Inside the Fox Hole

So I recently released my new book Down the Fox Hole. It's my first non-Ninja Kat book, and being a collection of short memoirs, it's certainly a departure from my usual fantasy fiction that I'm more known for writing. But it's so far been receiving a relatively positive reception, which I'm certainly relieved by, and so now I'd like to take a moment and give some creative insight that went into the project.

At it's core, the book was inspired by my passion for Babymetal. I initially started off with two primary stories, those being Beyond the Rising Sun, which chronicles my fall down the titular fox hole that is the Babymetal fandom, and the other being The Tattoo's Heat Haze. My initial inspiration for writing Beyond the Rising Sun actually goes back to 2019, when Babymetal held their return show titled The Sun Also Rises, which may or may not be a nod to the classic Hemingway novel by the same name. Well, I decided to give the novel a read, and I started toying with the idea of somewhat of a modern day update to it, only instead of following our cast of characters off to see the bullfights, we'd be joining our cast as they followed along Babymetal on tour. Cut to several years later when I was finally in a place where I was well enough to write again, and I finally sat down to work on this update.

I first played with a fictionalized version of the story, but there always felt like there was something missing in every iteration. So eventually, I just decided to write the true story instead, and base it on my own personal experience discovering the band and following them on tour. And it's been unanimous from those who have read all previous versions that the true story was the best one.

But seeing as I was telling the true story, I now had to decide what all to include, and where to cut it off. For instance, I technically followed them to one more show on their tour from where the book leaves off, that being their show at The Forum in L.A., but at what point am I just included details for the sake of it, and rendering the story redundant as such? Besides, I liked the place where it left off, and thought it made for a nice closing note that tells a concise story without perhaps overstaying its welcome.

This ties in to how I tried writing with Hemingway's “iceberg theory” in mind, where he theorizes that a story grows stronger by the details you leave out, just so long as you actually know what those details are. Those omissions represent what's submerged under water holding the rest of the iceberg afloat. Maybe there's something to it, and maybe the story was elevated by it? I don't know for sure, but it was certainly something I had in mind while I was writing it.

The other primary story in the collection is The Tattoo's Heat Haze. This story was quite literally inspired by my tattoo removal experience and everything that came with it. I went home later that night and thought it'd be cool to share the whole story of my tattoos, and how they all come together to help tell the story of my life and passions. And once again coming back to Babymetal, the band certainly played a big role in this story as well, and I wanted to reflect that through the story's title. This was one where I actually spent a lot of time thinking about what to call it, and had a number of working titles before finally landing on the final title. The Tattoo's Heat Haze actually came about by playing with one of the band's songs titled Kagerou. This song originally had the working title of Tattoo, and the word kagerou translates into heat haze, which also comes into play in the actual story. So, The Tattoo's Heat Haze came about as such, and I've been satisfied with it ever since.

So then, I had my two primary stories, and early drafts that I sent out to test readers contained just these two intact. However, feedback told me that something felt missing, and I was given the suggestion to round the book out with other short stories that explored some of my other fandom passions, such as those brought up in the tattoo story. And so I went to work doing just that. First, I had another short story titled A Memory of Snow, which was originally a fictionalized version of the story of me and my nephew building a snowman together, in which we were both portrayed as anthropomorphic elephants. I repurposed this story, once again telling the true version of it instead, and tying it in to the theme of the book, and it really came to life better than ever, and served as a perfect closure for the book as a whole.

As to the rest of the stories, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about what angle I should address each one. For Road to Mania, I had a number of options, but ultimately chose the time when myself and a friend made our venture out to see WrestleMania 23, as the journey there turned out being quite a story all its own. And then for both Anime Inspired and The Snow Queen Compilation, I wanted to focus on the impact that our passions can have on us, and so I told the stories of how not only I, but others, can be creatively inspired by our passions, which I think certainly shows in the finished book. So now that I had my other short stories to round the book out, my test readers read this new version, and they all agreed that this was the way to go, and that I had found what was missing from the prior version.

And this also leads into the final title of the full collection, Down the Fox Hole, sort of a play of the phrase falling down the rabbit hole. Like with the tattoo story, there were a number of working titles beforehand, but once I got the suggestion that reshaped my book into the collection it would become in its final form, the name just hit me all of a sudden. My friend who I was speaking with at the time loved it, and other test readers thought it worked well, too, seeing how even beyond Babymetal's fandom, foxes had a tendency to tie in to a number of other stories in the book as well.

So there you have it, and now with a little more insight, I hope you'll give Down the Fox Hole a read and experience the true stories within, and see if you can't find something you relate to as it regards your own passions and hobbies. Order your copy today.