#narrative tools

Initially thought about this in relation to the scene in Injustice where Flash debates with Superman about gun control so I’m gonna use that for most of my ideas.

Firstly, it has the potential for comedy gold. Superman trained himself/instinctually blinks as often for as long as baseline humans and Flash uses those blinks as a opportunity to blitz over to the supercomputer and relearn everything there is to know about chess, maybe even feed moves into a chess bot to try and cheat, but is still just kinda starring at the board while screaming internally. ‘How am I losing so bad? Pawns can move like that? When the 🦆did that piece get there?!’ It’s that “I’m doing 3 Thousand calculation a second. And they’re. All. Wrong.” meme but in spandex.

It also has a lot of story telling potential. (Narrative potential? Idk what the Proper Term would be but it has a lot of Make Story Good Energy) the person who wins the debate was initially winning the match but wasn’t truly invested in it. The debate was their priority. Understanding the through process of their opponent, thinking through each argument they present and receive, trying to consider the issue from every angle and getting through to their opponent were all far more important to them then the game of chess that was only really there in the first place so they had something to keep their hands occupied and minds thinking strategically while talking. Losing the match barely even registers to them.

But their opponent, who winds up losing the debate but wining the chess match, is the opposite. At first they’re losing the game, but their ego can’t handle that. So they put almost all their focus into playing with the philosophical debate being an after thought of sorts. Winning the chess and not really caring they lost the debate. Or maybe not even noticing they lost. “I won the game. I’m smarter. I’m Better. I Am Better. I’m Right.” In the case of Flash V Superman it could be used to show Superman’s slow decent. Him starting to care less and less about moral victory(winning the debate and finding out how to most effectively help people) and more about personal victory(winning the game and being in control. Proving that he’s smarter and better, that he should be sat upon the throne.)

I was hanging out in the @thevorthoscast Discord server yesterday, and sharing my thoughts on how I could see the Gatewatch defeating Nicol Bolas at the conclusion for War of the Spark.

I approached this not from a strategic "Here's what they need to do, and the weaknesses they need to exploit" point of view, but rather from a narrative point of view as a writer. In other words, "What do the characters need to do in order for the audience to feel like they've EARNED their victory? And how do you make it plausible to the reader that the brilliant mastermind actually lost?"

I wanted to share my thoughts in a Tumblr post, but rather than rewriting everything, I figured I would simplify things by simply posting screenshots from yesterday's conversation. (I only used my own comments, since I don't think it's polite to share other people's comments from Discord.)

Here are my thoughts:

Hmm... I had a few more thoughts to share, so I guess I'll reblog this with my thoughts on Chandra and Nisa in Part 2

tbh i really liked the flashback, but I thought we’d gotten a bit of backstory over the years, slowly, bit by bit, that gave me a pretty clear picture of her character.

Flashbacks are not the only way to show character or backstory, and they’ve used a lot of different narrative tools to do so. We saw how Nia treated her, how it went when Roan took over and the tension between her role and what she had to do and what she didn’t want to do but had no choice in. We saw her intensity to defend Azgeda and the throne, her dependency on them. Then after being banished, we saw her suicide attempt as she TOLD us her feelings about not belonging and not knowing who she was (wait did she say that?? if we look back at that scene will it have more resonance now?) Her lack of faith that she would be accepted as part of the family on the ground, let alone Bellamy’s girlfriend. The way she was willing to leave to save spacekru from Octavia and then willing to go on a suicide mission to get back in. The morality argument with Raven about what to do with Shaw, The sisterhood between her and Raven and her and Emori. The way she appreciates everyone in spacekru, even when they’re dicks. Her assumption of military leadership. Her defense of Bellamy against Clarke’s treachery but then her immediate acceptance of Clarke onto her side when she switches her loyalty. The way she forgave Clarke first for her sins and betrayal. Like this is all narrative and character development that tells us who she is and where she comes from. THEN in season 6 we start getting new hints about her. The eclipse psychosis which revealed her struggle with being “just a spy” which did NOT go away, but was reinforced multiple times with people’s reactions to her behavior as well as her relating to the zealots of the flame AND sanctum. And don’t forget that she herself gave us the exposition of what happened when her parents died, she nearly died in a fire, and Nia took her to be an assassin. (her name was ash. i wonder if that was her birth name or she took or was given a new name to represent who she was when she was taken by Nia? Also. Echo. She’s an echo of the first echo. damn.)

This flashback is the latest in a LONG line of narrative tools meant to give us Echo’s backstory and character development. And when fandom says that Echo hasn’t had character development before this, I get frustrated.

Because it means people aren’t paying attention... for whatever reason... to the story on screen. And they are missing an element of the story. And kind of blaming the writers for not giving her character development. WHEN ITS RIGHT THERE. 

If y’all didn’t get the overarching storyline of Echo’s story, it’s not because it wasn’t in the narrative. It’s because you ignored it. 

I predicted it last hiatus. It was so clear I told you we’d see it. I didn’t have the particulars or the echo/ash twist but I knew what her story arc would be, how it would relate to the natives, how it would interfere with b/e, her insecurities. I don’t know how it’s going to end because they can do a lot with it, But Echo’s story was there. If you guys only paid attention when we saw a little girl going through hell, that was, well, okay, that’s what you needed. You needed it to be blatant. 

But I knew she was a little girl soldier who went through hell way back in s3. And all i did was pay attention. 

listen. i’m sorry. i know i’m snippy. i’ve just been really disappointed in fandom so i find that things that wouldn’t bother me before are now pissing me off. 

but in essence. i know the flashback was excellent. the writers didn’t fail because they didn’t do that before. they did plenty. 

Anonymous said:lol at people saying the eclipse thing meant Jason was slowing down bellarke development. like, don't get me wrong, them being cutesy and friendly is cool, but they still have years of things they need to get through and yeah, maybe they needed the raw power of two suns and a moon to get those things out, but B has some lingering hurt feelings, C has issues with self hatred and now they get to deal with it head first instead of dancing around it. GOOD.

They say the bellarke eclipse psychosis is SLOWING DOWN bellarke?

WTF?

It’s like getting drunk and having all your repressed emotions come out. It’s like the buffy musical episode where the spell made them expose their deepest darkest fears and secrets and pain. It’s why people do that sex pollen fanfic... because removing their normal boundaries and politeness and expectations from the equation means that the characters and motivation and feelings BREAK WIDE OPEN.

This is a narrative tool to FINALLY speak about all the things they have kept inside. 

You do this to make them CONFRONT their pain. 

Meanwhile, they think the b/e relationship ISN’T there to slow down bellarke, when that is it’s purpose. One of three purposes. To show Bellamy’s growth. To cause conflict with the blake siblings. AND TO ACT AS AN OBSTACLE TO KEEP BELLARKE APART AND ALSO MAKE THEM RECOGNIZE THEIR ROMANTIC FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER.

How do these people become so WILLFULLY ignorant.

Like. This isn’t complex, here. This is flat out romantic trope 101. Get ‘em drunk, make them get their feelings out. Make them CRAZY. Make them do something to push them all the way. PSYCHOSIS WHERE YOUR DEMONS COME OUT AND YOU HURT THE ONES YOU LOVE LETS GO.

Meanwhile, Bellamy is going to have to face the bruise on Clarke’s neck that he caused, and know that he did it. He almost killed her because her dying, and her leaving him behind was the most traumatic thing in his life.

I just.

I mean.

2/2 Bellamy is doom to fail. How are we suppose to believe that Bellamy is going to end up with Echo ? If the writers put Bellamy and a character like Raven for example together, we could have thought that Bellamy had a chance to not end up with Clarke. But because it’s Echo we’re already know that this relationship is going to end (even if Clarke didn’t exist). SO this storyline is not believable because we know Echo is just an obstacle and not a true love interest.

To be honest, I don’t understand your problem. You don’t love or hate Echo. That’s not a problem. That’s just your preference or lack thereof for a character. You are allowed your favorites. If you don’t find her interesting, she doesn’t resonate for you. That doesn’t mean she’s “wrong” that just means she’s not your thing. I find her interesting enough. She’s had a few years of development that no one was complaining about other characters not having, fan favorites, like Roan or Luna or Gina or Niylah. But even so, she’s a secondary character and secondary characters get less development. If you don’t feel her, That’s just your taste. Some characters you love. Some you don’t.  Not a problem.

And then the other part. You have a problem because the story being told as an endgame romance is Bellarke, therefore you don’t believe B/E will be endgame.

????

This is the opposite of a problem for me. This is one of the reasons I keep reinforcing with people that B/E is a romantic obstacle, not the main relationship of the story. Which is and always has been Clarke and Bellamy.

You’re upset because they didn’t switch the story to being about B/E now that they gave Bellamy a girlriend? It’s not SUPPOSED to be about b/e, so it’s not about b/e. They made it that way ON PURPOSE, showing us Clarke surviving alone, knowing she did it while talking to Bellamy every day, and then switching to a scene of Bellamy with Echo telling her nothing was going to change, when we KNOW everything will change when Bellamy finds out Clarke is alive. Doubt b/e will last?? YES. You’re supposed to.

You think it’s a FLAW that you don’t believe Bellamy is going to end up with Echo? You think that’s a failure of story that you don’t love B/E and aren’t invested in their untold romance in the face of Bellarke’s epic romance, and don’t believe he’ll choose Echo over Clarke? Rather than THE STORY.

It is a classic love triangle situation in a romance. The main romantic couple are soulmates and in love, separated by the world and a romantic obstacle. The story is how will the Main Characters finally get together. You’re not REALLY saying that you think in Pride and Prejudice, you should have REALLY believed that Darcy was REALLY going to marry Anne De Bourgh, are you? NO. You’re supposed to be afraid and to feel tension over “will they won’t they” but you’re not actually supposed to WANT Bellamy to drop his main love interest and move on to someone else who the story is not about and who the story has invested no time in exploring. Not only are YOU not invested in b/e, the STORY is not invested in b/e. Not showing us the story is evidence of that AND WHY we’re not invested in it. That’s deliberate.

Will the main character choose the hero of the story or the other girl?  IF the story were NOT about their relationship, maybe he would.  BUT because the story IS about Clarke and Bellamy, he won’t. The fear has to be real enough to cause uncertainty, but not so real that the audience stops believing in the main relationship. The story is still full on Bellarke. And B/E is a romantic obstacle– and you state this is so. This is a story convention. That doesn’t mean it’s bad writing. It means it’s a story we have heard and are familiar with. The familiarity helps us follow it, have expectations and anticipate the ending we are looking for. It gives us a framework.

But as you can see with fandom, there are QUITE a few people who believe that B/E is endgame now and Belllarke is dead, so while you don’t buy it, and I am enjoying the romantic angst, it isn’t quite true that it isn’t believable, is it? They have done enough work in the narrative to have a sizable portion of b/e shippers and for the bellarke fandom to be torn apart over fears that Bellarke will NOT survive.

Jason HIMSELF has told us that The 100 is and always has been about Clarke and her relationship with Bellamy. He has told us they are soulmates. And despite all the extra-textual speculation and commentary about what that means, YOU personally can see that the main romance, the main relationship, is that of Clarke and Bellamy. You make a very good point, that if they had put Bellamy with RAVEN, we might believe that was endgame. And I have to tell you, if they had put Bellamy with Raven it would have meant one of two things. That they intended to make Bellarke as painful and tragic as possible OR that Bellarke was NOT endgame and Br/aven was. Putting Bellamy with raven would have had me thinking they had changed the story to NOT be romantic Bellarke, no doubt. Putting him with Echo reinforced that Bellarke is endgame. No doubt. This is a story choice. It is a story choice to TELL A BELLARKE ROMANCE. They gave him the love interest to HEIGHTEN Bellarke tension. And it IS believable enough to be a real obstacle, but not so tied into the story and characters arcs that we are invested in it.

I mean. First. Enough people believe in B/E and have lost faith in Bellarke to think it IS believable. And second, you still believing in Bellarke is NOT A PROBLEM. I mean b/e is a narrative obstacle, a romantic obstacle, so THAT’S a problem within the story, but if you can see it, it shouldn’t be a problem for you. You following the story and knowing who the story is about IS NOT A PROBLEM.

Just go with it and ENJOY finding out how Bellarke manage to overcome the b/E obstacle, what stories it will bring up, what OTHER issues it will bring to light, and then you can feel satisfied when it is overcome and Bellarke can finally be together, despite Bellamy’s loyalty to Echo, to his family, and their desires to be the good guys who don’t screw over their people. 

I honestly don’t understand why you have a problem with any of this. You’re pointing out the story and saying “hey, why do I still believe in bellarke??? how dare!!!” Nah, nonny. You’re SUPPOSED to still believe in them. 

I think it’s something weird about fandom. They feel the need to call every element of story a “bad” thing. I think the stories have convinced us that they’re real, so anytime they can peek behind the curtain and see a hint of how the story is engineered, they say it is “bad writing” rather than just, well, how you tell a story. You’re not finding the FLAW in the storytelling, you are starting to understand how the pieces fit together.

It might be EASIER to just sit back and allow the story to take you over as if it was real life and random and you couldn’t tell how it was going to work out, but when you start identifying story patterns, it allows you to enjoy stories at a different level. Narrative devices or conventions aren’t evil things that the writers are doing to the audience, they’re just the tools of telling the story and engaging the audience.

Yeah. 

Because Bellamy is The Heart, and his struggles are about leadership and knowing what is right, having a big picture, taking authority. His JOURNEY is about The Head. His development isn’t about emotions. So his emotional relationships aren’t reflecting upon that.

Clarke is The Head. And her struggles are about understanding people, forgiving and loving them, letting them in and trusting them and not hiding. Dealing with individuals rather than the abstract. So we need to see her interacting intimately with people. Because otherwise she is separate.

IT ISN”T ABOUT ROMANCE AT ALL. IT IS ABOUT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. The romances are tools to show Clarke and Bellamy’s development. Finn was how they broke Clarke, but losing the delinquents was what broke Bellamy, failing as a leader. Lxa was how Clarke came back to her own center and learned to love again, and Bellamy’s lesson there was about stepping into leadership and trusting his own judgement. When he’s been in relationships, it was more about them indicating to us he had been living a full life. Gina AND Echo. Echo particular points to his character development and his ability to incorporate The Head and Clarke’s teachings into his personality.

Niylah was Clarke reaching out to another human being… but her people being too close and too intimate. Niylah was a bridge to other people. 

Here’s the thing we miss about Bellamy and Clarke’s relationships…. THEY are the main relationship, so their OTHER relationships are ALL narrative tools to show how they are growing.  Linctavia and Kabby and Marper and Memori? They are significant for themselves. But the most significant relationship in Bellamy and Clarke’s life is BELLARKE, whether they have been romantic or NOT. (except for Flarke, that had it’s own thing. but also was before Bellarke was an actual partnership.)

Uh. Well, not the ONLY reason. No. Not really. My guess is that Raven and Bellamy probably DID have something going on the ring for a while. But because they are not romantic, it did not last. They don’t go together. Actually, I kind of think that everyone kind of got it on on the ring. In pairs and multiples. There’s not a lot to do in space. 

Putting Echo and Bellamy together was a NARRATIVE CHOICE. It told the story they wanted to tell.

There are elements to br/aven that are missing for that story. Most importantly, the element of forgiveness, acceptance, of the enemy being just like yourself. Bellamy and Raven are kind of too much alike to play with the “opposites” theme. There’s no yin/yang with Bellamy and Raven. They’re two smart, badass people who come from exactly the same place. In reality, that might make them a good couple. In a story, there’s no tension there.

The 100 is NOT just telling a story about ships. The characters and relationships are reflective of the bigger themes. That’s how they TELL the bigger stories. If it were a soap opera, sure. Maybe it would have been b/r instead of b/e because of the drama and the ultimate switch to clarke, but if it were a soap opera, it wouldn’t have explored the issues of forgiveness, unity, enmity, loyalty and family.

Those are all Issues which we needed in s5 and are going to need in s6. Each ship is a microcosm of the whole story, telling a part of the story within their romance. If the ships AREN’T a tool to tell the story, then they don’t belong in this story. A story between Bellamy and Raven would have what tension? They haven’t had a conflict since s1 and the radio. They’ve been allies the entire time. They snark at each other without malice, Raven has observed his relationships without jealousy and needled him about it. As friends they are cute and supportive and kinda bitchy. A fun friendship to watch, but not something that gives us anything to sink our teeth into. If Bellamy and Raven were a couple, if they had put them together on the ring, there would have been no story… or at least not a story that fit this post apocalyptic survival show. THAT’S why they didn’t put them together. Because the only story it would have yielded would have been a soap opera and tragic romance, and THAT IS NOT THIS STORY. 

They didn’t use B/R because it didn’t fit the themes of the story. They used B/E because it fit ALL THE THEMES and showed Bellamy’s major character development. 

It’s not about ships. It’s about stories. And there were many reasons to pair Bellamy and Echo, not the least of which being, it’s completely and utterly reasonable that two healthy, hot, unattached people, stuck in an enclosed space for 6 years will end up getting together. 

But, ALSO, if you look at the relationship stories they ARE telling, B/R would have made problems, not only with Bellarke, but also with Princess Mechanic. MAJOR problems. Because Raven and Clarke have already done that. To put Raven and Bellamy together on ring would have meant something important to the major relationships of the main characters. It would have changed the primary nature of Bellarke as the center of the show, and Raven as support to BOTH Clarke AND Bellamy. It would also have reversed the previous narrative of Raven’s character development, as she declared she wanted to come first in a relationship, giving her a partner who spent 5 seasons putting someone else first. NO. Not only that, but B/R would NEVER have given us the added tension between Bellamy and OCTAVIA. If Bellamy had kissed Raven in front of Octavia, there’s no way that it would have raised her ire. It would NOT have caused conflict, it wouldn’t have given Octavia a hold on Bellamy OR Clarke. Lack of tension means no escalation. Means no worry about family, loyalty, or how far some of the characters would go, no breaking of the cycle, no redemption, no forgiveness, no reassessment of what family means.

B/R would not have been a good story, it would have lowered tensions instead of raising them, and it wouldn’t have served the writers to tell the story they wanted to tell. Therefore. They didn’t do it.

Gina didn’t really have a role that would have fit into the narrative. She was there to connect Bellamy to the people, to show that he was trying to normalize and be positive after Mount Weather.

She was  a sweet girl and as much a survivor as any skyperson (they are, even though they weren’t on the ground) but there wasn’t a part for her in the story as it was. Other than as one of the arkadians. 

I know she became real to us, but her character was honestly just a supporting character to show Bellamy’s character growth and get us invested in what happened at MW. Her death did push her into desperation, but it was almost more because he didn’t have anyone to call him to order. Clarke was gone. And he was mad at her. Raven was in terrible pain and dealing with her own problems. He was mad at Kane. Octavia wasn’t speaking to him. Gina might have pulled him back from the edge. But he had Monty who wasn’t strong enough to tell him no, and then Pike who was manipulating him and pushing his anger and feelings of helplessness. 

Gina needed to be there to make it more painful, for him and for us. It hurts, but it makes the story better. Just like Charlotte move the plot forward and made Clarke and Bellamy into leaders. Or Tor Lemkin made the culling real for us and pushed Abby and Kane to grow.