How to make a manga: Tips on how you want to build your storyline

September 25, 2009 by r2moo2
Filed under: how to make a manga

hatsukoilimited

Today I am going to share with everyone about some of the manga analysis that I have been doing myself. This will be important in planning to make a good story for a manga.

A side note: I have just successfully changed my major for my university course. I am now going to major in Multimedia and Game Development instead of Digital Security Systems, as I felt that Multimedia and Game Development will help me in my pursuit in becoming a semi-professional or professional manga comic artist.

The above image from Hatsukoi Limited manga comic, by Mizuki Kawashita.

How to make a manga: Tips on how you want to build your storyline

Firstly, identify how you want to build your story.
For example, Japanese manga comics and Western comics are different from each other. If you notice famous manga comic magazines such as Shonen Jump that hosts Bleach, Naruto and One Piece manga comics, these manga comics could go on for years and years, while Western comics doesn’t seem to do that. Western comics like X-Men, on the other hand, publishes by books and I have not seen them publishing by chapters. (Unless I am outdated already.)

Therefore, Western comics are limited by the pages of the book or magazine, but Japanese manga comics could go on and on until either the author or the editor cries “Stop!”.

In my opinion, both of these styles have their pros and cons; neither one is better than the other.

Western Comics
Characteristics:

Storyline and theme is decided from the beginning of the book.

Pros:

Story plot remains consistent, concise and complete as it is usually decided before beginning drawing for the book.
It rarely becomes long-winded because of the above point. There are Japanese manga comics that go off tangent as they are allowed to develop their story while drawing their manga comic.
Comic books are less likely to be axed by editors and publishers than the Japanese counterpart, because of the story is already completed by the limitations of the book.
For people who want to create their own comic, this style is highly recommended because their story plot is decided from the beginning, and the story plot does not survive on popularity.

Cons:

New ideas or new developments cannot be squeezed into the comic easily after deciding the story plot because it is limited by the number of pages in the book. Therefore it is a compromise in flexibility.
It is impossible to inject new developments after the comic book is published.
Less revenue and popularity is expected because of the relatively short lifespan of the comic.

Japanese manga comic
Characteristics:

Storyline is developed only for the starting chapters and the beginning of the story. Storyline will develop as the manga chapters progress.
The author usually decides on the theme of the story before drawing his manga comic, which helps the author to be consistent while developing his manga comic in the midst of drawing them out.

Pros:

This allows the author to revisit his previous chapters and plan slowly on how to better develop his manga comic well. This is one of the major reasons why Japanese manga comic is an edge better than Western comics in my opinion.
Newer characters, scenes and major developments can always be added easily, therefore there is much flexibility in the story.
More revenue and popularity can be generated as the manga comics have a greater amount of exposure to the public due to the greater lifespan.

Cons:

As the manga comic is usually published in chapters, every chapter must be able to captivate its audience, or else the manga comic will lose popularity. This is a very tedious thing to do, and unlike Western comics which has everything well developed and published into a book, Japanese manga artists face additional stress in making every page count to keep its popularity.
Although Western comics may have a shorter lifespan than Japanese manga comics, many Japanese manga comics are axed from serialization if their popularity wanes. As a result, many manga series are forced to face an abrupt end. Therefore, Western comics are more durable than Japanese manga comics in this matter.
Some manga comics start off well, but as the series progress, they lose focus and direction pretty easily. Western comics are better in this respect as their story plots are already decided from the beginning.
If anyone is doing his or her own Japanese-styled manga comic, this style is really risky because it survives on popularity. If the story is good, it will continue, but if it ends abruptly, it is a disaster.

Although Japanese manga comics are gaining rapid popularity and recognition, for starters it is wiser to start with the Western-styled comics.

Additional advices and information about Japanese-style manga comics

As I am a fan of Japanese manga comics, I will share some of important information about Japanese manga comic artists and how they develop their work.

For Ichigo 100%, or other wise known as Strawberry 100%, when the author was wanting to serialize her manga comic, she had planned up to the middle school stage of the story. The high school stage was only decided later. The author of Ichigo 100% is Mizuki Kawashita.

For One Piece, the author was only planned up to the first 8 chapters of the story when his manga story was serialized. The author only planned to serialize One Piece for 5 years, but now it has been running for 11 years and it is still not stopping. The author of One Piece is Eiichirō Oda.

And the list goes on. What I am trying to say is that these famous authors didn’t expect their stories to be a huge success, and they only proceeded to plan for a short script, which gives them room for a good exit plan in case their manga comics did not make the popularity chart.

My second tip and advice is this: Do not be overtly ambitious in planning your script!

If any is taking the style of a Japanese manga comic for their own work, please keep it short first. If you succeed, then develop it further.

Last but not least advice for this post: Although it is good advice to start small and short, leave enough room for your manga comic to grow.