Narrative design
I'm writing a little series about making better stories. I know that there's a handful of writers here on Basil, but just in general, if you're interested in narrative and want to see how your favorite novels/movies/games work their magic, check it out: [url=https://omegathorion.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/narrative-design-why-layers/]Part 1[/url] and [url=https://omegathorion.wordpress.com/2015/08/04/narrative-design-understanding-why/]Part 2.[/url]
Mostly, I just like studying the theory. If any of you guys write, share your thoughts or your works and I'll share mine, I like reading people's stories.
August 4, 2015
7 Comments • Newest first
@ecyz: Glad to hear it! Show me what you've got sometime.
@xreniya: Good points all around. Regarding givens specifically, I feel like they only become a problem when they become stereotypical. Imagine this: why did the princess get kidnapped by the bad guy? Because the princess was a girl, and therefore she is weak. Now that's stereotypical and demeaning to women. How about this instead: the princess got kidnapped because she was tipsy after a night of drinking and she's well known to be an alcoholic. Suddenly, instead of relying on stereotypes and tropes, you're fleshing out the character a little more (WHY is she an alcoholic?). Yes, eventually you'll hit a given, and hopefully by that time there's enough characterization for a realistically motivated character.
And when it comes to stories with morals/meaning, I actually look to comedies a lot. A South Park episode is just utterly pointless and has no brilliant message about life, but it's hilarious. The interesting thing is that they use this style of writing a lot. Why is Satan running a mobile game company? Why is a robot TV with lasers terrorizing the city? You just have these ridiculous scenarios, but through the course of the episode, they actually make sense. I'm still not sure how to reconcile my ideas with comedies, that's in development.
I write a little. Mostly I focus on narrative in games, but I have some short stories. [url=https://markofmephisto.wordpress.com/2015/07/08/arbalest/]Here's one.[/url]
@omegathorion
nevermind, i finished reading. i skipped some of the league of legends parts though, because i don't play that game and because i dont want to read all those stories. few things though:
1. isn't the world built on "givens"? they're the foundation on which why layers are built. add as many why layers as you want, you will eventually hit a given. stereotypes are based in truth, and i dont think a story is obligated to delve into stereotypes via whatever characters populate the narrative. obviously it's good to have why layers, but i dont think that givens are necessarily a bad thing. otherwise, taken would have been an exploration of why it is that all (or most) fathers love their daughters.
2. i thought the dice example wasn't really needed in your explanation of deterministic narrative. it just confused me more, to be honest. also, were you going to go anywhere with determinism? you talked about it for a few paragraphs, then abruptly dropped the subject and began talking about empathy. i think your thing about determinism would have found a better fit with your "understanding why" essay, when you discussed causality
3. "But the problem is that it just ends there. That's it. There's no deeper meaning, there's no life lesson, there are no morals to learn. The story has nothing else to say. Now, you have a story filled with character tropes, but those characters may as well be mindlessly thrown together. Their interactions aren't shedding any new truths about the human condition."
a good story needs to have any sort of moral or profound insight into the human condition, in my opinion. if a story can make a reader empathize with a character whose predicament is so unique that it's completely inapplicable to humanity as a whole, i think that's a success too. and even if a story consists mostly of tropes, i think even tropes can be fit together smartly as well.
thats all i have to say. thanks for writing this, i enjoyed it and i learned a lot
edit: oh yeah, do you write stories?
[quote=omegathorion]Thanks alvinhero123 and ecyz![/quote]
I just finished both parts; I've got to say you're my hero right now. You just freed a many-months-brewing case of writers block. I'm actually excited to write again.
Thanks @alvinhero123 and @ecyz!
@xreniya, sorry, I spend a lot of time looking at websites in night mode. I just threw the articles up on Pastebin: [url=http://pastebin.com/9DfNnsMK]part 1[/url] and [url=http://pastebin.com/8fXtfpZW]part 2[/url]. Maybe that'll help.
Haven't finished reading yet, but the white against black hurts my eyes. Looking at a wall, I can still see bars of white imprinted into my vision
Yesss I need this
This is really well done, quite helpful as well. Thanks!
I'm not a writer, but wow, dang, you must have spent a great deal of time on this. Good job!