I’m writing a really sad story…
and I’m hating myself for it.
I remember one of my closest friends and editor, Ate Daff. She hates sad stories. I hate sad stories too. She’ll hate me for doing this.
Writing this hurts so much that it feels like I’m hurting myself! Aray!
Just to let you know, I couldn’t divulge a lot of details about what I’m working on right now after I got done with the first five books of MA-I. But I can maybe give you an idea. I’m currently working on another comic book series (hoping it will be published too) and it’s completely different from the feel that Arya and I have given to MA-I.

Some character sketches for this story.
It’s a story I’ve worked on since I was 14, and actually became a school play when I was in junior high (same year), then I expanded it into a novel during my college days and now I’m back to rewriting it as a manga series (and translating it to tagalog),
This story has a more serious tone, as it is inspired by a true story of a missionary family massacred by an angry mob inside their own home, and only the first born child survived but she struggled in her faith and sought for revenge.
Reminds me of what’s happening to people exiling Syria, flood in Japan, traffic in Manila, twisted rules and perversion in America, persecution everywhere, broken lives and rejected love from you and I. Excuse me for the term but yes, shit happens. It’s painful. And God allows it sometimes. Trust me, hard as it may be, there’s good reason for it.
What I’m writing right now stems from those broken hopes and dreams, inspired by the lives of true people’s experiences– a murderer who kills for revenge, a tycoon seeking the truth from all the lies, an elite soldier torn between following his convictions of getting involved in conspiracies he’s asked to do, an abused princess who hides under a jolly mask, a disabled orphan seeking a family to accept her. Along the way some stories end up undone. I am tempted to be biased on giving a resolution to everything (as the writer) but Sometimes, (you know, like in real life) that’s really how it is. And good stories often end up being loved because the truth is, they mimic the reality of the readers. (So yeah, I’m trying my best to make it as real as possible). An reality is: sometimes our stories really end up open-ended.
So what do we do when our stories end up undone or sad, or depressing? One of the characters here would often say: “There is truth behind the truth. There is hope beyond the horror.” No matter how horrifying your life gets, it doesn’t really end there. Though there may be unresolved issues, when you draw all these sad stories at the feet of Jesus, He will surely surely surely stitch the broken pieces of your heart and comfort you with His embrace. never mind the situation, or the people around you, or how your problems will be solved. As long as you’ve given Him your heart, it’s going to be fine. Your horrors will turn into hope.
Life will always have horrors, how the horrors end depend on how you react to them.
“Greater is he that is in you than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4







