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30/9/12 21:15Recent reading: Ohana Holoholo*, a josei manga about a two women who were once lovers until one of them simply -- left. And came back, five years later, with a preschool-aged son. Now they've decided to be Just Roommates, which is one of those fantastic manga premises in that I imagine these people's friends telling them "NO THIS IS A BAD IDEA. WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT IS A GOOD IDEA."
Because of being hip-deep in the current novel for so long, I've been thinking about other ways of doing narrative aside from the western plot formula of "a person wants something and attempts to get it." (Robert McKee says story structure is universal. I say, if you think story structure is universal, you need to read more things that aren't western.)
Maya, the main viewpoint character, doesn't seem to want anything -- it's certainly not something that's explicitly stated. If anything it seems like she wants to maintain the status quo -- that is, living with her emotionally unstable ex-lover Michiru and Michiru's young son, and certainly not being romantically involved with Michiru again. (see: emotionally unstable.) She's pretty passive with respect to that, but the effect is similar to watching someone trying to spin delicate plates high in the air. You keep waiting for the crash.
That probably wouldn't work if that was all there was, but there are some cute slice-of-life stories in there, and also a whole mess of backstory that's being dosed out slowly. (I have a theory that every story has a certain balance between "What's going to happen next?" and "What's really going on here?" -- there can be as much tension in the backstory, or the things that happen and don't seem to have a reasonable explanation, as there can about future events. You can look at movies like Memento, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects -- the climax of the story is the moment when the audience figures out what's really going on.)
I'm interested in writing protagonists who don't protag that much, and writing protagonists who don't really know what they want, and who don't want to admit to themselves what they want, because I think that's pretty much the human condition. But I also want to be interesting. I want traditional-ish emotional arcs and cathartic resolutions, no matter how unrealistic they may be. Maybe I want to have my cake and eat it too...
*Ohana is Hawai'ian for "family", holoholo is Hawai'ian for "leisurely journey."
Because of being hip-deep in the current novel for so long, I've been thinking about other ways of doing narrative aside from the western plot formula of "a person wants something and attempts to get it." (Robert McKee says story structure is universal. I say, if you think story structure is universal, you need to read more things that aren't western.)
Maya, the main viewpoint character, doesn't seem to want anything -- it's certainly not something that's explicitly stated. If anything it seems like she wants to maintain the status quo -- that is, living with her emotionally unstable ex-lover Michiru and Michiru's young son, and certainly not being romantically involved with Michiru again. (see: emotionally unstable.) She's pretty passive with respect to that, but the effect is similar to watching someone trying to spin delicate plates high in the air. You keep waiting for the crash.
That probably wouldn't work if that was all there was, but there are some cute slice-of-life stories in there, and also a whole mess of backstory that's being dosed out slowly. (I have a theory that every story has a certain balance between "What's going to happen next?" and "What's really going on here?" -- there can be as much tension in the backstory, or the things that happen and don't seem to have a reasonable explanation, as there can about future events. You can look at movies like Memento, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects -- the climax of the story is the moment when the audience figures out what's really going on.)
I'm interested in writing protagonists who don't protag that much, and writing protagonists who don't really know what they want, and who don't want to admit to themselves what they want, because I think that's pretty much the human condition. But I also want to be interesting. I want traditional-ish emotional arcs and cathartic resolutions, no matter how unrealistic they may be. Maybe I want to have my cake and eat it too...
*Ohana is Hawai'ian for "family", holoholo is Hawai'ian for "leisurely journey."