7th Moon: an Homage to Anime

I love anime, but I can't draw so that left me with writing, after all every story has to start somewhere. This particualr idea started with a single character that I tried in a number of different stories, but nothing big ever really happened, or at least nothign at all original.

Then one day I was watching Toonami and the “Pardon Our Dust” promo came on. More action was packed into that one minute promo than entire episodes of the shows it was promoting. I decided to make my own anime that was like that.

But what to call it? I was playing Wld Arms 2 and found a webpage offering assitance witht the game that said “7th Moon” at the top, but didn't really say what it meant.

That random title, combined with my favorite character, and the raw concept of the most action packed anime ever became my first novel. Well, at first it was more of an idea for a cartoon, but it would have been just a short since I had nothing else.

“So I started wondering why my character was the way he was, what motivated him?”

First I gave him a mentor to teach him how to use a sword, because I already knew he was going to be a cyborg and that was just not something I could do without explaining it.

Then I realized he needed a peer to help him find his conscience and inner balance. Then I realized he needed a trigger, so I added a little boy that they save on ther first mission-after killing everyone around him and feeling massive guilt.

Then I realized they needed enemies, not just generic shock troops, but archnemeses that could lead the generic enemies and give them a bit more challenge.

Then I realized I had all males and needed a female character, so I made her and gaveher a nemesis too for balance. I named these characters using a Japanese online dictionary and words that I felt described the characters, Hidariude(Left arm), Kichiku(Brute), Douji(Little boy), Keisei(Beauty) and I also threw in Ryu because there's always a Ryu.

With these basic ideas which ultimately formed what would be the first six chapters of my final draft, I let the idea stew and take on influence from every anime I watched and every video game I played for the next ten years. Three drafts later, I had my first novel.

“There is no wrong way to brainstorm or write, just follow your inspiration and eventually, something good will come out of it.”