Cover Reveal and Teaser
I am so happy to reveal the cover to graphic noiz 4, the fourth book in the graphic noiz yaoi novella series. This cover features the amateur manga artist Noiz being persuaded by the bestselling author Shiro Ijima to escape the social trappings of New York City with him and come to Scarsdale to visit his childhood home on vacation for a week.
graphic noiz 4 is a full length novel, unlike the other books in the series which are novellas. The word count for graphic noiz 4 is 45,282 and the manuscript is 116 pages in original format. It will be longer in ebook and paperback.
The action in graphic noiz book 4 shows where Shiro and Noiz go through some harrowing situations and the family drama picks up. In previous books the boy’s love part of the story was not central to the plot but this book picks up the yaoi storyline and the relationship between the writer and the artist heats up. I wanted to explore their interactions some more so this one is definitely in the yaoi category no under 18 here. The sex is tame so some might call it YA (young adult) but I draw the line calling a book YA when it has sex and cursing in it which this book does. This is really the first graphic noiz book that involves actual swearing but it was appropriate for the action in the story.
We also see more of the Iima family dynamic with Shiro’s older sister Julia, and younger transgender sister Jade have pivotal parts in the plot. With the positive reaction from readers to the family dynamic of the Ijima siblings and the request to see more of that dynamic, I wanted to explore this in more depth. Bringing the Ijima children to their United States childhood home in Scarsdale (after moving from Japan where they were born) with the servants, cooks and driver, along with the butler allows me to show more into Shiro’s background and family.
This book picks up right where book 3 left off after Shiro was shot by Katsuhiro, his former mentor who abused him when the writer was 19 and trying to get the Dawn manga published. We learn more about those encounters as Shiro’s emotions get wound up tight and we see him react to Katsuhiro’s manipulation. With Katsuhiro calling the shots for Shiro it becomes interesting when in turn Shiro tries to manipulate Noiz to do what the writer wants.
Drawing the Cover Art for graphic noiz 4
This is actually the second drawing for the cover for graphic noiz 4. The first drawing will be part of the graphic noiz manga 2 and was not used for this cover. The drawing above took about 45 minutes to execute and I like the emotion that this image invokes. Shiro is influencing Noiz which is central to the plot of book 4.
One thing I find now that the book is done is that my consistency with the characters, especially Shiro needs additional work. I am drawing Noiz and Shiro over and over again for the manga but Shiro keeps changing. I think I pretty much have Noiz down but Shiro’s facial expressions and hair keep getting the better of me. I will have to work harder to get Shiro more consistent. A fellow mangaka told me to practice drawing Shiro over and over again using a ruler to measure his features and facial expressions and just keep doing that as practice until I get it down. I think I have Noiz down pretty much so I have mastered his look but Shiro still is a little tricky. The only problem I sometimes have with Noiz is the length of his curly hair. We talk a little more about Noiz’ ethnic background being Japanese and Native American mixed with some African as well which gives him his signature dreadlock unruly hair. Noiz doesn’t actually have dreadlocks but the description was right for the story and you can see his curls in the manga which makes him distinct.
Since graphic noiz is filed under Asian American, I thought it would be interesting to make Noiz Hafu and also part Native American and discuss this in the story. That is actually discussed a little in book 3 about his mother being Japanese and making sure Noiz grew up American – this is why he does not even know really how to use chopsticks and he was taken out of Japanese school in the third grade which he recounts in that book. In later books we will get to explore more of Noiz’ Native American heritage. We do get to learn Noiz’ real name in book 4. His name is Wolf Tadashi Begay which shows his Japanese and also Native American roots. Noiz doesn’t actually like his name so revealing it to Jade and Julia is a little hard for him and he gets embarrassed. We will explore some of the objects in Noiz’ apartment in book 5 where we will see a little bit more of his Native American roots.
I wanted Shiro and Noiz to be a biracial couple because at one point in American history that was actually illegal. With Noiz having some African and even African-American blood in him, and that sometimes Asian cultures highlight the need to be “white” or “lighter skin” it brings this up by Noiz having this background. When Julia calls out that Noiz can’t be Japanese and Jade corrects her in chapter 1 we get to see Julia’s typical reaction that Noiz due to his background is not right for Shiro or possibly could not be his “boyfriend” in any manner because of his race. With all the marriage equality talk currently in the news and the United States government seeming to be ready to take away that right all gay people should have, I wanted to explore this through both race and gay rights in the story and I do that in the later chapters with Shiro and Noiz.
Where can I find graphic noiz 4?
graphic noiz 4 as with the other graphic noiz books are available on Amazon Kindle and Book 2 and book 3 are also available in paperback. Book 4 will be available in paperback soon with book 1 to follow in paperback in Summer. I find formatting for paperback requires more work and takes trial and error to sometimes get it right. But I will persevere and ensure that both formats are available for the graphic noiz books. There is also the extra work of creating the paperback cover which takes additional time.
Why are the graphiz noiz covers in black and white?
The graphic noiz manga 1 & 2 have full colour covers. I wanted the graphic noiz books to have a unique look so we focus on the black and white lineart and the red colour splash reminiscent of the Japanese flag. The red highlight is also to represent the fact that Shiro Ijima is Japanese and Noiz is hafu. Making the covers monotone with a splash of red makes them unique.
Sure people will say the cover is too bland but I wanted to create something totally new and different for the genre. Maybe I will go back and colour them later at some time but for right now black, white and red is the norm for the graphic noiz covers. Each illustration for the cover is unique but you can link the series with the red circle colour splash making them readily identifiable.
What LGBT issues do you talk about in graphic noiz 4?
There are multiple LGBT issues addressed in this book. Not to give away the plot but a few are: relationship dynamic, HIV/AIDS, rape, assault, ageism, the top/bottom/switch dynamic, bisexuality, hate crimes, gay rights, the anti HIV-medication PreP, and gay marriage. All these topics are discussed in book 4. Also we talk about money, class, being a Japanese immigrant, being American, being mixed race, hating your name, and social graces are also subjects of discussion.
What about the author and artist lifestyle?
Shiro is a bestselling author published traditionally through a large New York City publishing house. He has an agent and an editor. Noiz is an amateur self-published manga artist who has to use crowdfunding to publish his original manga Disaster Code and is on his own when it comes to marketing his work. He doesn’t like to show off his stuff so without that edge in marketing and the funds he is still a relative unknown even after Disaster Code being out for a few months. Shiro is keen to rub this in when he is angry at the artist.
Both are at different stages of their careers. Shiro is well established and keeping his reputation in tact is part of the dynamic. When Shiro went off the rails in book 3 and went to the streets for a week shooting heroin and wandering around we got to see that take a toll on both his stability and his standing in the writer community and society at large. These are problems of the well established. Noiz doesn’t have problems like that because he is an unknown. All this “being famous” stuff Shiro has to deal with is new to Noiz. Let alone the money and the circles that Shiro travels in. Noiz would not be able to come near any of it if he were on his own.
I wanted to show a stark comparison between the two, of Shiro having money to do anything he wants and Noiz working at an office supply store and hardly being able to pay his rent and his bills. This shows the contrast and makes the dynamic more interesting. Both characters can learn from each other. Shiro ends up learning some things from Noiz in book 4 and even Noiz thinks that what Shiro learns is unnecessary and lacks common sense. But Shiro doesn’t have to worry about simple things like pumping gas and buying groceries all things that Noiz eventually at some point gets to teach him in book 4 when something affects Shiro’s access to his bank accounts.
Tell me about the smex. How did it feel writing sex for the first time in this series?
– SPOILER ALERT –
So in the past books Noiz and Shiro kissed and hugged. There was one scene in book 1 when Noiz is in the bed with Shiro but we never go into what happens and turn out the lights on the scene. Book 2 needed to advance the story and shows Shiro’s life and the social circles he travels in as well as we talk about creating the Fissure manga and that process once Noiz is hired as the artist at the end of book 1. Book 3 gets into Shiro’s past and Katsuhiro returns after Noiz gets beaten up for being gay.
So, I heard from readers at ComicCon that they wanted more smex. So, what did you do? I gave you smex. We even have Regalia Ansalerio the fashion designer featured in the series along with Ai Amena and the Apple Inu clothing line actually refer to smex when Noiz is trying on clothes and modeling for Shiro. I thought I would make a playful scene out of that with all the manipulation and family drama in this volume.
So what was it like writing sex? Well, you have to be creative. I didn’t want any “thrusting shafts” and “flying jizz” so we decided to tame it down and make it tasteful. We don’t actually call out any anatomy in the sex scenes and there are times where it is a little rough but we make it as tasteful as possible and show the dynamic between the two. Shiro is mostly a top in the story and he acts like that. We do have a few moments where Noiz gets bold and we find out that Noiz has actually had sex before with someone before Shiro. It was really only a one night stand encounter of two college students when Noiz was attending art school and it was more infatuation on the part of the artist that it happened at all how gaga Noiz was for the other person. Noiz actually talks about it with his friend Shawn. I thought about having Noiz having had sex with Shawn in college but that would have ruined the dynamic and the friendship between the two of them. Noiz confides in Shawn and he seems to always be in Noiz’ apartment so I didn’t want to muck that up.
So what did it feel like writing gay sex? Well, I did it tastefully and rather tamely I think. I think you have to use your own experiences to make things real. Having been in a handful of gay relationships, I have experienced all the emotions that go along with that. I have also been in a few relationships where my partner was emotionally and psychologically abusive as well as manipulative. I use that also in the story for graphic noiz. It is safe to say that my personal experiences in relationships helped me to make Shiro and Noiz’ relationships more real and true to life.
So what is next for graphic noiz?
Well, we took a hiatus from illustrating graphic noiz manga 2 for two weeks to write the graphic noiz 4 novel. Writing the novel actually only took 4 days to complete and the extra time was for the editing. Now that book 4 is done, I can go back to drawing the manga which has 28 more pages of lineart to complete and then we have to go back and ink everything. The graphic noiz manga 2 will be 96 pages and follow mostly the story of book 3 leaving open the ability to write more manga in the series in the future since we have the basic storyline in the novellas.
I don’t write dialogue and scene blocking ahead of time for the graphic noiz manga so all the dialogue comes after the pages are drawn, inked, shaded reduced, leveled, scanned, and then dialogue added, and book production finalized and turned into a PDF for printing. Manga 1 was 48 pages and saddle stitched. I decided to make manga 2 to be 96 pages so that I could get it perfect bound. We are hopefully planning to have it ready for the next ComicCon I attend. More work to do on the manga and I have to practice drawing Shiro consistently.
Well, I think I gave you a little more than a cover reveal but you get where I am coming from. Book 4 will be available in ebook on Amazon Kindle by later this week and the paperback to follow before end March 2017. Thanks for listening.