It has been over 5 years since Area X was released and the story never leaves me. I honestly don't understand how your complex story-lines can be so niche! Now that I'm thinking of being my own otome writer one day, Area X has become one of my inspirations. Do you have any adivce on how to develope these complex points? I know the lore must be alot to keep track of and connecting them together is mind jumbling and tedious. What makes you stay motivated?
Thank you. I’m glad to be your inspiration! ^^
This is how I normally work with my stories:
1) Choose a genre and sub-genre: In the case of Area-X, it’s Otome and time-traveling inspired by Chrono Trigger.
2) Choose a theme: This is especially important in the long run. It’s like the glue that keeps everything together. Without a theme, it’s easy for a story to lose focus. In the case of Area-X, it’s survival and sacrifice.
3) Choose a setting: This is the start of world-building and an aspect that many stories tend to ignore in favor of plot and characters. I personally think that having an interesting world-building is crucial to a good story. In the case of Area-X, I choose a setting that is similar to Chrono Trigger. From there, I build it up to be my own.
4) Write the basic premise: This will be the main plot. In general, I don’t put too much detail, just something simple and straightforward. In the case of Area-X, I want it to have a mysterious dimension that links to Elcia’s past.
5) Create the main characters: Points 3, 4, and 5 can be done at about the same time. With Area-X, I follow Chrono Trigger’s idea of having each character comes from a different time period, and since this is Otome, the main character has to be a girl, and the rest are guys. I asked Nitarou to roughly create some designs, and based on her design, I develop their personalities. At this point, everything is still basic and not in-depth.
6) Write the basic outline: After we roughly have the basic idea, it’s time to put the rough progression of the story on paper. I normally focus more on the beginning and the end and leave the middle part open for changes and expansion.
7) Do research: It’s time to refine the details. I would research on the subjects related to the story. I was intrigued by the idea of an undiscovered continent, so I did plenty of researches on that and discovered its relation to Atlantis. From there I tried to incorporate the ideas I found into the story.
8) Connect and refine the plot: This is a bit like piecing a jigsaw puzzle together. How the story connects, how the character relationship connects.
Spoiler to Area-X (Skip to point 9 if you don’t want to be spoiled)
- Rexus was originally meant to just be a Yankee, but I wanted him to be more involved with the main plot, so I made him into the creator of the time machine.
- Yuras was originally meant to be a descendant of ORZ corporate just like Belph, but I thought it was redundant, so I made Brash into one instead.
- I made Yuras’ story connects to Ferim because he doesn’t have much involvement in the main story.
9) Write the script: When I feel I have a pretty good grasp on the story, I begin writing the script. This is where the final refinement comes in. I’m a pretty spontaneous writer, so every time I have a new idea, I will try to incorporate it into the story. For example, Belph’s original role is supposed to be self-contained in his path, but I ended up giving him a bigger role in Rexus’ path.
10) Edit the script: I do this together while writing, and this is perhaps the hardest part of them all. Editing is extremely important. This is basically where I decide what stays in and what gets cut. Let’s say I wrote 1000 words, you can bet 500 will be cut in the final version. I like my story to be succinct, so I don’t like to add useless details that can harm the pacing.
Generally speaking, I have a rule for this: If it’s not pertinent to the plot, and it’s not funny or interesting, it will be removed.
11) Feedback and final polish: So, after I finished everything, I ask for feedback, usually Nitarou first, and I’ll fix the things that are commonly cited as a problem. For example, Livan’s ending wasn’t that well-liked, so I ended up revising his ending 5 times before I’m satisfied with it.
That’s the rough guide to how I do my stories. Hope that helps you somehow.
Last but not least, in regards to motivation, this is a hard one. Especially if it’s a long story. One thing I usually do every day, like a ritual of some sort, is when I wake up, I told myself “I’m going to finish *insert game here* today!!!” It’s like Luffy keeps telling everyone he’s gonna be a pirate king. Ψ(￣∀￣)Ψ
