yaoi, slash, and original gay romance

sunandshadow · Post by **sunandshadow** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 9:43 pm

Okay, this is only tangentially related to anime, but...

I am a writer. Gay male romances are my favorite thing to write. I have written some yaoi and slash fanfiction and gotten very positive reviews on them. Now, I want to write an original fantasy gay romance novel, and I want to market it to yaoi and slash fans. Before I worry about writing though, I need to find some people to read over my novel proposal and give me some feedback on the design. I tried the SFF romance yahoo group, and no one responded because they mostly like straight romance.

For the fanfiction groups I belong to, original fanfiction would be even more off-topic than it is here. Any ideas, anyone?

Here's the link to the novel concept summary just in case anyone here wants to look it over and make some comments:
http://members.cox.net/wickeddelight1/k ... ragons.doc

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 10:27 pm

If you're targetting anime fans who like that genre, you would do better to ask for general responses - like what sort of things they look for or like to see in the anime they watch, and how that could be translated into some sort of fiction aimed at getting the same positive response. As it is, your post doesn't have enough connection to anime to stay in this forum. Our off-topic section was deleted, so you have to make sure you have a good tie to the topic of the forum you post in.

As for your story - I do read fanfiction, but I've yet to really enjoy an original piece of fiction written and aimed at anime fans. I don't know if I'm up to being disappointed again.

Moonlight Soldier · Post by **Moonlight Soldier** » Sun Feb 22, 2004 10:31 pm

well I just read the first 3 or so pages, (blunt aren't you?) ahem anyway, as for fantasy elements I'd say you have enough going there to sustain that sort of plot line...though I've never really read much slash =/

J-0080 · Post by **J-0080** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:20 am

You had me up until romance...

sunandshadow · Post by **sunandshadow** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:21 am

Moonlight Soldier wrote:well I just read the first 3 or so pages, (blunt aren't you?)

Lol, yes I am blunt. These are design notes I wrote for myself and a few editors, I figured being blunt would save time and be less confusing than if I tippytoed around the sex and BDSM & etc.

sunandshadow · Post by **sunandshadow** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:35 am

Arigatomyna wrote:If you're targetting anime fans who like that genre, you would do better to ask for general responses - like what sort of things they look for or like to see in the anime they watch, and how that could be translated into some sort of fiction aimed at getting the same positive response. As it is, your post doesn't have enough connection to anime to stay in this forum. Our off-topic section was deleted, so you have to make sure you have a good tie to the topic of the forum you post in.

As for your story - I do read fanfiction, but I've yet to really enjoy an original piece of fiction written and aimed at anime fans. I don't know if I'm up to being disappointed again.

I'm really not sure how I can make this any more relevant to anime - maybe asking how people think writing original fiction is different from fanfiction, and whether original fiction is harder? Is fanfiction by itself on topic for this forum?

As for taking a general survey of what yaoi fans would want to see in an original gay romance novel, I did that already.

I have a fairly solid concept of what I want to write about now, it's the details, of plot mostly, that I need help with.

I find it sad that you've never read a good piece of original fiction aimed at anime fans. I've seen a few - the Keyfiction Archive aka The Palace is a good place to start - it's like a fanfiction archive where the fanfiction isn't based on a canon.

Bakasaru-chan · Post by **Bakasaru-chan** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 12:48 am

I've read some of your summary. If the Sci-Fi channel was into showing shows with homo-sexuality in it, than this would deffinitely be a Sci-Fi original series. I can deffinitely see the anime similarities in this novel, but that is also a problem. Some people get too confused on such elements. Don't get me wrong, this sounds pretty good to me, but it's just too frikin' confusing. It also sounds an awful lot like 'Planet of the Apes' in its older, good version (you know, the first movie). Also, you have to do something about the descriptions of the aliens, because I can't get a good visual. And, what I can visulaise is kinda creepy and disturbing when I think of this as a slash novel it sends chills (mabye the front cover pic would deffinitely be a good idea). I'm not bashing your work in any way, I just see this novel as a slash with some beastiality touches in it (and I think that beastiality is kinda nasty).

sunandshadow · Post by **sunandshadow** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 1:34 am

Bakasaru-chan wrote:I can deffinitely see the anime similarities in this novel, but that is also a problem. Some people get too confused on such elements. Don't get me wrong, this sounds pretty good to me, but it's just too frikin' confusing.

That's interesting, that's the second time somebody's said they can see anime properties in the novel's design. Do you think you could tell me what they are? The first person said he didn't know, it just seemed anime-ish.

It also sounds an awful lot like 'Planet of the Apes' in its older, good version (you know, the first movie). Also, you have to do something about the descriptions of the aliens, because I can't get a good visual. And, what I can visulaise is kinda creepy and disturbing when I think of this as a slash novel it sends chills (mabye the front cover pic would deffinitely be a good idea). I'm not bashing your work in any way, I just see this novel as a slash with some beastiality touches in it (and I think that beastiality is kinda nasty).

I probably should do some character sketches. They look kind of like bird/dinosaur anthros, if you've ever seen a drawing of one of those. Or a feathered dragon that walks on its hind legs like a person. Creepy and disturbing? Hmm, odd. Certainly not the reaction I'm going for. Again, do you think you can isolate why? The beastiality part will not be a major part of the plot, just so you know.

Bakasaru-chan · Post by **Bakasaru-chan** » Mon Feb 23, 2004 1:57 am

sunandshadow wrote: That's interesting, that's the second time somebody's said they can see anime properties in the novel's design. Do you think you could tell me what they are? The first person said he didn't know, it just seemed anime-ish.

The main charas situation seemed like the classic 'boy-meets-weird-alien-stuff' anime situations (i.e. Tenchi Muyo, Onegai Sensei, etc ...) and the chara has no idea what's going on until that person 'conveniently' meets with the person he/she may fall in love with in a 'fateful' sort of way. This special someone can explain everything that the main chara is nearly incapable of coping with or even understanding this stange sort of culture shock, so he/she tags along with the special someone until ... uh, whenever.

sunandshadow wrote:I probably should do some character sketches. They look kind of like bird/dinosaur anthros, if you've ever seen a drawing of one of those. Or a feathered dragon that walks on its hind legs like a person. Creepy and disturbing? Hmm, odd. Certainly not the reaction I'm going for. Again, do you think you can isolate why? The beastiality part will not be a major part of the plot, just so you know.

Yea, I think I've seen a pic of a bird/dino thingy.
As a Yu-Gi-Oh! reference, the whole beastiality thing is kinda like seeing one of those doujins where one of the charas gets screwed/raped by a duel monster that does not look human or even pleasing to the eyes (i.e. Hitotsu-me Giant x Mai(yes, unfortunatly there is one*barf*)).