does everything, ranging from teaching, playing music, counseling etc.....

They will have to deal with failure and a bunch of other stuff from real life

Believe me, there will be failures, disappointments, sorrow and many feelings that get involved. It seems like the world has gone mad but the Lord is there. It's a very realistic story coz I've been there and done that and at best, am going through that now.

*sad smile* I pray that you'll provide the main message that no matter how difficults things are, it doesn't change who God is.

BTW, oops...sorry for the misunderstanding of your original question...^^

[Vampi]

Hmm...how do my stories come to me.....well, usually I have these vague images and fuzzy ideas in my head...like something "great" is obscured from my vision. After a while (if I have dwelled upon these weird thoughts long enough) the general story will pop together. Then comes the long road of creating the details...and the even longer road of drawing..........

Short stories are different. They suddenly form at midnight and leave me sleepy the next day.

[uc pseudonym]

I understood your original purpose, though not quite the scope.

I wish you the best of luck. Not my style of manga, but certainly not one that I would knock, and certainly not one I would say doesn't have redeeming value. More than most, perhaps, given the direct correlation to reality.

A question, however: do you want this thread to be about discussing how ideas come about, or about your own idea? Either path is acceptable.

[wiggins]

Actually the youth group thing is a newer idea, which came from several things: 1) All the pryaer requests surrounding youth groups in the prayer request forum, especially yours Mave, 2) Fun I had in my old youth group, 3)These bulding, renovation and branding projects my new church is undertaking 4) the campus search and success from my old church in California. For all you people living near Redwood Shores Parkway check out Fully Alive Community Church.

Well Mave and Hitokiri, I may be asking you alot more questions since you actually have personal experience in this. *produces a gigantic list of questions that fills my entire backpack*

As for its message, you kind of gave me something new to add in Mave, but it is mainly that we can overcome everything in life through Christ; No matter the trial, God is bigger; If we have God for us, who (and what) can stand against us?. There's also something in it from that verse on being hard pressed but not destroyed and stuff that is in your sig Mave.

Boy, I'm getting a bit too ambitious... I kind of worry that I am overreaching myself sometimes, and sometimes I think it is just the way it should be.

Actually I wanted to have a shonen element in it, with dodging bullets matrix style and jutsus and super powers and mechas... but I feel that it needs to be kept real more than it needs shonen fantasy stuff... Not to say that there isn't any fighting in it, because there is a spiritual war going on you know - that's where most of the super power things will come in: on the spiritual battlefield where Christians will duke it out with their own demons whichcould be anything (I have not decided yet. durgs? alcohol? I'm not sure)

One thing I'm worried about is the church's reasons for propelling the youth group to go out on its own, and the credibility of the dorm idea for college students. In the interest of keeping this manga real and close to real life, are those really plausible reasons?

In answer to your question UC, I was thinking about that last night myself. This thread seems to be more helping me...Originally it was menat for the former but now... Maybe I should change the thread name to "Wiggins' random questions on making and developing manga" or something to that effect. hmmm... but i would like the thread to help others as well, but I doubt it will... So umm how do you change a thread name?

[uc pseudonym]

Not to say that there isn't any fighting in it, because there is a spiritual war going on you know - that's where most of the super power things will come in: on the spiritual battlefield where Christians will duke it out with their own demons whichcould be anything (I have not decided yet. durgs? alcohol? I'm not sure)

Do you mean this in a figureative sense or not? Elsewhere, I affirm your intention to keep it real. It works for your goal far better, in my opinion.

One thing I'm worried about is the church's reasons for propelling the youth group to go out on its own, and the credibility of the dorm idea for college students. In the interest of keeping this manga real and close to real life, are those really plausible reasons?

It could be done reasonably... give it serious thought, though

In answer to your question UC, I was thinking about that last night myself. This thread seems to be more helping me...Originally it was menat for the former but now... Maybe I should change the thread name to "Wiggins' random questions on making and developing manga" or something to that effect. hmmm... but i would like the thread to help others as well, but I doubt it will... So umm how do you change a thread name?

You can't. I can, however. What do you want the title to be?

[wiggins]

Do you mean this in a figureative sense or not? Elsewhere, I affirm your intention to keep it real. It works for your goal far better, in my opinion.

You can't. I can, however. What do you want the title to be?

Hmm.... figurative? I'm not entirely sure what that word means, but I think its time to explain the system I was talking about earlier...I guess I'll give it away now... but in a later post.... no time now....

How about "Please help Wiggins with his manga" That way I'll just lkump together all the other questions was going to askby maybe making another thread into this one

[uc pseudonym]

Done, though I used my own title. Go ahead and explain.

[wiggins]

Thanks UC!

My so called system is really not that great: There is one world right, but four worlds(or modes or dimension or realms or whatever you wish to call it)

World 1: The physical world where everything is well, normal, like the real world. Everything is in order here: physics, gavirty, chemistry, what you will unless God performs a miracle of course

World 2: Inner Self world. I don't know how many of of have read a comic called spy boy which is not manga but is manga-influenced, and features little chibi sub-consciousness characters floating around behind the characters. The idea is similar: Each person has a set of chibis all with the same face as the character, but they can have different outfits, assigned to them. This is meant to show workings of people like how they think, feel, etc.; While it is a humorous part with little chibis waging an all out war against each other when inner conflict over small things arise, there are times when they play serious roles. For example, one situation I am thinking of for this is if the character is wallowing in a pool of self-pity, these chibis will be drawn a bit more seriously, and be set in a setting like quicksand to show they are sinking. Or something like that. This idea is still developing though.

World 3: Spirit-Physical world. Sound strange? It is. Everything here is exactly set as the normal physical world except that things like alcohol addiction and stuff will show itself in a much more scary form. For example, if there is an alcohol addict, he will be wrapped around in chains, chained to a demon type monster (the unhealthy alcohol addiction), which will at times be protrayed in a seductive manner, and blindfolded if he has not yet recognized that he is addicted and acknowledged it is a problem. When the individual breaks free from his addiction, it would be paralleled by him, breaking free of the chains that bind him, and defeating the "demon" that bound him. I hope this is not a dangerous element that may be misunderstood...

World 4: Spirit World: This world is completely different from the others which have the same basic geography. This is a battlefield, where Christian fight a war against inner and outer enemies. One of the key things I want to show with this world is that Jesus has already defeated Satan and evil and that we are more than conquerors in Christ; we are victors in Christ. One of the dilemmas with this world is if I should make it all medieval style, ethnically diverse style with old weapons like swords and stuff, modern day style with guns and weapons, sci-fi style with mechas and space ships, or one where there are all kind s of fighters, wielding all kinds of weapons from guns to swords to spears, etc. This is an all out war which I am debating on how to integrate into the manga. I doubt it will feature very much, but I may be wrong. Please give me some ideas, and we'll see where God leads me...

The major problem is to figure out a way to transition between worlds without the reader getting confused or making the story choppy. Of course most of the story is in the first 2 worlds.

As you can probably see, this manga is very much in the works and still a ways off from the actual making of it...

I am open and welcome any suggestions or ideas or warnings, etc. Thanks guys!

[Mave]

:hug:
Well Mave and Hitokiri, I may be asking you alot more questions since you actually have personal experience in this. *produces a gigantic list of questions that fills my entire backpack*

You're more than welcomed to fill up my PM mailbox. ]
Actually I wanted to have a shonen element in it, with dodging bullets matrix style and jutsus and super powers and mechas... but I feel that it needs to be kept real more than it needs shonen fantasy stuff... Not to say that there[/quote]
I would be reserving that for another manga series. ^^ Promise.

One thing I'm worried about is the church's reasons for propelling the youth group to go out on its own, and the credibility of the dorm idea for college students. In the interest of keeping this manga real and close to real life, are those really plausible reasons?

It's realistic for a church to encourage youth groups to be more active...but I don't know if they would really ask them to "go out" coz the youth gp is still under the accountability of the church, right? It really depends on how much "out" the group will go...

heh, I haven't formulated the worlds as detailed as you, Wiggins. At the moment, I deal with the physical only. ^^

[uc pseudonym]

World 1: The physical world where everything is well, normal, like the real world. Everything is in order here: physics, gavirty, chemistry, what you will unless God performs a miracle of course

I'd support having plenty of this before any of the others.

World 2: Inner Self world. I don't know how many of of have read a comic called spy boy which is not manga but is manga-influenced, and features little chibi sub-consciousness characters floating around behind the characters. The idea is similar: Each person has a set of chibis all with the same face as the character, but they can have different outfits, assigned to them. This is meant to show workings of people like how they think, feel, etc.]

I know what you're talking about. This idea strikes me as a bit redundant with the others, but that isn't to say it couldn't be done well.

World 3: Spirit-Physical world. Sound strange? It is. Everything here is exactly set as the normal physical world except that things like alcohol addiction and stuff will show itself in a much more scary form. For example, if there is an alcohol addict, he will be wrapped around in chains, chained to a demon type monster (the unhealthy alcohol addiction), which will at times be protrayed in a seductive manner, and blindfolded if he has not yet recognized that he is addicted and acknowledged it is a problem. When the individual breaks free from his addiction, it would be paralleled by him, breaking free of the chains that bind him, and defeating the "demon" that bound him. I hope this is not a dangerous element that may be misunderstood...

That depends on your audiance. I'd get it instantly, but if you're aiming for a nonChristian audiance, they might not understand so well.

World 4: Spirit World: This world is completely different from the others which have the same basic geography. This is a battlefield, where Christian fight a war against inner and outer enemies. One of the key things I want to show with this world is that Jesus has already defeated Satan and evil and that we are more than conquerors in Christ]

This is my personal favorite. I'd support having an integrated world with many different varieties of weapons, or a completely modernistic one. A la the Matrix.

The major problem is to figure out a way to transition between worlds without the reader getting confused or making the story choppy. Of course most of the story is in the first 2 worlds.

That's the more difficult part. The first time, I'd narrate us into the other world. Meanwhile, I method I use for my similar idea works as such: there is a large panel, showing both worlds. World 1 on the bottom, world 4 at the top (for example). In between is a strange blurred appearance. The characters are in exactly the same positions (ie Bob is on the right: Bob's spirit is on the right).

[wiggins]

It's realistic for a church to encourage youth groups to be more active...but I don't know if they would really ask them to "go out" coz the youth gp is still under the accountability of the church, right? It really depends on how much "out" the group will go...

heh, I haven't formulated the worlds as detailed as you, Wiggins. At the moment, I deal with the physical only. ^^

Hmmm... The youth group going out isn't meant to be them walking out on the church. They are still very much a part and parcel of a church: they are being encouraged to become more independent... I guess the way parents tell children to be more independent as they grow up but even as they become more independent, they are still under the parents' accountability... I also need a good way to communicate this, like phrase it better...

You deal with the physical only!? I never realized that! Although the art is only in the physical, the story and words of Kingdom Come go far beyond the physical. *Fanboy wiggins waves sign: Chapter3! Chapter 3!* Maybe I'm being too ambitious...

I know what you're talking about. This idea strikes me as a bit redundant with the others, but that isn't to say it couldn't be done well.

That depends on your audiance. I'd get it instantly, but if you're aiming for a nonChristian audiance, they might not understand so well.

This is my personal favorite. I'd support having an integrated world with many different varieties of weapons, or a completely modernistic one. A la the Matrix.

That's the more difficult part. The first time, I'd narrate us into the other world. Meanwhile, I method I use for my similar idea works as such: there is a large panel, showing both worlds. World 1 on the bottom, world 4 at the top (for example). In between is a strange blurred appearance. The characters are in exactly the same positions (ie Bob is on the right: Bob's spirit is on the right).

Thanks for the suggestions UC! Could you explain how you mean by redundant?

Also guys, could some one help me with names? I need to name all the characters because it's hard to write the script with no character names...

The characters in need of names so far are:

Friend 1 (male)
Friend 2 (female)
Friend 3 (male)
Friend 4 (female)
Super genius kid friend 5 (male)
Youth director/ leader (male)
Assistant youth director/ leader (female)

Also, could people post peculiar stuff about themselves which they wouldn't mind me using in their characters and examples of them. For example, videogame craziness: Plays video games 8 hours a day. I want to mke characters more realistic and life-like by taking some qualities from real people. Actually, before I say that, is it considered plagiarism or something like that to do something like what I just typed?

Next up, to all those Christian manga writers, this is a funny thing to ask at this stage after thinking through it for so long, but I think we should be right with God before making a manga for Him, so umm... what do you think constitutes being right with God?

Hmmm that's all that comes to mind right now, so...finally, thank you everyone! Please keep on posting!

[true_noir_chloe]

>>Next up, to all those Christian manga writers, this is a funny thing to ask at this stage after thinking through it for so long, but I think we should be right with God before making a manga for Him, so umm... what do you think constitutes being right with God?

This I might be able to help you with. I think whether you're writing Christian manga, Christian memoirs, Christian novels, being right with God is only this: You need to have a spiritual walk. I mean you should be spending time in prayer, Bible reading, devotions and possibly journalling every day. Before I wrote my testimonies in the testimony section I always put a lot of prayer into it and asked the Spirit to speak through me - I've always asked this at the end of all my prayers, and I was constantly active in my own devotion time. I think you can't have a mature representation of a Christian walk unless you have a mature Christian walk yourself.

Now, I need to say that I think if you feel led to write a Christian manga you have a big job ahead of you. When I think of Christian stuff I always realize that the only people that will be reading it, really if we're honest, are other Christians. I doubt any non-believers (only rarely) would ever read a Christian anything. So, what should your message be to other Christians? I believe it should be why Paul wrote and the rest of the New Testament writers - to encourage the believers. So, in that vein your story can be very impacting to other believers.

If you are writing as a witnessing tool, that probably won't be accomplished unless you take a C.S. Lewis type view of writing. Your Christian and Biblical belief will be apparent in your writing, but the real witness will come when you have people who enjoy your writing sending you their fan letters and you can respond to them with why you write the way you do. Your effective witness will be if you give an interview, or write in a magazine story of why you wrote the book or manga the way you did. Your witness will then be alive because people respect you in a literary sense. Other Christians, not as famous as C.S. Lewis, have done this very well, and you'll see it more in books which were written in the 1800s and the early 1900s. Today, it is harder to find.

I would love to be the latter type of writer I mentioned, except when I'm writing my memoirs or those sections I write in the testimony area.

I hope I made sense, Wiggins. ~-^ Hope you the best on your manga.

[Mave]

of a church: they are being encouraged to become more independent... I guess the way parents tell children to be more independent as they grow up

Got it. Glad to get that clarified. ^^

You deal with the physical only!? I never realized that! Although the art is only in the physical, the story and words of Kingdom Come go far beyond the physical.

..you think so? Hmm..What I meant by physical only is that I won't be visualizing anything spiritual. So, no images of spirits floating around, or chibi self-consciences hanging around my characters' backs The only tangible stuff is what you and I see everyday. People and their actions.

Also guys, could some one help me with names? I need to name all the characters because it's hard to write the script with no character names...

No suggestions here coz I usually pick names based on the characters' personalities. Try biblical names... ]Also, could people post peculiar stuff about themselves which they wouldn't mind me using in their characters and examples of them. .....*snip* Actually, before I say that, is it considered plagiarism or something like that to do something like what I just typed?
[/QUOTE]
hehe....this is the fun part. Actually, some characters in my manga are based off my Christian friends in my fellowship. Looks, personality, habits, strengths, weakness...some ideas are borrowed from my everyday observations of them. In fact, as part of selecting the names of characters, I asked my friends whom I'm modelling my characters after to give me a name of their favourite biblical character. To answer your other question, no, I don't think it's plagiarism.

Next up, to all those Christian manga writers, this is a funny thing to ask at this stage after thinking through it for so long, but I think we should be right with God before making a manga for Him, so umm... what do you think constitutes being right with God?

Hmm...it's an excellent question and I'm very happy that you asked. Most artists rush off to work on their manga techniques and style but neglect to work on their spirituality and relationship with God.

My sharing: Before I started manga drawing for God, I was indulging in indecent manga titles and drawing indecent stuff. When this vision came to me, I knew I had to come clean with God first. I wanted my ideas to come from God and to show my commitment, I gave up my past and dug in God's word even more. It wasn't easy....I had to change my daily lifestyle and habits. My hands and mind craved to satisfy my earthly pleasures but I fought to keep my mind on God. My battle tactics included only drawing images that complimented biblical verses and never picking up that pencil when my mind wasn't acting decent. Most of the battle has been won and I continue to wage the war. I definitely place great importance on spiritual growth and real Christian living for you, Wiggins. Pray and ask God whether He desires you to do something before starting on your manga. I'm sure He'll answer you.

Very good discussion!

[uc pseudonym]

By redundant I mean only this: you already represent someone's spiritual struggle with an issue on one plane... is it necessary to represent it on another? This doesn't have to apply, but it could.

I have no names at the moment, I'm not feeling creative. If someone was named Bob that'd be great, but you'd have to do it so that it doesn't appear as if you're just naming people Bob for fun.

[wiggins]

By redundant I mean only this: you already represent someone's spiritual struggle with an issue on one plane... is it necessary to represent it on another? This doesn't have to apply, but it could.

I have no names at the moment, I'm not feeling creative. If someone was named Bob that'd be great, but you'd have to do it so that it doesn't appear as if you're just naming people Bob for fun.

Well the inner self world does not really show spiritual struggle. It does so seldomly if it does.It is more to just allow the reader inside the characters' heads and feelings]
This I might be able to help you with. I think whether you're writing Christian manga, Christian memoirs, Christian novels, being right with God is only this: You need to have a spiritual walk. I mean you should be spending time in prayer, Bible reading, devotions and possibly journalling every day. Before I wrote my testimonies in the testimony section I always put a lot of prayer into it and asked the Spirit to speak through me - I've always asked this at the end of all my prayers, and I was constantly active in my own devotion time. I think you can't have a mature representation of a Christian walk unless you have a mature Christian walk yourself.

Now, I need to say that I think if you feel led to write a Christian manga you have a big job ahead of you. When I think of Christian stuff I always realize that the only people that will be reading it, really if we're honest, are other Christians. I doubt any non-believers (only rarely) would ever read a Christian anything. So, what should your message be to other Christians? I believe it should be why Paul wrote and the rest of the New Testament writers - to encourage the believers. So, in that vein your story can be very impacting to other believers.

If you are writing as a witnessing tool, that probably won't be accomplished unless you take a C.S. Lewis type view of writing. Your Christian and Biblical belief will be apparent in your writing, but the real witness will come when you have people who enjoy your writing sending you their fan letters and you can respond to them with why you write the way you do. Your effective witness will be if you give an interview, or write in a magazine story of why you wrote the book or manga the way you did. Your witness will then be alive because people respect you in a literary sense. [/QUOTE]

Hey Valerie,

Once again you have made things clearer for me than before... (you seem to be in a habit of doing that ) I hadn't realized about the audience, and your right. I'll have to think everything through again. I guess I hadn't really thought about the audience. I kinda thought both non-beilievers and Christians would read. Thanks for correcting me. What do you mean by a literary sense? BTW, just for fun, I never really liked C.S. Lewis. I know people say he is a Christian author, but I don't know, the loittle that I read didn't seem to show that...

[quote="Mave"]The only tangible stuff is what you and I see everyday. People and their actions.

hehe....this is the fun part. Actually, some characters in my manga are based off my Christian friends in my fellowship. Looks, personality, habits, strengths, weakness...some ideas are borrowed from my everyday observations of them. In fact, as part of selecting the names of characters, I asked my friends whom I'm modelling my characters after to give me a name of their favourite biblical character. To answer your other question, no, I don't think it's plagiarism.

My sharing: Before I started manga drawing for God, I was indulging in indecent manga titles and drawing indecent stuff. When this vision came to me, I knew I had to come clean with God first. I wanted my ideas to come from God and to show my commitment, I gave up my past and dug in God's word even more. It wasn't easy....I had to change my daily lifestyle and habits. My hands and mind craved to satisfy my earthly pleasures but I fought to keep my mind on God. My battle tactics included only drawing images that complimented biblical verses and never picking up that pencil when my mind wasn't acting decent. Most of the battle has been won and I continue to wage the war. I definitely place great importance on spiritual growth and real Christian living for you, Wiggins. Pray and ask God whether He desires you to do something before starting on your manga. I'm sure He'll answer you. ]

It's true about the tangible stuff, but as a shonen fan, I must have my missiles, rocket launchers, guns, swords, axes, mecha etc. This is the perfect realm for that. Maybe I'm wrong tin thinking this, (and if I am tell me), how many of you are like me? When I thinnk in my head, there's always someone, and it can be anyone, a friend, Kenshin, Vash, UC's avatar, a smilie or some other image, pops into my head. For example, one time when I almost forgot something, and suddenly remembered, I had an image of one of the characters in my manga kicking me in the head. This is pretty much what reminded me of the spy boy comic and created the inner self realm. If people don't really think like that and it's just me, please you guys, tell me.
Good! It's time for me to copy weird qualities from friends into my characters. Muhahahaha! Just for a side note: One of my friends, a senior from California just signed on as a CAA member: the1nonly8603. W00t!
Thanks for sharing. Methinks I need to work some more on my spirituality and relationship with God, but I'll continue the manga development as I do that. And I'll see where God leads me. (It is ok to continue manga development while working on spirituality and my relationship with God right?) It's going to be tough...hard...

Thanks everybody! Please keep on posting!

[wiggins]

OK guys,... I need a church name. Yup, the name of the church... I thought about it and can't think of a really good one that isn't already in use. Help me out? Thanks!

[true_noir_chloe]

>>What do you mean by a literary sense? BTW, just for fun, I never really liked C.S. Lewis. I know people say he is a Christian author, but I don't know, the loittle that I read didn't seem to show that...

Hi Wiggins, I'm glad I could clear things up for you. *heh* ^_^

What I meant by literary sense was only in that you would be respected as a good writer. I have a pet peeve, and it's that some authors in Christian circles get published simply because they're a Christian, not on writing ability (case in point a certain end times prophecy mega-hit, of which I won't name). So, I meant you would be respected for your ability in both secular and Christian literary circles. If you can climb that fence and make it over then you'll be far ahead of others who have tried.

I have to agree with you about C.S. Lewis, I only use him as an example because he was actually a very good writer, who was respected in the literary world.

[Mave]

It's true about the tangible stuff, but as a shonen fan, I must have my missiles, rocket launchers, guns, swords, axes, mecha etc. This is the perfect realm for that. Maybe I'm wrong tin thinking this, (and if I am tell me), how many of you are like me? When I thinnk in my head, there's always someone, and it can be anyone, a friend, Kenshin, Vash, UC's avatar, a smilie or some other image, pops into my head. For example, one time when I almost forgot something, and suddenly remembered, I had an image of one of the characters in my manga kicking me in the head. This is

Hohoho...what makes you think I'm not planning a shonen manga? I'll have swords, guns and bazookas if necessary to cater for you shonen fans eventually. But trying to put in a good Christian message in those type of stores can be challenging so it's been delayed.

Yes, I do visualize such stuff. It's just that KCome is generally more 'serious' and has less slapstick humor (but I love that kind of humor) or dramatic anime-style effects. *smacks someone with a mallet, City Hunter style*

Name of church huh? That's a tough one...I haven't even thought of that yet for my manga. Why not research church names online?

[Haibane Shadsie]

Hmmm... I looked in on this... haven't read everyone's responses yet...

As for my own webcomic/manga thing, since I'm not familiar with comics that much, or being a "manga-ka"... I pretty much have done it my own way: Which is an approach a lot like writing my short stories and my novel writing attempts.

Generally, I get the base ideas for a story, some of the base themes and plot, a main character or two or three... and the story ideas just coalesce.... I often begin writing something without knowing how, exactly, I am going to end it, or, I'll write something knowing the beginning and the end, and a few mid-parts, but not knowing most of what I'm going to do in the middle of the story.

As for my webcomic... I have ideas of where it is going. A lot of ideas come from it's previous incarnation (what I have up now is a re-draw and a total re-working of my story ideas... I started a comic prior to to one now and had it going for a while, until I decided that I got sick of the cruddy art style I was using then and wanted to make some story changes). I know roughly where I am going with my comic, currently, but a lot is still up in the air. I get ideas for new little things to put in the plot all the time. I also do not have a definite ending to the story. The comic is very much of a journey.

My novel was/is the same way. (I have basic story done, and polished many times, but I am still polishing it... making little tweaks per advice of fellow writers to try to get it *good* enough that a publishing house and/or agent *might* take a look at it. I also just want it to be the best it can be. When I started the novel, however, my base idea was to create a short story... I got new ideas as I was writing it for characters, lands, and concepts. My world unfolded before me. It's still unfolding as I'm poking at doing a sequel to the first novel (while polishing the first), and I get ideas for and write the odd short story set in my novel world.

I found a little essay I wrote up about my comic and its early inspirations. I think you might find it interesting. I posted it for September 11th this year.

Essay about how my comic ideas came about from thinking about 9/11/01