• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Front page
  • Archives
  • About
    • About
    • Site author Douglas Eby
    • About product links
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
  • Related sites
  • Interviews
    • Interviews – audio
    • Interviews – text
  • Resources
    • Selected Articles
    • Resources for Creative People
    • Books For Your Creative Mind
    • Emotional Health Resources
    • Products & Programs
    • RSS Feed
  • The Creative Mind Daily

The Creative Mind

creativity research | personal growth for creative people

  • Developing Creativity
  • Personality
  • Sensitivity / Introversion
  • Self-esteem
  • Mental Wellness
  • More topics
You are here: Home / Writers and writing / Bunny – a Japanese cellphone novelist
Discover the Power of Self-Compassion free video series

Bunny – a Japanese cellphone novelist

For Japan’s cellphone novelists, proof of success is in the print

One teenager who wrote a three-volume novel on her phone has gone on to sell more than 110,000 paperback copies, grossing more than $611,000 in sales.

By Yuriko Nagano, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Tokyo

Photo: “Bunny,” a 15-year-old cellphone novelist, tapped out a three-volume bestseller. The teen, shown at a Tokyo train station, does not want even friends to know of her publishing success, with 110,000 paperback copies of her novel sold since it was published in May.

She likes Care Bears, doesn’t wear makeup yet, and took her nom de plume from a character in the Disney classic “Bambi.”

And last year, 15-year-old “Bunny” became one of Japan’s top authors of a genre called keitai — cellphone — novels.

After getting its start as a tale told on tiny cellular screens, her three-volume novel “Wolf Boy x Natural Girl” has gone on to sell more than 110,000 paperback copies since its release in May, according to Starts Publishing Co.

The “Wolf Boy” author, who took her alias from Thumper’s friend Miss Bunny, started writing when she was in the sixth grade, after her parents bought her a cellphone. “I was so excited,” she says with a shy smile.

Bunny was using her phone mainly to text friends until she saw a TV ad about a keitai novel website that allowed users to write novels on cellphones for free. Inspired by some of the novels she read, Bunny took a crack at one herself, simply following the word limit of 1,000 characters per page.

Keitai writers can choose to “publish” their online content immediately or keep it unlisted. Most writers upload the content as they finish so they get instant feedback from the readers, who access the stories on the website and click through the pages.

Cell phone user - Japan - woman

Authors respond to readers by correcting errors and, in some cases, altering story lines.

The prize for the occasional most-read story is getting your novel into print.

Over the course of several months, Bunny tapped away in her bedroom, in between homework assignments. “Wolf Boy” ended up as a high-school love story between shy, pretty Miku and tall, handsome Shun, who is generally a gentlemen except when Miku is around (thus the name “Wolf Boy”).

One scene, from Shun’s point of view, is typical of the style:

“I changed into a suit for the party. . . . When I stepped out of my room . . . Miku was there. Miku was in a pink one-piece dress, wearing white heels. She looks mature because her hair is lightly curled. She’s looking straight at me. It’s hard to keep my cool when she’s looking at me like that.”

“Wolf Boy” became one of the most popular novels on the No-ichigo website. Unaware of her daughter’s work, Bunny’s mother was floored when she first heard about a pending book offer.

“I had no idea,” her mother says.

“Wolf Boy” has grossed more than $611,000.

Continued: Los Angeles Times February 9, 2010.

~ ~

Photo above is from post: Japan’s latest literary craze – novels written by cell phone by Jacob E. Osterhout, Daily News February 10, 2010.

~~~~~~~

Social Emotional Health Program for Creative, Gifted, Highly Sensitive People
Discover the Power of Self-Compassion free video series
The Self-Acceptance Summit

 

Filed Under: Writers and writing
By Douglas Eby: Resume | Facebook/The Creative Mind page

About Douglas Eby

Douglas Eby (M.A./Psychology) is author of the Talent Development Resources series of sites including High Ability; Highly Sensitive and Creative; The Creative Mind and others - which provide "Information and inspiration to enhance creativity and personal development." Also see Résumé.

Primary Sidebar

The Creative Mind Network

The Creative Mind is part of a series of sites by Douglas Eby - providing information and inspiration for exploring your creativity and personal development.

The Creative Mind Daily

More Creative Mind Sites

Talent Development Resources

Developing Multiple Talents – the book

High Ability

Highly Sensitive and Creative

Actors and acting

The Inner Entrepreneur

Personal Growth Information

Emotional Health Resources

Anxiety Relief Solutions

More sites & Facebook pages of Douglas Eby
Scoop.it Content Curation by Douglas Eby        Flipboard
Mindfulness Daily
Annie Leibovitz Teaches Photography
The Self-Acceptance Summit article

search this site

search ALL Creative Mind sites

Popular Posts

  • The Complex Personality of Creative People
  • Growing up exceptional: Emma Watson on being smart
  • Creativity and Asperger’s
  • ADHD and the Creative Mind
  • Owning Our Shadow Self
  • What Keeps You Away From Creative Work?

Copyright © 2018 · Lifestyle Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · on WordPress