Anime is killing my writing

[JackOfArtAndProse]

Also, start reading more prose. That is the key to just about everything well writing prose. And read far and wide, not just in your favourite genre.

[DiegoPalacios]

Any conflict can be interesting if well paced. This potato chip eating scene is proof of this truth.

[joannekwan]

I think anime influences A LOT of people in their writing if the thumbnails one comes across in the novels section is any indication. So you're not alone there.

The best remedy might be to seek out western movies if you want to shift away from a more anime-mindset. Look for movies that are particularly heavy in character interactions and development since you want to hone those aspects.

Some films that are interaction driven with little to no large action sequences that I highly recommend:
Moonlight
Hateful 8
Love is Strange
Gran Torino
Fences

Reading is great too, BUT if you don't have time to sink into a novel that you might not even like, you can at least sit through 3 hours to study a movie.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

hmmmm......maybe you can go with a blattle of wits. Instead of focussing on raw power in combat (like many shonen do) you could try to approach this massive conflict in challenges based on outsmarting foes, intrigue and manipulation.

I...I'd really like to do that. In many instances, that's what I'm supposed to do, but...I don't feel like I'm clever enough myself. 6_6;

It's not that I think I'm an idiot, it's just that I have a hard time removing myself from my own head in the way that you HAVE to if you want to build a mystery for an audience that doesn't yet know how it all ends.
A lot of the time when I'm stuck in a rut or dealing with writer's block, eventually I realize I was just focusing too hard on something that the story never actually needed in the first place...and it scares me to think I can be that myopic without even realizing it.

I don't know if I can trust myself to write characters that are actually outsmarting each other and not just seeing what I want them to see...

Therein lies the key to pacing and making your story that much more relevant during the downtimes that seem to be troublesome for you to write(for now - you'll get better!).

I hate to pick when people are trying to give me advice, but...isn't that kind of the opposite of what I was talking about??
I never complained that 'downtime' was troublesome for me to write; if anything, I excel at writing downtime, because I can fill it with the character interactions that I'm actually good at.

If I had to summarize my problem, I would say it's that I have an attraction to more dramatic forms of conflict, based on my media consumption habits. But it's detrimental to my writing because (a) I don't actually enjoy producing it, and (b) not every story calls for that kind of action, yet I start throwing it in anyway.

[JackOfArtAndProse]

My bad, my bad. But nonetheless, the general rule of what I said still stands: I think that you're accustomed to high stakes stories and thus, conflicts that are physical, instead of (perhaps) making your conflicts about character relationships and something intangible, perhaps thematic qualities. I suspect that you might need to look into your desire to write low-intensity scenes and stories with character building and(possibly) low-stakes conflict, and perhaps also look into creating stories that revolve around that aspect of your writing.

[nixxusnibelheim]

That's something I always feel, specially talking to friend artists that are influenced heavily by anime and manga, as an artist you have to surround yourself with a wide variety of influence.
It's not to say that you don't watch movie, serie or even read books but if anime is such a big part of your writing, it's because when watching anime you are probably more invested, you pay more attention to the details etc. So it sticks out more.
It's "perfect" if this is what you are going for but it becomes a burden if it's not.

You have to put the same amount of care when watching/reading stuffs other than anime so your decision making can have a wide variety of "instinct" choices.

[JackOfArtAndProse]

Yeah, we are(artistically) what we consume. We write the kind of books that we consume, and we draw the kind of art we consume. Even with the stuff that we think we don't like - we still take some cues from them.

[DiegoPalacios]

I don't know if I can trust myself to write characters that are actually outsmarting each other and not just seeing what I want them to see...

Characterization is an important tool to define how a character thinks and how they can or can`t be outsmarted. here are some factors:

1- A character`s inteligence: The most obvious step is to establish how smart is the character. If the enemy is an idiot, outgambiting him would be easy, for smarter foes, it would get trickier.

2- Emotional, psychological factors: Also, there are psychological factors. Even a clever foe can behave foolishly due to emotional reasons. Ex: hurting an arrogant`s ego can make them renounce to an advantageous position to prove themselves (think about the classic villain who throws away his gun to go into a fistfight with the protagonist), or provoking a hot tempered enemy and using his rage to lure him into a trap.

3-Preparation and knowledge: Another factor is how much do a character knows about his enemy? even a clever fighter may struggle if their enemy keeps him guessing.,If a fighter knows about his oponents abilities, strenghts and weakesses, he has a tactical advantage. A smart fighter will try to keep his abilities a secret, or make it look like his powers work differently to mislead his opponent.
Some may have reasons to show off their powers aside from ego or flashyness. They may be attempting to intimidate their foes into submission, or agreed to show their powers to have an honorable fight or maybe they trust their team members enough to make sure they know about his capabilities to make a solid attack plan.

4-Teamwork, communication and coordination: Some groups work better together than others. Communication can be key in teamfights and contests. A cunning strategist may try to exploit the inner struggles of an oposed team for their own advantage.

5-Adaptation skills: how well do this strategist adapts when things go outside of their plan?, some may be able to adapt quickly when they realize what is going on. Others may be too overwhelmed by this turn of events.

6-Leadership, people skills and manipulation: you don`t need to be strong if you can get strong people on your side, or if you can just trick your foes into pitting against each other. (being able to put a fight or escape if they realize the ruse is important too) Not everyone leads by instilling fear. Some are inspiring paragons of their teams, others can keep the calm in times of adversity

7-Reputation: if a character backstaves a lot, others will begin to realize it and not trust them, if a living legend is saying an inspiring speech to keep fighting, it will be way more effective than if a random soldier that joined last week says it.

Those are the ones that came to mind for now, hope this helps!

edit: just remembered a couple of books to recommend about strategy in any kind of conflicts:

"the 36 chinesse strategies" and "the art of war"

[amortelito]

That's why I stopped watching anime when I started the comic. The influence is already in my head but I don't want to get more ideas.

[GesuGesu]

i don't really get what you mean by writing too "anime". Anime is just an animation style? What does that have to do with writing? If you mean the typical anime-cliches in story writing, maybe you mean your writing is being influenced by the light novel style that most anime tend to make adaptations for.

I'm just a slightly offended anime fan okay.

[JackOfArtAndProse]

Anime does have its own writing style, actually. Much of screenwriting is dependent on the medium and the pacing of each episode/movie, so logic dictates that anime has its own writing style. Plus, anime it always(to some extent) inspired by the Japanese way of perceiving the world, which comes across in the way dialogue is written, even if the story itself is based on specific time periods or worlds.

[GesuGesu]

So you mean that Doki is writing as if she's screenwriting rather than writing a novel? That makes more sense than the initial introduction she wrote.

[JackOfArtAndProse]

Nah, that's not what I'm saying. I assume that Doki was referring to the general flow of anime, and how the conflict is usually based around battles and other high-octane conflict instead of low-scale conflict like small-time character drama or everyday life stuff.

I was mostly referring to your claim that anime is just an animation style, which isn't true in the strictest of senses. That's all.

[GesuGesu]

I was mostly referring to your claim that anime is just an animation style, which isn't true in the strictest of senses. That's all.

fight me bro

Look, I like manga, manhua, and manwha all the same.

Same with how I enjoy cartoons, anime and donghua. Why do I call Chinese anime donghua? Because anime reddit won't allow us to discuss Chinese anime in the anime subreddit by their definitions.

Define anime versus animation style to me.

[JackOfArtAndProse]

My argument wasn't about the differences between the terms "anime" and "animation style", but eh. It's fine if the point doesn't get made. shrugs

Plus, I hate arguing for its own sake.

[GesuGesu]

dammit I just wanted to have a ball here.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

...In case this is still a legit question, I'm PRETTY SURE I explained what I meant in my second paragraph:

Of course, I'm not using a literal definition of anime here...I just mean some of the genre's more notable qualities: the dramatic, flashy battles (symbolic or otherwise), and the manifestation and internalization of danger and conflict. Pain and struggle are always in-your-face, very visceral and real. And everything you do, or fail to do, is a reflection of who you are as a warrior/schoolgirl/firefighter, anything.

If that isn't sufficient, feel free to pick it apart.

[OttoGruenwald]

Dead by Daylight is killing mine.

[vfinnigan]

Go ahead and write what you can and don't worry about how it's classified. I've seen that with publishers, if you set out to write in one genre, they might decide it's something else. And that's fine.

[Dariel2020]

I've watched a lot of anime in my life and I noticed one peculiarity. In a really good anime where fights are the main aspect, they are very rare. Yes, there are small skirmishes between the heroes, but basically some kind of large-scale fights happen very rarely. The viewer (in the case of reading the manga - the reader) is kept intrigued until the moment when the fight finally comes. Even in the end it will not turn out very well, then very few people will notice it, since this event has been expected for a relatively long time. It seems to me that you are making a mistake when you create too many fights in your stories. I have not read all of your stories, but I have partially read them and, to be honest, I really liked them. You definitely have talent. Check out some top dubbed anime, maybe you will gain experience that you can use in your creations. Good luck, you're the best!