Sunday 19 October 2003

Pic of the day: The main character of Da Capo sometimes wakes from "special" dreams ...

Lazy Sunday thoughts

Perhaps I should have written something deep and meaningful. But this has not really been a deep and meaningful day. It has been a sunny day, but when I took a walk around the neighborhood it was pitifully cold, as if winter is trying to muscle in on autumn's turf. It is not even November yet!

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In one particular way (I cannot believe my speech recognition software tried to write that as "1 Particular Way"! See, it did it again!)... anyway, as I was saying, I would not mind if it was November already in one particular part of my life. And that is, of course, fiction writing. Now that I have some tools to take the pressure off my wrist, I am itching to get started on my NaNoWriMo novel. (Actually I am itching all over, but that is another matter. This seems to happen each fall, and I suspect the dry air and having to wear clothes at home again. Don't get distracted now, girls!) I have met the main characters; I even have a sketchy idea about the houses they live in. I know the first page or two almost by heart, and I have witnessed the dramatic event near the end of the story, an event which will make or break their relationship. If all goes as planned, it will make and not break; but they have a lot to do first if that is to sound natural.

I can't believe I am preparing to write a romance novel! Even if it is a fantasy novel too. It's a good thing quality is not a requirement! It is bad enough that I, like most men, don't have a clue about how women think. (At least I admit that they think at all, most of the time!) In addition I have the tiny little drawback of not even knowing how men think. At least when it comes to romance. (Well, I guess some of them think about boobs, but there is bound to be more than that in order to call it romance.) Luckily for me I have spent the last 10 months also watching anime, the Japanese animations which are not just for kids. Several of them are clearly made for young adults, and most of these are about romance at least in part. What is even better: Some of them seem to try to explain to young girls the mystery that is boys. Narue no Sekai did a pretty good job of that, in my opinion. But we are talking seriously immature boy here, the main characters were both 14 years old.

Da Capo is another young adult anime with romance as the main theme. It is not exactly Southern Baptist, but not Swedish either, and surprisingly realistic. Surprisingly, since it is set in a world with slightly more magic than our own. It is not a series about magic, though. It is about boys and girls. Well, boy and girls mostly: We get to see how this one boy relates to different types of girls. Quite honest and quite interesting. The different episodes show different people or different situations.

I may also watch Boys Be... again. It is a beautiful story about a small group of friends and how love creeps up on each of them in a different way. I need to understand these things in theory if I am to write about them. Unlike most grown-ups, I don't really have memories that I can use for this. Oh, I know love, but not romance. Just friends-love. I guess that will show in the story, too, but perhaps I can manage to prod it towards romance as the story goes on. Or perhaps not. The point is to reach 50 000 words anyway. Realism is optional.

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And now I prepare to withdraw to my anime. My throat is not used to talking for this long. Remember, I live alone, and my conversations at work tend to be short and factual and contain more listening than talking. If I am not at work, I can literally go days without talking to a soul. So you will excuse me if my throat is not up to long entries yet, with corrections you never see. Hopefully it will improve with training ... and not be destroyed with even more training, like my right arm. We shall have to see. But for now, good night.