Creating a novel/manga storyline

[DevilzDragoon]

Hiya, I'm kinda making a novel and a manga ^^ I tried to start a topic in the spam section and kinda failed and now I'm trying my luck in this section since I'm kinda stuck... Here's the link to the topic i started before: Creating a Manga... (ps sorry for the sloppy background I just don't want to reveal too much and I rushed it too).

I was just wondering about the setting for the novel and the manga. The novel is set either 30 or 50 years prior to the manga and the protagonist in that story will be appearing in the manga storyline as a major character.

[khaosmonk]

This entirely depends on what kinda of story you're going for. If its a historical-fiction type-ish then you should definetly set it in the dark ages but if ur going for an all out shonen naruto/bleach/ whatever type of story, then definetly create your own world.

[DevilzDragoon]

It's not really a similar to a shounen like Naruto or Bleach. It has more drama then a typical shounen, more like the type of drama in Gundam Seed or Gundam 00. I guess It's more of a shounen like One Piece except a lot more deaths, blood, gore, drama, etc.

I was thinking of making it a historical-fiction thing but I'm worried about the errors I'll make. If it's not too much trouble could anyone give some links or good books that have a deep historical background of the dark ages? If I can't set it in the dark ages I'm thinking of setting it in the empty part of the bible. I hear there's a time gap of 200 years in the bible somewhere... Err, can someone also tell me from what year to what year the time gap is? I'll try to find it but... I'm really bad at finding stuff and collecting info T_T

Ah also, the main character's ethnicity is going to be some kind of asian. It could be any race I want to create a character that's pretty short and stands out because he's going to be ostracized wherever he goes. But the problem is I'm thinking of setting the story in Europe maybe England or Germany. I was thinking of making the main character a slave (since he is a slave/soldier) but did they use asian slaves in the dark ages? Oy now that I think about it I have a long way to go before I start writing this thing....

[khaosmonk]

Idk, but u could make him a travelling merchant / or trader (idk if they did this in the dark ages tho)
As for historical material, wikipedia LOL
And ya if u want the story to appeal to a more mature audience, make it in a real setting (or a fantasy one with historical references)

[DevilzDragoon]

Ah the problem with the travelling merchant thing is that the main character is really young, like around 8-12 years old and then age to 13-17 years old. So I'm sticking to the slave thing, problem is I can't find info on the slave stuff in the dark ages...

[khaosmonk]

Idk about the whole slaves thing, but u could definetly make him an underpaid, maltreated worker (preferably abused).

As for historical accuracy, unless you want history to play a big part on your story, it's not really so important.

[DevilzDragoon]

Hmm I'm still thinking about the character's background now... The thing is set in the middle of a war so I was thinking of making him a slave-soldier, maybe I'll just make him a really young soldier? Ah but then again he isn't "human" (read the creating manga link at the top) and so I thought up the slave-soldier idea for it to make sense that he's fighting for the church.

Oh so history isn't important in the story? Ah good what a relief ^^ Still I'll try to be as historically accurate as possible cuz I want my story to be really good and seem like it actually happend in the past.

Ah also it'd be a lot of help if anyone could give me some references to websites or books about the dark ages and also about the slave trades in asian countries in the dark ages as well. Ah and thanks Khaos for all the help ^^

[khaosmonk]

Any library should have more detailed information on the Dark Ages, but I don't know any good reference book.

[uekipheonix]

Yes go to a library or search in net for the history you want, internet is a gold mine, you can search what ever you want here.