Beginner writers always ask: how can I write about something that’s already been written?
What do you do when you want to write about a magical school, but Harry Potter already exists? Or a tournament where kids kill kids but Hunger Games already exists?
The answer is easy. It all lies in the twist.
When Abbey and I heard that our friends from the U.S. Ali and Rohma would be coming to Tokyo over winter vacation, we knew that we were going to meet up with them.
But there was one problem: Tokyo is pretty far away from where we live in Gifu. And since the bullet train is pretty expensive, we had to go by bus.
That meant only one thing — night bus to Tokyo!
WikiHow is one of the craziest places on the Internet, and that’s saying something. It has articles on literally everything, from How to Apply Makeup in Sixth Grade to How to Hide the Fact that You Forgot to Wear Underwear. All with completely serious instructions and professional step-by-step illustrations.
So what happens when we write stories about some random WikiHow articles?
This pig isn’t going to be slaughtered by Farmer Chuckins.
This pig has a plan.
And it involves the New Year’s countdown and a rocket ship.
In Japan it’s considered good luck to have a dream involving a hawk, eggplant, or Mt. Fuji for your hatsu-yume (first dream of the new year).
But if you have a dream about me gobbling as a cooked turkey, well, that will bring you a different kind of luck.
Happy New Year’s everyone!
Featured image: Gahag
