Uncanny Japan -- Thersa Matsuura - Brimming to Overfull
infoAbout This Title
Hey hey
Just like the title says, I'm currently brimming to overfull. If you look closely you'll notice the goo coming out from my ears. Good goo. Creative goo. The best kind of goo. Happy goo.
Officially, I'm not finished with The Dark Tales from Japan yet. Officially. Mid August I'll get the copy edits. But that's like...comma territory, and, I just, don't have, any, confidence, there. My punctuation heart is placed gently in the hands of the copy editor. Nothing "big" can be changed. So, it sort of feels like I'm done. A little deceiving, I guess. My brain and creative spirit thinks I'm done because I have just started THREE new projects.
This is the newest one and the one that while I really loved the idea, I was leaning on saying no to. But it's the only one that will pay me now for work done now and that is kinda-sorta-really important.
It's a 16-book series for an English school owner here who is wildly creative himself and has this idea that neither of us has seen done yet. This will be for the wee little ones (kindergarten age-ish), nothing to do with yokai or the like, but should be a lot of fun.
This is the "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" gig.
Now for the two in the bush:
The visual novel I've been talking about for yonks. Well, I scrapped the previous one for reasons, but am hashing out my new idea. It's original (the other was a retelling of a Japanese folktale), it's utterly wild, and I cannot pry my mind from the exciting brainstorming part.
Julyan and Kaho-chan want me to pop up to see them in late August for a couple days (they're even buying my ticket ヾ(๑╹◡╹)ﾉ"), so my goal now is to have the proof of concept story written along with a good handful of character outlines, some artwork, the overall concept, and some threads of the story mapped out so they can see how it expands from that little nugget of a prototype.
Which, I plan to put out for free to judge interest, etc. When? Spring next year?
So, I went shopping. Pens and Notebooks is my middle name. I plan to sketch out a story board to take and show them.
Number Three Bird in the Bush is an entirely different book idea that is still a little bit nebulous in my mind, but congealing day by day. This one is entirely personal, yet...I kinda think it's something that could help other people. Again...since it's still floating around grossly unformed in my noggin', I'll just leave it at that until I start writing on it more. Loads of research and reading involved with this one.
If Number 2 is "Super Exciting Fireworks in the Sky", then Number 3 is "Thrusting my Hands into the Earth and Seeing What I Find". I think the balance is interesting and that they might possibly encourage each other in a weird way.
Oh dear.
I just remembered there is a Four. This one is a middle grade adventure I started writing so many years ago -- BEFORE The Book of Japanese Folklore happened. As a matter of fact, I put it aside because that book needed all my attention. Then oracle cards and horror book followed and Lonely Little Middle Grade Adventure is just standing there in the corner staring at me funny-like.
My agent also reached out a couple months ago and nudged on this one. So...there is that. And I do want to read what I've written, especially given this much time away from it. Fresh eyes and all. But I might wait until after I meet with J and K and get their thoughts on the Visual Novel narrative game. THEN I can crack open that file...wherever I saved it.
Here's an ojizō statue I came across yesterday. I was walking between rain showers. It's been so hot, I haven't been able to. Took an interesting turn and found him.
And here you have your tanuki wearing an old train conductor's cap.
A very old (as in long time) friend came to visit from Tokyo and wanted to have a sukiyaki party. His mom had this thing about putting gyoza potstickers in sukiyaki. Which is a little unusual. He also insisted on cabbage (not just hakusai) and regular onions (not just long onions).
But in the end, sukiyaki is sukiyaki and delicious no matter what you put in.
And lastly, a gorgeous cloud I saw when I looked up the late afternoon it just kept thundering for a couple hours. Which, by the way, is the sound I'm going to use for the next podcast episode. Thunder and cicada. Very interesting.
Okay, everyone stay safe and well, I do have another post of this cool place we visited in Hokkaido that I want to share with you. I'll get that finished up and posted this week, too.
XOXO,
t
Oh, oh! The very top photo is the Okuōikojō. It's not too far from here. It's a train station on that little bit of land. You have to climb from there (go along the tracks) all the way to where this photo was taken to get the photo. Always stunning.
Hey hey
Just like the title says, I'm currently brimming to overfull. If you look closely you'll notice the goo coming out from my ears. Good goo. Creative goo. The best kind of goo. Happy goo.
Officially, I'm not finished with The Dark Tales from Japan yet. Officially. Mid August I'll get the copy edits. But that's like...comma territory, and, I just, don't have, any, confidence, there. My punctuation heart is placed gently in the hands of the copy editor. Nothing "big" can be changed. So, it sort of feels like I'm done. A little deceiving, I guess. My brain and creative spirit thinks I'm done because I have just started THREE new projects.
This is the newest one and the one that while I really loved the idea, I was leaning on saying no to. But it's the only one that will pay me now for work done now and that is kinda-sorta-really important.
It's a 16-book series for an English school owner here who is wildly creative himself and has this idea that neither of us has seen done yet. This will be for the wee little ones (kindergarten age-ish), nothing to do with yokai or the like, but should be a lot of fun.
This is the "bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" gig.
Now for the two in the bush:
The visual novel I've been talking about for yonks. Well, I scrapped the previous one for reasons, but am hashing out my new idea. It's original (the other was a retelling of a Japanese folktale), it's utterly wild, and I cannot pry my mind from the exciting brainstorming part.
Julyan and Kaho-chan want me to pop up to see them in late August for a couple days (they're even buying my ticket ヾ(๑╹◡╹)ﾉ"), so my goal now is to have the proof of concept story written along with a good handful of character outlines, some artwork, the overall concept, and some threads of the story mapped out so they can see how it expands from that little nugget of a prototype.
Which, I plan to put out for free to judge interest, etc. When? Spring next year?
So, I went shopping. Pens and Notebooks is my middle name. I plan to sketch out a story board to take and show them.
Number Three Bird in the Bush is an entirely different book idea that is still a little bit nebulous in my mind, but congealing day by day. This one is entirely personal, yet...I kinda think it's something that could help other people. Again...since it's still floating around grossly unformed in my noggin', I'll just leave it at that until I start writing on it more. Loads of research and reading involved with this one.
If Number 2 is "Super Exciting Fireworks in the Sky", then Number 3 is "Thrusting my Hands into the Earth and Seeing What I Find". I think the balance is interesting and that they might possibly encourage each other in a weird way.
Oh dear.
I just remembered there is a Four. This one is a middle grade adventure I started writing so many years ago -- BEFORE The Book of Japanese Folklore happened. As a matter of fact, I put it aside because that book needed all my attention. Then oracle cards and horror book followed and Lonely Little Middle Grade Adventure is just standing there in the corner staring at me funny-like.
My agent also reached out a couple months ago and nudged on this one. So...there is that. And I do want to read what I've written, especially given this much time away from it. Fresh eyes and all. But I might wait until after I meet with J and K and get their thoughts on the Visual Novel narrative game. THEN I can crack open that file...wherever I saved it.
Here's an ojizō statue I came across yesterday. I was walking between rain showers. It's been so hot, I haven't been able to. Took an interesting turn and found him.
And here you have your tanuki wearing an old train conductor's cap.
A very old (as in long time) friend came to visit from Tokyo and wanted to have a sukiyaki party. His mom had this thing about putting gyoza potstickers in sukiyaki. Which is a little unusual. He also insisted on cabbage (not just hakusai) and regular onions (not just long onions).
But in the end, sukiyaki is sukiyaki and delicious no matter what you put in.
And lastly, a gorgeous cloud I saw when I looked up the late afternoon it just kept thundering for a couple hours. Which, by the way, is the sound I'm going to use for the next podcast episode. Thunder and cicada. Very interesting.
Okay, everyone stay safe and well, I do have another post of this cool place we visited in Hokkaido that I want to share with you. I'll get that finished up and posted this week, too.
XOXO,
t
Oh, oh! The very top photo is the Okuōikojō. It's not too far from here. It's a train station on that little bit of land. You have to climb from there (go along the tracks) all the way to where this photo was taken to get the photo. Always stunning.
Comments (0)