A week or so ago I received this compilation book of all the entries for the Silent Manga Audition x Fukushima SakuraMori Project. I posted about it on my snapchat, but it was until now that I was able to write a bit in depth about it.

My entry “Pictures and Petals” wasn’t an attempt to win, it was a paid job from the magazine Comic Zenon. Me and a few other Master Class Members (a group of the highest achievers in SMA through the years) were offered a chance to work with an editor to submit an entry for this project. It’s a project that’s aimed for the children of Fukushima.

This was an opportunity for me to try what it is like to work with an editor. It was a rather new and challenging experience, but i learned a lot from it, mostly on terms of how I write and why I write the way I do.

Through the endless discussions with my editor (also, the comments I got from the editors in charge of the one working with me), and the 2 first drafts that were rejected, I learned a lot about writing in general and the big difference in writing to express and writing to entertain.

It was an experience to remember, and a very fun story to tell; me working with this particular fun editor. He’s so different from me, which made us clash ideas at few occasions. But, there is a real charm in different points of views, and it always gives you a reason to find the middle ground.

They wanted the boy to walk, even run while laughing, and I wanted him to stay on his wheelchair but with a smile (classic me with my ‘it’s sad but they’re happy’ idea). In the end we found a solution which all parties accept. 

An editor’s job is a really difficult but very smart job. When I sent a draft one time, and a scene came with two boys under a tree, the editor said “now this scene. Classic dee Juusan scene. We love it” and regardless of the “but” and few modifications which followed that comment, that comment by itself made me happy and confident, and reminded me how impressive an editor with their keen attention to the writer’s work can be.

If you’re interested in reading the entry, I advise you to read the winning entries first, I am so in love with the 1st place style.

Many good entries overall, which I can’t say I read all, but I read all the works of my fellow master class artists and they’re brilliant! I love “Good Dog John” and “Seeds of Kindness” has lots of cute expressions!

You can check my entry and all the other entries here!