Writing a Story

So, it is almost a year to the day when the last post of this blog was uploaded. Funny how that always works, isn't it? Whatever, I'm in no position to comment on the strange fates that entwine this world.

All right, so for some reason, contrary to the history of this particular blog, this post isn't going to be about a story, but about the act of writing it. It is an opinion-based piece on what I think are important facets in storytelling, and what makes stories fun to read and "awesome" in general. What I find funny is that no one is ever going to read this blog, so an opinion-based piece on this site will never actually change or impart my oh-so-important point of view to anyone. But it is a fun little exercise and it'll probably help when I'm coming up with a story on my own.

Before we begin, there are several important aspects that, when assembled together, create a story. Note that a story does not have to comprise of all the following, but it is essential that the author focus on one or more of the following aspects so as to create a good read/watch.

PLOT

CHARACTERS

SETTING

DIALOGUE

STYLE

Okay, so it looks like I just listed a bunch of literary devices. Well, doesn't matter, but these are the few devices that I think are incredibly important when it comes to composing a piece of fiction. I shall now examine what makes a story good when it comes to some of them (I'm not going to go in order).

CHARACTERS/CHARACTERISATION
When creating a story, perhaps the most important thing that a writer must pay attention to are his characters. A story without characters is a dead story - this, I believe is the greatest truth regarding creating a work of fiction. A story can do without plot (K-ON/Working), without dialogue (certain parts of Nichijou), a well-established setting (Tsukihime), or distinctive styles, but it absolutely 100% cannot do without characters. Even stories/anime that seemingly deal without characters such as She and Her Cat, are intrinsically working with their creations (in the example provided, the Cat itself) to bring across a message.

Why are characters so important? When writing a story, there are two things that must happen: 1) The reader must side with someone and 2) The reader must be rooting against someone. The answers to points 1 and 2 does not necessarily have to be the Protagonist and the Antagonist respectively. Fate/Zero has readers/watchers actively rooting against the Protagonist (Emiya Kiritsugu) depending on your point of view, whereas many consider Matou Kariya to be the character they would like to see win the Grail War. There is also a certain amount of contention about point 2: a story does not necessarily have to be clear in who you are rooting against - indeed, it could be said that when rooting for character A, you are by implication rooting against character B. Good examples of this are The Black Company and The Malazan Book of the Fallen, especially the latter, where you pretty much only want to read about the Bridgeburners and no one else.

So what does all this rooting for and rooting against have to do with anything? The key to all this wanting someone to "win" or be successful has to do with the creation of emotion within the reader. Emotion is what drives a reader to read your books and watch your shows. Why does someone want to return to a book after he reads it? He wants to find out what happens next because a) he is excited about the PLOT. Or perhaps he likes or enjoys reading about a certain character. Making sure that a reader is emotionally invested in your stories is an essential part of creating a successful work of fiction.

Now I have to do errands. Guess I'll write more later.