403A/N: Useless and random rant coming up...
Dreaming of Akina
Making of
During the thirty five months it's taken me to finish Dreaming of Akina, I've sometimes been asked how I work on my stories and, taking this one as an example, I'll now try to explain where it all started and the 'tools' I used in order to create what is now the longest story I've ever written.
It all began while I was working on the final chapters of Programmed Lives – Final Stage. As it usually happens when I'm about to finish a story, I started thinking of what to write next, contemplating several topics which I knew had not been covered before by any of the existing Initial D fanfictions then, all of a sudden and without any previous warning, a question formed inside my head:
"How did Bunta Fujiwara become a racing legend, meet Takumi's mother and what happened to her?"
That single question made me start wondering about Bunta's highly mysterious past and, over the following days, I started gathering ideas using a simple txt file which sort of became the base for the storyline of the still untitled story. I then left that file so that I could focus on finishing Programmed Lives – Final Stage.
Only then, I did what I usually do before writing a fanfiction: I re-watched Initial D and re-read the manga, focusing on the too few parts where we got some insight on Bunta's life. Once I did that, I had a clear idea of where I wanted the story to go but, before I could start typing, there was something else I needed to do:
Research. Lots of it.
Seeing as the story had to be based in the seventies, there were a lot of historical facts I needed to check in order to make sure that I didn't write about something which didn't even exist back then. I also needed to see which cars were available throughout the 12 years I wanted to cover in the story and, together with this, I also needed to research on the different motorsports' disciplines of the period.
Being the history and car lover that I am, I absolutely loved that part of my "work" and for many days I delighted myself with reading stuff about great people like Akio Yoshida and Keiichi Tsuchiya. I also learned heaps of details about cars like the Toyota 2000GT and the different versions of the Nissan Fairlady and Skyline.
With a huge folder full of pictures of cars and files containing dates and facts about circuits, companies and other useful information, I finally had what I needed to start building up the List of Characters (which you can find at the bottom of this rant of mine) as well as the first draft of the main storyline.
Since I'm not good enough to do it otherwise, I can only write the chapters chronologically, which means that when I start writing the prologue, I need to have the summary for the following two or three chapters. This, not only helps me write faster but it also makes it possible to keep things under my control so that the characters don't take over and do their own thing. Any of you who has written a story knows what I'm talking about.
In addition to that, having a chapter-by-chapter summary allows me to have a definite time line with all the events and when they occur so that I can go back to it when needed. This helps me prevent continuity errors which is a personal pet-peeve of mine as well as having a clear picture of what's already happened.
With all the material gathered and the ideas more or less organised, I was finally ready to start writing but, I still didn't have a title. For this, I remembered something Bunta said about the fact that he drove on Akina even in his dreams and, putting one plus one together, Dreaming of Akina was born.
Now, I have a confession to make: the original storyline wasn't supposed to be longer than maybe twenty or thirty chapters. In fact, I didn't even think of making it half as long as it ended up being because I knew what would happen if I did. I would want to split the story in two or more parts and I really didn't want to do that.
Alas, for the story to cover all twelve years and the many, many events I had planned, I needed a lot of space and, for this, I needed a lot more than just twenty to thirty chapters which meant that I was writing chapter forty-something and I wasn't anywhere near the end of it. On top of it, I got quite sick.
It was time for me to take a break.
For several months, I didn't even go near the folder where I had all the material for the story and I hid my Initial D DVDs so that I would not feel tempted to watch it knowing well how addictive that series is and that it might even drive me to write another entirely different fanfiction leaving Dreaming of Akina unfinished.
Then, back in July 2009 I decided I was ready to start again and, re-reading what I had written of the story plus what I had in mind for the rest of it made me want to change a few things of the following chapters. I had to re-write some of the summaries I already had and refresh my memory on the historical facts.
And I also needed to get back into writing.
For this reason, I wrote Match Point, a Prince of Tennis fanfic, which was something short enough for me to finish it fast and which served me to get used to writing full length chapters once again. In a way, that story was some sort of test-drive to see if I was ready to re-start Dreaming of Akina as well as something I needed to get out of my system.
Thinking that the final story is over seven hundred pages long in a single Word document still scares me so much that I prefer not to think about it. My husband has suggested to me that I get it somehow printed and bound so that, one day, I can re-read it as if it were a proper book. I said that I'd consider it.
As for now, after I finish typing this, I'll take a short break while I decide what I do next.
Much love to you for reading this and thanks a lot for your support,
Sanae.
LIST OF CHARACTERS (in order of appearance):
Surname/Name
Role
First Appearance
Car
Current Status
Fujiwara Bunta
Main Character
Prologue
White 1968 Toyota 2000GT/Panda Toyota Sprinter Trueno AE86
Takes over the Fujiwara Tofu Shop
Yoshida Noriko
Bunta's Neighbour in Tokyo
Prologue
n/a
Deceased
Akanishi Yoshiki
Old Harbour Team Leader
ch1
Yellow 1971 Mazda Cosmos
Deceased
Matsumoto Takao
Old Harbour Team Member
ch1
Dark Gold 1970 Mazda RX2
Retired - Proud Family Man
Fujiwara Eikichi
FTS Owner, Bunta's Uncle
ch2
White 1967 Isuzu Bellett 1600 GT
Deceased
Tachibana Yuuichi
Bunta's best friend
ch3
Dark Blue 1971 Mazda RX2/Dark Blue 1977 Mazda RX4
Takes over the Tachibana Petrol Station
Miyazaki Tatsuo
Yuuichi's schoolmate
ch4
n/a
Proud family man.
Mitsui Keitaro
Yuuichi's schoolmate
ch4
n/a
Proud family man.
Suzuki Masashi
Akina Firebolts Team Leader
ch4
Red 1970 Nissan 240Z
After Akina Firebolts dissolve, takes over Nitta-san.
Aihara Shinobu
Former Akina Firebolts Team Leader
ch5
White 1970 Toyota Celica
Retired - Proud family man.
Mizuno Seiko
Bunta's 1st Love Interest
ch5
n/a
Lives in New York City.
Kamenashi Fuka
Yuuichi's girlfriend/wife
ch5
n/a
Lives with husband Yuuichi.
Nitta Shinichiro
Junichi's Best Friend, Bunta's 1st boss
ch5
n/a
Gives up his Repairs Shop to Masashi Suzuki.
Watanabe Makoto
Akagi Racer
ch6
Black 1969 Mitsubishi Colt GTO
Retired - Proud family man.
Yoshimura Miyoko
Eikichi's Former Fiancée
ch7
n/a
Married.
Fujiwara Junichi
Bunta's Father
ch7
n/a
Deceased
Fujiwara Akemi
Bunta's Mother
ch7
n/a
Deceased
Minamoto Taki
Mechanic at Nitta's Repairs Shop
ch10
n/a
Continues to work under Masashi Suzuki.
Mizuno Kumiko
Seiko's Sister, Bunta's Wife
ch10
n/a
Deceased
Kogashiwa Ken
Bunta's arch-rival. Irohazaka Racer.
ch12
Midnight Blue 1972 Nissan KPGC10 2000GT
Retired - Proud Family Man
Mitsuri Shun
Myogi Racer
ch14
Red 1970 Subaru Leone
Retired - Proud Family Man
Nakajima Ryo
Seiko's Husband. Fan of Bunta.
ch17
n/a
Proud Family Man
Tsuchiya Keiichi
Usui Racer, Bunta's Friend/Rival
ch23
Honda S600, Nissan KPGC10 GT-R
Becomes Drift King
Izumi Kazuki
Akina Firebolts Team Member
ch25
Dark Green 1975 Honda Civic 1200
Retired - Proud Family Man
Takabe Masaki
Akina Firebolts Team Member
ch25
n/a
Retired - Proud Family Man
Yamada Yuri
Akina Firebolts Team Member
ch25
n/a
Retired - Proud Family Man
Iwase Satoshi
Tsuchizaka Racer. Kyoko's Father.
ch28
Black 1970 Mazda R100
Retired - Proud Family Man
Takasugi Reiji
Akina Firebolts Team Member
ch29
n/a
Retired - Proud Family Man
Nakashima Saburo
Wangan Racer
ch30
Black 1969 Toyota 2000GT
n/a
"Taka-san" Takayuki
Nitta's Shop Deputy Manager
ch33
n/a
Retired.
Itachi Midori
Bunta's 1st Wife
ch36
Light Blue Daihatsu Compagno
Lives in L.A.
Itachi Ichiro
Itachi Racing Team Owner
ch36
Silver 1972 Mercedes
Deceased
Itachi Takashi
Bunta's 1st Team-Mate
ch37
Black 1972 Porsche 911
Lives in L.A.
Uesugi Norihito
Itachi Racing Team Mechanic
ch37
n/a
n/a
Yoshida Akio
Toyota Design Dept.
ch44
n/a
Toyota Working at Toyota's Testing Dept.
Sato Hiroyuki
Tochigi Racer. Iwase's Friend
ch47
Dark Brown Honda S800
Retired - Proud Family Man
Katayama Nobuaki
Toyota Engineer
ch47
n/a
Toyota Projects AE86's Engine.
Omura Senkichi
Fuji Freshman Series Racer
ch48
Dark Red Mitsubishi GTO
Deceased
Ueda Hiroshi
Nissan's PD3 Engineer
ch54
Nissan Continues to be involved with Nissan.
Sakamoto Tatsuya
Sakamoto Racing Team Owner
ch56
Red Nissan JTCC Team Manager
Yamazaki Tetsu
JTCC Racer
ch57
Black/Orange Mazda RX3
Retired.
Yanagisawa Yuu
Doctor - Kumiko's Boss
ch59
n/a
Retired.
Shiraishi Satoshi
JTCC Racer
ch65
Blue Honda 1300 Coupe
Moves on to BTCC in the UK
Sanada Shin
Bunta's Rally Co-Pilot
ch69
Panda Celica GT
Retired - Proud Family Man
Sakurai Hidetoshi
Bunta's Rally Team Manager
ch69
n/a
Retires - Moves to Okinawa
Fujikawa Akira
Bunta's Rally Team Mechanic
ch70
n/a
Finds employment in Katayama's Dept.
Murakami Ryu
Subaru Rally Driver
ch70
Elecric Blue Subaru Leone
Winners of the 1978 Rally Champ
Nishimoto Tatsuya
Subaru Rally Co-Pilot
ch70
Elecric Blue Subaru Leone
Winners of the 1978 Rally Champ
Orioka Seiichi
Nissan Rally Driver
ch76
Datsun Violet
Winners of the 1977 Rally Champ
Kimura Satomi
Gynecologist
ch77
n/a Delivers Takumi
Tegoshi Yuta
Nissan Rally Co-Pilot
ch78
Datsun Violet
Winners of the 1977 Rally Champ
Fujiwara Takumi
Bunta's son
ch80
n/a
Will inherit the AE86