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I've been struggling with this one story of mine and spent a long time figuring out why it's not working for me.
Right now I'm settling on "Dramatic Action", which is one of those terms that needs to be explained.
Dramatic doesn't mean emotional. It just means the characters are playing-out the action on stage or screen or whatever. The action doesn't necessarily mean a fight or chase scene. But it doesn't mean it's any old mundane action either.
I've studied so many VN stories I'm almost sick of them. There are countless stories that start with characters waking up in their room, rushing through their morning routine because they overslept and run out the door with toast in their mouth to get to school on time. It's suppose to be funny because it's cliche. But it's not. It's like 3-6minutes of suffering I'd rather skip if I could.
Whether or not this has dramatic action or not depends on the execution. The character is definitely in a bad situation, and they're doing something about it. But most of the time nothing is happening. Well, I should say nothing is changing. What is happening is a space of time for a narrator voice to dump information like "I'm just a typical student living a typical life". Which makes this ""scene"" more akin to a panel of a comic book, or just a shot in part of a film.
For there to be dramatic action, something in the scene has to change. Maybe the phone rings, or a family member interrupts to say "It's Saturday, there is no school". To be fair, most of the VNs I read will do something to that effect on the next screen change. They bump into a classmate on the sidewalk that says school's canceled. There's a dead body. dun dun dun...
Also, I should probably add that my library of "most VNs" are not professionally written. They're by amateur writers like myself who are still learning how to write a scene and are prone to abusing these dramatic shifts. A murder is interesting and gives the characters something to talk about. But it leaves the impression that it was a significant event when, imo, all they're doing is writing a slice-of-life story where murders sometimes happen.
In theory, a character doing nothing and then stirring into action should be a valid scene. It's certainly easier to play-out "nothing" in a comic or film. A character could be frozen in ice, till someone thaws them out. A character could be sitting in a dark prison cell, till someone comes to visit.
But in practice I think you have to show that "nothing" is something first. I know I sound dumb. But I mean, otherwise the "nothing" will be overlooked and it'll be like you're starting with a change; only it won't be recognized as a change. A character sleeping till they walk up is a change; and therefore technically dramatic action. But it doesn't feel right. Like a character is silent, until they start talking. lol, that's dumb, it's not a scene.
However you can have a character giving another character the silent treatment. So when they do start talking the change is forgiveness.
It's all in how you word it. One tip I came across suggests avoiding passive states. "asleep" is bad, but "resting" is doing something, recovering. But showing that is another challenge. With visuals and audios, I can demonstrate a character snapping out of blissful slumber into agonizing waking existance. But don't ask me how do it with just dialogue. Idk. Maybe the character was talking in their sleep, and then "ugh..."
Right now I'm settling on "Dramatic Action", which is one of those terms that needs to be explained.
Dramatic doesn't mean emotional. It just means the characters are playing-out the action on stage or screen or whatever. The action doesn't necessarily mean a fight or chase scene. But it doesn't mean it's any old mundane action either.
I've studied so many VN stories I'm almost sick of them. There are countless stories that start with characters waking up in their room, rushing through their morning routine because they overslept and run out the door with toast in their mouth to get to school on time. It's suppose to be funny because it's cliche. But it's not. It's like 3-6minutes of suffering I'd rather skip if I could.
Whether or not this has dramatic action or not depends on the execution. The character is definitely in a bad situation, and they're doing something about it. But most of the time nothing is happening. Well, I should say nothing is changing. What is happening is a space of time for a narrator voice to dump information like "I'm just a typical student living a typical life". Which makes this ""scene"" more akin to a panel of a comic book, or just a shot in part of a film.
For there to be dramatic action, something in the scene has to change. Maybe the phone rings, or a family member interrupts to say "It's Saturday, there is no school". To be fair, most of the VNs I read will do something to that effect on the next screen change. They bump into a classmate on the sidewalk that says school's canceled. There's a dead body. dun dun dun...
Also, I should probably add that my library of "most VNs" are not professionally written. They're by amateur writers like myself who are still learning how to write a scene and are prone to abusing these dramatic shifts. A murder is interesting and gives the characters something to talk about. But it leaves the impression that it was a significant event when, imo, all they're doing is writing a slice-of-life story where murders sometimes happen.
In theory, a character doing nothing and then stirring into action should be a valid scene. It's certainly easier to play-out "nothing" in a comic or film. A character could be frozen in ice, till someone thaws them out. A character could be sitting in a dark prison cell, till someone comes to visit.
But in practice I think you have to show that "nothing" is something first. I know I sound dumb. But I mean, otherwise the "nothing" will be overlooked and it'll be like you're starting with a change; only it won't be recognized as a change. A character sleeping till they walk up is a change; and therefore technically dramatic action. But it doesn't feel right. Like a character is silent, until they start talking. lol, that's dumb, it's not a scene.
However you can have a character giving another character the silent treatment. So when they do start talking the change is forgiveness.
It's all in how you word it. One tip I came across suggests avoiding passive states. "asleep" is bad, but "resting" is doing something, recovering. But showing that is another challenge. With visuals and audios, I can demonstrate a character snapping out of blissful slumber into agonizing waking existance. But don't ask me how do it with just dialogue. Idk. Maybe the character was talking in their sleep, and then "ugh..."