Project started - August 2006-On hold
Brief Summary
I haven't got a firm plot line planned as this whole story was just improvised. But it's mainly about a young boy, Roku, falling into his garden pond- that pond turned out to be a portal to another world inhabited by mythical creatures.
It's fantasy themed and about good vs evil with magic.
When Roku reached the world at the other side of the bottomless pond, he found himself adrift in the middle of the ocean- then finally washing up ashore. He meets two kids both younger than he is, he couldn't understand what they are saying. They seem to be happy to see him, taking him to the nearby City. He gets threatened by the gate guards under suspicion of his foreign appearance (dark hair, non-pointy ears), though he gets rescued by the princess of the City whom- to his and the other's surprise- could speak Roku's language.
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Development
Water Gate started as a random inspiration many years ago. I was (and still am!) a huge fan of Shilin's art, I think I must've based some elements off from her, my old style shows some distinct evidence that I had been heavily influenced.
I had a school assignment to write an original story as part of the coursework, Water Gate had just popped up and I just improvised it entirely. The story first started out as a novel, I even asked my English teacher if it could be like a novel for the original story coursework since she didn't say how long it should be- she said "Yeah sure. Do a novel. Go for it." I really thought that she was being serious, so I immediately started typing it out- making it up as I went along.
I was no where near the end of the story when the deadline for the first draft was approaching, I had been on my eighth page when my teacher asked to see it and she said whoa whoa- this is too much! And I was like really? I'm barely at the beginning of the story. Then she was like "Oh- I didn't EXPECT you to really DO a novel. Okay okay cut it down to 1500 words" ... ... 1500 words? 1500 words when I was expecting well over 50 000 words? 8( Bah.
So with some help, I managed to shorten the beginning into some kinda teaser opening. The teacher liked it- said it was pretty sophisticated and I got myself an A* grade from her and the exam boards 8D
My friend said I should continue with it- not as a manga- but as a novel. If I ever have time, I might consider it.
Maybe...