Nonfiction Writing Idea: VNs and Western Audiences

[Morhighan]

So, I've had a bee in my bonnet to write some nonfiction, maybe get it published after a while. A topic I know about is visual novels, a topic which seems to be scarce in the book department.

There is one book available for kindle, but it comes off as highly pretentious bullshit, do forgive my language. Don't believe me? Check out this quote:

"Relatedly, multiperspecivalism is accorded a cardinal status within the cumulative diegetic construct insofar as the game's take on the action alters according to the point of view from which it is tackled by different personae."

That's some pretty loquacious purple prose just to say "Stories change depending on which character you play."

I used to run panels on VNs in a western market. I'll definitely try to find my old writings on it. They were pretty well received at a few different conventions.

Anyway, to the point:

Would you all be interested in seeing/reading/contributing to a nonfiction book that is a study on VNs? Especially pertaining to a western audience? Lemmasoft will likely be featured throughout the book, so I definitely want to hear your say on this.

Thanks!

M.

[gekiganwing]

Want to write non-fiction in VN format? Go for it.

Want to write about VNs in a VN format (perhaps similar to Understanding Comics)? Go for it.

I believe here's some essays in prose about how to appreciate VNs, and their potential. But if you want to write one more... go for it.

[Noire]

Whoa, just reading that once sentence that you quoted in your post shows that author has no idea what he was doing as the VN language itself cannot look like that (especially that we live in the 'TL;DR' world ).

I'd love to see your work about Western VN creating

[Morhighan]

Hey all, I'm curious about what other topics you might like to see covered in the book.

So far I'm covering:
-what is a visual novel
-different types of visual novels
-sound novels
-visual novels and genre
-eroge and dating sims
-Audiences in the East and West
-anatomy of a visual novel
-visual novel engines
-visual novels and anime adaptations
-games that employ visual novel mechanics
-Production
-independent Producers and Companies
-Commercial and Free games
-Overview of the Process (of creating a VN)
-Helpful resources and tools
-a list of places online to find out more about VNs
-a list of programs and resources to start out making VNs

There is also a potential that I may interview some people and put the results into the book.

Anything else you guys can think of?

[Hazel-Bun]

I'd love to see a section on voice acting if at all possible ^^ Seeing a this forum seems to have a lot of people interested in offering the service, and many otomes I've played are prompted by who's voicing who.

[Morhighan]

That's a great idea, I'll figure out where to put it. :3 Thanks Hazel!

[qirien]

A section on artsy, indie short games (like Air Pressure) might be fun, too.

[Crenshaw6]

The history of how visual novels have grown and developed, even though it's rather young. Though I suppose by covering sound novels, you will touch upon history. I find it very interesting to read how something expands over the ages.

[Morhighan]

The history of how visual novels have grown and developed, even though it's rather young. Though I suppose by covering sound novels, you will touch upon history. I find it very interesting to read how something expands over the ages.

It was interesting to research! I guess the definitive point where VNs started to form was in the early 1980s. A few of the games that were made at that time ended up being very influential to the start of Adventure Games, which then led to Visual Novels. :3

[pineapplepocky]

I will support this. It's a great idea, and a completely different perspective for people to see about this topic. It would be cool to have simple sample features of other games in it too.