Homosexuality in Japan [DSX story ideas]

[typing]

Originally Posted by DSX

So I've decided not to make Yuri a total goth (though I still have yet to find another name for her...), but because of what she has to cope with after Otome leaves, that's what drives her to her darker side.

Megumi?
Mei?
Nao?
Ayako?
Saiyuri? (ooh with Saiyuri her nickname could still be Yuri)

She could just become suicidal once Otome leaves. I reccomend you read/find "Confidential Confessions" and "LIFE" both by Reiko Momochi. They'd explain how someone goes to the dark side in Japan.

That, and a supernatural factor. This isn't going to be just pure romance, but something of a supernatural thriller as well. Evil remains in Yuri's soul after a past life. Think reincarnation here. So, when she's picked on at school, that side of her comes out.

Make her Yakuza?

I'll probably try to make her something like I am. While I'm a dark person myself (at times), mostly I'm just a fun-loving joker. Maybe I should do that with her, give her a little piece of my soul.

Now with cliches...I never even heard of the goth chick-good chick thing. Now, I've seen butch and femme, but butches are mostly just tough. There's a difference between tough and dark/tomboyish, but now that I'm being told that there's stereotypes with what I planned I'm gonna have to find a way to change that up.

Still, I want Yuri to be a darker person. With what's going to be happening with her, it would be kinda stupid to just have her remain a joker and the like.

Yakuza?

[typing]

okay now that I've caught up.

I guess like everyone says here your summery makes the characters seem weak. You could name the one girl Yuri if you want but you'll have to be really careful on how you write it.

If you're setting it in Japan a better question would be "Do you live here"
Because nothing is more difficult then writing from a point of view you do not have (woman) about a topic you don't understand (homosexuality) and then basing it in a country you've never been to (Japan)
(Man you like to bite off more than you can chew huh?)

Different regions of Japan will have different opinions of Lesbianism. Different families will have different views and different schools will have different opinions.

Some of my students I would THINK they were lesbians because girls here can be a lot more touchy feely with eachother than in North America. It's perfectly acceptable to see two girls holding hands while walking down the street up until they're 18. (After that it's generally frowend on for Anyone to be holding hands.)PDA for anyone around here is generally not looked favorably upon, but if two girls walk into a love hotel or a capsul hotel, no one cares. Two girls take a trip togeather, no one cares. Two girls move in togeather, no one cares.
Sure if they don't "Come out of the closet" their parents will start hassling them to get married once they hit 30 but once they get over the 40 bump their parents will leave them to their "strange spinster life" none the wiser believing them too old for marrage now.

[DSX]

I've changed A LOT of what I had planned for this story. Changed Yuri's name to Ami, and now she isn't going to be goth...Otome isn't going to be such a goody-goody-two shoes...Okay, this might not be much of a change, but trust me when I say there's gonna be more personality with those two.

Well, Otome would be an absolute angel, but everyone has a dark side, which will be seen in later stories, but that's off subject...

Instead of just having Otome and Ami get into it so soon in the story, I might bring in a character from Otome's past, someone she's been with before. She and that person might restart what they had, and Ami might go through the jealousy process...I dunno...

And as for supernatural...It's not that Ami's gonna be in the Yakuza. The supernatural factor is something you'd expect to see in a Japanese movie, but it's not Yakuza...For a hint, I'm telling you to think Nightmare, if that's a Japanese movie, I forget.

Why I chose Japan is because I did three years ago when I decided to write this entire series. Well this is in a different storyline (This story would be Reminiscence because it's a prequel to my current story, while current to future stories would go into the Supernaturals...I couldn't come up with a better name for the latter.), but it's still part of the main series...

And it's going to be a challange, I know. Because of this I'm going to watch that Love My Life movie that was suggested. I wouldn't have even considered doing this story if I didn't want you knowing as much about the characters as possible. In the past, my stories were VERY, VERY sucky with little character development. Read the stories I made (and lost due to computer crashes) when I was twelve, and you'd learn nothing of the characters. Over the years I've placed more and more emphasis on character development for the sake of drama and other important points, and here we are now with this.

While I did choose Ami, those other names could work. Thanks for the recommendations and the help.

And as for making it stand out from all the other yuri novels, that I don't really care about. This is just a side story prequel thingy....Just serving the purpose of character development. The other stories I have in my mind however, THOSE are the ones I want to stand out. They aren't romance novels like this one, and are in fact mostly action novels and supernatural thrillers...A lot of ideas I have now are seen in anime and manga, and it'll be difficult, but I'll still go for it.

One I REALLY plan on being out there is The LoP Killer, especially with the grotesque detailings I'm writing in it...It'll probably be banned from some countries if it actually gets published when I'm done (I actually plan on it being that gory), but it's gotta stand out somehow.

Yep, I'm working on two projects at once, and I haven't even started on this yet...