Writing Lessons 3: The questions
So you have your experience and your idea so it’s time
to write isn’t it? If you answered yes then you are in fact wrong. You still
have 4 very important questions to ask yourself about your story that will
determine how you write your fiction. They are as follows:
There are other things but these are the four I like to know before beginning. So let’s dig in shall we?
The question of audience is a big one since it decides so much of the work. If you are aiming at girls you would generally focus on the emotions and how characters are feeling but for boys you would be going for more all out action. I’m not being sexist this is just a simplification of the complicated idea.
One of the major problems people seem to have in this area is the age thing. Kids don’t need to be talked down to and can handle a little darkness in their fiction. A great example is the Archie Sonic comics; they are full of goof ball antics and jokes but every once in a while they have some fairly epic stories like the endgames arc where Sally died (she later came back though…) or the current arc (the road to #225) or after Sonic got back from space or Knuckles becoming Enerjak or…well you get my point. Don’t think that kids can’t handle this sort of thing and you are well on your way to understanding you audience.
You don’t even have to worry about getting it right; do you know the main audience for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? 18-24 year old males. That is because Lauren Faust was trying to make a show that girls would like but everyone could enjoy and just went a bit sideways.
Now genre is a tricky one to nail down. It took a while for me to get it for Hear♀ and s♂ul but I always knew it would be an urban fantasy and romance but the tragedy elements came in later. So I guess don’t be afraid to change your decision later down the line but you need to have an idea to start with. After I finish the main set of these lessons I’m thinking of doing some in depth stuff on the different genres but I’ll just skim past it right now; if you want to write a specific genre then watch/read a load and think about what makes it what it is.
Also don’t be afraid of mixing a genre and target audience that don’t normally go together. Magical girl shows are normally aimed at girls but attract an audience of guys who just want to fap to the cute girls in frilly outfits, perverts the lot of them *tucks magical girl collection out of sight* so the makers of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha decided to just aim at the guys and be done with it.
Where you fall on the Idealism/Cynicism scale is hard to say. This isn’t just a case of one or the other since it could be all over the place. The way to tell is by asking two smaller questions: Does doing good get rewarded? And can the heroes get a happy ending?
If the good guys always triumph and get lots of rewards then your story is idealistic to the core.
If they win but only get rewarded with the knowledge of a job well done then it’s a bit more cynical but still on the side of idealism
If they win but at heavy cost; the bad guy goes down but the city is destroyed and several characters had to sacrifice themselves then you are heading into cynical but not all the way yet.
If they lose then you are right smack dab in the middle of cynicism.
Why do I make a big deal of this? Cause if you change this halfway then you better do a damn good job of it like Medaka Box or Tsubasa or else it will jar like hell and most people will give up halfway.
Finally comes the most important element of any story: what do you want to say? Because if you aren’t going to say anything then you might as well shut up. I go for a sort of cross between “love is powerful” and “true love like on tv and in the movies does not happen” but each story has its own little message. From “we never know how much time we have” to “when looking for the person you want you might find the person you need” all of my stories say something and if one person takes the message to heart then my job has been done well.
So not much for homework this week except take your window story and answer these questions for it. I know I haven’t posted mine but as I said on twitter life is kind overwhelming me right now so I’ll do it soon and next week we take a look at fleshing out your world and environment.
- What is your audience?
- What is your genre?
- Is it idealistic or cynical?
- What is your theme and message?
There are other things but these are the four I like to know before beginning. So let’s dig in shall we?
The question of audience is a big one since it decides so much of the work. If you are aiming at girls you would generally focus on the emotions and how characters are feeling but for boys you would be going for more all out action. I’m not being sexist this is just a simplification of the complicated idea.
One of the major problems people seem to have in this area is the age thing. Kids don’t need to be talked down to and can handle a little darkness in their fiction. A great example is the Archie Sonic comics; they are full of goof ball antics and jokes but every once in a while they have some fairly epic stories like the endgames arc where Sally died (she later came back though…) or the current arc (the road to #225) or after Sonic got back from space or Knuckles becoming Enerjak or…well you get my point. Don’t think that kids can’t handle this sort of thing and you are well on your way to understanding you audience.
You don’t even have to worry about getting it right; do you know the main audience for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic? 18-24 year old males. That is because Lauren Faust was trying to make a show that girls would like but everyone could enjoy and just went a bit sideways.
Now genre is a tricky one to nail down. It took a while for me to get it for Hear♀ and s♂ul but I always knew it would be an urban fantasy and romance but the tragedy elements came in later. So I guess don’t be afraid to change your decision later down the line but you need to have an idea to start with. After I finish the main set of these lessons I’m thinking of doing some in depth stuff on the different genres but I’ll just skim past it right now; if you want to write a specific genre then watch/read a load and think about what makes it what it is.
Also don’t be afraid of mixing a genre and target audience that don’t normally go together. Magical girl shows are normally aimed at girls but attract an audience of guys who just want to fap to the cute girls in frilly outfits, perverts the lot of them *tucks magical girl collection out of sight* so the makers of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha decided to just aim at the guys and be done with it.
Where you fall on the Idealism/Cynicism scale is hard to say. This isn’t just a case of one or the other since it could be all over the place. The way to tell is by asking two smaller questions: Does doing good get rewarded? And can the heroes get a happy ending?
If the good guys always triumph and get lots of rewards then your story is idealistic to the core.
If they win but only get rewarded with the knowledge of a job well done then it’s a bit more cynical but still on the side of idealism
If they win but at heavy cost; the bad guy goes down but the city is destroyed and several characters had to sacrifice themselves then you are heading into cynical but not all the way yet.
If they lose then you are right smack dab in the middle of cynicism.
Why do I make a big deal of this? Cause if you change this halfway then you better do a damn good job of it like Medaka Box or Tsubasa or else it will jar like hell and most people will give up halfway.
Finally comes the most important element of any story: what do you want to say? Because if you aren’t going to say anything then you might as well shut up. I go for a sort of cross between “love is powerful” and “true love like on tv and in the movies does not happen” but each story has its own little message. From “we never know how much time we have” to “when looking for the person you want you might find the person you need” all of my stories say something and if one person takes the message to heart then my job has been done well.
So not much for homework this week except take your window story and answer these questions for it. I know I haven’t posted mine but as I said on twitter life is kind overwhelming me right now so I’ll do it soon and next week we take a look at fleshing out your world and environment.