This log contains themes about suicide, misogynism, rape, violence, etc. Reader discretion is advised. Spoilers for Bungou Stray Dogs ahead.

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Foreword

I'd say this log is some sort of "behind the scene" for my upcoming Bungou Stray Dogs Fanfic, Les Plaisirs. Honestly, constructing a character for the BSD universe is somewhat challenging, since you have to follow the format of using Japanese author references, their works, minor details about their appearance, and even personal lives. It might be easy for others, but I think it's my comfort zone to write from scratch? Using references can be quite tricky, which led me to this decision--skip it.

Base Character Traits

Following that decision, I decided to picture my character in my own criteria. Well, since I've been attracted to Dazai ever since I watched the series, I thought I should consider his ideal type. It was bizarre, but it's Dazai we're talking about. His ideal type is a woman that's willing to commit a double-suicide with him.

So... With that first detail, I've thought of various things why committing suicide became an option for my OC or how it brushed her mind. I wanted to be a bit different, so instead of childhood traumas or bullying, I decided that she'd want to die because she doesn't want to kill anymore. But, she could just simply stop, so why go to such lengths?

It's because she has to kill. And for the BSD universe, a possible reason could be her ability. So, I thought that it should be something that is powered by lifespans or human time, which is why taking other people's lives is necessary for her to use her ability and to live. Because of this, she must have a specific target. I don't imagine her killing random innocent people, but a certain group of people. For example, in Persona 5, the Phantoms' targets were corrupted adults.

Likewise, I imagined her targets to have a common trait, better if they're a bunch of evildoers. Aside from enemy organizations, it's better if it's linked to her personal desire and past. I'm leaving the past blank for a bit, since I want to base it off the writer's personal life or at least take some details from it, I guess.

Another thing is, I'd like her to have an alias. Better is she's more known by her alias rather than her birth name that will be based off a writer, since it's likely for other authors to "use" the same name. Sigh, so much for wanting to be original.

The next, and somewhat final detail would be fueled by my personal desire to write antagonistic protagonists. With that idea in mind, I decided that she'll be part of the Port Mafia. Plus, it's the best environment for her to kill. Fun fact: When I was watching BSD clips on youtube, I genuinely thought the Port Mafia were the protagonists.

Oh, and I don't mean to romanticize killing nor mafia. I don't have an idea how to express myself, but yeah, at the end of the day, it is fiction.

Choosing the Author

And of course, if you set aside something that must be done, you'll eventually have to do it. The most common course of action was to search for the most influential ones, scroll, scroll, scroll, until someone rings the bell.

When I saw Fumiko Enchi, it wasn't her name that caught my attention. It was her notable work, The Waiting Years. It just really rings the bell, y'know? Since the abilities are based on the writer's literary works, The Waiting Years sounds fitting for the base idea I had for her ability. Exactly from how it fits. Though, I can never hope to create the character based off the writer as well as BSD had done it, hopefully taking various details would be enough, sigh.

I'd say it's my luck. Just like how puzzle pieces fit--scratch that, I'm exaggerating. Anyway, I really like the theme of Fumiko's works! She's a feminist, alright. OwO This actually matches well with a vague idea that crossed my mind, for my OC's targets. Actually, let's call her Fumiko since I'm 89% decided, as for the remaining 11%, I'll get to that later.

Men. That's it. I mean, not all men, lmao. The nasty ones. I don't even want to elaborate it, it makes me sick in the stomach just by the thought of it.

As for the reason why, The Waiting Years of the real Fumiko could be a good reference. I haven't read the entire thing, but I've read a summary. It's pretty much about the wife of an official, burdened by the task of choosing concubines for her husband. I won't be making a direct reference though, since it's a bit inappropriate for her age since this is set when she was sixteen, so I decided to settle for a possible counterpart. And that is making the guy her fiancé instead of outright husband.

Now that I think about it, maybe I should omit this part before I dive deeper into her past. XD I should be brief so I won't spoil much!

Love Interest

Ahem, of course this'd be a topic. It's my preferred way of connecting my character with the canon characters, and to be honest, it's pretty related to my personal feelings as well. Cringe. I'm not really into basic romance, and it's been a habit for me to make sure my character's love interest would be deeply connected to their own development. You see, I'm fond of the "turn the tables" format, and I obviously just came up with that name randomly. It's pretty much where the one who saved soon becomes the one to be saved. For example, Character B helped Character A. Now, a better person, Character A learns about Character B's own ordeals and decides to help them. Better if they actually end up using a similar set of words that Character B once used to tell Character A.

It's common, but I never get tired of it. To me, it's absolutely beautiful. With this template in mind, it's likely for Fumiko to be helped by her supposed love interest first, given her current mental state. I'd like to think that I have proper criteria for this, though honestly, who she ends up with is influenced by my own preferences. But pretty much, it has to be someone who has a way with words, went through similar experiences so it'd be convincing, respects women, etc.

Based on my personal thoughts, Dazai and Chuuya are the ones that fit pretty well.

The only problem is, the real Dazai doesn't really...respect women that much? I've seen a header before saying that he somewhat saw them as tools only. He could even be her target. I mean, even BSD!Chuuya once said that Dazai is the enemy of women given that he was a womanizer.

On the contrary, the real-life Chuuya seems to be rather devoted and attached. I've only seen two women in an article about him, and I think that says a lot. Chuuya also seems like the type to respect women a lot.

However, BSD!Dazai isn't portrayed as exactly as his real-life counterpart, since there are some details that aren't necessary to be added, I think. At least, within the past two years, he'd been trying to be a good person, to be a human. Oh, that actually seems a bit like Oba of the No Longer Human. The protagonist of that story tried to be human until the very end...

Anyway, I feel like Dazai would be the type to have a way with his words. And because of Odasaku, he's likely to help people especially if they went through similar things. He's also been on both sides, and there's a chance he might persuade someone to switch groups because he saw something in them, perhaps kindness. Plus, he can be really persistent. I don't know, this is seriously my own interpretation. XD

Basing off Real Life Relationships

Okay, honestly, I don't know much about the real Fumiko's relationship. I'm not even sure if I'm reading reliable sources, but it is said that Kyouka Izumi, Murasaki Shikibu, Natsume Souseki, Edgar Allan Poe, Ryuunosuke Akutagawa, Jun'ichiro Tanizaki are authors who inspired Fumiko to write.

Like how I have no idea much about her personal relationships, I really don't know what to do with this information. Should I reverse the admiration for Kyouka, Akutagawa, and Tanizaki? Does it even fit their characters? I genuinely don't know. XD Perhaps, I'll get to this once I have more ideas about their relationships.

Oh, I might make a direct reference for her admiration for Natsume, since my OC will become a writer.

Vice-Versa Relationships

This focuses on how Bungo Stray Dogs applied references. Prominently, of course, they referenced the character from the author's core, beliefs, and habits. For example, Dazai's habit of committing suicide, Chuuya's hat and drunken habits, Ango's glasses and loneliness, Mori's career as a doctor, etc. But to me, what interests me the most is their relationships.

One of the most common examples is Ranpo and Poe's reversed admiration, as it is Ranpo who admired Edgar Allan Poe in real life to the point he opted for a pen name that's similar to the Japanese pronunciation of the latter's name. Same could be said to Akutagawa's admiration for Dazai, since in real life, it is Dazai who admired Akutagawa to the point he went to great lengths in order to get the Akutagawa Award. I'm not sure, but I guess Tanizaki and Naomi's roles somehow switched too.

However, my personal favorite would be Dazai and Chuuya's relationship! They're my favorite duo, and I've always wondered why teasing and annoying each other seems to follow them a lot (even in Bungou To Alchemist). I saw an article regarding this, and it appears that their real-life counterparts met in a meeting where Chuuya got drunk and teased Dazai to no end to the point he almost cried, from what I've read. Sorry, but I really found this hilarious. T___T

The Remaining 11%

Of course that's just a random number. As to why I'm hesitating, there's a few reasons why. Mainly because Fumiko Enchi's been "used" more than twice already, from what I saw in an amino. I genuinely didn't want to search it up since it'd make me feel terrible, but I knew I had to. I want to check how similar and different my works with others at the same time, if we used the same references, details, and such.

Well, it was pretty different. But I'm picky with similarities; I really want to avoid it as much as possible. Can't help it though, since the real Fumiko is well-known and one of the most remarkable women writers.

As for the actual name, I kind of made a solution for that... By giving her an alias? I'm doubting a bit, and that's probably because I'm not perfectly satisfied with the countermeasures.

Based on what I said earlier--which was based from other sources, lmao--Bungou Stray Dogs had a unique way of establishing their relationships from their real-life counterparts. At this point, I have nothing in Fumiko's relationship, that is referenced from the real Fumiko. It's kind of bothering me, since I was hoping I'd be able to apply that.

To comfort myself, I'd say that not all of the relationships in the series is based off in real life. Yep, an excuse. Anyway, I may or may not change her name, but one thing's for sure—I'll do my best to be unique. I'll rack my brains out, hopefully, for real this time.

Behind The Scenes

Behind the behind the scenes. Fun fact: When the thought of creating an OC crossed my mind, I thought I should name her after Dazai's wife or any of his women, but well. It's absolutely discarded, but I'd like to tackle it a bit.

I applied the same base criteria I mentioned in the first subtitle. Her alias was supposed to be "Michelle," since it holds resemblance to "Michiko." The meaning would be an added bonus, but unfortunately, I can't link the meaning of the name Michelle to the character I had in mind at all.

Now, I don't remember how I arrived to this conclusion, but I thought I wanted her to be a writer. It's actually a plot detail that remained in the semi-final draft. And I was amused to know that Oda wanted to be a writer too, since it was an adorable coincidence.

Of course, most of these ideas are scratched because one, it's too common. I'm sure a lot of other authors had this in mind too. And second, the ability. From what I've read, she was an elementary school teacher, I think?

And that concludes this log! A lot of things will be discussed in the following logs—I'll be digging more about her appearance, relationships, and ability. Then, I'll move on to my other BSD OC, Masako Togawa!

Thanks for dropping by!

Eth.