I am writing a story and have gotten a good ways in on the overall layout. The overall premise is that a guy who takes pictures has just started doing it for a living and his classmate finds out and volunteers to model for him. He is a major introvert who likes hiding behind the camera while she is more of an extrovert and more of the aggressor in the relationship. The idea was totally inspired by my dress-up darling anime. Mostly I am looking for ideas where others would take the story. The guy is shy but likable but keeps to himself mostly at school. He is a photographer for the school yearbook and student news paper as well as making money on the side taking pictures of weddings and such for friends and family. In my current draft he is a senior in a private school there on scholarship from a middle class family so he is a bit of an outsider to the more wealthy students. Some of whom look down on him which only drives him more to succeed. I also have him coming from a family with two moms and has a step sister his own age though not sure if I will explore anything with them yet but I think it make for some decent conflict between the families. The girl is a major girly girl cheerleader from a rich family who is sort of a closet pervert. She hasn't had sex yet but secretly wants to. She just hasn't found the right guy yet among the boys at her school. She gets a little thrill out of torturing the shy yet sweet guy because she likes him. She knows he likes her as well and sees him as playing hard to get because he hasn't made a move on her. Though not sure how far to take her up to. I don't want her to jump his bones right away but I want her to be the more aggressive of the two. Despite coming from money her home life is a bit of a mess. She can be a bit of a narcissistic and loves showing off, looking good, and doesn't mind being a little naughty when modeling torturing the guy a little which he slowly warms up to. I thought of writing her maybe more wholesome girl next door or even prep school punkish and and still trying to flesh her out. She has an older sister who got knocked up out of wedlock possibly making her parents tougher on her being the baby of the family who she didn't always get along with but sometimes babysits her niece who she adores and an older brother away on college who is a total frat boy and the opposite of the hero. Currently the guy is shooting a wedding for his old babysitter and the girl agrees to help him and be his plus one for the wedding after he helps her study for a test. Slowly pushing her way into his life, even going places to model for him before the wedding so he can get an idea of lighting and poses while teasing him and trying to get him to open up more while slowly revealing more about herself.
Just some sparse thoughts: -Why are they taking these photos of her? How did they meet? What brought two people so different together? Some kind of school project? - Feels really out of a manga. She can't be a beautiful girly girl cheerleader, full of money, (so I assume very popular too...), a closet pervert craving for sex, and on top of that being also sexually aggressive, and still be a virgin at eighteen, period. That just doesn't make sense. I suppose you can simply transpose the manga premise one to one, or adapt it to the real world. (I didn't read it if you're wondering) -You are surrounding him, the guy, of women, two moms, a step-sister, a just married babysitter: you're going to turn this into a harem, aren't you? -Instead of her being aggressive, you could have her teasing him beyond any human male limit. He's so shy and introverted and very polite, that she wants to make fun of him, so she teases him by posing for him with each time more revealing outfits, to see where his breakpoint is. (To do this credibly she has to have sexual experience, IMHO...) -Eventually, you can bring also a bit of bondage into this. You can do this as a slow burner.. . At some point, down along the road, she could realize she really likes to be tied and to feel helpless and vulnerable. -She could also have a boyfriend or a fuckbuddy, someone from her same school caste. -I'll leave the romance implication to you, those seem pretty obvious and I don't know if you want to emphasize them or not. -At some point, the guy will snap out, obviously, but he could do it in his peculiar, polite way. Or just go nuts.
Don't label the manic pixie dream-girl! She can be whatever she wants! But don't worry, she's not a Mary Sue, she still goes through lots of trials and tribulations in the course of the story. Hooking up with a nerdy photographer, for instance. That's the kind of over-the-top psychological torture that really shows readers what a character is made of! What's weird is, I can't think of any cheesy in-universe justification for him to be photographing the step-sister as a normal part of his job before she inevitably gets stuck in a window or something. Don't write a harem anime-- write a kinky harem anime! Contrived wish-fulfillment is out. Edging is in! Rival. The word you're looking for is rival. Now it's totally not a harem anime! 20 pages of adjusting camera settings and lighting conditions; 2 paragraphs of awkward virgin sex; he's somehow both physically inept and trying way too hard to overcompensate with book learnin' he gleaned from erotic fiction websites. Most realistic Nerd Porn ever!
Of course she can, by having an overbearing / powerful / heavily-armed father who makes it known that touching Daddy's girl means a narrow cell or a shallow grave. It's a trope even: Farmer's Daughter. Two of 'em! Overprotective Dad
Sure! Hey, I'm working on his idea. Not many days ago I specifically stated that BDSM turns me off. I just happened to read he doing reseach about that stuff and guessed he wanted to use it in this story. Not, not exactly. Rival would be a word too strong. It's just life, everyday common life. Natura abhorret a vacuo. People don't want to be alone, you'd be surprised to know how many people hook up just to be with someone. Yes, that's pretty much it, I can't argue with that.
I guess a guy who is/was constantly surrounded by women could still be shy, though I would rather think they are more familiar with being around women. (The family environment might make a big difference.) Though maybe he is an only child who is mostly alone at home as his mother has to work all day to get along. So maybe his dad died when he was young and his old, shabby DSLR is the only thing he has left from him. He might even have to use the school library's computer to watch and edit the images. That could be the reason why the school found out about his hobby and why he got involved with all the school photographer duties. Having a lot of time and being a loner could be the reason for good grades and a scholarship. Having not a lot of money might be a good thing for storytelling reasons. The little money he makes might go to his mom, so the girl could make him expensive presents like special lenses. (Having to use the school's computer might make it awkward/exciting when he got some naughty images. It could also lead to her offering her own computer to do that stuff. In that case, she has an easy way to lure him into her home. (And maybe create first tensions with the dad ^^)) She could have moved from another city mid-year, so she could talk shit about how many guys she's already fucked. Her father might have $influenced$ the school's sports authority to get his little girl into the cheerleading team. That might lead to interesting plot lines. That might be interesting. Some jock who is into her but she doesn't want him. So whenever she is close to the photographer, the jock might get angry. If she has influence, she could use it to set up something that gets him to have detention and her then being there as well. She might also involve him in situations he doesn't want to be in. E.g. swimming lessons in school. He "forgot" his swimming trunks once again. So she knows he's doing that. The teacher might think he can't afford it (?), though he just doesn't want to show his body off in front of the whole class. Just when he talks to the teacher about it, the girl comes round the corner and offers help by giving him a pair of swimming slips her brother forgot in her bag that would perfectly fit him. (In that case, they are separated from the whole class while he is supposed to get dressed. So she could peek on his bare ass or sth.) She could also get him jobs he usually wouldn't do but when she tells him, that she promised them and they don't have someone now, he might agree. So that might lead to awkward situations and her being his anchor in those scenes. She could make him get his crotch groomed after she told him she wants to wax but doesn't dare. So he should go first. (Probably she has to do something to convince him.) Taking images of her very pregnant sister might also be a job he might have to do. (Maybe the pregnant sister even has to be naked without revealing her nipples and crotch.) This feels like setting up a harem as well. Don't really like that as the initial setting, though I can't tell why. As for the plus one... he's the loner who probably doesn't care if he's alone. So it might be her who wants him as her plus one. To be closer to him, she might want to become a staff member and write articles. And then she could use that as an excuse to drag him all over the place to get some story. (E.g. "The Big Summer Swimming Party at The Local Lake" where he has to take some pictures of the lake and the students... and of her in swimwear of course)
@Ricoluis. I've read several stories similar to this. I can post links if you'd like, but some people find reading similar stories makes it hard to come up with original ideas, rather than creating inspiration. In that case, you may be better off NOT reading them. Up to you.
