DOPAMINE Updates for November will be posted sometime around December 3-5. I apologize about the delay. I’ve gotten quite sick and only have the strength to get through work each day. Anyhow, while you’re waiting for the new DNs, you might want to drop by Nihon Watch and read all about Japan. See you there!

Hi guys! I’m sorry I wasn’t able to follow-up our fan fic clinic. This week has been terribly hectic. Anyhow, I’d like to announce the launch of Nihon Watch: Your Japan Mag-Blog. Hope to see you guys there!

All right, I received this email last night. I asked permission from the sender to publish this, of course, and she agreed.

Dear MitsuiSelphie-san,

Since you write such sweet stories, I assume you’re great with matters of the heart. I’m so sorry to email you like this, it’s just that I have no one else to talk to. I feel shy discussing love with my RL friends and family. I’m very shy in person and though I have a lot of friends, I don’t usually talk.

There’s this guy in my class who’s really nice to me. We become very close in no time and he often holds my hand. Everybody thinks we’re best of friends, I think so too. But since a couple of months ago, he started sending me letter and text messages with “I love you” but when we’re together, he isn’t saying anything about it. AND he keeps changing girlfriends right under my nose. I don’t know what to think with his “I love yous.” Do friends of the opposite sex usually say that to one another? Thing is, I think I want to misunderstand his messages because I think I’m in love with him. Please help me, I’m so confused.

xoxo,

Eigo-chan

Well Eigo-chan, I don’t know where you got the idea that I’m “great with matters of the heart” because I’m not! I’m telling you now, my life is nothing but a love disaster. However, since you’ve put such great faith in me, I can’t let you down. So here goes. Eigo-chan, boys your age (they’re in high school, I asked her) could be confused with what they really want. Here are some possible scenarios:

• The guy might be head-over-heels for you, however, he hasn’t felt “real love” before and hence he’s experimenting with other girls to determine if what he feels for you is actually “love.”

• His love for you might only be friendly love. Yes, there are friends of the opposite sex who say “I love you” to each other, but frankly, I’ve only seen a couple of those instances (including my own) with people your age. Still, it might mean that. I understand that you might shy away from asking him about it, but why not confront him about his messages once? Go straight to the point, ask him what he meant by his “I love yous.” You don’t want to “misunderstand” forever, do you? You don’t want to keep thinking if this guy really loves you or not.

• He might be messing with you. If you think he’s really your friend, then scrap this idea.

Eigo-chan, the way I see it, you have two options as of now — tell him you think you love him OR wait for him to fall in love with you or something similar. Based on your character, I reckon you’d wait until he tells you he loves you. Well Eigo-chan, if he never comes to doing that, let it go. Think of it like this — he was never really into you from the start. Take it as a learning experience and move on. However, if you want to fight for him, suck it in, gather all your courage and tell him you love him. It all depends on whether you think he’s worth the risk.

And that’s it. Whew…golly! I never thought giving advice on love would be this hard –especially since I haven’t had a happy-ending love story in my whole life! Anyhow, since I already started it, anyone’s welcome to send letters to the DOPAMINE mailbox. You can email me anything from affairs of the heart to problems at home and in school. Just take note that I will publish all letters here in DOPAMINE.

Okay, back to Eigo-chan’s problem. What can everyone else advise her?

Yesterday, I was surfing a forum when I saw someone said she likes the fan fiction I write. The girl is ten years younger than I and it made me realize how old I am!

I wasn’t active in any fandom until 2001 but I have been writing fan fiction since 1999. During that time, there were but a few of us in our fandom (Slam Dunk), that we all knew one another. In fact, one of the “fan fiction guides” I had written in 2001 had been archived in a big anime forum because it was part of the early fan fiction boom.

Now, why am I telling you all these? I’m not claiming to be the most famous or the best fan fic writer around. However, I’ve been in this long enough that I could start giving out advice to the younger generation of fan fic (and in our case here in DOPAMINE, dream novel) writers. And besides, I think I promised this to one of our readers long ago, I just forgot to follow through.

Hence, for any of you who want to start writing fan fiction (or dream novels), you are very welcome to ask me anything — I’ll try to answer them all. Simply post your questions in this thread OR if you want to remain anonymous, you can email me at mitsuiselphie[@]gmail.com — I promise I won’t divulge your identity if you don’t want me to.

You can consult me on anything — from fan fiction basics right down to questions about grammar and punctuation (though I don’t claim to be a pundit). I will be addressing any question sent one by one for our regular discussions.

That’s it, I will be waiting for your questions.

SURPRISE!!!

Welcome to the new and improved DOPAMINE! Do you like our new web site? I slaved for days to make this, hope you guys like it. I apologize for the long, long delay. I was supposed to code the new web site and write my new PoT Dream Novel for Halloween, but since I got very sick this weekend (I’m still sick right now), I only had time to code the web site.

Anyhow, please welcome our new writer, Taruna Rei! Glad to have you with us, Rei-chan. I organized the Tenipuri Dream Novels by school now, and you have her to thank for it. The only thing is, I don’t know where to put Echizen Ryoga so I put him under Seigaku. XD ahahaha. Maybe if more people submit Ryoga Dream Novels, I’ll create a “Miscellaneous” section.

We got ten new PoT Dream Novels for October’s updates. Yay! A bit late, but here they are:

Not A Zombie
Halloween Special ‘07
An Akutusu Jin Dream Novel by Taruna Rei

Stubborn Fear
Halloween Special ‘07
A Momoshiro Takeshi Dream Novel by Wanna.Be

Revenge
Halloween Special ‘07
An Oishi Shuichiro Dream Novel by CrazyGirlOfManyNames

Haunted House Project
Halloween Special ‘07
A Yagyuu Hiroshi Dream Novel by Karu

The Apple of My Eye
An Atobe Keigo Dream Novel by Snowflake

Watching You
A Fuji Syusuke Dream Novel by CrazyGirlOfManyNames

Realizing
A Kamio Akira Dream Novel by Taruna Rei

Forgotten Promise
An Oishi Shuichiro Dream Novel by kemmybear

Wish
A Sengoku Kiyosumi Dream Novel by Wanna.Be

Only
A Yukimura Seiichi Dream Novel by CrazyGirlOfManyNames

Also, since updating a WordPress web site is as easy as 1-2-3, we’ll be having regular discussions here pertaining to Prince of Tennis and Dream Novels. As you may have noticed, there’s a “Top Commentators” box at the lower left side of the web site. We’ll be rewarding top commenters periodically by awarding Tenipuri Dream Novels, etc.

If you take a look at our radio, I added some more songs — First Love by Utada Hikaru (featured in Taruna Rei’s Kamio Akira Dream Novel, Realizing), D.D.D. (Diamonds, Diamonds, Diamonds) featuring Soulhead by Koda Kumi (where I got the title for my Oshitari Yuushi Dream Novel, Diamonds, Diamonds, Diamonds), and lastly, XXX featuring Koda Kumi by Soulhead (counterpart of D.D.D.). I also added the anime, Ghost Hunt’s ending theme which is my inspiration for the Halloween Dream Novel I was writing but…oh well.

That’s it! I’ll try to finish my Halloween Dream Novel sometime around next week.