What is the plot of my visual novel?
Why am I asking you? Because you are going to be my Rubber Duck. I don’t expect you to respond, only to listen. In listening to my talking, I can make intellectual progress.
I rank listening as among the most valuable skills one can hone. (As I continue to “talk”. The irony.)
So… Thank you for listening.
The Business
There are two characters, more might join. The story is (Slice of Life)[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slice_of_life] with a quiet metaplot growing in the background. Something existential I think. Something buttersweet.
I once asked my sister about what her favorite stories were. Her answer was the same as mine: The best ones had the grain of truth about the real world. Having that
Narratives are powerful. Stories stick in people’s minds. Like music, art, meditation, and ramen at 1am; stories are brain food. They activate and modify the brain. It’s like the (Galaxy Brain meme)[], or something. The 8 hours of sleep I should be getting right now is at the Univers Brain scale.
What was I even talking aboug?
Right, a visual novel.
I was thinking about visuals for these two characters, but then I realized that I need to know who they are first. The visual aspect of the novel is a little elusive to me. I think in text and spoken word. A lot more thinking in text in the last three years.
I know the first story I want to tell. It will be them debating about going for tea or coffee. How do I make that compelling? Good storytelling? Easier said than done. Although saying and doing tend to be the same thing with storytelling.
A story needs a begining, middle, and an end. Rising action and falling action. Exposition, complication, climax, resolution. Both in the context of the chapter, and the whole arc.
So the discussion about coffee vs. tea needs to lead to a climax.
How do you make people debating coffee vs tea interesting?
I think what I need is playful banter. Acknowledging of each other’s preferences, but firm in their experience. They’ll need to come to a compromise, add dramatic irony, show a glimps into their relationship or inner nature, then close it out with a return to the status quo. Somewhere in there I need to hint at he mystery.
To say more here would be a spoiler for the metaphorical reader of this post. In other words, You.
You’ll play my VN to find out if you care anyways so. shrug
Anyroad, I think I’ve accomplished what I needed to here. Thanks for reading!
Love, OnlyFeatures