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tenshinoakuma) wrote2014-08-21 05:35 pm
tenshinoakuma) wrote2014-08-21 05:35 pm
Entry tags:
Writing thoughts
Man I can't believe how long it's been since I've done any kind of writing meta. Probably because I haven't been writing much until now.
Anyway, something I've noticed since dipping my toe into the Supernatural fandom is how a lot of the (really good!) stories I've read are very dialogue heavy. In fact, an abundance of good dialogue is one of the big determining factors in whether I consider a Supernatural story good or not.
This is really different from all my other fandoms, which are nearly exclusively JRPGs.
So I'm over here wondering if the medium in which we experience the work influences the way in which we write.
Thinking over this some more, there's some similarities between TV and JRPGs; they're both very dialogue heavy, visual based (you can SEE the characters' appearances, etc.), and external (in the sense that the only way you can understand a character's feelings is through external actions).
But, even though JRPGs have a lot of dialogue, the pacing is really different from TV media, and the visual clarity you have with the game format is... different, there's less clarity in expression as there is with TV with (good!) actors. I'm wondering if that contributes to writing from TV not neccessitating as much description of expression and action because I can easily say "Sam made a bitchface at Dean" and everyone reading it would know exactly what that looks like, which isn't necessarily the case for JRPGs.
And going back to dialogue pacing, it's not unusual to have a lot of rapid-fire dialogue in Supernatural, where a lot is conveyed in a short amount of time (and it's especially good with the arguing and tension) that doesn't work as well in the written format if you start going into internal thoughts, which would break up the dialogue pacing established by the show itself, so a lot of what I read tends to keep between dialogue stuff short, sharp, and to the point.
(I should make a note that this is more with regards to long multi-chapter stories than one-shots or drabbles, which have a somewhat different set of writing styles/rules imo)
You could say this is just the style of the writers for the stories I've happened to pick, except, now that I'm writing Supernatural fanfiction too, my writing style has automatically shifted into something more dialogue heavy in order to preserve what makes Supernatural so compelling in the first place: the dialogue and banter. And that feels really weird!
I mean that's the thing, Supernatural is experienced at somewhat of a frenetic pace (40 minutes per episode), whereas like, video games and books are experienced at a slower one.
Actually, I wonder if this is different for other TV shows/anime. Like. A lot of shows I've previously experienced are overarching things, like, you have episodes, but they tie into a bigger, overarching picture, so it's paced based on the ENTIRE show's length. Sort of what you'd expect from a typical novel.
But Supernatural (moreso in the first 5 seasons) is episodic with ties in to the bigger picure, but the focus is on the 'case' for that particular episode. So each episode is paced to stand on its own, essentially going through the whole dramatic narrative structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) within each individual episode, rather than for the entire season.
Basically you climax once in a season of Free! but 22 times in a season of Supernatural--
But I mean, yeah. Supernatural is pretty intense so maybe that's why a lot of the writing I've read for it has been super intense as well.
I have totally lost track where I was going with this.
Anyway, something I've noticed since dipping my toe into the Supernatural fandom is how a lot of the (really good!) stories I've read are very dialogue heavy. In fact, an abundance of good dialogue is one of the big determining factors in whether I consider a Supernatural story good or not.
This is really different from all my other fandoms, which are nearly exclusively JRPGs.
So I'm over here wondering if the medium in which we experience the work influences the way in which we write.
Thinking over this some more, there's some similarities between TV and JRPGs; they're both very dialogue heavy, visual based (you can SEE the characters' appearances, etc.), and external (in the sense that the only way you can understand a character's feelings is through external actions).
But, even though JRPGs have a lot of dialogue, the pacing is really different from TV media, and the visual clarity you have with the game format is... different, there's less clarity in expression as there is with TV with (good!) actors. I'm wondering if that contributes to writing from TV not neccessitating as much description of expression and action because I can easily say "Sam made a bitchface at Dean" and everyone reading it would know exactly what that looks like, which isn't necessarily the case for JRPGs.
And going back to dialogue pacing, it's not unusual to have a lot of rapid-fire dialogue in Supernatural, where a lot is conveyed in a short amount of time (and it's especially good with the arguing and tension) that doesn't work as well in the written format if you start going into internal thoughts, which would break up the dialogue pacing established by the show itself, so a lot of what I read tends to keep between dialogue stuff short, sharp, and to the point.
(I should make a note that this is more with regards to long multi-chapter stories than one-shots or drabbles, which have a somewhat different set of writing styles/rules imo)
You could say this is just the style of the writers for the stories I've happened to pick, except, now that I'm writing Supernatural fanfiction too, my writing style has automatically shifted into something more dialogue heavy in order to preserve what makes Supernatural so compelling in the first place: the dialogue and banter. And that feels really weird!
I mean that's the thing, Supernatural is experienced at somewhat of a frenetic pace (40 minutes per episode), whereas like, video games and books are experienced at a slower one.
Actually, I wonder if this is different for other TV shows/anime. Like. A lot of shows I've previously experienced are overarching things, like, you have episodes, but they tie into a bigger, overarching picture, so it's paced based on the ENTIRE show's length. Sort of what you'd expect from a typical novel.
But Supernatural (moreso in the first 5 seasons) is episodic with ties in to the bigger picure, but the focus is on the 'case' for that particular episode. So each episode is paced to stand on its own, essentially going through the whole dramatic narrative structure (exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution) within each individual episode, rather than for the entire season.
Basically you climax once in a season of Free! but 22 times in a season of Supernatural--
But I mean, yeah. Supernatural is pretty intense so maybe that's why a lot of the writing I've read for it has been super intense as well.
I have totally lost track where I was going with this.