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Q&A How do I get my readers through the early, "hardship" part of my fiction?

Some Japanese manga have lots of hardship, and most get you hooked right from the start or the first few chapters. In shoujo in particular, the heroine or female main character tends to have it di...

posted 6y ago by Pablo H‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:17:17Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/34268
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Pablo H‭ · 2019-12-08T08:17:17Z (almost 5 years ago)
Some Japanese manga have lots of hardship, and most get you hooked right from the start or the first few chapters.

In [shoujo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Djo_manga) in particular, the heroine or female main character tends to have it difficult on some attribute (unpopular, short, ugly, poor, unhappy, lonely, etc.). But triumphs over it.

It is difficult for me to pinpoint exactly how those mangas hook the reader, but you may find it useful to have a look and try to identify the methods. Perhaps a combination of:

1. A likable character [perhaps she/he has some trait we can identify or simpathise with], and
2. Some unresolved question [will the girl get the guy? will X find Y? become popular/rich/happy?]. Maybe these tend to _feel_ like they will be solved soon? (but then either do not or some other problems/questions/situations appear).
#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-03-13T22:52:27Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 2