#character-driven narrative | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

blueheartbookclub · 2 months

Text

"The Mysteries of Gloria: A Review of G. Frederic Turner's Captivating Tale"

G. Frederic Turner's Gloria is a literary masterpiece that mesmerizes readers with its intricate plot, compelling characters, and thought-provoking themes. Set against the backdrop of a small New England town, Turner weaves a tale of mystery, intrigue, and hidden secrets that keeps readers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.

At the heart of Gloria lies the enigmatic character after whom the novel is named. Gloria is a woman shrouded in mystery, her past veiled in secrecy and her motives unclear. As the story unfolds, readers are drawn into Gloria's world, where nothing is as it seems and every revelation only deepens the intrigue surrounding her. Turner masterfully explores the complexities of human nature through Gloria's character, leaving readers questioning the nature of truth, identity, and the masks we wear to conceal our innermost selves.

One of the most striking aspects of Gloria is Turner's skillful storytelling and evocative prose. His vivid descriptions of the New England landscape and its inhabitants create a rich tapestry of imagery that transports readers to the heart of the story. From the quaint charm of the town square to the eerie atmosphere of the surrounding forests, Turner's writing immerses readers in a world filled with beauty, danger, and uncertainty.

Moreover, Gloria is populated by a cast of characters as complex and multifaceted as the town itself. From the enigmatic Gloria to the town's quirky residents, each character is rendered with depth and nuance, their motivations and desires driving the narrative forward. Turner deftly explores themes of love, betrayal, and redemption through the interactions of these characters, weaving a web of relationships that adds depth and complexity to the story.

As the plot unfolds, Turner masterfully builds suspense, leading readers on a journey of discovery as they uncover the secrets hidden beneath the surface of Gloria's seemingly idyllic existence. With each twist and turn, the tension mounts, culminating in a gripping climax that leaves readers breathless and eager for more.

In conclusion, Gloria is a literary tour de force that captivates readers with its compelling narrative, intriguing characters, and atmospheric setting. G. Frederic Turner's masterful storytelling transports readers to a world filled with mystery and suspense, where nothing is as it seems and every revelation only deepens the intrigue. With its blend of suspense, romance, and psychological depth, Gloria is a must-read for anyone seeking an unforgettable literary experience.

G. Frederic Turner's Gloria is available in Amazon in paperback 18.99$ and hardcover24.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 432

Language: English

Rating: 9/10

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

2 notes · View notes

blueheartbooks · 2 months

Text

"The Mysteries of Gloria: A Review of G. Frederic Turner's Captivating Tale"

G. Frederic Turner's Gloria is a literary masterpiece that mesmerizes readers with its intricate plot, compelling characters, and thought-provoking themes. Set against the backdrop of a small New England town, Turner weaves a tale of mystery, intrigue, and hidden secrets that keeps readers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.

At the heart of Gloria lies the enigmatic character after whom the novel is named. Gloria is a woman shrouded in mystery, her past veiled in secrecy and her motives unclear. As the story unfolds, readers are drawn into Gloria's world, where nothing is as it seems and every revelation only deepens the intrigue surrounding her. Turner masterfully explores the complexities of human nature through Gloria's character, leaving readers questioning the nature of truth, identity, and the masks we wear to conceal our innermost selves.

One of the most striking aspects of Gloria is Turner's skillful storytelling and evocative prose. His vivid descriptions of the New England landscape and its inhabitants create a rich tapestry of imagery that transports readers to the heart of the story. From the quaint charm of the town square to the eerie atmosphere of the surrounding forests, Turner's writing immerses readers in a world filled with beauty, danger, and uncertainty.

Moreover, Gloria is populated by a cast of characters as complex and multifaceted as the town itself. From the enigmatic Gloria to the town's quirky residents, each character is rendered with depth and nuance, their motivations and desires driving the narrative forward. Turner deftly explores themes of love, betrayal, and redemption through the interactions of these characters, weaving a web of relationships that adds depth and complexity to the story.

As the plot unfolds, Turner masterfully builds suspense, leading readers on a journey of discovery as they uncover the secrets hidden beneath the surface of Gloria's seemingly idyllic existence. With each twist and turn, the tension mounts, culminating in a gripping climax that leaves readers breathless and eager for more.

In conclusion, Gloria is a literary tour de force that captivates readers with its compelling narrative, intriguing characters, and atmospheric setting. G. Frederic Turner's masterful storytelling transports readers to a world filled with mystery and suspense, where nothing is as it seems and every revelation only deepens the intrigue. With its blend of suspense, romance, and psychological depth, Gloria is a must-read for anyone seeking an unforgettable literary experience.

G. Frederic Turner's Gloria is available in Amazon in paperback 18.99$ and hardcover24.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 432

Language: English

Rating: 9/10

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

0 notes

chiokedmachi · 3 months

Text

Cliff Notes Version: The Heartless Reign Chronicles by Chioke Dmach

– **Setting:** The story unfolds in the stark and sterile environment of the Reign Apartment Homes complex, where diverse characters grapple with their inner demons and search for meaning in their lives. – **Characters:** 1. Chioke: A strong, charismatic young man in his mid-20s, radiating innocence and faith despite the challenges he faces. 2. August: A brooding figure battling self-doubt and…

View On WordPress

1 note · View note

joncronshawauthor · 3 months

Text

Out now! The Fall of Wolfsbane (Ravenglass Legends, book 1)

Hello from chilly Morecambe! I am beyond excited to announce the launch of my latest novel, The Fall of Wolfsbane, the first installment in the Ravenglass Legends series. This book holds a special place in my heart, as it brings to life a story that has been brewing in my mind for years. The Fall of Wolfsbane is set several centuries before the events of The Ravenglass Chronicles, during the…

View On WordPress

0 notes

eosofspades · 9 months

Text

okay i meant to make this post forever ago but my personal opinion on why so many people were so dissatisfied with lightfalll (disclaimer: i am not one of these people, i love lightfall SO much), is that lightfall was kind of subjected to a really aggressive marketing campaign.

like, stick with me here, i feel like almost all the lightfall release content (the trailers especially) were so focused on battling the witness, how this battle has been centuries in the making and this is the Second Collapse Finally Finding Us, only for there to be,,, no real resolution. the end was left on such a severe cliffhanger, but not only that, there was NO battle with the witness. the witness didn't even seem to be having a hard time at all with what we WERE throwing at it.

and for narrative reasons *i* am obsessed with this ending; in terms of storytelling i adore practically every creative decision that was made in lightfall, but i think the reason that so many people were so upset about it is because lightfall had such intense marketing and was rooted in the implication that this was the End of Days, only for us to get almost no closure, and instead so many more questions.

(there's also something to be said, i think, about the fact that the people who ARE most upset about this are like, the youtube gamer dudebros who's content is very very often rooted in the aggressive, violence-and-warfare, pvp-centric, no-interest-in-lore approach to destiny, and that the people i've seen primarily ENJOYING the narrative decisions (or at least being understanding about it) are the artists and writers and loremasters of the fandom, but i'm not quite sure,,, how to expand on that point.)

#like. something something yt dudebros who are like 'uhhh destiny is about violence and war and the lore is only for people who suck at pvp #and destiny is a shitty evil game i hate it sooooo much hashtag 26871435 hours recorded gameplay' asshats #being the ones complaining MOST about the narrative in. a narrative driven game. and refusing to engage with ANY lore in a LORE HEAVY GAME #vs. the community on here thats full of artists and writers and people who actually like to analyze the story and characters #and engage with the lore and have any emotional attachment at all to the characters and world and themes #being the ones who are like. appreciative of the narrative decisions made and looking forward to where the story will take us and #looking at the game with LOVE instead of hatred and malice #and even if you didn't like lightfall!!! people in the latter category are still the people who i keep seeing be like #'yeah even if i didn't personally like it i can understand the significance of this narrative decision.'#'i acknowledge that bungie put so much time and effort and passion into making this even if it wasnt satisfying to me personally.'#'i have the critical thinking skills to understand that bungie is not a sentient malicious entity trying to ruin my life; me; specifically'#like. do you get what im saying. gamer dudebros who think the world revolves around them vs the fandom members who actually understand art #bc. thats what destiny is. its art. the whole thing is a massive art project made by a group of people that are very passionate about it.#do you hear what im saying at ALL its like two separate fandoms for the same piece of media the difference is so stark #mine #destiny 2 #lightfall #destiny 2 lightfall #eos destiny essays

139 notes · View notes

showtoonzfan · 8 months

Note

https://imgur.com/a/nCorcZq

Before Hazbin get greenlight by A24. Any thoughts?

100% not surprised Huskerdust is planned to be canon lol. Anyway, I know nothing is set in stone since this was just a pitch episode Bible before it got picked up, but I think it’s safe to say these pitches give us a good idea on what the show will be like. Despite Viv claiming the show would be story focused (what did I tell you, she’d get it backwards lol) these pitches are clearly more filler + character focused, so more of a character driven show with no overarching narrative. Seems like mainly Viv was going for a “wacky hijinks ensue” vibe for Hazbin, cause none of this gives me story driven, I wouldn’t be surprised if her vision for the structure was similar to Always Sunny in Philadelphia, since she loves that show and stated that the OG version of Hazbin was like it. It also seems that she’s doing the same thing she did with Helluva, where there’s a serialized A plot and a filler B plot, which….whoo boy that makes me scared, knowing how she writes this stuff in Helluva, we’ll see how that goes. 😬

It’s a nitpick but it also bothers me on how not ONE of these episodes actually have to do with redeeming a sinner…ya know, the main plot for the show? However I do know that normally the first seasons of a show tend to relax and be filler + character focused before it dives into the serialized stuff. Still, you could have gotten so many unique and funny scenarios with the idea of various sinners coming to the hotel.

It’s also clear that some of these episode concepts moved to Helluva lol, as well as the episode where Charlie has a meeting with the Deadly sins definitely won’t happen since Viv confirmed that they won’t appear in HH and only HB. There’s also an obvious cutoff, I’m assuming the “Issues” were the planned comics Viv had in mind before she scrapped them all entirely. However wouldn’t be surprised if the comic ideas went into the show too. Aside from that there’s nothing really wrong with this pitch, only giant thing noticeable is that it’s clearly more character/filler driven. No matter what the story is, I just hope Viv actually planned this shit out this time, instead of merely having loose concepts in her head and writing as she goes lol.

#but yeah for now Hazbin seems to be character driven with wacky hijinks #I guess part of me shouldn’t be upset by that cause she sure as hell sucks at writing a serialized story #still it’s weird how she always talked about Hazbin being story/plot driven with a narrative and then we see this lol #it’s literally Always Sunny and I’m not surprised #also episodes that actually focus on Charlie and Vaggie? please be true #vivziepop critical #spindlehorse critical #hazbin hotel critical #Hazbin critical #reply #ask

93 notes · View notes

utilitycaster · 2 months

Text

Something I really like with actual play is that even when I think a story doesn't succeed, it's a really fun exercise to figure out why that happened because it's improv and as a result there's often a specific failure point. I also think it's almost always either an issue of session zero (are these the right characters for the GM's intended plot and vice versa) or a case of the characters making an unexpected choice and the GM failing to pivot away from their original plans. It's like an investigation - I want to know why this didn't work and what the GM originally intended!

#queue #a lot of the time it's the gm had a specific end scenario in mind and the characters didn't do what would bring it about #which is why character-driven narratives tend to be stronger #but notably it's still interesting to guess at that intended ending #it also helps you gm better by considering how you'd handle this! also see netherdeep which accidentally leaves out some paths #i genuinely think having to fill in that gap was a really good education for me as a GM

34 notes · View notes

myimaginationplain · 7 months

Text

after getting back into AT as an adult, I've come to realize that it was also "guilty" of most of the same sins that people religiously hated SU for, and now I'm just mad lol

#note that this isn't me trying to disparage adventure time at all cause I love this show to death #almost if not as much as I love steven universe #but both shows have a lot of the same 'problems'. inconsistent character proportions? check. storyboard driven writing? check.#story beats introduced but only picked back up many episodes later? check. a story about war that's not 'really' about war? check #if anything su's narrative is a lot tighter. at was a very 'fuck u I'm only gonna have an overarching plot when I feel like it' kind of show #which was just as much a strength as it was occasionally a folly mind you #but that exact sort of meandering walking-speed storytelling was what su got an insane amount of heat for.#and it's not at all difficult to see why one show became the internet's punching bag & the other didn't despite having some similar issues #at #adventure time #su #steven universe #fandom bs

43 notes · View notes

jetstargf · 1 year

Text

black sails literally if i loved u less i might be able to talk about it more

#i can wax poetic abt got and teenwolf bc they are garbage and i don’t like them i just love them if that makes sense #but BLACK SAILS. IS SO GOOD AND I LOVE AND LIKE IT SO MUCH THAT I CANT EVEN SPEAK #i don’t want to ruin it w my silly commentary but jesus christ it’s so fucjing good like.#it is one of. the most well written character driven narratives on a level i have never seen before in tv #so much of television is formulaic and despite having to work around treasure island it manages to be original and u really don’t know where #it’s going to go bc the characters are just so. U KNOW.#but also it’s golden age of piracy rpf and i think thags beautiful #black sails

164 notes · View notes

gert53 · 3 months

Text

Hunter's Sense

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to peer at a creature and magically discern how best to hurt it. As an action, choose one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. You immediately learn whether the creature has any damage immunities, resistances, or vulnerabilities and what they are. If the creature is hidden from divination magic, you sense that it has no damage immunities, resistances, or vulnerabilities.

#dnd #cowboy #yeehaw #werewolf #anthro #dudless #dungeons and dragons #my stuff #Dummy strong ability that never gets used #Curse me and my need for narrative driven characters!

16 notes · View notes

ntaras · 6 months

Text

the reason that kuai liang cannot work as scorpion is because kuai liang and scorpion are foils to each other in terms of how they handle their emotions.

scorpion is all-consuming rage, rage that blinds him and harms others for the sake of revenge- not justice. kuai liang, though well capable of feeling anger, has a hold of his anger. he can contain himself from exacting revenge because it is not what drives his character.

kuai liang’s role of scorpion makes him a very strange mash of two very opposite characters. we see scorpion’s rage unsheathe itself as he begins beating his enemies with his own chains, and even attempt to kill bi-han because he is so fueled by his own anger which blinds him to the consequences of killing his brother. kuai liang shows his character when after beating bi-han, he does not harm him further, but carries his body back to the temple. he spares his own brother as kuai liang would do, but scorpion’s character is gone as scorpion is hellbent on vengeance- meanwhile kuai liang isn’t.

we could see kuai liang work through his anger, bring himself to slowly forgive bi-han, but with that happening, where would scorpion go? we can see scorpion never forgive bi-han, instead constantly fueled by the pain that is his father’s death and brother’s betrayal, but then where would kuai liang go?

these characters cannot exist as each other, these characters are meant to exist by each other.

#we can also discuss how older hanzo in mk11 wasn’t his vengeful self and shows how scorpion could get to that point #but the thing with hanzo in mk11 is that his older self was meant to show his younger self that he is capable of being more than purely #revenge driven #like their was a reason for older hanzo and younger hanzo and older hanzo being not as antogonistic and fucking stuff up #*a narrative/story driven reason for a character we’ve known for decades #it’s just like. kuai liang cannot support the role of scorpion because that then removes how the anger in scorpion ruins himself further #into rage #and scorpion cannot support the role of kuai liang because kuai liang’s temperament clashes with what scorpion represents #kuai liang is not hellbound rage #scorpion is not self-control #anyways sorry that gif set of kuai liang and hanzo set me off #kuai liang #scorpion #mortal kombat

24 notes · View notes

songsintheattic · 2 months

Text

i'm finally alive enough that at least some of the creativity i once had is coming back, but i didn't really realize just how bad it had been and for how long. it's now 10 years since i had first started writing, and i was in rough shape even then, and i'm just now starting to get those same glimmers of inspiration again.

naturally, it exclusively happens while driving so i can't write any of it down lol

#but I've at least had some really productive insights #one being that the reason i can't use the character I've been trying to fit into some story since 2015 #is that 1) her story is too internally driven to fit into the type of large narrative i keep coming up with #and 2) I'm just not old enough. like i lack the life experience needed to characterize her the way i want #and 3) my tastes have changed so much that i really don't know how to write anything i would find worth reading #so the primary objectives on that front i guess are just work on something else and read more

17 notes · View notes

thescreaminghat · 5 months

Text

just finished watching pluto (and just finished crying my fucking eyes out at every scene featuring epsilon and his kids) and while i understand that the focus is the philosophical and emotional narratives being explored and the weight that is given to each character, human or not, and how they grapple with their pain, it would have been kinda funny if the show had ended like this

#pluto #pluto spoilers #atom #uran #epsilon #everything is fine epsilon is fine he is taking care of his 15 children and with his new bodyguard/boyfriend nothing bad ever happened #also uran is an integral point in the plot of course she is and not just the emotional distress beacon right :^ )#ik there are narrative constraints but i think having the three most pacifistic / empathetic characters work together to resolve #what seems to appear to a lot of new viewers as an action-driven story is a great way to give meaning to the themes #meaning that it would have been nice if uran had more to do than just worry about atom and the negative feelings of others #idk anyways they are so precious to me i love them and they are fine everything is fine

12 notes · View notes

justgottafinishthischapter · 1 year

Text

Writing Resource: Character Driven Storytelling VS Plot Driven Storytelling

We’re stepping back from romance tropes to talk about a fundamental building block of narrative storytelling. Today, I want to explain the difference between a story that is driven by its Characters, and a story driven by its Plot. Going into this, I wanna make it clear that I have no bias between either. Both forms of storytelling are good. But as we’ll see in my examples, one of them does have a weakness that the other does not. More on that later.

CHARACTER DRIVEN STORYTELLING

In a Character Driven Story, the narrative is used to create avenues to explore the characters. The characters, their relationships, dynamics, and flaws come before the story being told. The characters are the true heart and center of the story. Most Sit-coms and other such comedic stories follow this approach where the characters are used to tell the jokes, while the deeper world or story is used to give these compelling characters a world to inhabit. Daria, Futurama, and Bob’s Burgers are three such examples of excellent comedic shows that are Character Driven. Futurama may have compelling narratives and deeper lore, but it is still a comedy with a cast of lovable characters at the center of the story being told. This is not to say that a character-driven story can’t have an ongoing narrative, but rather that said narrative takes a backseat to the characters. Daria is great at using its characters to explore its themes and ideas. Let’s take an episode of Daria for our example. In the episode Through a Lens Darkly, Daria gets contact lenses. Her change to contacts from her former pair of glasses that seemed almost alienating and off-putting leads to many people complimenting Daria on the change, but the contacts are itchy and irritating. The next day, Daria doesn’t want to wear her glasses, but she also doesn’t want to wear her contacts, and lies about having her contacts in. After causing a mess in the cafeteria, Daria hides in the girl’s room out of shame, and her two closest female friends try to talk to her about what she’s going through. Daria confesses to feeling like a hypocrite, usually mocking the girls who care about their appearances, yet now being guilty of it herself. It’s not until popular girl Brittney comes into the bathroom that the situation improves. Britney tells Daria that knowing that someone as smart and antisocial as Daria cares about her appearance too makes Britney feel less self-conscious about how much SHE cares about her own appearance, and reminded Britney that Daria is a human being just like her. This is enough to finally get Daria to open the stall door and emerge, thanking Britney for her insight. Caring about her appearance doesn’t make Daria a hypocrite, it just makes her human. Daria the show isn’t full of bombastic action scenes or intense steaks, but the really good episodes have some amazing character work at their cores, exploring the identities and values of its cast.

PLOT DRIVEN STORYTELLING

When a story is driven by the Plot, the exact opposite happens. The narrative is the primary focus, while the characters exist to propel the story forward. However, just as a compelling story can exist within a character driven show, so too can compelling characters exist in a story driven show. Unfortunately, sometimes you end up with a story like RWBY, where the characters are only fighting the villains because they just happened to stumble into the larger narrative by accident. None of the characters have any personal steak in defeating the big bad. Most barely have a reason to even be heroes at this point. Blake has effectively completed her character arc, and Ruby is so stupid that another character had to make her sit down and learn about her protagonist super powers. Why are the heroes fighting the villain? Because... Qrow told them to? Hell, the girls now spend about half of every volume sitting around talking about what they should be doing while they wait for orders from Qrow, Oscar, or some other ally. You’d think that Ruby, the protagonist, would be the one leading the group towards the fight with Salem. But no, Ruby is as much a follower as the rest of the main cast while the grown-ups actually make most of the decisions. Does Qrow even need Team RWBY? Well... extra man power doesn’t hurt. That’s about how much Team RWBY specifically needs to be involved in this story. The Characters of RWBY do not exist to give the story shape, but rather, the narrative drags the characters through the story by their nose hairs. The girls have little to no agency. Qrow said go to Mantel, so they went to Mantle. Qrow said go to Atlas, so they go to Atlas. They haven’t been to Vacuo yet, so everyone heads to Vacuo. At this point, the main characters are just passengers in the narrative.

TEEN TITANS

Teen Titans is a perfect example of a character driven action cartoon. Every episode is centered around either nonstop jokes and comedy or a character having an emotional revelation. If one really stops and thinks about the villains of Teen Titans, one may realize how non-entities they all are. Almost every single villain is a two-dimensional bad guy with no redeeming quality, and some barely have a solid motivation. But that’s not why they exist as villains. The villains of Teen Titans are not nuanced people meant to be full characters in their own right. They are plot devices. A source of conflict to drive our heroes to act. Let’s take the episode Car Trouble from Season 1. This is a Cyborg episode. The episode begins with Cyborg showing the rest of the team the super car he built and is super proud of. A mission comes up, and the team gets in the car to thwart the villain, Overload. A couple thugs steal Cyborg’s car, and Cyborg goes crazy looking for it, with Raven questioning why he’s losing his mind over a stupid piece of machinery. The car gets stolen from the thugs by Gizmo, and finally possessed by Overload, who can assimilate into machinery. In order to get the car away from Gizmo and Overload, Cyborg has to destroy the T-Car, and Raven gives a heartfelt speech about how the car is a part of him and how he had to put a piece of himself into it when he built it. She then points out that the super chip of the car survived, and the episode closes on Cyborg rebuilding his car with Raven lending him a hand and giving him a rare and genuine smile as it fades to black. Did you notice how little the villains factored into that episode? Because the episode isn’t about Gizmo, or Overload, or the thugs that stole the car to begin with. It was never about them. The episode was about Raven and Cyborg making a connection. The car being stolen was simply the conflict used to facilitate this heart-to-heart between them. While Teen Titans did have arcing storylines that spanned season-wide arcs like the Terra Arc in season 2, H.Y.V.E. and Brother Blood in season 3, Trigon in season 4, and the Brotherhood of Evil in season 5, the show by large was still episodic, with most episodes featuring on two (or more) characters getting the spotlight as they work on better understanding one another, or realizing they were wrong about something.

VOLTRON: LEGENDARY DEFENDER

Voltron is the exact opposite of Teen Titans. Where Teen Titans uses its narrative to put a spotlight on its characters, Voltron uses its characters to put a spotlight on the narrative. The story is the main focus, with many episodes in a row sometimes carrying on small arcs within each season as ongoing plotpoints. While the story shines in its storytelling (at least in the early seasons), a few characters clearly get neglected in the process. It’s clear the writers liked Keith and Pidge since they get the best storylines and development, but the same cannot be said for Hunk. Hunk has a small arc in season 1 about helping Shae, a Balmeran alien he met. He doesn’t get another real heavy focus again until season 7, when he reminds a group of Galra the cultural significance of ‘Vrepit Sah’, an often repeated verbal salute that the Galra use. Hunk went 6 entire seasons being a background character with little if anything to do. What’s worse, Team Voltron has two tech people. Pidge, who is the hacker softwear specialist, and Hunk, the engineering hardware specialist. But when the warp core needs fixing, does Coran ask the engineer to help him with the engine? No, he asks the hacker to help with ship maintenance. The main thing Hunk should be doing for the team, and it’s handed to Pidge instead because she was clearly a writer’s pet character for the crew. To a lesser extent, this lack of attention from the writers effected many of the characters. Lance never really completes his arc, his friends constantly mock his lack of book smarts, and he gives up on his dreams at the age of 21 to spend the rest of his life pining over a girl he knew for about 4 years, and dated for a maximum of a few months. Allura started off as the effective team leader, telling the Paladins where to go and what to do to keep the ship operational, but once she becomes a Paladin, she’s actually demoted to taking orders from Keith. Also, she repeatedly makes it clear she has no romantic interest in Lance, he keeps persisting despite her telling him to stop, and then they start dating. And Shiro, poor Shiro, once they bring him back to life he has nothing to do. His dynamic with all of the Paladins has completely evaporated, his role in the team is gone, his brotherly bond with Keith has cooled to a highly formal workplace dynamic, and until the Atlas is finished being built, he has nothing to contribute to the team. In most scenes, he’s just ... there. Voltron is so focused on telling a story-driven narrative that it abandons its characters by the side of the road. And by the late seasons, the characters are so disregarded by the show that the story-driven narrative starts to crack and break apart without good characters to hold it together. When most fans talk about why the show isn’t as good later on, it’s because the great character writing from the first few seasons deteriorated. And even a good story is meaningless without compelling characters at the heart of it.

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER

Avatar is objectively the perfect balance between story-driven and character-driven storytelling. The overarching narrative of Aang needing to defeat Fire Lord Ozai propels the characters through the story, but several episodes take the time to make sure each character has compelling personal storylines as well. Whether it’s Iroh teaching Toph that it’s okay to let people help her, Sokka telling Toph that he can’t remember his mother’s face, Katara and Haru talking about the price of war and the loss of family, or just Zuko’s everything, the characters are the true heart of Avatar, and they get the love and attention that the characters of Voltron never did. I would say that Book 1 is more character-driven as it’s more episodic and light-hearted with occasional plot episodes, while Book 2 is the most plot-driven, as it has several tightly interwoven storylines between the day of black sun, Appa’s kidnapping, the Dai Li, and Azula’s coup, it’s the best season in terms of Avatar firing on all cylinders in the story-telling department. Book 3 is also story-driven, but a little weaker than season 2, as it loosens up on as much of a narrative focus to balance between character and plot. Yes, several important plot points appear in Book 3, but the season also takes several episodes to show Zuko going on friendship field trips with the three main heroes, Aang having a severe anxiety attack about the invasion plans, and The Beach is just a masterclass in character writing. Avatar strikes the perfect balance between Teen Titans’ character-driven action show, and Voltron’s narrative-driven action show to make Avatar an action show driven by both its characters and its narrative in equal measure.

#narrative #storytelling #character driven plot #story driven plot #narrative driven plot #writing #characters vs narrative

142 notes · View notes

altschmerzes · 10 months

Text

hey for something new and different im gonna do something i havent done in a very long time and share a bit of my original sports fiction project. this is from the very beginning of it, not the actual opening-opening but very shortly after it. it helps introduce and get to know our audience surrogate character, hockey player jesse marvel who’s just been drafted and is about to start training camp for the team that drafted him, the minneapolis-saint paul phoenixes.

buries my face in my hands anyways here’s this

Since he started high school, Jesse has been experiencing a recurring dream. It happens every couple of weeks or so, to the point that it’s an inside joke around his family’s home that Jesse got another video call from his alternate life whenever he has it.

In the dream, he’s at a concert, standing off to the side of a massive stage, grandly lit with an inferno of blinding bright lights. The crowd is enormous, the kind you’d see at Madison Square Garden or Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Thousands of blurred out faces gather in an undulating mass of expectant fans, ready and waiting for the show to begin. The anticipation is so thick in the air that he can taste it, a metallic aluminum-copper, the adrenaline emitting from every person there enough to raise goosebumps on his arms. He never knows what band is supposed to take the stage, and every time he tries to read the banner hanging at the back of the platform it’s like he can’t get his eyes to focus on it. Then the crowd starts cheering, a wall of sound sweeps in a tidal wave across the stage, and someone plants a hand square in the middle of Jesse’s back. There’s the quick jerk of a nylon strap around his neck, the whack of an electric guitar into his chest, and a shove that sends him stumbling out, unable to stop until he stands, centre stage, staring out at the crowd that he now realizes has come to see him.

At this point of the dream, a few things occur to Jesse at once. He cannot play the guitar and in fact has never touched one in his life before this moment. He cannot carry a tune in a bucket. One time, he’d been singing in the car and his little sister Brigit, who’d then been ten years old, had very solemnly pulled a five dollar bill out of her backpack and handed it to him, informing him she was bribing him ‘cash money’ to stop. And finally, in just a moment, he’s going to play a chord, or open his mouth to sing a note, and irreversibly, inescapably, profoundly let every one of these thousands upon thousands of people down.

Jesse hasn’t had the dream since before the draft. He’d walked up on the stage when his name had been called, selected third overall out of hundreds of talented young players hoping this would be their big shot to make it into the League, and accepted the jersey and hat handed to him by the Phoenixes general manager without a single slip-up. It was the exact opposite of the experience in the dream. So much so that he’d thought maybe the dream had just been him psyching himself out since he really got serious about making the League, some kind of subconscious hazing he’d been inflicting on himself.

It’s not until after the draft, when he’s milling awkwardly around the hall in a surreal haze surrounded by families in fancy clothing and reporters with flashing cameras and little recorder microphones, that Jesse realizes he'd been premature on deciding that one. If the dream was meant to prepare him for anything, it wasn’t the draft. It was everything that followed. Every day he steps out of the hotel room he’s been calling home for the last couple weeks, Jesse feels like he does in the dream when the shove propels him forward onto the stage. It’s like even the walls in the twin cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul have grown eyes, and every pair of them is trained on him.

During the rookie showcase, there had been a reassuring degree of anonymity that had helped Jesse feel a little less like he was living a waking version of that dream. Every person there is in the same uniform, the Phoenixes standard gear complete with a blank practice jersey and helmet, none of which had a name or number attached. There, he’d just been another kid with skates on his feet and big dreams in his head, surrounded by fifteen or so others exactly like him. It isn’t until he’s at the first day of training camp, a freshly signed contract placing him in the slim ranks of players who were signed to teams their first year before ever playing a single minute of a game on League ice and a jersey screaming his last name in all-caps across his shoulders, that the feeling comes back. Everyone’s eyes are on him again, and this time it’s worse, because those eyes are the eyes of the Phoenixes.

#gav gab #original: the miracle run #i love jesse is the thing. he's my little guy.#i had a fucking epiphany about this project the other day and the trajectory of it and what the like #central sort of. narrative arc is?#the character driven narrative arc #and this kid is half of it #the other half is isaac who is not introduced here but is introduced very shortly after this and is like #antagonist coded in his first couple of scenes which deeply amuses me

27 notes · View notes

phynoma · 10 months

Text

Trying to put into words some feelings I have about Critical Role campaigns

Calamity hit a sweet spot. It's one of the few seasons that I have cravings to watch over and over, with moments that stick in my brain. Why? Because it's a tragedy? Because it feels like the third act of a trilogy, with powerful characters who are intimately connected with each other and their world, doomed by their own hubris?

Campaign 2 is my favorite of the main series, but it feels relatively small, comparitively. It's a group of mess-ups, misfits, who find themselves in the midst of a war that's not theirs and have to decide what sides to choose. They're doomed by the narrative, but they're determined to tell the narrative "fuck you" and find happiness anyway.

Campaign 3... Campaign 3 so far feels like the first two books of a trilogy. I'm not as taken by the characters, but since the last episode (63) things are about to shift. These adventurers are going to become like the cast in Calamity. They're creating a tragedy. They're going to make the war that destroys the world. Either they won't come back, or the world won't, but either way something is going to irrevocably die.

We're watching the formation of the people who will be instrumental in the destruction of the world.

#critical role #campaign 2 #campaign 3 #exu calamity #the difference between character and plot driven narratives #but in rpg format #this won't end well #apocalypse

43 notes · View notes