I've been drafting a story for the last three years or so, I've gone through many various versions of the same people, world, plot and all that. I'm finally almost happy with what I have, I've drafted the final plot lines for it all…I've well over 500 hours working on the thing0.o I know it's to much, but I plan to have that as my life. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to make a manga with deep meaning and that also has to be appealing.
So, I kinda hope mine is shonen-esq enough to appeal to the mainstream, and deep enough to appeal to people like…the NGE fans. MY friends think it's strange that this is what I want to do with my life and that I've spent SO much time on it. I've actually drawn out 7 different versions of the same episode one, which all took me about a month each…it takes a good while before you get the grasp of it with the supplies.
On the actual characters, I've drafter 4 versions of each of the main affecting characters, and around 7 or 9 versions of side-characters. It takes forever to think of someone good though, you have to think of their personality and how that is going to effect the way they look. This is a really though career and I commend anyone who has enough talent, patience and courage to go with it.
On a side note: I'm applying with Kodansha next year, I'm sending a one shoot to their yearly mangaka talent search…and I get a Kanji assistant if I win, so that would help people like us who are not very fluent in it.