As someone who has written a novel and a few screenplays, I was pretty floored when I read this LA Times article. Last year, a 15-year-old girl, with the pen name “Bunny,” became one of the top authors of “keitai” novels (novels written for cell phones) in Japan. She wrote a three-volume novel called Wolf Boy x Natural Girl that got its start on cell phones, but since going on the market as a paperback this past May, it’s sold more than 110,000 copies, grossing over $611,000.
Having chosen the pen name after a character in Bambi (Thumper’s friend Miss Bunny), Bunny began writing in the sixth grade after her parents bought her a phone. While she was initially just texting friends on the phone, she happened to see a TV ad for a “keitai” novel website that lets people write novels for free. Writers on these sites have the option of “publishing” their material or keeping it private, with most putting material up as they finish and altering it based on reader responses.
After reading a few on the site, Bunny decided to write one herself. She wrote the high-school love story over the period of a few months, “in between homework assignments.” It became one of the most popular titles on the No-ichigo website, inspiring a pending book offer, one that surprised her mom, who had no idea her daughter was even writing it. Most authors on the “keitai” novel sites don’t give their names, and apparently no one at Bunny’s school knows she’s the author. As she said, “it’s embarrassing,” but at the same time, she’s thinking about the possibility of becoming a professional author.
I think it’s safe to say she’s well on her way.
Photo courtesy of hiromy via Flickr
