So, I’m starting this a little late in October, but I also decided pretty late that I was going to write something. I’m still doing NaNoWriMo loosely as I’m not registering the fic on the site and I’m not necessarily aiming for 50k. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to prepare though.
I thought it might be a little fun to write up a little mini diary with my preparations. If people like this post, I might do something similar for readathons. It’s more of a traditional blog post for sure, but it’ll be fun.
October 19th
I’ve decided I’m going to write this fic! One of my main problems is the number of characters I’ll need to write. There are so many characters in the game, and I’ll need to use more than a few of them. I need to see how the characters speak and how they interact, so I read a few more story translations.
My reading has definitely cemented that I want to use Kaoru as a police officer. I might not like his character very much – he’s a womanizer who has described girls as prey, yuck – but he’s closer to Izumi than I realised. And he’ll definitely fill the role in an interesting way.
I want to pick up some old manga series for more inspiration too. I own D.N Angel volumes 1, 4 and 6 so I’ve ordered 2,3 and 5. I’ll probably continue it on in November too. I’m picking them up second hand though you can get them digitally now. I don’t like reading manga on my phone though. I also grabbed Phantom Thief Jeanne volume 2 as I own volume 1. I really wanted to carry on Saint Tail too but I only own volume 6 and you can’t get it anymore sighhhh.
October 20th
I’ve announced I’m doing it on Instagram! I took a picture with some cutesy things and put it up. I’m really happy with how it turned out.
October 24th
It’s been a few days but volumes 2 and 3 of D.N Angel arrived yesterday. I wanted to read volumes 1 to 4 then but I wasn’t feeling well. I wound up writing my blog posts and playing EnStars on my phone as I have a problem. I kid. But I really do love it. I did manage to get volumes 1,2 and 3 of D.N. Angel read and honestly…I’m loving it so much more than I did as a kid.
I enjoyed it when I was younger. I mean, I got to volume 6. I don’t really remember much about it though, so it obviously didn’t stick. I know I liked Riku/Daisuke. Now I’m older, I’m seeing how damn gay it is. And that is making me enjoy it so much much more hahaha. I ship Satoshi/Daisuke now and I wound up ordering a fancy new edition of one of the volumes in Japanese due to the gorgeous art of Satoshi and Daisuke on the cover.
I’ve also spent some time thinking about side ships in my fic. I know the two I’m including for certain but it got me thinking further. One includes a trans character and since she’s an adult in this, I was trying to decide whether she’d have transitioned or not. I wound up doing a load of reading on MTF surgery and the laws around being trans in Japan. I still feel like I need to do more, but it’s a start.
October 25th
I was supposed to be working today but my sickness from Saturday is back. No clue what it is, but I felt crappy. I wound up spending some time reading more manga for something to do. I read volumes 4, 5 and 6 of D.N Angel and I wanted to start Phantom Thief Jeanne but I wasn’t really in the mood.
My big problem right now is that no matter how inspiring these phantom thief series are…I still don’t know what I’m doing plot-wise. I know I want to do this phantom thief fic, but I don’t really know what I want to happen. I really need to get some ideas in place and soon.
October 30th
I’m wrapping this little diary up today to post this. I was hoping that in the week I’d get so much planning done and I’d have so many updates. But nope. I still have research I need to do on character relationships and voice, plus I still need to jot down some ideas. I want to do so tomorrow. Today has been kind of hellish and busy, so I haven’t had much opportunity. Especially since I need to be getting blog posts done for the week as well.
I’m not giving up yet though. I’m going to try this. I just need to work hard tomorrow!
If any of you guys are doing NaNo or something adjacent like me, let me know below!
Lace and Dagger Books 