I was reading the latest issue of the Nightcrawler mini-series (it’s great having a son who buys comics) and something hit me about the way the story was unfolding – the writer keeps having characters tell us what’s happened instead of showing us it happening. In such a visual medium like comics you’d expect that the writer would be more than happy to write some action Or is it a sign that he likes to get as many words onto the pages to justify his position as writer. Showing action, after all, means you don’t get to write the dialogue that explains it. I think that sometimes a writer can forget that it’s the story-telling that counts, not the words on the page.<\/p>\n
Similarly, I’m not a fan of games where you continually discover items (notes, journals, letters, etc.) or meet characters that tell you something that’s already happened instead of showing it to you as it’s happening. Sometimes it can be as trivial as a character saying that his boss is mad at him, but it would heighten the drama if you’d walked in on the two of them having the fight.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, though, budget or time constraints stop you from showing every event in a dramatic way, but surely there are better ways to tell a story than to have a convenient journal lying around where you can’t help but pick it up.
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I was reading the latest issue of the Nightcrawler mini-series (it’s great having a son who buys comics) and something hit me about the way the story was unfolding – the writer keeps having characters tell us what’s happened instead of showing us it happening. In such a visual medium like comics you’d expect that … <\/p>\n