Writer Discussion Table

[Suuper-san]

Yeah thats almost the way I'm writing all my stories at the moment really, trying to have a more reliable stream of consciousness and later on fix everything that's below a certain quality.

We'll see how it works for the different genres.

I'm definitely not trying to hand-craft the jokes one by one but just more I got lost on the order of what I do things and how it works out but I think I'm getting there slowly.

I'm not too used to writing with a stream of consciousness, but I think that I have done it for my art quite a bit, so it's just transferring the feeling over to writing and how I let my thoughts spill out on the page.

It requires quite a bit of ignoring the quality of what you're producing I think and just get ANYTHING down on paper first, and then you have something to work with.

[NO1SY]

Yeah personally I would just focus on planning scenes of an actual story. You can no doubt think up a bunch of scenarios that provide the opportunity for lots of jokes to be emergent from.

The issue I see with the way you are currently planning is that you may end up with comedy that feels like Family Guy, which never landed for me personally as a bunch of jokes sorta half related to the plot but quite at odds with the narrative... never read/seen Nichijou though.

[Coryn]

It's gotta be your own brand of humor to be sure. A stolen (or let's just say insincere joke) always falls flat, but a genuine joke will read, even if it's not a person's taste in comedy.

[Suuper-san]

Yeah I think I'm just going to write as much as I can, whatever I can and see how it goes. I'm hoping that I'll sort of end up in some sort of genre and get a style to my comedy.

Going to try and read a bunch of comedy manga and see what sort of comedy they use as well for inspiration.

[Vacant]

Question party people. For the beginning of a story, do you feel its fine to start when a character has fallen from grace and is generally down on their luck?

Or do you feel it makes for a more satisfying narrative if you actually get to witness the nose dive prior. As in starting the story when they're flying high.

The reason I ask, is for the latter I feel this has to encompass more than a single prologue or chapter to really have an impact.

I've written a story recently, where the prologue covers the Protagonist seen from another's POV, brimming with confidence and ability. Things turn sour in this prologue and chapter 1 is set 2 years after, with them crestfallen and still suffering the consequences. However, I feel this is almost diluting what happens condensing it into a Prologue and am considering cutting it altogether. But then, it brings us back to the beginning where we're starting with the MC at their lowest point! You can see where I've gotten myself into a tangle.

What are your thoughts peeps? Any insight would be appreciated.

[NO1SY]

Well... you could pull a Sanderson and have two prologues...!

Sometimes a way to deal with this kind of situation is to show the character at the highest high point during the prologue, do not show their fall at all yet, then have them at their lowest during the first chapter. This large contrast can do a lot of the heavy lifting in making sure readers feel the impact. You can then go back after-the-fact to fill in the details of the fall - through flashbacks or discussions with other characters (past acquaintances, those affected by their actions, their victims, those that used to idolize them etc) or just through self reflection comparing present to past. It's a more long-term way of writing the scenario, but it progresses the actual plot more quickly.

And the other way I've seen it done is to just not have a time-skip at all... just write it all out!

[Suuper-san]

both ways are valid, but since the entire fall is essentially backstory to your actual story, it boils down to how long you want your intro to be.

One of my current stories has so much backstory I struggled finding a good palce to start from since I filled out the past more than my actual story plot.

A decent idea that I'm trying to do is put in the backstory bit by bit as flashbacks and so on.

I like NO1SEY's idea of ending the prologue on a high and then cutting striaght into the low in the next chapter. Just maknig the difference clear and that there was a fall from grace and you can fill in the missing story as you go.

[Vacant]

Well... you could pull a Sanderson and have two prologues...!

Sometimes a way to deal with this kind of situation is to show the character at the highest high point during the prologue, do not show their fall at all yet, then have them at their lowest during the first chapter. This large contrast can do a lot of the heavy lifting in making sure readers feel the impact. You can then go back after-the-fact to fill in the details of the fall - through flashbacks or discussions with other characters (past acquaintances, those affected by their actions, their victims, those that used to idolize them etc) or just through self reflection comparing present to past. It's a more long-term way of writing the scenario, but it progresses the actual plot more quickly.

And the other way I've seen it done is to just not have a time-skip at all... just write it all out!

That's really intrigued me. I like the idea of the "hard cut" from the peak to their valley so to speak. I'm going to try and look at it from that approach and see what happens. Thanks man! 

both ways are valid, but since the entire fall is essentially backstory to your actual story, it boils down to how long you want your intro to be.

One of my current stories has so much backstory I struggled finding a good palce to start from since I filled out the past more than my actual story plot.

A decent idea that I'm trying to do is put in the backstory bit by bit as flashbacks and so on.

I like NO1SEY's idea of ending the prologue on a high and then cutting striaght into the low in the next chapter. Just maknig the difference clear and that there was a fall from grace and you can fill in the missing story as you go.

Yeah, I've never been keen on writing flashbacks in prose form. But i think they're effective when done right. I feel they could work in the story if I smash them at the start of each new chapter, make it a narrative thread that we build upon each new chapter.

Thanks guys, you've sparked some new ideas for me and a different angle of approach.

[Suuper-san]

You can always reveal information as conversation between characters, not just through a flashback, of course.

"what happened to you?"
"I got cursed by a witch"

alternatively exposition through single character's dialogue, or internal monologue

"I heard you got cursed by a witch!"

"I can't believe...I got cursed by that witch!"