Anime and Yaoi helped me understand my grammar and punctuation.

When it comes to anime shows, there not only exciting, but they are also unique. I love the stories as much as the background and the characters. The design of their personality is always impressive. I love how anime shows are developed from urban legends, mythology, or just a previous experienced the writer or the creator, or maybe the director went through. I love reading the stories on how these shows are created. I would always write stories like fan fiction in a journal.

About two years ago, I found a few journals in a box from when I had moved to my new location, and I couldn't believe how much grammar and punctuation errors I had, compared to the ones that I have now. I love writing I take advantage of it during this pandemic of COVID-19.

As far back as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a writer. All I could think about was writing stories about bizarre worlds and strange creatures that could be inhabiting them. It was a way for me to escape my reality. Growing up, I was an outcast, the black sheep of the family. Don’t get me wrong; I did come from loving parents; both my parents, our low middle-class, blue-collar working class Hispanic immigrants. I am proud to say I am a blue-collar worker. I don't mind working in a warehouse. It's where a lot of stories had happened; however, you do get a lot of distractions. Not just because of the environment but because when I was about three years old, I was diagnosed with a learning disability called ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder), so learning was always a struggle for me. It wasn’t just the focus, but it was also sitting still. I remember that while watching TV (cartoon and anime), it would have my full attention. I could pick up a lot of this, like the slang, the quotes, and what the characters looked like. But I would only watch the anime if it was English dubbed, not subtitled. I will get thrown off if the audio is in a different language. I would get confused then, but now it makes sense because I’m older.

In school, I was in special education learning classes because one thing that I always struggle with was grammar and punctuation. I would try and try, but no matter what, I couldn’t understand the grammar and where the punctuation is to be placed. I was told that reading helps you learn. I would try to read the book or have someone read it to me. So, I can understand when the description. Unfortunately, I get it about 50% of the time.

Then one day, when I was at home from school (I was in High School), I was watching anime that was dubbed in English, and the subtitles were on. I was able to see where the commas, the periods, and even the most difficult one of all the semi-colon; are placed to make sentences. I was learning faster with close caption and subtitles then I did in school or watching instruction videos. Since then, I watch all my favorite shows and films with the sound off and the subtitles and close captions on.

As I got older, I watched more Anime and Yaoi. Yaoi is a Japanese boy love anime and novels. To put it in more perspective, it's guy on guy interaction. I still struggle with my learning disability, but I am happy to learn English grammar and punctuations finally. I understand the art of write scripts and graphic novels.

Best of all, I have two books that are in the works to be published. One is a yaoi that is a black comedy/romance. The other is a sci-fi adventure but with a dark twist. Maybe when I was a kid, if I had known watching TV with the subtitles and close caption on and the volume muted would have helped me learn and improved my English grammar and punctuation, perhaps I could have done better at school. Because in College, I did well.