Here and on my phone's Notes, I will write my thought process for creating this story and its characters. First, I want to take the time to understand the backgrounds I want my characters to have. Not only for their cultures( just for the main 4 and a few others. Then I'll study accents for many different ones outside them[maybe also for teachers now that I’m thinking about it.]) but also for the conditions I might give them. Mental and physical. I don't want to just throw them in willy-nilly. I want to understand how it affects their daily life, not to victimize them but to make them more human(I won't give EVERYONE illnesses, just a few to make everything more "real"?) I also want to make my characters flawed but not too unlikable, unless I want them to be unlikable in a likable sense. I don't want any of my characters to be seen as annoying or flat when I don't want them to be perceived that way, you know? I also want to influence their fashion, attitude, and way of speaking based on their families and culture. It sounds like a pain, but also really fun to research. But I'll come back to all this. As for the story...I gotta make it more coherent. I do want it to be well-rounded, I don't want to suddenly have a story that seems like I don't know what I’m doing, like Naruto, kind of TAWOG?, and Pokémon SwSh.(no shade..) I want to be like Bleach, Aot, One Piece, FMA, ATLA, MHA, and especially Adventure Time. Some of my biggest inspirations are from Adventure Time, One Piece, FMA, and Bleach. (And aSoUE, absolutely fire)Not only for their well-rounded stories, but their beautifully sculpted characters. So, I’ll think about my start goal and end goal, then about stuff in the middle I want to happen. I'll come back to this in a second, but I want it to be somewhat captivating and to touch hearts of some people. I'm not quite sure if want to do arcs centered around certain characters, like Adventure Time. Or go in one big wave and have everything developing and growing at the same time but different paces.I'll do both but focus more on the first since those hit me the most and that seems more interesting to do
So with all that sorted: At the starting point of the story, I kind of want it to be like a slice of life? Maybe for like 5 chapters, fleshing our the character, story and setting. Showing glimpses of what more of what i want to do with the story, but overall more lighthearted(not going for straight up comedy because I know im not funny)I won't permanently be in "story mode" but for 75% of the time I will. I'll have "fillers" here and there just to refresh things. My ending point is just for my 4 main character's to realize their faults and work to be their best self while relying on each other till adulthood. They won't be perfect but I do want them to work to be better, like A Silent Voice.Now for the one main thing in between, I want their to be a falling out to a crazy degree. I don't know what'll cause the falling out but I know everyone will blurt out things that the other 3 do that ticks them off and it'll cause them to not speak and reflect on what they themselves said and the other for alot of chapters, I don't want it to get resolved immediately. I do want them to come to realizations at different places depending on their mindsets and cause shifts. Nadia will definitely be last(pride)Jacob second to last (Envy)Quinn second to first(Wrath)And Marcel to be first(Sloth..he's got alot of time to think)Now Quinn(wrath) and Jacob(Envy), im kind of split. They could be changeable so I'll think about it, but they seem to make the most sense.I want all 3 points to kind of mimic each other in their formats too. But I'll do more thinking on how i want things to go. I always want to add more characters to help, drag down but ultimately propel the main characters to become better. But I also want arcs for those characters, to make them rounded too, maybe I'll have 1-2 characters at a time exploring their character when necessary.(im thinking about teachers, rivals, classmates, clubmates, outsiders, etc)I honestly don't know how long i want this? I want it be long and thought out but not a stretch. 50 chapters might be too little? but 300+ seems like kind of alot but we'll see when I fully map out the story. But to get back onto all the characters, im going to make pages on Notion, like Roro(shout out to them) so it all will be coherent. Mapping out their background and physical/mental traits, down to how I'll draw them and their face and body structures. Im going to write about the 4 main characters here. BUT I kind of had an idea? I want them to be fragments of me, well not just me but of many people. Basically they’ll have character traits that of the types of peope I do exactly like? I won’t make them unlikeable but just human.
Forever Victim and Desperate
Useless Aggression and Not Hearing People Out
Doesn’t take criticism and tries to do everything herself
Lazy and doesn’t to seem to care about things
And just for a heads up, I’ll put all their birthdays and stuff but for one thing they all have in common is that they’re Juniors in high-school and ranging from 16-18,(Marcel failed 7th grade then met Jacob)
Now at the middle 3rd Quarter, that’s when the fight of the main crew happens. Their fault or not, everything they’ve been bottling up comes out. On Jacobs Birthday no less. Saying the nasiest things about each other. Now I want to show how they cope with stress and being alone and all that jazz. If they try to figure things out on their own or find help. At the end of the day, they try to be better people. Not just for their friends but for themselves
Now before i get into writing the story and how it’s structured, i’ll link my Pinterest for this series here. Although i will put pictures every now and then in the character pages to show my inspiration.
Okay so my first idea was to initually have everying be a normal high-school experience, aside from the powers of emotion of course. But then, Around the end of the 1st Quarter(i’ll probably call it something else), The Principal introduces something in an assembly. The Holy Grail Diplomas. Only available for 8 students through-out all the grades. You can get it at any grade level at the end of the year. If you’ve shown amazing virtue with you “Hobby” you’ll get one. Letting you be funded by the school to freely do your hobby and reach your truest potential without chains.
Now, this would cause a slow but drastic shift in the plot. Everyone before kind of had roots of being unstable from how they were raised and whatnot, but this is where they’d begin to sprout into some dangerous territory. Like where their deadly “sins” start to blossom and everything start to become a bit toxic. At this start till the end of series, i kinda want to get into serious things? More of the mental things that people deal with everyday yet don’t want to talk about because it’s embarrassing. I want to show different angles of things, shed light i guess. I’ll do my research so i don’t misinterpret any mental things.
I had an idea to make 2-3 “villains” that purposefully used people to better their chances at the Holy Grail. Also representing the remaining 3 deadly sins
One- a chemistry student who experimenting on people to find a better cure for Burn-Out and a way to artificially halt its spread so you get the same benefits with no risk- Gluttony
Two- someone in the psychology department of the school. He tries to create problems and the solutions for other students so they’ll come a see him more and more for advice. He has a cult. -Greed
And the last would be a Season 1-2 Iceman type character ,just always coming back but not really adding to much story wise (Yorick’s character)-Lust