To clarify on the killer analogy, that was mainly referring to that exact premise. Ofc there are exceptions where the thrill isnt in the mystery of the killer but if not how to stop him. Go check out the awesome editor for this video: ruclips.net/user/MrEnergyHas...
Showing literally is treating people as dumb. Telling is nothing more but SHOWING the concepts that make up the event itself and give any meaning to it. If all you show is a burglar, to elicit the audience response "oh god that's what I saw on the news/heard happened to my aunt", the audience is NOT thinking, they just regurgitate their OWN life experience that it was a bad thing. Otherwise it's just somebody picking a lock, so what can you do to "show" more? Menacing music? That's just 101 propaganda making tips, manipulate emotion so people won't. need. to think. When thinking doesn't come to people naturally they look for movies to escape this basic feature of surviving as a living thing. That's why people make the apples-to-oranges argument that "showing" in a book is things like describing a spicy taste with all kinds of vacuous visual metaphors like "melted in his mouth like such and such volcano", but nobody actually jumps into a volcano to experience if the comparison is apt on any realistic level. We know that our only goal is to keep preteding we know anything about volcanoes, so we could recall that childhood experience of burning a finger on a stove and decrease our vocabulary of one more thing that we just call "well, if it's hot it's at least not cold, same difference". "Good is good because it isn't bad". This is referential reasoning, opposed to logical reasoning, and cause for things like calling people who simply disagree "unreasonable" until they damn well are forced to agree. Nothing actually about following through a logical conclusion, but just enforcing your own view to be replicated by everyone, whether or not they have the same life expereince to reflect on. And in MY life expereince, practiced by people with the least of it whos till think they have the most. Old people who start to lose their ability to adapt (i.e. survive), and young people who think anything THEY did is the reason they do. People who WANT to be treated like idiots, because they WANT this moment to be dedicated to their idiocy. People who want easy answers. History buffs reading a set list of events, and fanfic writers just chanign anything on a whim, but not creating a compelte work.
@Lionard Kirsch Mashima already said he prioritized what the fans wanted more than what he did. Edens Zero and Rave Master we're actually well written because he wrote how he wanted to.
@Lionard Kirsch It really gets good after the first season(Chapter 68) because Untill that point it's just a prologue. Afterwards It gets really dark and Interesting.
Well, newer format of anime is different. They're seasonal and releasing months sometimes a year apart from one another. A recap is needed because not everyone have the time to rewatch everything in preparation for the new season. Also the fact that it's a Shonen anime that priotizing the younger audience first and foremost. This isn't just MHA, a lot of long running series tend to do that. There will always be a recap episode for viewers to catch up because these shit aired on TV in Japan and they're not watching/downloading it from illegal streaming shit like a lot of people do.
Fax. Removing large and unnecessary exposition dumps from your story and instead conveying ideas through dialogue, visuals, or subtle hints is one way to immediately elevate your writing. It actually improves a story so much, and it's definitely one of the biggest problems I see from aspiring authors. I'm also attempting to write my own story rn so videos like this are mad interesting to me.
@@rickriot8743 Chimera Ant is the perfect example of this It's an incredible arc that is hurt by the huge amount of overexposition done by the narrator that could've been portrayed through dialogue or visuals
@@artorias8125 Bad example IMO since it doesn't have that much unnecessary exposition. Having a narrator ≠ expostion dump. There's a big difference. You might like or dislike this arc because of it but it's a completely different topic I'd say.
Hunter x Hunter is filled with exposition all throughout the series, the anime simplified a lot of things and rushed the story, until Chimera Ant. It's a series that will appeal to people who actually love exposition, and all the interesting shit the author can put to paper. The current manga arc has twice as much exposition as Chimera ant. It's a different style of storytelling which isn't for everyone, and proves OP's advice isn't universal. Though I'm sure it's not the best approach for mass appeal.
"Show don't tell" is a very important concept, but I don't think it's always mandatory. Sometimes it can actually elevate a story. The only serious problem you presented in the video is exposition dumps, and I 100% agree it's an amateurish thing to do. But there are situations where telling your audience instead of showing them can increase feelings of tension and thrill. In some key scenes of the movie Se7en, David Fincher refrained from directly showing gruesome acts. Instead, he had one of the characters describe the scenes. This works in benefit of the movie, because whatever mental image the viewer is processing, will be 10 times more horrifying than what can be shown on screen. Quentin Tarantino also did this with the Razor blade scene in Reservoir Dogs. About not revealing the killer because it ruins the intrigue, the Amazon Prime show Invincible had a reoccurring character with OP superpowers who gruesomely murdered half a dozen people - in the first episode. No one knew he was the one that did it, only the audience did. So for the rest of the show, whenever you saw that character in a room with the main characters - tension would immediately set in. These are just a few examples where "Show Don't Tell" would lessen some impact of the scenes. Writing is such a creative and complicated process, there are many contradictory ways to convey the story to an audience. I still think this video teaches a very important lesson for new writers to follow.
Some people just aren't built for complex stories. I've seen authors be subtle and people take the entire context of the story and flip and I hate that so much
@@tryanything5473 experience and skills. I am no psychologist, and I am perfectly aware that the mbti is basically their horoscope equivalent, but hey, as an amateur i have found at least in my inner circle, that general that have both the N and the T elements in their personality are way better readers in general. Well, that comprises less than 20% of the populace...
@@xaviorprime9203 and other people would say otherwise. It's a subjective opinion there's really nothing objective about it cuz some dudes on a forum all agree.
@@xaviorprime9203 one piece super fans would say there manga is objectively the best. I always hear x y and z manga is objectively the best written manga of all time. Its all down to opinions and personal taste. It's writing may be good but you can just slap objectively cuz people agree with your opinion
It's like what Kubrick said , "“If you really want to communicate something, even if it's just an emotion or an attitude, let alone an idea, the least effective and least enjoyable way is directly. It only goes in about an inch. If you make them think a little bit , it sticks for a long time" And I certainly felt this with monster. I have forgotten numerous stories I have watched / read but the ideas monster conveyed seem to be engrossed
in addition, villains do incredible bad things for SEEMINGLY good reason doesn't always fly. Thanos is a good example for this. And no no no, don't think that background music gonna distract from bs they just pull
As an aspiring writer, this is really good advice and I universally agree, though I do like exposition dumps when they explain magic systems and power levels. All Type Moon novels (Fate, specifically) are guilty of over-explain everything about this, and I love it, but I can also totally see how it can get insanely infuriating because it's quite niche. I think the best idea would be to find a balance. You gained a subscriber, great content!
Yeah exposition dumps can be good but sometimes they go overboard. You know those manga where every time the mc gains a new ability they write in all the nuances of the ability rather than showing you. That hurts my head.
My favourite example is from Bleach, spoilers from the final arc (481-686) During Yamamoto’s flashback, Shunsui asks him about a painting, Yama states it was a monster who gave Soul Society problems, and that won’t come back again, lest he’ll die. The author doesn’t have to explain that said monster was him, that he changed, and regretted his past self, and, ironically, will now die because he no longer was this monster, from the same man that reprimanded Ichigo for being scared of his inner monster no less, as if it was foreshadowing for how Yamamoto will die later on. We don’t need an info dump for all this, we’re assimilating those informations alongside the emotional rollercoaster of said scene.
1:33 anime title examples nowadays, it literally tells you in the title nowadays: I traveled back in time really far but got lost along the way Reincarnated as the demon lord king and forced to save the world against my will Parry the Platyus simulator 5000: shonen jump
Wow I’ve never actually seen a vid about this but it’s very true. You can have two stories that are exactly the same, and one show could be great and the other horrible simply because one chooses to just spout out information and overly explain instead of having the characters actions and the world itself build a narrative in an organic and fluid way.
I’ve always been unconfident about writing my characters stories and thinking I would get too much hate if I write the wrong thing. But this was good news to hear.
Kefka is a prime example of characters explaining a character. He's not introduced that way, but overhearing what his subordinates think of him, during Doma camp infiltration. Just before Kefka poisons the kingdom of Doma comes to mind
Holy Hell, writing is hard. I'm an aspiring writer, and trying to come up with complex and mature themes, while making good characters, while also making an engaging conflict is super frigging difficult. I need some kinda editor or something who can help critique my stories. Also 9:56. I'm feeling a little called out.
The best advice I can give is learn the cliches, the tropes, the basics and the trends of writings that you love and hate. From there, once you know the rules, use your own personal inspiration to distort and subvert those rules at your hearts desire.
If you want to be a writer I have tips for you. Make sure your writing is coherent. Writing wise always comes first before themes and symbolism or any other shit you want to convey. Make sure your story MAKES SENSE that includes the characters choices, decisions, etc..
@@thesigmamale2134 basic or not, its a help that could be useful to someone, thats why I always apreciate recieving tips without worrying about how basic or complex they are
@@Thesmarttitan yeah bro I'm sure all the people coming to the sudden realisation that "wait my writing needs to be coherent' will appreciate this absolute gem of advice.
@@thesigmamale2134 Lol but you cant deny that plenty of writers commit the mistake of ruining the sense of the story by not checking if the story isnt full of plot holes and random stuff for just being lazy and not paying attention to the development of each character
I'm really glad i spent so long absorbing all the theories and rules and structures of storytelling and dialogue, I'm 23 pages into my comic, and i showed it to my teacher. He didn't get a piece of dialogue at the first, but on the second read he got that lightbulb moment. He really liked how much show/don't tell there was, and this is most DEFINITELY because i'm really weak in writing 'good' dialogue so i tend to avoid it unless absolutely necessary, and this actually helps me XD
I did not expect a video purely on writing from you, but I appreciate it. I think, that authors who do write too much exposition do not understand, where stories have their value. It is something completely different to know that fire hurts when you touch it and to actually have burned yourself. Stories try to convey the mental landscapes that come with the experience of beeing in certain situations.
I like how nelliel's aspect of death wasnt confirmed until later, it was a mystery and it makes so much sense now that it was confirmed. And the fans noticed that the words "the end of lamentation" is a positive change while the other espada seem to embrace their old aspects.
One funny thing about the story I'm writing is that I didn't expose immediatelly what the story was about, because I didn't even know myself what the story is about until I actually stopped to think about it Then I decided to put this feeling into my narrative, creating a certain kind of confusion in my protagonist's head later on in the story
I noticed you used HxH's Succession War arc as an example of bad writing. I don't disagree, but rather, I think Togashi-sensei kind of wrote himself into a corner. His nen system is universally recognized as being one of the most robust and well-written power systems in shonen, but it also has the disadvantage of needing everything explained. The Succession War arc is not bad by any means, but suffers from the Nen's system needs of power explanation, by having so many new characters with their own powers introduced and most of them have no way to explain their actions and powers without needing an explanation. The panels in question, which were iirc Harkenbourg's Nen beast and the killing of Salé-Salé by Predator. All three of these have very complex workings that are hard to explain to the reader, except for Salé-Salé's Nen beast, which honestly didn't need to be explained. There is just so much going on and so much that can't be explained to the reader by just showing what they do (once again, apart from Salé-Salé's Nen beast) that a panel of text is necessary. Not to mention that considering Togashi-sensei's health, these were by far the best option for him to not strain himself too much. So just saying that yes, this is not the best way to write, but in that specific case, I believe there was almost no way for Togashi-sensei to avoid such a conundrum.
And not only that, but the Arc in general has way more players and situations to account for, it's not 'just' the succession war, though it does take most of the screentime, but also several things around it (Morena's killers and Phantom Troupe vs Hisoka ie.), and Togashi is not even exposing everything either, i hardly believe that there are many ways of removing these expositions without making the story confusing, which it already is due to it's sheer bulk of characters and relationships.
Honestly, he's really only helping himself in this scenario. Teaching someone a subject is a whole new level of mastery of that subject. He's quite literally flexing.
Bleach character 569 brings a tears to my eyes every time and without what happened earlier being changed due to fans that chapter would be completely different and that moment in that chapter wouldn't happen. There is something to be said during that moment that really completes that character story arc that to me really makes me believe that character can really grow past the ending of the story.
I've been working on a story for while and I have this problem a little with introducing a character and either dumping to much and it overwhelming or not giving enough for a character and I worry that they're too hollow.
I literally have the opposite problem. People say they don't understand shit from my story because it's all so cryptic and seemingly ARBITRARY. But again I only have 4 chapters lol
I've been doing that with my own stories. Taking time to show and don't tell it really helps. But, also consider how long it takes to get to that point especially if it's a slow burn type of story, since it usually takes awhile for the plot to get going or even get started.
I agree, i also planning to create a webtoon and its really hard to let the plot progress especially when i already imagine that first 50 chapters is just a prologue before the plot actually begin. Plus every characters dialogue need to be relate to their objective and how its affect their action
At the 9.10 mark, you said something that made me pause the video, got to my notepad and basically write out an idea I got in that very moment. Its themes, characters, plot summary, etc. In an hour. It was as "stream of consciousness" as "stream of consciousness" ever gets and I'm grateful. I'm an animator/ writer and had been recently thinking about what to do for my next story.
This is one of the few things that manga readers appreciate and the anime watcher would barely experience it. Because anime studios adaptations are making things so obvious by foreshadowing the shit out of it or explain the event right out for you.
Read lord of the mysteries fletched out character,world building and villains are just chief kiss .Btw Its a Light novel and it’s getting an anime adaptation by the studio which adapted king avatar.I promise you its one of the well written rare story which will ruin your taste later when it’s up to picking novel.
One show that I remember does the "Tell more, show less" thing really well is Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Would recommend checking out even if you don't enjoy it entirely
I think lotgh has so many intricate plot points and ideas that it kinda has to overexplain stuff so the audience gets a general idea of why things are happening regardless of their previous knowledge about military tactics or politics. Also, understanding these concepts elevates the impactful moments of the story tremendously.
@@aldonares3297 I wouldn't even call it "explaining" stuff, they do it so seamlessly through battles, conversations or the narrator interjecting at the perfect times. The pacing in that show is amazing, unlike certain other shows with narrators
I’d like to mention some of my favorite pieces of art are ones that show a lot and say little, such as serial experiments lain, 2001: A space odyssey, and of course the soulsborne games. So I appreciate this video.
Ever since I started watching your channel, it really inspired me to buy all Berserk books; ever since Kentaro died, that just pushed me over the edge to get all of them. I'm now waiting for volumes 6, 36, 37, and 38 in the mail. Keep up the good work!
Thriller and mystery are two different genres with different tools to engage the reader. Thriller isn't necessarily "whodunit", although it can be, but, for instance, cat-and-mouse thriller is pretty explicitly not. Think, Erased vs Death Note. Or Poirot vs Columbo. Just a small correction.
One example of amazing dialogue I think is the reveal of the identity of John wick from the first movie. The antagonist caused a fight that he didn't know he shouldn't until his father scolded it out to him
In terms of "show-don't-tell," I love when Manga's completely forego dialogue or narration for an issue. A specific manga I've been reading recently, Blue Giant, has a whole chapter where one of the supporting characters has writer's block and goes out to gain a clearer idea. He goes places, sees people, and has a breakthrough. And you get his views all without having a single word bubble.
Blue giant is great, i think it could be deeper, specifically in developing relationships and motivations of characters. But pretty satisfying as a jazz listener to see a manga about jazz
A great way to do exposition is to introduce a question first. Capture the reader's intrest in the topic, and then answer their question. This is how detective stories do it.
God, I made sure to have the main character of my webcomic exposit all the important details about herself in the first 5 or 6 pages and I feel so dumb about it now... But whatever, I know better now, all I can do is make the rest of the story better too
My name is Yoshikage Kira. I’m 33 years old. My house is in the northeast section of Morioh, where all the villas are, and I am not married. I work as an employee for the Kame Yu department stores, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don’t smoke, but I occasionally drink. I’m in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I’m trying to explain that I’m a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn’t lose to anyone.
8:50 ok but that's basically every episode in Columbo, and the fun of the show comes from seeing the killer freaking out as the detective picks apart his alibi scene after scene. I guess there's an exception for everything
In my opinion. There are times when you can stray away from what other people say you need to do. But you have to know what you're doing. If you're telling instead of showing you need to have a reason for it and it has to end up being thd best choice.
Bro , no , take for example a show like the teletubbies and avatar the last Airbender. One is made considering the kids as idiots and the other considering them as non idiot
@@madmouse4400 To be fair, they're also made for different age groups. One meant for babies and toddlers, and the other is meant for kids a little older.
I agree 100 percent.. Make a story that you as an author find overall amazing and satisfying to read.. Rather than trying to impress everyone else.. Because in the end if you try to impress everyone you will practically make someone's else's story..
another really good reason to keep things less spoonfed is that it can help to keep people coming back if your story comes out in multiple parts, like if you have a prologue to your story, and you explain everything about the way the world works you loose all mystery and then the remaining story, even if good, can become stale
I just closed my tab cause I got bored reading hunter hunter manga when they figured the other prince's ability is a bow without even seeing it. It has so much dialogue and character build up is so convoluted. There's also a tad load of new characters and stories being introduced for the sake of one small point. The amount of dialogue from characters and narration is so imbalanced to a point it is indeed giving you a feeling you're being treated like an idiot. Opened my RUclips app and saw this video. Ha.
As a writer, not treating my audience like idiots is my first and most important rule. I explore a lot of "thick concepts" in my story, and dumbing it down would just make it cheap. I try to show as much as possible, and if I need to exposit info I try to keep it brief and spaced out. It takes a lot of restraint, especially if you have a ton to talk about and are as excited as I am to tell it. But you just gotta give it your all!
Whenever I try to work on my stories, I always have a bad habit of either not knowing what to do next with the story, or going completely bat-crap insane, going into all kinds of absurd directions and then pausing for a moment, taking a few steps back to look at my work, only to lose my mind all over again just from trying to make sense of what I was trying to write.
The moving images are always cool, I literally watched the masked man and a few other anime/manga youtube channels to try to find references to design my video editing lol but im still struggling a lot
something about using dialogue to show not tell is to avoid the "maid and butler" cliche where two characters discuss about stuff they should know and which spawned from old plays where the play start with a maid talking to the butler about the whereabouts of the master like "As you know the master is out for a party" and the other responds "yes and as you know the master discovered that the party is ...." etc. Where this trope was used mainly to communicate to the watcher but breaking the immersion of the characters
I have a question. For 8:50 wouldn't that be the same plot of "Monster" where they introduced who the murderer was straight up in the first few episodes. The story became more interesting as to why he did it and what he was going to do. However, I do understand that any story with any predictable beginning can still be a great one by the means of execution's. These are just my thoughts.
One extra thing, if you work on a video game you have more options than just tell or show. You can make the player feel the world, that's why stalker is so loved, really makes you feel like an eastern european
This is why I love Miura, Urasawa, Inoue and Araki sensei. They believed in their own story and made it the way they wanted. Never let anyone else dictate your own story and do your own thing
Day 6 of asking the masked man to read and review the Ravages of Time. It’s based on the Three Kingdom Era and you’ll love it if you like kingdom and berserk
Imagine you are a anime only fan and you see this on your screen 3:17. (I read all of Demon Slayer by the way) Just assume I'm anime only for this instance. Could had used any other panel from DS but this one got me off guard.
Kowloon Generic Romance by Mayuzuki Jun please give it a go if you like little exposition and more creative way to tell story. That manga really seems simple romance on the surface but on my re read I am not still able to figure out many things . Art is also amazing
Notice how he only referred to AOT in the thumbnail but not the video, I honestly don't blame him, if he were to mention AOT once in the video, he would probs be harrassed HARD. Good decision making there TMM lmao
This is why I dropped Jujutsu Kaisen. The info dump that happens in every fucking fight is sooo frustrating. It’s a shame because the characters and story are kinda cool, but the info dump at every corner is such a drag, it made me so annoyed.
I think this is the exact problem I had with serial experiments lain. All of the answers are so incredibly obvious. I find their lesser known project called texhnolyze really encapsulates what lain wanted to do.
A writer will never please everyone so there's no point in trying, that's true. However, writers must constantly but not exclusively consider the reader's perspective of their work, especially if they're looking to get noticed. Writers' head-canons can be detrimental as they become biased towards/against their own work. Hell, the entire point of peer-assessment and test audiences is built on this premise. I guess, in a way, 'not treating your audience like idiots' still involves thinking about them. Also, objectively speaking, when does exposition become too much then?
It's not objective, it's probably closer to a goal to try and get as much across about a world or a character without explaining anything about them. There are some really good manga and novels that have at most a line or two of exposition about a character and that's it.
@@ItsVyy What manga and novels? If anything, I'd just love to read them! So is it lines of dialogue or description that make up 'exposition'? Does it have to be blatant? Isn't an image itself an explanation to some degree? I guess I was just trying to provoke thought into what actually constitutes 'exposition'. Is it simply a third party laying out facts about a character/world? Because if that were the case, swathes from Lord of the Rings are over-expository by that metric. It's awesome how Masked said that this is a mentality and not a simple trick because 'not treating your audiences like idiots' is such a broad mentality that changes from author to author, story to story, genre to genre, primary/intended audience to primary/intended audience, and even medium to medium. I'd say that a simple fix is to label expository storytelling... as just... expository storytelling (either through dialogue, description or images) and not to attribute that to being 'good' or 'bad'. Minimizing expository dialogue isn't a goal or succeeding, it depends on the story the author is attempting to tell. Without expository description (i.e. the appendices of LOTR especially) Middle Earth would be FAR more hollow and much less 'lived in'. Family trees, for example, are they expository? Maps? Why are power systems okay to write too much expository description for, and characters backstories aren't?
@@sheeswee8587 I mean there are a ton of different ways to write something good and to be engaging. Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground is basically all exposition and is really entertaining because it is written so well. 3-Gatsu no Lion does the opposit where there is almost no starting exposition with Rei's character, just hm saying his age, where he lives, and his job, and that's it. Most exposition is written into the story where u don't even notice it is exposition though. Like if you read something complicated like Game of Thrones or Gravity's Rainbow or War and Peace, a ton of things that are basically exposition are written into dialogue about different topics and mixed into character's thoughts without shoving it into your face. The best example I can think of is how Gut's backstory, which is exposition for his character, is given as a story itself, which makes it not really exposition but part of the story if that makes sense. Dostoyevsky does this too with the tangents he makes in The Idiot and The Brothers Karamozov where the thoughts and pasts of characters are told as stories by either themselves or other characters instead of just dumped out by a narrator or something like that. I took the whole point of the video as basically, you don't need to spell small details out when you could just incorporate them into the narrative and let the reader piece it together themselves.
@@ItsVyy I just agree, nothing more to be said. I guess other examples include Riko's explaining of the Abyss' ecology or Rei stating his moves within his matches. Riko is passionate about the Abyss and is explaining what she knows to Reg, then in turn, the audience. Rei is on alert and processing/analysing his opponent, and we the audience see his thought process in words. So, the exposition must have purpose. Character driven in my examples.
@@sheeswee8587 I just think that it has to be engaging. I think you can write about literally anything and make it engaging. One of my favorite books is literally just about birdwatching but the way it's written makes it great. Most of what he's talking about here is when the author doesn't know how to make the story work without just explaining things and also doesn't know how to make those explanations engaging so it comes off as an info-dump of facts and lazy. Also I have to give respect to anyone who likes 3-gatsu and MiA.
My problem with me writing is is trying to have smart writing for my characters and story because I do believe your audience is smart. I'm just trying not to make my story dumb cause again I think the audience is gigabrain smart EDIT: saying my story telling is not good enough for the audience that's my fear
Fantastic advice! One thing that’s caught my attention is balancing interpretation with events or abilities. Explaining too much would take away mystery and audiences intelligence, but some want everything to be explained as it might lead to plot holes. Balance is key or it depends on the audience itself? Still trying to figure it out
An example of 'show don't tell' that was executed really well in only six episodes was the 90s OVA series, Shamanic Princess that was co-created and directed by the director of Outlaw Star and World Trigger. I did a whole video on it myself, but, to summarize, in just six episodes we got a complete package of the world, characters, power system, and much more in one compact package. I highly recommend watching the series.
The best example I can think of in the modern age is King Pin in Netflix’s daredevil. Wilson Fisk has such a menacing aura just from background scenes and side character dialogue.
This focus on execution over over-exposition also helps to make your story more “revisitable”. I’m skimming through Naruto as a now 21 year old man, and I’m picking up on a lot more things and themes I didn’t pick up while reading it as a kid/teenager. The fact that Kishimoto explained so much but also left so much up to interpretation allows readers to continuously form new opinions about the characters and the Shinobi World with each read or watch through of the series. And this also allows for differences of opinion, so that readers that interpreted one thing can learn something new from someone that interpreted another thing, and potentially end up loving the series even more than they did from their own interpretation.
You should check out a currently airing anime "sonny boy", it's basically a "show don't tell" the anime. Nearly on Red, a youtuber, did a really great job showing how much the "show don't tell" elements are prevalent in the anime
And that reason I kinda stop reading HxH, well aside from the Hiatus. One that annoying is the fandom denial in how much of textbook the current arc has become. they deliberately avoid it.
@bãßßêt you mean that writers/mangkas shouldn't wasting their time with massive exposition dumps to convey the plot or express characters' feelings to the audience (or in other case just telling the reader all the info/answer) vs using small dialogue/information and artwork, letting the story play out. Which would engage the audience much more with the story compared to just telling them all the information from the start. Because reader want the engagement vs just giving them the answer like don't know shit. So say "show don't tell" but in this situation I can also say "A picture is worth a thousand words" I guess I'm completely missing his point as he also flashed a few HxH pages from the current arc because one can’t also draw different analogies to the massive exposition/info dumps and lack of artwork in that arc?
(spoilers for all HxH) So basically, Hunter x Hunter doesn't give you all the answers from the start. It doesn't reveal the killer in advance. The exposition is used to explain the concepts necessary to understand the mecanics of the actions happening at the moment, or that will happen later. It's carefully laying the groundwork for a game, like learning the rules to play a game. If the game doesn't interest you, you are free to leave. Succession war is an incredibly complex game, but the exposition builds the tension instead of taking away from it. I would say the reveal in HxH are carefully placed at the perfect spots in the story, for maximum efficiently. Examples: Kacho's nen beast, Kite being dead, the miniature rose. But really, Togashi isn't the kind of author to do a lot of 'reveals'. HxH is never a mystery box. Instead, the question on the reader's mind at all times is: "given what I know... what happens next?". The reason people, including the biggest fans at times, dislike the current arc, is because the exposition can be uninteresting, about characters we have no emotional connection to, and because of our impatience for resolution regarding the characters we are invested in. Looking back on Chimera ant, all the painful exposition-heavy first half, all the, dare-I-say, detours the story took, were worth it in the end. By the end of the succession war... maybe... oh.
@@sfk661 yea, I’m just simplify it that there to many set pieces on the on the board. Each with there own explanations, rules, and motives within the greater game. With some many new pieces on the board, we have a laundry list of things to get through. This isn’t even exclusive to the princes but also to the servants that are Russian nested in each following prince’s camp. Personally I get lost on whom is talking at that exact moment. Since a majority of these characters are new while also not being high in pecking order (servants), you start to thing( well me) “why do I care for what you have to say”. I feel like Togshi should move on to long form content Anyway, that my thoughts, they also be expanded on but I rather not consume my time text up a storm and shit. Plus Idk why the other person thinks Im only talking about about “feelings”. Barely anything emotional is in the Succession war. (Wait nope I’m stopping I typing too much )
To clarify on the killer analogy, that was mainly referring to that exact premise. Ofc there are exceptions where the thrill isnt in the mystery of the killer but if not how to stop him.
Go check out the awesome editor for this video: ruclips.net/user/MrEnergyHas...
I caught that edit
You had an akumetsu mask as your channel logo what manga is this new one
Mr. Energy is a god at editing fr
@@ezrapierce1233 High rise invasion, if I'm not mistaken.
@The Masked Man what do think about the aot ending? What would have been your ideal ending?
"Show don't tell" is a far more complicated concept than it's ever usually talked about as. I appreciate this video delving into that more.
Probably easier drawn then written
Exactly
No it's simple if I'm eating karen you don't have to say I'm eating karen because the third person knows what you are doing
Showing literally is treating people as dumb. Telling is nothing more but SHOWING the concepts that make up the event itself and give any meaning to it. If all you show is a burglar, to elicit the audience response "oh god that's what I saw on the news/heard happened to my aunt", the audience is NOT thinking, they just regurgitate their OWN life experience that it was a bad thing. Otherwise it's just somebody picking a lock, so what can you do to "show" more? Menacing music? That's just 101 propaganda making tips, manipulate emotion so people won't. need. to think.
When thinking doesn't come to people naturally they look for movies to escape this basic feature of surviving as a living thing. That's why people make the apples-to-oranges argument that "showing" in a book is things like describing a spicy taste with all kinds of vacuous visual metaphors like "melted in his mouth like such and such volcano", but nobody actually jumps into a volcano to experience if the comparison is apt on any realistic level.
We know that our only goal is to keep preteding we know anything about volcanoes, so we could recall that childhood experience of burning a finger on a stove and decrease our vocabulary of one more thing that we just call "well, if it's hot it's at least not cold, same difference". "Good is good because it isn't bad". This is referential reasoning, opposed to logical reasoning, and cause for things like calling people who simply disagree "unreasonable" until they damn well are forced to agree. Nothing actually about following through a logical conclusion, but just enforcing your own view to be replicated by everyone, whether or not they have the same life expereince to reflect on. And in MY life expereince, practiced by people with the least of it whos till think they have the most. Old people who start to lose their ability to adapt (i.e. survive), and young people who think anything THEY did is the reason they do. People who WANT to be treated like idiots, because they WANT this moment to be dedicated to their idiocy. People who want easy answers. History buffs reading a set list of events, and fanfic writers just chanign anything on a whim, but not creating a compelte work.
@@sboinkthelegday3892 interesting food for thought.
so basically believe what your writing and don't let "fans" threaten you for killing your characters for reasons. got it.
Never let other people get in the way of what you're doing. Period.
That’s literally why Fairy tail ended up sucking.
@Lionard Kirsch Mashima already said he prioritized what the fans wanted more than what he did. Edens Zero and Rave Master we're actually well written because he wrote how he wanted to.
@Lionard Kirsch It really gets good after the first season(Chapter 68) because Untill that point it's just a prologue. Afterwards It gets really dark and Interesting.
But even a genius can end up whit Mid-Chlorians and Jar Jar Binks if they don't get challenged.
"never treat your audience like an idiot" - MHA anime re-explaining every character's quirk for the entirety of the first 2 episodes of every season.
The mha anime is cheeks compared to the manga
That’s more on the anime. The manga has some problems too, but they really like to fill the anime with the obvious
@@jeffreyali1456 its for if people catch it on tv without prior knowledge but who does that anymore anyways
yes that is why i specifically said anime
Well, newer format of anime is different. They're seasonal and releasing months sometimes a year apart from one another. A recap is needed because not everyone have the time to rewatch everything in preparation for the new season. Also the fact that it's a Shonen anime that priotizing the younger audience first and foremost.
This isn't just MHA, a lot of long running series tend to do that. There will always be a recap episode for viewers to catch up because these shit aired on TV in Japan and they're not watching/downloading it from illegal streaming shit like a lot of people do.
"Don't try to make your story universally loved." As the saying goes if you try to please everyone you please no one. Very good advice.
Fax. Removing large and unnecessary exposition dumps from your story and instead conveying ideas through dialogue, visuals, or subtle hints is one way to immediately elevate your writing. It actually improves a story so much, and it's definitely one of the biggest problems I see from aspiring authors. I'm also attempting to write my own story rn so videos like this are mad interesting to me.
I know this may sound out of nowhere but do you mind giving a small example from your perspective?
@@rickriot8743 Chimera Ant is the perfect example of this
It's an incredible arc that is hurt by the huge amount of overexposition done by the narrator that could've been portrayed through dialogue or visuals
@@artorias8125 Bad example IMO since it doesn't have that much unnecessary exposition. Having a narrator ≠ expostion dump. There's a big difference. You might like or dislike this arc because of it but it's a completely different topic I'd say.
@@artorias8125 that narrator is insanely annoying
Hunter x Hunter is filled with exposition all throughout the series, the anime simplified a lot of things and rushed the story, until Chimera Ant. It's a series that will appeal to people who actually love exposition, and all the interesting shit the author can put to paper. The current manga arc has twice as much exposition as Chimera ant. It's a different style of storytelling which isn't for everyone, and proves OP's advice isn't universal. Though I'm sure it's not the best approach for mass appeal.
"Show don't tell" is a very important concept, but I don't think it's always mandatory. Sometimes it can actually elevate a story.
The only serious problem you presented in the video is exposition dumps, and I 100% agree it's an amateurish thing to do. But there are situations where telling your audience instead of showing them can increase feelings of tension and thrill.
In some key scenes of the movie Se7en, David Fincher refrained from directly showing gruesome acts. Instead, he had one of the characters describe the scenes. This works in benefit of the movie, because whatever mental image the viewer is processing, will be 10 times more horrifying than what can be shown on screen. Quentin Tarantino also did this with the Razor blade scene in Reservoir Dogs.
About not revealing the killer because it ruins the intrigue, the Amazon Prime show Invincible had a reoccurring character with OP superpowers who gruesomely murdered half a dozen people - in the first episode.
No one knew he was the one that did it, only the audience did. So for the rest of the show, whenever you saw that character in a room with the main characters - tension would immediately set in.
These are just a few examples where "Show Don't Tell" would lessen some impact of the scenes. Writing is such a creative and complicated process, there are many contradictory ways to convey the story to an audience. I still think this video teaches a very important lesson for new writers to follow.
Some people just aren't built for complex stories. I've seen authors be subtle and people take the entire context of the story and flip and I hate that so much
Is it experience which they lack? Bc I think they havent read enough stories to shit on series.
@@tryanything5473 experience and skills. I am no psychologist, and I am perfectly aware that the mbti is basically their horoscope equivalent, but hey, as an amateur i have found at least in my inner circle, that general that have both the N and the T elements in their personality are way better readers in general. Well, that comprises less than 20% of the populace...
@@xaviorprime9203 that's just your subjective opinion. Someone else may say Rurouni Kenehin or Berserk or something else
@@xaviorprime9203 and other people would say otherwise. It's a subjective opinion there's really nothing objective about it cuz some dudes on a forum all agree.
@@xaviorprime9203 one piece super fans would say there manga is objectively the best. I always hear x y and z manga is objectively the best written manga of all time. Its all down to opinions and personal taste. It's writing may be good but you can just slap objectively cuz people agree with your opinion
It's like what Kubrick said , "“If you really want to communicate something, even if it's just an emotion or an attitude, let alone an idea, the least effective and least enjoyable way is directly. It only goes in about an inch. If you make them think a little bit , it sticks for a long time"
And I certainly felt this with monster. I have forgotten numerous stories I have watched / read but the ideas monster conveyed seem to be engrossed
"Never treat your audience like an idiot"
Marvel and DC films: Good guy do good things and bad guy do bad things
in addition, villains do incredible bad things for SEEMINGLY good reason doesn't always fly. Thanos is a good example for this.
And no no no, don't think that background music gonna distract from bs they just pull
@@neardarkroad1347 you're part of a minority
anti-heroes : Oni-chan
When you said Bleach, I was jumping in joy and joyful tears
Yes alot of people dont give the proper praise to kubo in alot of things
Bleach immediately came to mind, was really happy too when he brought it up
same
As an aspiring writer, this is really good advice and I universally agree, though I do like exposition dumps when they explain magic systems and power levels. All Type Moon novels (Fate, specifically) are guilty of over-explain everything about this, and I love it, but I can also totally see how it can get insanely infuriating because it's quite niche. I think the best idea would be to find a balance.
You gained a subscriber, great content!
Yeah exposition dumps can be good but sometimes they go overboard. You know those manga where every time the mc gains a new ability they write in all the nuances of the ability rather than showing you. That hurts my head.
My favourite example is from Bleach, spoilers from the final arc (481-686)
During Yamamoto’s flashback, Shunsui asks him about a painting, Yama states it was a monster who gave Soul Society problems, and that won’t come back again, lest he’ll die. The author doesn’t have to explain that said monster was him, that he changed, and regretted his past self, and, ironically, will now die because he no longer was this monster, from the same man that reprimanded Ichigo for being scared of his inner monster no less, as if it was foreshadowing for how Yamamoto will die later on. We don’t need an info dump for all this, we’re assimilating those informations alongside the emotional rollercoaster of said scene.
1:33 anime title examples nowadays, it literally tells you in the title nowadays:
I traveled back in time really far but got lost along the way
Reincarnated as the demon lord king and forced to save the world against my will
Parry the Platyus simulator 5000: shonen jump
Lmaooo says the guy that had cautious hero pfp
Wow I’ve never actually seen a vid about this but it’s very true. You can have two stories that are exactly the same, and one show could be great and the other horrible simply because one chooses to just spout out information and overly explain instead of having the characters actions and the world itself build a narrative in an organic and fluid way.
Hunter x Hunter be like
Then u should look for the RUclips channel Soul he has a view vids but is good at video essay. And is A beserk fan
@@oyamampendu9467 a man who appreciates Berserker, is a man of culture.
That's just a good written history. That should not be considered a secret, something hidden, It's just Basic concepts about literature.
@@TheShree909 they only do that with power explanations xd
I’ve always been unconfident about writing my characters stories and thinking I would get too much hate if I write the wrong thing. But this was good news to hear.
Show don't tell is an extremely important rule to follow.
Meanwhile Togashi: Narrator go brrrrr.
back problem : yo bro wassup
For just 19, you have a generally great understanding for the craft of story. That’s where it starts. Respect 👊🏾
Consistency is also important especially in fantasy and even shounen manga. Inconsistencies can greatly ruin an experience.
Kefka is a prime example of characters explaining a character. He's not introduced that way, but overhearing what his subordinates think of him, during Doma camp infiltration. Just before Kefka poisons the kingdom of Doma comes to mind
No joke, this might be the most important piece of story-writing advice I've ever seen in a video.
Holy Hell, writing is hard. I'm an aspiring writer, and trying to come up with complex and mature themes, while making good characters, while also making an engaging conflict is super frigging difficult. I need some kinda editor or something who can help critique my stories.
Also 9:56. I'm feeling a little called out.
I'd suggest giving the priority to the actual storytelling rather than the "complex and mature themes", but that's just my preference
Not to mention dialogue…good god
The best advice I can give is learn the cliches, the tropes, the basics and the trends of writings that you love and hate. From there, once you know the rules, use your own personal inspiration to distort and subvert those rules at your hearts desire.
Thanks boys
If you want to be a writer I have tips for you.
Make sure your writing is coherent.
Writing wise always comes first before themes and symbolism or any other shit you want to convey.
Make sure your story MAKES SENSE that includes the characters choices, decisions, etc..
Its also good to reference characters in persons you actually know, is a great trick to be loyal to a character personality
Damn bro thank you for the most basic advice ever!
@@thesigmamale2134 basic or not, its a help that could be useful to someone, thats why I always apreciate recieving tips without worrying about how basic or complex they are
@@Thesmarttitan yeah bro I'm sure all the people coming to the sudden realisation that "wait my writing needs to be coherent' will appreciate this absolute gem of advice.
@@thesigmamale2134 Lol but you cant deny that plenty of writers commit the mistake of ruining the sense of the story by not checking if the story isnt full of plot holes and random stuff for just being lazy and not paying attention to the development of each character
I'm really glad i spent so long absorbing all the theories and rules and structures of storytelling and dialogue,
I'm 23 pages into my comic, and i showed it to my teacher. He didn't get a piece of dialogue at the first, but on the second read he got that lightbulb moment. He really liked how much show/don't tell there was, and this is most DEFINITELY because i'm really weak in writing 'good' dialogue so i tend to avoid it unless absolutely necessary, and this actually helps me XD
"Show don't tell"
Someone tell RWBY that, then again, the writers don't listen lmao
They also bend the knee to the audience.😂
the promised garbageland seasass too
God fuckin yakusoku and RWBY. Had so much potential but goddamn after their peak it went downhill so fast and so steeply, it makes me fucking sad lol
I did not expect a video purely on writing from you, but I appreciate it. I think, that authors who do write too much exposition do not understand, where stories have their value. It is something completely different to know that fire hurts when you touch it and to actually have burned yourself. Stories try to convey the mental landscapes that come with the experience of beeing in certain situations.
Ty, I often do the opposite, treating the audience a lot smarter than I am.
maybe they're so smart that they can imagine your story that you haven't even written yet :)
@@asianpersuasion4901 bro didn’t hold back😭😭
Thanks man this is all helpful I’m tryna do some story shit my self and I agree with a lot of what you had to say! Keep it up
I like how nelliel's aspect of death wasnt confirmed until later, it was a mystery and it makes so much sense now that it was confirmed. And the fans noticed that the words "the end of lamentation" is a positive change while the other espada seem to embrace their old aspects.
One funny thing about the story I'm writing is that I didn't expose immediatelly what the story was about, because I didn't even know myself what the story is about until I actually stopped to think about it
Then I decided to put this feeling into my narrative, creating a certain kind of confusion in my protagonist's head later on in the story
I noticed you used HxH's Succession War arc as an example of bad writing. I don't disagree, but rather, I think Togashi-sensei kind of wrote himself into a corner. His nen system is universally recognized as being one of the most robust and well-written power systems in shonen, but it also has the disadvantage of needing everything explained. The Succession War arc is not bad by any means, but suffers from the Nen's system needs of power explanation, by having so many new characters with their own powers introduced and most of them have no way to explain their actions and powers without needing an explanation. The panels in question, which were iirc Harkenbourg's Nen beast and the killing of Salé-Salé by Predator. All three of these have very complex workings that are hard to explain to the reader, except for Salé-Salé's Nen beast, which honestly didn't need to be explained. There is just so much going on and so much that can't be explained to the reader by just showing what they do (once again, apart from Salé-Salé's Nen beast) that a panel of text is necessary. Not to mention that considering Togashi-sensei's health, these were by far the best option for him to not strain himself too much. So just saying that yes, this is not the best way to write, but in that specific case, I believe there was almost no way for Togashi-sensei to avoid such a conundrum.
Agreed
People praise the concept of hard magic system and then they complain about exposition.
Chimera ant farm second half eps 111-136 is peak togashi,other than that yorknew is amazing too.The rest is garbage for me
And not only that, but the Arc in general has way more players and situations to account for, it's not 'just' the succession war, though it does take most of the screentime, but also several things around it (Morena's killers and Phantom Troupe vs Hisoka ie.), and Togashi is not even exposing everything either, i hardly believe that there are many ways of removing these expositions without making the story confusing, which it already is due to it's sheer bulk of characters and relationships.
@@lWaterFlowl i think chimera ant arc is very overrated as fck
Masked is really giving authors game. Make sure you’re taking notes
It's very easy for guy to tell authors what to do and don't. Masked has never written a story.
@@omarsabir1210 "aspiring author" and his literal job is analyzing stories...
@@omarsabir1210 Do you know what he does for a living?
Honestly, he's really only helping himself in this scenario. Teaching someone a subject is a whole new level of mastery of that subject. He's quite literally flexing.
@@esssss8415 he's a RUclipsr lol
I LOVED this new editing style!
Bleach character 569 brings a tears to my eyes every time and without what happened earlier being changed due to fans that chapter would be completely different and that moment in that chapter wouldn't happen. There is something to be said during that moment that really completes that character story arc that to me really makes me believe that character can really grow past the ending of the story.
I've been working on a story for while and I have this problem a little with introducing a character and either dumping to much and it overwhelming or not giving enough for a character and I worry that they're too hollow.
I wish the narrator from Hunter x Hunter could just shut up for 5 minute
An Idea I have is to mess with the art more. Say its by the perspective of an animal that can only see the temperature of others.
The Predator comics did a great job of that
I literally have the opposite problem.
People say they don't understand shit from my story because it's all so cryptic and seemingly ARBITRARY.
But again I only have 4 chapters lol
I've been doing that with my own stories. Taking time to show and don't tell it really helps. But, also consider how long it takes to get to that point especially if it's a slow burn type of story, since it usually takes awhile for the plot to get going or even get started.
I agree, i also planning to create a webtoon and its really hard to let the plot progress especially when i already imagine that first 50 chapters is just a prologue before the plot actually begin. Plus every characters dialogue need to be relate to their objective and how its affect their action
At the 9.10 mark, you said something that made me pause the video, got to my notepad and basically write out an idea I got in that very moment. Its themes, characters, plot summary, etc. In an hour. It was as "stream of consciousness" as "stream of consciousness" ever gets and I'm grateful.
I'm an animator/ writer and had been recently thinking about what to do for my next story.
i like the effort you put into the making of this video
This is one of the few things that manga readers appreciate and the anime watcher would barely experience it. Because anime studios adaptations are making things so obvious by foreshadowing the shit out of it or explain the event right out for you.
10:58 oh great, I thought he would go the entire video without referencing One Piece.
Read lord of the mysteries fletched out character,world building and villains are just chief kiss .Btw Its a Light novel and it’s getting an anime adaptation by the studio which adapted king avatar.I promise you its one of the well written rare story which will ruin your taste later when it’s up to picking novel.
How good is it actually? Can you elaborate?
One show that I remember does the "Tell more, show less" thing really well is Legend of the Galactic Heroes.
Would recommend checking out even if you don't enjoy it entirely
I think lotgh has so many intricate plot points and ideas that it kinda has to overexplain stuff so the audience gets a general idea of why things are happening regardless of their previous knowledge about military tactics or politics. Also, understanding these concepts elevates the impactful moments of the story tremendously.
LOGH probably my best anime ever.
@@aldonares3297 I wouldn't even call it "explaining" stuff, they do it so seamlessly through battles, conversations or the narrator interjecting at the perfect times. The pacing in that show is amazing, unlike certain other shows with narrators
I’d like to mention some of my favorite pieces of art are ones that show a lot and say little, such as serial experiments lain, 2001: A space odyssey, and of course the soulsborne games. So I appreciate this video.
As an aspiring writer myself, I will watch this video diligently
Same.
Same bro
✨ fellow writers let's get it ✨
Same, let's go!
yessir
Ever since I started watching your channel, it really inspired me to buy all Berserk books; ever since Kentaro died, that just pushed me over the edge to get all of them. I'm now waiting for volumes 6, 36, 37, and 38 in the mail. Keep up the good work!
Innocent / Rogue is too beautiful for the world.
“Even the greatest manga of all time have it’s nay sayers” a humerus nod to your views of one piece no doubt xD
Thriller and mystery are two different genres with different tools to engage the reader. Thriller isn't necessarily "whodunit", although it can be, but, for instance, cat-and-mouse thriller is pretty explicitly not. Think, Erased vs Death Note. Or Poirot vs Columbo.
Just a small correction.
One example of amazing dialogue I think is the reveal of the identity of John wick from the first movie. The antagonist caused a fight that he didn't know he shouldn't until his father scolded it out to him
In terms of "show-don't-tell," I love when Manga's completely forego dialogue or narration for an issue. A specific manga I've been reading recently, Blue Giant, has a whole chapter where one of the supporting characters has writer's block and goes out to gain a clearer idea. He goes places, sees people, and has a breakthrough. And you get his views all without having a single word bubble.
Wow that sounds dope, the art must be rly good lol
Blue giant is great, i think it could be deeper, specifically in developing relationships and motivations of characters. But pretty satisfying as a jazz listener to see a manga about jazz
Me remembering blame! . The manga whit 5% of regular manga dialogue
A great way to do exposition is to introduce a question first. Capture the reader's intrest in the topic, and then answer their question. This is how detective stories do it.
That Vector to the Heavens as bgm is so good. Caught me off guard
God, I made sure to have the main character of my webcomic exposit all the important details about herself in the first 5 or 6 pages and I feel so dumb about it now...
But whatever, I know better now, all I can do is make the rest of the story better too
My name is Yoshikage Kira. I’m 33 years old. My house is in the northeast section of Morioh, where all the villas are, and I am not married. I work as an employee for the Kame Yu department stores, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don’t smoke, but I occasionally drink. I’m in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm milk and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I’m trying to explain that I’m a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn’t lose to anyone.
8:50 ok but that's basically every episode in Columbo, and the fun of the show comes from seeing the killer freaking out as the detective picks apart his alibi scene after scene.
I guess there's an exception for everything
Would that still be considered a thriller?
Or just a murder mystery
Or even just a mystery
@@namegone8035 yes, we still don’t know his reasoning
@@theolympiyn8670 It was just an example, there's an exception to everything
In my opinion. There are times when you can stray away from what other people say you need to do. But you have to know what you're doing. If you're telling instead of showing you need to have a reason for it and it has to end up being thd best choice.
I love Professor Layton Music
Thank you for putting Roboco on the screen when you said uninspired
"Never treat your audience like an idiot."
Children's book authors: ಠ_ʖಠ
Bro , no , take for example a show like the teletubbies and avatar the last Airbender. One is made considering the kids as idiots and the other considering them as non idiot
@@madmouse4400 To be fair, they're also made for different age groups. One meant for babies and toddlers, and the other is meant for kids a little older.
@Asmore who the hell let a 2 year old kid before a screen. A normal 2 year old just spends most of his time sleeping.
@@madmouse4400 I mean come on that's just unfair, Teletubbies and Avatar age groups are completely different.
@@askiia8713
Okay , you can't let a 5 years old kid watch batman animated show from the 90s.
I hope this turns into a series because these types of videos are extremely helpful keep up the good work love the content!
I agree 100 percent..
Make a story that you as an author find overall amazing and satisfying to read..
Rather than trying to impress everyone else..
Because in the end if you try to impress everyone you will practically make someone's else's story..
another really good reason to keep things less spoonfed is that it can help to keep people coming back if your story comes out in multiple parts, like if you have a prologue to your story, and you explain everything about the way the world works you loose all mystery and then the remaining story, even if good, can become stale
I just closed my tab cause I got bored reading hunter hunter manga when they figured the other prince's ability is a bow without even seeing it. It has so much dialogue and character build up is so convoluted. There's also a tad load of new characters and stories being introduced for the sake of one small point. The amount of dialogue from characters and narration is so imbalanced to a point it is indeed giving you a feeling you're being treated like an idiot. Opened my RUclips app and saw this video. Ha.
As a writer, not treating my audience like idiots is my first and most important rule. I explore a lot of "thick concepts" in my story, and dumbing it down would just make it cheap. I try to show as much as possible, and if I need to exposit info I try to keep it brief and spaced out. It takes a lot of restraint, especially if you have a ton to talk about and are as excited as I am to tell it. But you just gotta give it your all!
Didn't expect Soulsborne to be included here :)
Whenever I try to work on my stories, I always have a bad habit of either not knowing what to do next with the story, or going completely bat-crap insane, going into all kinds of absurd directions and then pausing for a moment, taking a few steps back to look at my work, only to lose my mind all over again just from trying to make sense of what I was trying to write.
I like hearing you bring up Bleach time to time, I appreciate it! ;D
Ahh self validation
@@riteraod3882 ?
I think you should review the recent anime masterpiece (imo) "Sonny Boy"
I watched it and had absolutely no clue what it was all about. I liked the black dude tho
This was a great video. Love how your editing style evolves.
He has an editor , check the description it's not him editing
The moving images are always cool, I literally watched the masked man and a few other anime/manga youtube channels to try to find references to design my video editing lol but im still struggling a lot
@@GrimmtokiAMV noted
a lot of the points in this video is why I love the monogatari series
something about using dialogue to show not tell is to avoid the "maid and butler" cliche where two characters discuss about stuff they should know and which spawned from old plays where the play start with a maid talking to the butler about the whereabouts of the master like "As you know the master is out for a party" and the other responds "yes and as you know the master discovered that the party is ...." etc. Where this trope was used mainly to communicate to the watcher but breaking the immersion of the characters
I have a question. For 8:50 wouldn't that be the same plot of "Monster" where they introduced who the murderer was straight up in the first few episodes. The story became more interesting as to why he did it and what he was going to do.
However, I do understand that any story with any predictable beginning can still be a great one by the means of execution's. These are just my thoughts.
Careful, the bleach situation was never confirmed, we still don't know if it was intended or changed because of pressure
One extra thing, if you work on a video game you have more options than just tell or show. You can make the player feel the world, that's why stalker is so loved, really makes you feel like an eastern european
This is why I love Miura, Urasawa, Inoue and Araki sensei. They believed in their own story and made it the way they wanted. Never let anyone else dictate your own story and do your own thing
Inio Asano
@@guts3195 him too. All 5 of them are my favorite
Isayama too
@@coleintheville117 not after that ending imo.
@@guts3195 did isayama not stick to the story that he wanted to make despite getting a lot of hate?
My man using that stickmen Blue Period panel. Love to see it.
Just kiss historia's hand and wake up from dream face the reality.
YOOOO I fr loved this style of video
Also you ain’t slick 8:45
☠☠
Day 6 of asking the masked man to read and review the Ravages of Time. It’s based on the Three Kingdom Era and you’ll love it if you like kingdom and berserk
Imagine you are a anime only fan and you see this on your screen 3:17. (I read all of Demon Slayer by the way) Just assume I'm anime only for this instance. Could had used any other panel from DS but this one got me off guard.
Fr
Writing a story is like balancing accounts. You can only ever take out as much as you put in.
Kowloon Generic Romance by Mayuzuki Jun please give it a go if you like little exposition and more creative way to tell story. That manga really seems simple romance on the surface but on my re read I am not still able to figure out many things . Art is also amazing
Notice how he only referred to AOT in the thumbnail but not the video, I honestly don't blame him, if he were to mention AOT once in the video, he would probs be harrassed HARD. Good decision making there TMM lmao
Professor Layton OST, automatic like :)
Great video!
This is why I dropped Jujutsu Kaisen. The info dump that happens in every fucking fight is sooo frustrating. It’s a shame because the characters and story are kinda cool, but the info dump at every corner is such a drag, it made me so annoyed.
They weren't even noticable imo
The problem that I had with JJK is that they dropped infos too fast or randomly that made me thought I missed some episode before...
The info dumps are way worse in the manga, but in the anime it’s not as bad/noticeable.
And here I was looking at complaints regarding the latest manga chapters about too little info which makes some powers confusing.
its probably due to gege wanting to end the series as fast as he can
Stories should be on a need-to-know basis, and sometimes they don't need to know. And if they need to, show it instead
Read :OUT (MAKOTO MIZUTA) best manga for me
I think this is the exact problem I had with serial experiments lain. All of the answers are so incredibly obvious. I find their lesser known project called texhnolyze really encapsulates what lain wanted to do.
A writer will never please everyone so there's no point in trying, that's true. However, writers must constantly but not exclusively consider the reader's perspective of their work, especially if they're looking to get noticed. Writers' head-canons can be detrimental as they become biased towards/against their own work. Hell, the entire point of peer-assessment and test audiences is built on this premise. I guess, in a way, 'not treating your audience like idiots' still involves thinking about them.
Also, objectively speaking, when does exposition become too much then?
It's not objective, it's probably closer to a goal to try and get as much across about a world or a character without explaining anything about them. There are some really good manga and novels that have at most a line or two of exposition about a character and that's it.
@@ItsVyy What manga and novels? If anything, I'd just love to read them!
So is it lines of dialogue or description that make up 'exposition'? Does it have to be blatant? Isn't an image itself an explanation to some degree?
I guess I was just trying to provoke thought into what actually constitutes 'exposition'. Is it simply a third party laying out facts about a character/world? Because if that were the case, swathes from Lord of the Rings are over-expository by that metric. It's awesome how Masked said that this is a mentality and not a simple trick because 'not treating your audiences like idiots' is such a broad mentality that changes from author to author, story to story, genre to genre, primary/intended audience to primary/intended audience, and even medium to medium. I'd say that a simple fix is to label expository storytelling... as just... expository storytelling (either through dialogue, description or images) and not to attribute that to being 'good' or 'bad'.
Minimizing expository dialogue isn't a goal or succeeding, it depends on the story the author is attempting to tell. Without expository description (i.e. the appendices of LOTR especially) Middle Earth would be FAR more hollow and much less 'lived in'. Family trees, for example, are they expository? Maps? Why are power systems okay to write too much expository description for, and characters backstories aren't?
@@sheeswee8587 I mean there are a ton of different ways to write something good and to be engaging. Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground is basically all exposition and is really entertaining because it is written so well. 3-Gatsu no Lion does the opposit where there is almost no starting exposition with Rei's character, just hm saying his age, where he lives, and his job, and that's it.
Most exposition is written into the story where u don't even notice it is exposition though. Like if you read something complicated like Game of Thrones or Gravity's Rainbow or War and Peace, a ton of things that are basically exposition are written into dialogue about different topics and mixed into character's thoughts without shoving it into your face.
The best example I can think of is how Gut's backstory, which is exposition for his character, is given as a story itself, which makes it not really exposition but part of the story if that makes sense. Dostoyevsky does this too with the tangents he makes in The Idiot and The Brothers Karamozov where the thoughts and pasts of characters are told as stories by either themselves or other characters instead of just dumped out by a narrator or something like that.
I took the whole point of the video as basically, you don't need to spell small details out when you could just incorporate them into the narrative and let the reader piece it together themselves.
@@ItsVyy I just agree, nothing more to be said. I guess other examples include Riko's explaining of the Abyss' ecology or Rei stating his moves within his matches.
Riko is passionate about the Abyss and is explaining what she knows to Reg, then in turn, the audience. Rei is on alert and processing/analysing his opponent, and we the audience see his thought process in words.
So, the exposition must have purpose. Character driven in my examples.
@@sheeswee8587 I just think that it has to be engaging. I think you can write about literally anything and make it engaging. One of my favorite books is literally just about birdwatching but the way it's written makes it great. Most of what he's talking about here is when the author doesn't know how to make the story work without just explaining things and also doesn't know how to make those explanations engaging so it comes off as an info-dump of facts and lazy.
Also I have to give respect to anyone who likes 3-gatsu and MiA.
My problem with me writing is is trying to have smart writing for my characters and story because I do believe your audience is smart. I'm just trying not to make my story dumb cause again I think the audience is gigabrain smart EDIT: saying my story telling is not good enough for the audience that's my fear
Fantastic advice! One thing that’s caught my attention is balancing interpretation with events or abilities. Explaining too much would take away mystery and audiences intelligence, but some want everything to be explained as it might lead to plot holes. Balance is key or it depends on the audience itself? Still trying to figure it out
An example of 'show don't tell' that was executed really well in only six episodes was the 90s OVA series, Shamanic Princess that was co-created and directed by the director of Outlaw Star and World Trigger. I did a whole video on it myself, but, to summarize, in just six episodes we got a complete package of the world, characters, power system, and much more in one compact package. I highly recommend watching the series.
The best example I can think of in the modern age is King Pin in Netflix’s daredevil. Wilson Fisk has such a menacing aura just from background scenes and side character dialogue.
This focus on execution over over-exposition also helps to make your story more “revisitable”. I’m skimming through Naruto as a now 21 year old man, and I’m picking up on a lot more things and themes I didn’t pick up while reading it as a kid/teenager. The fact that Kishimoto explained so much but also left so much up to interpretation allows readers to continuously form new opinions about the characters and the Shinobi World with each read or watch through of the series.
And this also allows for differences of opinion, so that readers that interpreted one thing can learn something new from someone that interpreted another thing, and potentially end up loving the series even more than they did from their own interpretation.
Love these type of videos tbh, really adds alot more variety to this channel, hope you make more like these broski
nice pfp bro
@@zarrar1825 thanks same to you😂
@@el.pd10 Nice pfp guys
@@krypt0939 Haha W
ur improvement is crazy man
The exposition dump on many anime/manga series are so on spot lmao like many on shounen series.
You should check out a currently airing anime "sonny boy", it's basically a "show don't tell" the anime. Nearly on Red, a youtuber, did a really great job showing how much the "show don't tell" elements are prevalent in the anime
And that reason I kinda stop reading HxH, well aside from the Hiatus. One that annoying is the fandom denial in how much of textbook the current arc has become.
they deliberately avoid it.
@bãßßêt you mean that writers/mangkas shouldn't wasting their time with massive exposition dumps to convey the plot or express characters' feelings to the audience (or in other case just telling the reader all the info/answer) vs using small dialogue/information and artwork, letting the story play out. Which would engage the audience much more with the story compared to just telling them all the information from the start. Because reader want the engagement vs just giving them the answer like don't know shit.
So say "show don't tell" but in this situation I can also say "A picture is worth a thousand words"
I guess I'm completely missing his point as he also flashed a few HxH pages from the current arc because one can’t also draw different analogies to the massive exposition/info dumps and lack of artwork in that arc?
(spoilers for all HxH)
So basically,
Hunter x Hunter doesn't give you all the answers from the start. It doesn't reveal the killer in advance.
The exposition is used to explain the concepts necessary to understand the mecanics of the actions happening at the moment, or that will happen later. It's carefully laying the groundwork for a game, like learning the rules to play a game. If the game doesn't interest you, you are free to leave. Succession war is an incredibly complex game, but the exposition builds the tension instead of taking away from it.
I would say the reveal in HxH are carefully placed at the perfect spots in the story, for maximum efficiently. Examples: Kacho's nen beast, Kite being dead, the miniature rose.
But really, Togashi isn't the kind of author to do a lot of 'reveals'. HxH is never a mystery box. Instead, the question on the reader's mind at all times is: "given what I know... what happens next?".
The reason people, including the biggest fans at times, dislike the current arc, is because the exposition can be uninteresting, about characters we have no emotional connection to, and because of our impatience for resolution regarding the characters we are invested in. Looking back on Chimera ant, all the painful exposition-heavy first half, all the, dare-I-say, detours the story took, were worth it in the end. By the end of the succession war... maybe... oh.
@@sfk661 yea, I’m just simplify it that there to many set pieces on the on the board. Each with there own explanations, rules, and motives within the greater game.
With some many new pieces on the board, we have a laundry list of things to get through. This isn’t even exclusive to the princes but also to the servants that are Russian nested in each following prince’s camp.
Personally I get lost on whom is talking at that exact moment. Since a majority of these characters are new while also not being high in pecking order (servants), you start to thing( well me) “why do I care for what you have to say”.
I feel like Togshi should move on to long form content
Anyway, that my thoughts, they also be expanded on but I rather not consume my time text up a storm and shit.
Plus Idk why the other person thinks Im only talking about about “feelings”.
Barely anything emotional is in the Succession war.
(Wait nope I’m stopping I typing too much )
With a complex power system like nen, exposition couldn't be avoided lol