I admit that this blog seems like a ghost town for the past couple of months and I’m sorry for that m(_ _)m. I don’t mean to abandon this blog altogether. It’s just that for the past couple of months, I’ve been working on my new novel, Twisted Destiny.

Before I begin talking about what inspires me to write Twisted Destiny, I’ll try to be consistent with my blogging effort so this blog won’t end up being a ghost town once again. Honestly, I’m worried that I have no time to blog since it’s a bit haywire during writing the first draft.

Despite that, I’ll do my best to set aside my time to update this blog whenever I can. For the time being, you can expect that I will update this blog once a week so please look forward to it.

Now, let’s proceed with our main topic today.

What got me to write Twisted Destiny

The idea for writing Twisted Destiny has already existed when my previous novel, The Diary of Modern Cinderella was still an outline. Yes, it was still an outline and it wasn’t even exist as a first draft yet. Can’t you believe how long Twisted Destiny exists?

Initially, I was thinking of making Twisted Destiny as a separate storyline. But at the end, I’ve decided that maybe I should make Twisted Destiny and The Diary of Modern Cinderella overlapped. Even though the story in Twisted Destiny is overlapping with The Diary of Modern Cinderella, it’s still not a requirement to read both books. That is until you want to read both books of course.

Once I’m already settled with the rough idea for the book, I’ve decided to make Miki as the main character for the story. Later on, I feel that it’s easier to write a story from Takumi’s point of view so I’ve decided to have Takumi as the main character instead of Miki.

Initial idea for Twisted Destiny

The current plot for Twisted Destiny isn’t like what I had in mind back then. In fact, the initial title was called Bittersweet Trap because the story is about how Takumi is wooing Miki so then Miki will fall in love with him.

At the beginning of the story, you’ll discover that Miki hates him because she thought that Takumi is a womanizer. Takumi knows that Miki hates him, but he still doesn’t feel like giving up on Miki to fall in love with him. That’s because he has the crazy idea of wanting every girl in the school to be head over the hill for him. Because of how egoistic he is, he has decided to do anything to make Miki falls in love with him, only ending up with him falling in love with Miki instead.

Back then, I felt that it was such a good idea. After I’m done with writing The Diary of Modern Cinderella, the thought of writing a romance comedy novel doesn’t jive with me at all.

Sudden plot change in Twisted Destiny

When it comes to anime, I’m cool with watching shoujo anime as long as it has a good storyline and the main female character doesn’t annoy the hell out of me. I thought that I’m okay with writing a novel that falls into the romance genre, but it turns out to be that I’m not.

I don’t mean to lash out my hatred towards the romance genre, but I can’t seem to see myself writing in that genre itself. Sure, I’m okay with adding a little bit of romance in the plot just like what I did in The Diary of Modern Cinderella. But still, I can’t bring myself to write a novel that falls into the romance genre no matter what. For some funny reason, I feel that I won’t be proud if Twisted Destiny is a romance novel.

Because of that, I’ve decided to change the plot completely and later on the book title because the title Bittersweet Trap doesn’t do any justice to the new storyline.

Basketball-theme novel

Even if I don’t encounter Slam Dunk and Kuroko no Basket in my entire life, I confess that I love basketball. It’s just that, I’ve never taken part in any tournament because there wasn’t a girl basketball team in my school back then. The only time I’ve played basketball was during the PE lesson and that was just about it.

Despite that, I still want to learn more about basketball. I don’t know why, but maybe because I have a keen interest in basketball even though I’m not tall enough to play one. So yes, I’m thankful for the Slam Dunk anime and manga for making learning about basketball more interesting. I was fortunate that the Slam Dunk manga was available in the local language and the anime was on TV at that time.

Too bad that the translation was awful even though the company was the official licensor and distributor for the Slam Dunk manga and other few manga. I can put that aside if it’s done by an unknown company, but this company is a well-known company for manga distribution in Malaysia.

Thank goodness that the local language dub anime isn’t so bad though. But I prefer to watch the anime with English subtitle on AXN. Yes, AXN used to air a few anime back in the old days.

Oh well, it’s better to have a reference than nothing at all.

Twisted Destiny writing process

Apart from Googling to get a clearer definition of the basketball terms, I also have to reread Slam Dunk and starts to watch Kuroko no Basket until the latest episode at that time. Besides the anime, I’ve also read the manga so then I can recall the important details that will help me with the writing process.

At the same time, I’ve also started watching Ace of Diamond and Baby Steps too. Talk about overdosing myself with sports anime! Besides the anime, I’m also overdosing myself by listening to OP and ED for Kuroko no Basket, Ace of Diamond, Baby Steps, and Yowamushi Pedal just to get myself in the mood for writing the first draft.

Even though Ace of Diamond is about baseball and Baby Steps is about tennis, I think it’s a good idea for me to watch those anime to get the story pacing. If you have watched sports anime, you know that the storyline usually involves games so I was wondering how the storytelling is done to describe the game environment.

I do get a point or two by watching different sports anime so I’m glad that my effort becomes fruitful. Not to mention, I get to enjoy myself while taking a break from writing my first draft.

The final version of the novel

Throughout the writing process, I already lost count how many times I have to edit the first draft just to make it better. I won’t deny that Twisted Destiny is a difficult novel to write, but I’m still glad that I chose to write a basketball theme novel instead of going with the initial storyline for the novel.

Will I be writing another sports-based novel? I don’t know but maybe not for the time being.

My final thought about the novel

You may be thinking that sports novel, anime, and manga is something that you can only enjoy if you’re the sporty kind of person or if you know a lot about the sport. Well, I beg to differ on that. It’s true that you need to know a bit about the sports, but you don’t have to use that an excuse not to give any sport-related story a try.

Just like me and everyone else, I enjoy watching sports anime and read sports manga because a sports-based story isn’t so much about the sports itself. It’s more like a character journey and it’s something that the rest of us can relate to. So, if you prefer something that you can relate with a real life, then sports anime and manga is your best bet.

This is what I try to portray in Twisted Destiny. If this is something you’re looking for, then you can get the book here:

Twisted Destiny novel

Over to you

What’s your thought about this? Feel free to share what you have in mind about Twisted Destiny in the comment below. I’d love to know what do you think about it.