Let's Write BL! Novel Project Vol. 12! Challengers Wanted!
It's been a year, a BL project that's about to turn one year old!
This time, we won't be using the usual three prompts.
Instead of craziness, we will focus on serious creative work that delves into content and philosophy.
But the plot in my brain is a complete comedy!
Announcing this month's prompt!
Everything started with a tweet from Shikatsu Shishida (hereafter referred to as Bokuchin), who has been participating as a regular!
If you haven't already, please read Bokuchin's novel "Lotus Pedestal", too!
It will help you interpret ancient poems faster, and it is a beautiful novel about reincarnation that reflects the Japanese philosophy of Buddhism.
I believe that "death" is a gentle, equal providence that visits everyone.
It's something everyone thinks about at least once in their life, something you can't escape, and I thought it was a perfect subject for the Obon season.
So, there you have it!
This time's prompt is...
"Time to Live".
As the tweet suggested, it's not a bad thing to write a project clearly about bereavement, but I thought the word might be too heavy for everyone to write about together, so I'll keep it hidden!
So, it's perfectly fine to write about bereavement! In fact, please write with the determination to throw your own thoughts on it at Bokuchin!
You can choose to theme it around reincarnation, views on life and death, or the afterlife, or you can write about the time spent living while thinking about death.
Ways of thinking change depending on religion, so please feel free to create as you like.
Writing about immortality from a quantum mechanics perspective would also be interesting.
On the surface, it's "Time to Live," but please write a bromance to BL novel themed around your own thoughts on "death".
The word count should be within 10,000 characters.
Please post it to your respective notes on Monday, August 11th!
If you would like to take on this project, please declare your participation in the comments section of this article by saying "I'll do it!".
Feel free to leave questions or any other casual comments as well!
Last-minute entries and dropping out midway are both okay, but if you're hesitant, please hint at your hesitation!
*Special Announcement!
I'll be hosting a Space on X starting at 10 PM tonight!
The Space is titled "BL Novel Idea Brainstorming Chat".
Please follow my co-host, Nami or Kashiko-san, and join from the timeline, or find it via the "Spaces" tool and join as a listener!
Even if you aren't participating in the project, or if you're thinking about participating if the timing works out, everyone is welcome!
We'll be chatting for about 30 minutes to an hour regardless of whether it's just the two of us, so please come if you feel sorry for us!
We might talk more if the conversation gets going, or we might be battling it out within 5 seconds of starting, who knows.
Really, anyone can join the Space.
Feel free to come and go as you please.
The participation perks are Kashiko-san's cute voice and my hard-to-understand Kansai dialect!
Project Overview! (If you're not a newcomer, skip this usual stuff!)
Please post a BL work (bromance is also okay) of under 5,000 characters based on the three set prompts to your own note as a free article on the specified date!
・Create an original work using a total of three subjects: a seasonal event chosen from the official note calendar and two others chosen by a crazy lottery.
・The novel should be between 3,000 and 5,000 characters (if you want to post multiple, please post them separately as the article will become too heavy).
・Tanka, haiku, and poems are also okay (if you have multiple, please combine them into one article).
・Illustrations, manga, and essays are also allowed.
・You may submit up to 3 works in total.
・On the specified date, post it on your own note with the tag "#noteでBL" or by citing this article.
Feel free to add any other tags you like!
✴︎Regarding manga and illustrations, if you would like to post without a novel, I am open to consultation.
Please voice all the things you want to do, and let's give them shape! I will help as much as I can!
I'll lend you an ear, but I can't lend you money, okay?
Those who wish to take on the challenge are welcome to the comments section!
Magazine Information
The novels from previous prompts and the challengers' novels come with the perk of being included in a magazine with a super tacky header😍
✴︎There is absolutely no requirement to follow challengers, so feel free to do as you please!
For those who find it a hassle to check every month, register for the magazine and crazy BL prompts will be delivered to you automatically!
Previous "Summer Festival Zombie Novel"
10 of us, including myself, created works based on chaotic prompt settings! A diverse lineup including horror, business, comedy, and youth boys!
The horror is authentic.
The business one is about adult romance in suits, the youth boys one is obsessed with the festival, and the comedy one is just full of idiots!
Give it a read, even then, everyone is still doing BL, you know?
Other than that, if you have any requests for things you want to try, things you want to read, or things you want me to practice with, please leave them in the comments section!
Anything and everything goes in the comments section!
It's also fine to suggest things from past prompts that you'd like to write or read again!