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JDavidB Member
Are there some concepts that only work in visual media?
Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by JDavidB, Feb 18, 2016.
The story I'm working on now was inspired by this picture (and others by the same artist.)
I came up with the idea of a world were everything is super over the top cutesy and eccentric, while also having a very gritty and violent story line. Since then the story has transformed into a much more realistic story, there's still magic, but besides the magic wielders everything is just like our world. (In fact it is our world.) Looking back on the story I'm making I kind of miss it's crazy roots, and still want to use the idea, but then I realized that there's pretty much no way to write the story in a novel like format. I felt it would be to hard to describe everyone crazy attire in detail while keeping it a fast paced shoot em' up type story. I told someone in the writers club I just joined about my stories origins and I told him that I think that in order to make it good, it would have to be a TV show or a graphic novel. He competently agreed with me and told me "You're going to have to wait until you meet an artist, or have lots of money laying around."
The question is do you agree with us two? Is there really concepts that don't work well with just long form writing?
JDavidB, Feb 18, 2016
Feo Takahari Senior Member
Just above the treetops
That image wouldn't translate in its full glory, but I think you can create a similar effect with cutesy behaviors and speech patterns. If she declares that she'll punish someone in the name of justice, calls out a lengthy attack name, and makes them explode in a spray of organs, you've got everything you need to leave your readers baffled and horrified.
(Not that I'm necessarily recommending this style, mind you. There's a reason I don't normally mix grotesque with cutesy.)
Feo Takahari, Feb 18, 2016
Caterwaulings likes this.
That's the thing though I want it to translate into it's full glory. That's why I think it kind of hast to be in a visual medium.
(And yes that is actually the style I'm going for. )
zoupskim Contributor Contributor
Read Snow Crash. Its full of insane imagery and concepts.
zoupskim, Feb 22, 2016
GuardianWynn Contributor Contributor
I agree and disagree.
You can write a cutsy book. You don't need pictures for a book to be cute. It isn't about lengthy descriptions either. The idea here is when you take an idea and turn it into a novel, you create the idea of cute in the media of novel. Some translations require editing to keep them straight.
The movie V for Vendetta is a brilliant example of this. They completely changed the female lead when making that a movie, but they changed her in order to keep her the same. Because a 2 hour movie and lengthy comic book series are different formats. You have to be faster in a movie. So instead of rushing her character arc, they changed it to one that fit a movie better. Changing it made the same basic arc work better.
But I do agree. Movies, picture books and novels, or even music. These are all different formats that have different strengths and weaknesses. A cute idea may be a lot easier to tell in a picture book or in short video than in a serious style novel. But harder doesn't mean impossible. It is all about figuing out how you can take the strength of a novel and how you would need to bend ideas for them to be cute inside of a novel. Or at least that is my opinion.
GuardianWynn, Feb 22, 2016
JDavidB likes this.
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