November has been a weird and wonderful month this year. I pooped out a novel and actually kind of had a good time with it, so here’s a story about all the heartwarming lessons I learned while trying to write an imouto fetish story.
#1 I appreciate imoutos on a whole new level now
Before, I could not say I truly realised the appeal of the Imouto. I might not have an Imouto, but I do have an Oniichan, so incest was one of those majorly squicky topics I did not want mentioned under my roof.
But now I know. Now I see the truth. The perfectly innocent, pure allure of one’s little sister tempting you into iniquity. Imouto is the One True Way.
Imouto is God.
#2 I realised I have a MAJOR thing for siscon characters
Nase Hiromi, you are a true inspiration to us all.
#3 I would not have finished without encouragement
Now for some more serious points. I’ve completed NaNoWriMo twice before, but the thing with NaNoWriMo is that it’s incredibly difficult to complete if you simply tackle it alone.
So thanks a lot to Schneider, Guy and Deadlight, who encouraged me to write when I was really down in the dumps about this project. Schneider and Deadlight are also attempting their own novels this year, so I recommend you check out their blogs and pester them about it.
Seriously, they’re awesome.
#4 It’s really easy to get carried away
It could have been the pressure of the NaNoWriMo deadline—a pressure that’s not so different from the schedule that prolific LN authors work under—but there’s a very real temptation to write the first cheesy idea you can think of boosting word count. At the time, I didn’t actually feel that much guilt from writing absolutely terribad lines such as “Slowly but surely, I would turn my brother into a lolicon with a little sister fetish” because I thought, “Well, it’s part of the light novel appeal! It’s atmosphere-building!” Of course, anyone would know that’s horseshit. (I’ve since edited that line out of the story…)
At first, I just laughed it off as an ironic joke, but after spending so much time with the story, I realised there were only so many siscon gags and anime clichés you can put in without feeling as if you’re a blight on society.
It’s dangerously easy to go too far in an attempt to write what should be a light novel, instead of focusing on what’s good for the story.
In the end, I gave up trying to reach the word quota for NaNoWriMo and just wrote the story I wanted to tell. It ended up being quite a short novel (a bit shy of 20k words) but it’s complete and I’m genuinely happy about it. Trust me, mate, those extra 30k words would have consisted of poorly written harem shenanigans that would never have seen the light of day.
What’s Cool About My Incest Novel?
I was tight-lipped about what I was trying to do with my novel earlier besides cracking LOL INCEST jokes, but now that I’m finished, allow me to hype it up for you:
In the first chapter of the light novel (which you can read here) I introduced the tsundere little sister Miharu, her unnamed brother, and his perverted friend Naoki. The real story revolves around Miharu and Naoki, who develop a very “sibling-like” relationship. The conflict evolves from Miharu being unable to decide who is more of a brother to her—the one whom she is incestuously in love with or the one that fits her image of an ideal brother.
WHO IS ONIICHAN?
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
On top of that, if Miharu is a stereotypical “loli tsundere imouto” in the beginning of the story, she certainly is not one by the end. Every chapter advances one year, and by the end of the story, Miharu is seventeen years old.
If that description scared you off interested you, you can still ask to read this imouto story if you haven’t already. Just comment or something.
(Random tidbit: I never actually used the words ‘imouto’ or ‘oniichan’ once in the entire novel. lol.)
EDIT: Final edits complete. I’m ready to distribute a copy of the story now to anyone who asks.
To everyone else who attempted NaNoWriMo this month: how did you go? Did you manage to win?
Frogkun.com 
You’re a creep. Of the best/worst kind.
I’ll finish today. Or tomorrow. Whatever.
Heh heh, I know you can do it!
I did it. Man what a rush.
Send your story to me, too. Though I can’t really give mine out yet until I’ve done some edits on it.
Caught me just in time as I was about to go to bed and leave on a holiday without Internet connection. I’ll go send you a copy of my novel now before I sleep.
Anyway, congratulations on finishing your novel! I would love to have a copy when you edit it. You did a great job and thanks again for the support!
I end up give up because I got a 5 day stop which never recovered thanks to a company trip to South Korea that I never wanted to be in in the first place. Also, I suddenly find out that what I wrote is not suited for 50k words, but merely 30k. However, this would be a good start up for me to start writing again, even if it just a little bit per day. Anyway, there’s always next year that we can tackle once more. We can stand up after we fall, right? ;-)
Yeah, I was in the same position as you, only realising that my story was not suited for 50k words after I started writing it. But I think the most important thing was to at least have that impetus to write. Good luck and I sincerely hope you finish your novel, sir!
Write what you want, how much you want, based on your own goals, targets and dreams, and not what others demand of you.
I am looking forward to reading your story!
Well, all I can say is that I would like to read it :D
I just followed your blog yesterday and I’m already being offered imotou incest, sounds fun :P I would like to read it.
Slightly unrelated (just barely, honestly) but having never attempted NanoWrimo I wonder about it’s appeal, have you all gotten more than a headache out of forcing 50k words out in a month? I’m more of a lazy writer.
You made a good choice in subscribing. What other blog will give you imouto incest free of charge?
As for NaNoWriMo, how difficult it is depends on how disciplined you are. It’s a lot easier when you’re already in the habit of writing daily. The big appeal is in getting you to put your ideas down to paper, resulting in you writing stories you might otherwise have been too lazy to write. It’s not too difficult as long as you don’t fall behind.
I wrote 63,618 words for a story that I had decided to rewrite from scratch because it was absolute rubbish. But yes, it is possible to write more than 50,000 words a month. Just write from 2,000 to 3,000 words a day and you should be fine.
Napy, I just tried sending you the story, but it appears that the email address you attached to your comment is an invalid address. Either just write another comment with the email you normally use or just plug me an email at frogkun@live.com
I promise, of course, not to share your contact info with anyone else!
I don’t usually comment here, but I would like to read your story!
I’ve already said it on twitter but congratulations on finishing your draft! I’ve made a few halfhearted attempts at writing in the past but i’ve never gotten very far, so I can appreciate how much effort must have gone into this.
I’d also be very keen to read it once you’ve finished =)
キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!!
Please send me a copy when it’s ready, Froggy-sensei!
Prepare your body, Rikuo!
Oh God what am I doing at this part of the Internet where I’m reading an otaku’s blog about incest? My body is ready too I guess.
BTW, Double-Edged Sword was great. Love that fic.
Good job on finishing your story. I’m halfway through it so far; it’s fun to imagine as an OVA while reading. Miharu and Naoki’s interactions feel like a real friendship, although I can see how demand for sequels and deadlines could remove the focus on a few people and result in the usual group of one-note harem characters.
Also:
“I got a part-time job at MgRonald’s. My shift manager’s a real demon, but at least the pay’s all right.”
I see what you did there.
Sorry for the late reply! Glad to hear you enjoyed the story, from what you read of it. Did you ever get around to finishing it?
Dear Froggy-kun,
THE FEELS. I JUST FINISHED IT. IT’S 1AM AND I’M NOT IN MY BEST STATE OF MIND. IM WRITING IN CAPS TO ADDRESS MY SERIOUSNESS. WILL NEED TO CALM DOWN AFTER SLEEP AND GIVE OPINION LATER.
Sincirely, Hykal.
Sorry for the late reply! Glad you liked the story :) I hope you recovered some of your sleep, though, lol!
Even though you haven’t reached the quota (5k words), still, congratulations for finishing your story! I had my hats off to you and everyone who tried to write this year. I would also like to write a novel but I completely forgotten about NaNoWriMo so I didn’t have enough time to prepare and plan.
Anyway, please do give me a copy of this story! When I read the first chapter (before), I knew that something was up between the sister and Naoki. Now I want to know what happened between them ;)
I don’t usually comment here too, but I would love to read your story. My body is ready too haha
I read it and it was pretty good. Definitely high standard in terms of light novels and decent in terms of literature overall. The ending felt… a little forced, but it was setup with events earlier in the story, so it feel unbelievable.
Overall, it was a decent aversion to the standard imouto formula and it was fun to read. The lead was interesting and the drama came naturally. If I had to a put a number to it, I’d give it a five point eighty-six out of six point seventy-three.
Rating: 5.86/6.73
Thanks for the feedback. Don’t really have much to say other than that I agree with your criticisms. When it comes to emotions, I’m heavy-handed as hell – you can obviously see that I like Mari Okada and Jun Maeda. I do need to learn how to make the feels less forced. I’ll keep it in mind for next time.
Also, I was pretty amused at your decimal system for rating. Where’d you come up with that? XD
Where’s the #1 lesson, which is what I’ve given you? It’s called “Fail Better” – it’s alright to fail, that’s how we learn, and if you’re unwilling to fail you’re not going to get far. We often learn more from failing than succeeding – because when we succeed, often we don’t pause to think why we succeeded, which we are much more likely to do with failures.
So when you fail, learn from it, realize what you’ve done, what you could’ve done, what you should have done. And then go out there and try again, and even if you fail, make sure you fail better than the previous time.
That really is a great lesson, although all things considered I thought of the project as a success rather than a failure. Sure, I didn’t hit the 50k words, but I thought of NaNoWriMo as an impetus to get me writing in the first place rather than the ends in itself. I took a more positive view of the whole experience rather than wallowing in my own despair. Your words really did a lot in picking me up off my feet and getting me to actually finish writing rather than quitting the project altogether. So thanks a lot for that.
Never tried NaNoWriMo(granted, I just learned it existed last Month), but maybe I’d go for it next year. that gives me about less than a year to research and stuff.
Can I ask for a copy of your LN? I can write a review about it or something in exchange, but it’s up to you. From what I’ve read, it’s quite…interesting. Who knows, maybe I’d also write an incest romance tragic comedy. :)
I too would like a copy since I liked chapter one.
[…] tends to enjoy them in the aniblogging community (at least, going by Froggykun’s posts on the subject), I do feel I’m in some weird minority, because–in all honesty–most of the time […]
I’d also like a copy.
I really think you can’t hit 50K, without leaving the genre. Let’s face it, the Harem Genre has a hard cap to it, and there’s only so much character development that can be squeezed out of it, because once the girl is chosen/the harem dissolves, the game is over. Unless you leave the genre, and make harem a sideline.
Sure, I’ll send you a copy!
And, well, I think I could have hit those 50k words by writing absolute crap filler, which is what the harem genre is. Hell, just look at any light novel!
You’re now my new hero.
Aww shucks. But remember that anyone can write an imouto incest light novel. Embrace your inner siscon and write with all of your heart and passion!
Amen! You inspired me to finally go through with something I’ve been putting on hold for years. Thank you froggy-kun.
[…] that. Before I knew it, light novels captured a part of my imagination and wouldn’t let go. I wrote my own light novel and a guide telling others how to write one. I saw the close ties between light novels and […]
I enjoyed chapter 1. Do you think you could send me a link to the rest of the story?
[…] incest romcoms probably won’t sell… but no one seems to write that stuff in English except for me, so um yeah. Let’s move […]
I’d like to read the above mentioned novel you wrote…sounds interesting.
Hi Froggy. I found this Blog after reading some of your fanfics in ff.net almost two years ago. Since then I visit from time to time to read your articles. Now I think about it, this must be the only blog that I follow, more or less.
And I never made a comment. Heck, no even in the fics I leave a review. I’m such a lazy -_-U (In my defence english isn’t my first language. I’m very good reading, but no so good writing)
Anyway, I wanted to read your imouto novel so please send it to me.
Hi, John! Sorry for the late reply! I’ll send you the story tonight :)
I just discovered your blog today (or rather, yesterday judging by the fact that it’s 1 AM here) and I’ve been trying my hand at writing a novel of sorts. I’ll most likely read most of your articles here and I’d also like to read your imouto light novel while I’m at it, if you wouldn’t mind.
Interesting, so you have an ff.net account? What’s your username? I’ll go and check out your work over there too. I like it when my brain cries for help. The psychological tears are delicious.
Hi I just recently discovered your blog and I read the first chapter of your imouto light novel. I love the whole idea with Miharu’s love triangle between her older brother and his best friend. I think that is extremely clever writting. But anyways I know it’s been a while since you put up this post and all, but I would love it if you sent me a copy of the whole thing. Thank you very much for sharing your work with everyone.
Could you sent me a copy of your writting please? I’m writting a light novel right now and I thought I should really read some of other people’s work too. Yeah, little sister really ARE something.
Anyway, here is my email. Could you sent it to me at this address please? Thanks a lot and keep up the good work!
Schooldays24@yahoo.com
Did you find any of feedback helpful? I was pretty nit-picky on certain things and probably completely wrong on others but some things needed some legitimate fixing.
tbh I haven’t read the feedback yet. I haven’t even read the novel since I finished it two years ago…
Hah, well, I feel rather sheepish.
hey, i’d love to read a copy, can you send it over?