THE WRITING PART
The first edits came in this week for His Familiar Scars. I was a nervous wreck. I’d never had a professional editor evaluate my writing before. So, how’d it go, you ask? Well…pretty damn well. There were remarkably few technical errors and only a few minor clarifications that I needed to make. The editor was profuse in her praise of the high quality of my writing as well as the storyline itself. Talk about a boost to my confidence! I was expecting hell, and I ended up in writer heaven.
Life is good today.
THE ANIME PART
Looking for a new anime? I have one. Doesn’t matter your age or gender, either. Go over to Crunchyroll and start watching Hunter x Hunter. It’s classified as action and shounen at anime-planet, which makes it aimed at younger boys. So you’re picturing epic battles with lots of shouting, spiky-haired/super-powered kids, power-ups, over-the-top villains, right? Well, in a way, those things are present. But they were done so cleverly I never would have compared them to other shounen anime.
The characters in HxH are all unique, have depth, and many live in the ambiguous gray areas between heroes and villains. Some pass from one to the other. Some are both at the same time. Yes, the writing is that good. HxH is the first anime in which I cried over the death of a villain. I couldn’t deny that he was definitely a bad guy, but the way the story was done left me running for the tissues.
In addition to awesome characters, HxH’s other strength is in the story arcs which follow 12-year-old Gon, accompanied by best friend and ex-assassin Killua, on his journey to first become a hunter and then on further adventures. The arcs are long, well-developed, and seamlessly move from one to another. The secondary characters are cycled around, though Gon and Killua remain together, growing and changing in a realistic manner.
So, complex characters and great plot not enough to convince you? How about this. I started watching Hunter x Hunter because I wanted something I wouldn’t get too involved in while dealing with a heavy schoolwork load. After watching the first episode, I then proceeded to watch the rest of the 100+ episodes over the next week. Screw homework and sleep!
Yes, it’s just that good.
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Congrats on the painless edits! I’m still waiting for my first round…but I’ve suffered through academic editors before and, well, it’s a good thing I mostly lack an ego?
As far as I know, painless edits are kind of rare!
I don’t really watch anime (or anything really), but this sounds intriguing. Might be something for the ol’ summer vacation watch-list!
I hope you have a positive experience with edits as well! I’ve had many rejections over the years, so I’m at least used to that. I’ve also had critiques on my writing by others, but no one was a professional editor so I was able to take their comments or leave them as I wished.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from having a professional edit, but it certainly didn’t seem like I should expect it to be pleasant. I mean, who really wants something they birthed from their imagination to be looked at under an uncaring microscope at all its tiny (or not so tiny) flaws? No one I know.
Heh, you’re right! And it’s a much different process for fiction, I think. With academic stuff, it’s always just “well your research is [x] or your stats were [y].” It’s cold and logical, so there are no real feelings involved (unless, I guess, that’s your passion?).
I just keep telling myself “it was accepted. I signed the contract” as a mantra, and that gets me by. Just trying to stay business-like, but you’re right that it’s harder when it’s your baby.