7 articles from Curry Zawa Kaoru’s Creative Counseling that captivated readers - See what is popular on pixivision!
Being a creator can sometimes get you down, like after comparing yourself to others or worrying that your work isn’t appreciated as much as you’d like. You might find yourself wondering, “Should I keep going with this?”
Curry Zawa Kaoru’s Creative Counseling, a popular serialized column on pixivision, addresses these unique concerns faced by creators through Curry Zawa Kaoru's unique perspective. By empathizing with creators’ real-life struggles, she gently eases their minds with answers that are sometimes sharp and other times make you laugh out loud.
In this post, we’re featuring seven articles from past installments of Curry Zawa Kaoru’s Creative Counseling that have been read by the most readers!
What kinds of concerns and answers captured readers’ hearts?
Whether you’re struggling with your creative work or simply want to enjoy Curry Zawa Kaoru’s uniquely refreshing responses, be sure to check it out.
Index
- "Three consecutive events later, not once has anyone come to my table."
- "A year’s worth of work on a manga lost to a scribble."
- "I’m tortured by the thought that I’m a failure as a human being because I’m single, in my 40s, and create BL fan art."
- "First time attending an event and I'm afraid that people will call me old."
- "I'm afraid my comments might crush other creators' spirits."
- "Coping with fanwork that ignores the original work's settings."
- "I can't get over the desire to make otaku friends."
- Send in your worries!
- This column was made into a book!
"Three consecutive events later, not once has anyone come to my table."
"A year’s worth of work on a manga lost to a scribble."
Dear Ms. Curry Zawa,
I started drawing doujinshi about ten years ago. I uploaded one to pixiv that I’d been working on for a year and it’s become my most well-received work, garnering lots of interactions from viewers. Although I was pleased with this achievement, it took two weeks to get to that point. I then found out that it was completely overtaken by a scribble done by someone in the same genre in less than half a day. I’m feeling helpless and am wondering just what that entire year I spent working on that doujinshi was for. It made me realize that an artist’s reputation is more important than their content and it’s like I’m being shown that I’m just a nobody who won’t win no matter what I do. I don’t think I can keep this up. Logically, I know that one shouldn’t compare themselves to those around them and instead should try to be better than their past self, but I can’t help but be aware of things like rankings and numbers. It’s really stressful. How can I stop suffering from this inferiority complex?
"I’m tortured by the thought that I’m a failure as a human being because I’m single, in my 40s, and create BL fan art."
Greetings. Despite having only come across your column recently, I’ve taken great joy and pleasure in reading each one. I myself am also struggling with something that I’d like your advice on.
My Twitter feed is filled with posts from people my age who are married and have a few children, all while carrying on their otaku hobbies and lifestyles. I envy those who can find such a good balance between their otaku and normie sides.
Were I in the same situation, I would perhaps be able to be more open about my otaku side. Unfortunately, I’m not married, I have no kids, and can’t even call my job a career. Being an otaku is all I have.
I feel like the only social media profiles I see belong to people who are young, either married or in relationships, have kids, or have a career, all while enjoying their otaku life. It makes me wonder if I’m the only otaku of a certain age. I get so bogged down with these thoughts that I can’t even bring myself to fill in my age and other details on my profiles.
While I don’t voluntarily participate in events, there have been occasions of others reaching out and inviting me to collaborate on publishing some fan work. However, I wind up turning them down because I’m afraid that my age and relationship status (or lack thereof) would put them off.
I think I’d feel more reassured if I had single friends around my age doing the same thing, but since I haven’t been able to find such people I feel like I’m the only one out there in this position.
On top of that, whenever anyone in my life asks me about what I do during my days off, I can’t even bring myself to tell my real friends that all I do is draw and do otaku-like things like watch anime. It’s so pathetic that I can’t be myself in either the real world or among other otaku.
How can I reframe my outlook so that I can continue living as an otaku without getting so down on myself?
"First time attending an event and I'm afraid that people will call me old."
I'm a 40-something writer in a niche genre, and the video game I usually write about has already encountered the dreadful End-of-Service fate. I'm lucky enough to have a group of friends within my niche, and we've decided to hold an independent event next month, but I'm a little worried.
"I'm afraid my comments might crush other creators' spirits."
"Coping with fanwork that ignores the original work's settings."
I'm a run-of-the-mill fiction writer, and I enjoy both original and derivative fiction (fanfics) at my own pace and in their own way. When writing fanfics, I always try not to stray too much from the original setting, which may happen if you're not too accustomed to the series; that's why I spend a lot of time reading it and gathering material about the original work in an effort to at least write in accordance with what is currently known about the title.
And I'm not saying this as to push my own style on to others, or to suggest that my style is the "right" one... but I can't help twitching when I come across fanfics completely derailing from the original series they were based on.
"I can't get over the desire to make otaku friends."
My problem is that I don't have any otaku friends. I'm involved in fan work and doujin activities to a certain extent, but I've never made friends in my same niche. I work as a company employee, and I think I have a basic level of communication skills, but I suck at socializing and using social media, so I've nearly given up on making otaku friends. Yet, I can't let go of my dream to go out for yakiniku with my otaku friends after a doujin event or FaceTime them about my latest manuscript. At a recent doujin event I took part in with my circle, someone introduced themselves as a fan, but I found myself wishing they wanted to make friends with me instead and fell into a spiral of self-loathing. I absolutely love creating and participating in doujin activities. While it can be easier to do things by myself, there are times I feel empty. How can I come to terms with my situation?
Send in your worries!
At pixivision, we’re always accepting submissions of creative concerns you’d like to discuss with Curry Zawa Kaoru.
Whether you’re struggling with your creative work, have a nagging feeling you’d like to talk about, or even a worry you find hard to share with others, please feel free to send us your thoughts.
Why not consult Curry Zawa Kaoru about your creative concerns?
We look forward to your submissions!
↑ Feel free to send your troubles in languages other than Japanese too.
This column was made into a book!
To celebrate the release of the book, we had a chat with Curry Zawa and Tsuzuru Sanada (author of Doujin Onna no Kanjo). Give it a read!
Hello Curry Zawa. I always enjoy reading your witty life advice.
Let me get straight to the point: My trouble is that I don’t have enough confidence.
I take part in conventions where people display and sell their work because I love the atmosphere there, but because my work is pretty niche, no one ever comes to my table.
Just the other day, I took part in another event and, once again, no one came, making it three times in a row that I’ve found myself in such a situation.
Not only is my work niche, but I also don’t know many people who like the same things. I know that no one will see my work like this, and I expect that if I interact with others more and maybe do more self-promotion, then maybe it’ll get better. However, if I start wondering whether I’m worthy of talking to others or whether my work is worthy of being read or seen by others, I lose motivation to reach out or self-promote because I’m not sure of the value of myself or my work. Recently, I’ve begun to wonder if it’s worth putting in all that effort to make new work and attend events in this state.
I envy the people who can go up to others and say, “Take a look at my work!”
I don’t have that strong mindset of, “I can still have fun on my own!” But I also don’t feel like making friends and promoting myself… It’s tough being in either position. What should I do?