Manga Brainstorming Tips

(Ok... This is my first time doing this so, just hang on! >.<!!)
One of the things that has always bugged me is the amount of fan mails that I get stating that "Oh! I love your comic, once I tried making one, but I couldn't end up with a good story"
In my opinion, making a comic is not about "I know how to draw, I want to make a story!" but about "I know a good story, I want to draw it!" but, since this hypothetical and I only know around 1 person apart from me who has that line of thought I guess I'll try helping a bit to those who want to make a comic and don't know what to do of it...

Point Zero: THE STORY (why Zero? Because you must start with this… really, you must)
So… you want to make a manga but don’t know what about??? Well, I can’t help you to decide on that matter but I can surely give you my point of view in a lot of stuff…
In my vast experience (what experience??? Gerid draws manga ever since she could pick up a pencil but she is no expert…) there are two great sources of inspiration:
1.- Dreams: Don’t underestimate the power of dreams… even if they seem stupid or way too common, try to keep the emotion that they gave you, and remember the parts that excited you, if it doesn’t makes that much sense, you can put many dreams together and with the help of some imagination and creativity make them viewable
2.- Music: Treasure the music, especially those songs that make you imagine and those that remind you of the story you have in mind, you will need it, maybe not in the moment of brainstorming, but perhaps when you are already at an advanced chapter and feel like there is no point in going on…
And second… don’t forget your characters, they may not be the main focus (for example, in spaceoperas sometimes the bigger problem is so huge that the characters feature in a second layer) but they are essential for a good story… and since they are humans, they INTERACT and they NEED personalities, if you don’t have any need for certain character, kill him or simply don’t add it… there is nothing as sad as an useless and empty chara…

First point: THE ENEMIES
Go and ask someone who has seen a movie or read a book, "Who was the main character?"... 95% will answer you "Insert random hero here"... but in my experience, I have understood that whoever answers that, wasn't seeing deeply into the movie/book... why? because if we think logically, It doesn't matter that much if the hero exists, his sole existence is to improve certain situation... somehow… so who is the REAL main character?? THE ENEMY... (consider that here I'm using “enemy” as anything, from a person to just a problematic situation, it depends on the story...)
Why? Let's put it simple: If there is no enemy, the story has no motor. That is... as simple as that, if there is no villain the heroes could go and frolic all day around for the rest of their lives and no one would ever need them.
Even, judging the enemy is one of the easiest ways to evaluate a story (and the laziest...), if the enemy is deep, has big secrets and many courses of action, then usually the story is of high caliber

Second point: THE HEROES
One of the things I usually fight at people for is the hero… If you ask those manga gurus running around the world, they will always tell you that the hero must be someone the reader can relate to and bla bla bla… I absolutely reject that posture! I know that it’s easier for the manga creator to use a character that is closer to him and it will mean that his manga will sell like hot bread, but… At least I prefer to use idyllic roles.
In my opinion (and re-read VERY well that “I” because as I said, everybody else says that the main chara must be related to the readers) special persons are really RARE, so, making stories of common people has no grace at all… and I prefer to make special persons happy, because in real life common persons have happier boring lives ^^a

Third point: THE REALITY
Another thing I fight at people for is the physical impossibility of what they write/draw… At least I prefer to use some kind of “logic fantasy” that means that under certain fantastic circumstance it COULD happen…
A good example of physical impossibility is when a Sailor scout transforms herself into a Senshi: First, she screams (The “trigger”), then she dances (WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO DANCE?!), she gets naked (er… ok, she must change clothes…), she glows (Well… it’s magic… yea, it can be allowed), she gets covered with ribbons and cute fluffy things fly in the BG (It’s ok, those reproduce in the air normally…) and then she ends making a pose (… the “Dramatic effect”) all the process taking around 3 minutes and at the BG the monster plays cards or something like that, because when they go to fight everything it is as it was before the henshin… (?) oh! And I almost forgot! Sometimes they have useless little wings (Why the wings??? They don’t FLY!!! and if they do, they don’t use the damn wings…)

Fourth point: THE RELATIONSHIPS
(I AM a DAMN SHOUJO MANGAKA… ^_^ This point is my speciality)
This point is strictly related to the second one. If the hero is common, then why do the uncommon characters get involved with him/her??? If you want to make a common hero/heroine, then make a common heroine/hero, there is nothing as annoying for the reader as to see their favorite characters falling in love with the most vague and boring ones (Example: Any perverted, stupid, pathetic male main character in harem stories for boys - Love Hina)
Another problem in this point is the time… just to get this clear: no one falls in love in 2 days, it is as simple as that… now, if you want to make your charas fall in love with each other at first sight this fact is meaningless (but remember… not that many persons can say they fell in love at first sight, don’t abuse this resource…). But what I’m mainly talking (complaining?) is about those tsundere characters out there that change their personalities in less than a week. It’s pretty normal that by the end of the story (that takes less than 1 week, as I said) the tsundere will be able to give his life for the beloved one… which is just WRONG… no real person who HATES someone would change his/her point of view in such a short period of time… give your charas some space! Let them interact! Even if the reader doesn’t sees all of it... you can even use the infamous jumps in time, but, please, consider a bit their feelings…

Aaaaaaaand... I ran out of points, c-ya soon XD!!!