The Enemy Beside Me + The Liar Beside Me (Book 1 and 2)

Please read (Especially #10)

Note for the reviewers: I hope you're reading this. Please keep in mind that I mixed Western and Eastern storytelling styles.  The Western part can be clearly seen in the beginning as Jaxon,  a white British kid, opens the story.

However, as it goes on, you'll notice that the layers of Western storytelling keep on peeling off. The Eastern storytelling dominates after chapter 8.

To make this short: This story isn't about the hero's journey. This is more about the characters and how they deal with their emotions, so the plot is a background.

1. I write in British English so, there are phrases that might be unfamiliar or offensive, but I swear, they are not offensive unless they are meant to be.

2.Jaxon, the protagonist, is very sarcastic. And like a true Brit, some of his sarcastic remarks can be subtle, so watch out for those, or you might think he's being serious when he's not.

3.Japanese and English sarcasm are not the same. Especially if someone is from Kyoto. Man, their sarcasm is far more subtle than ours, so to anyone who thinks Japanese cannot understand sarcasm...you are both correct and wrong.

And if you're from Kyoto, you'll definitely spot who this character is. I've had a hard time conveying his sarcasm in English. Send help!

4.One of the themes is xenophobia/racism. I exaggerated it a bit. Some restaurants ban foreigners, yeah, they can deny it all they want, but it's common knowledge. But how the Japanese authority ignores bullying and forces criminals to confess? That ain't an exaggeration.

Also, the story is set years after a big war, so the citizens in this story are still wary of the foreigners regardless of their race. As a multiracial person whose grandmother had been in the East post-WW2, she told in her diary how high the tension was between the natives and the nonnatives.

Lastly, when I was in Japan, I'd found out that there are old people who still express strong xenophobia. Thankfully, they are not the majority. But I was wondering, what if they were?

5. Jaxon is an arrogant, selfish character. And because we're in his head, the writing reflects that. This is the reason why the book is a slow-burn. As Jaxon learns how to peel off his arrogance,  we will also slowly learn the characters surrounding him.  It would be odd if he was initially arrogant but asked about somebody's life.  I hope that's clear enough.

6.Speaking of being a Brit, I follow our grammar and spelling rules. If anyone comments again, 'It's REALIZE not REALISE!' I swear I'm gonna lose my mind.

To the reviewers, we use a single inverted comma (quotation mark) for dialogues.

So, instead of, "This is an example." we do, 'This is an example.' Just putting it right here, so no one will come asking me why my dialogues look weird.

As for the grammar, sometimes it's weird. For example, 'I was sat here' instead of 'I was sitting here.' Don't mind this. It's just our thing. Oh, and the cookie is biscuit, sausage is bangers, etc. I am not gonna explain everything in the story though since it's in the PoV of two characters. I mean, when you narrate inside your head, do you pause your narration to explain what A and B are? So, if you get confused, you can ask me.

7.There is a bisexual character here. And he's one of the protagonists. So, if you're a bigot or whatever, please drop this book. I don't have the time or energy to cuddle you.

8. I got inspired when I saw a march of Trump supporters...IN JAPAN! The supporters are Japanese, and I was like, 'Dude, the U.S.A has too much power.'

9. This whole book is filled with mysteries, and the answers are going to be revealed one by one. I don't give answers in a snap. I'm also a fan of writing a "normal scene" that turns out to be a massive big clue. So, I highly suggest never skip any line.

10. A character uses too much Keigo to his friends, which some of the characters took note of. And because this story is written in English, I again, have had a hard time conveying that. For example,

こちらは何ですか Kochirawa nandesuka? instead of これは何だ Korewa nanda?

That's an example of Keigo. So, instead of bombarding every chapter with "Character A says in his polite Keigo..." I just made this character speak like a humble old man. Like, "I do apologise" instead of just "Sorry." Or that example I have given above which means "What is this?" will be spoken by him like, "May I know what this is?"

And when he is referring to himself, of course, he uses the 謙譲語

The thing is, he uses Keigo even to those who share the same age. Why? To hide his dialect? Or because he was raised like that? I don't know, let's find out! :D

10b.

Japanese people don't normally use あなた or きみ (you)  They rely on the context of the sentence itself. That's also why they use someone's name (with or without honorifics) when talking to someone.

But since this book is written in English, I made the dialogues smoother. So yeah,  there's gonna be 'you' here and there. However,  in the second book,  a Japanese character has diary entries,  so the absence of あなた and きみ will be more apparent!

11. The protagonist was originally a kikokushijo kid or a repatriated child. But as I was writing, it made me think about how it'd be interesting to see the story in the eyes of a foreigner who is ignorant and a bit xenophobic himself. So, the concept of Jaxon was born.

I might add some more, so don't be confused if this chapter gets updated again.

With love,

Morgan