Outlining a Story With Strong Manga Elements?

[inkbrush]

Hi lemmasoftians!

The project I'm currently working on has some very manga-ish roots to them. (The main concept behind the game is actually shoujo manga sooooo) However, as I've outlined . . . and outlined again . . . And again and again, blah blah blah . . . I've just found it utterly complicated and difficult for me to write an outline that really fits the manga-ish feel.

What I mean is that with a manga, there is the central idea behind the story, but for the story-line itself, it jumps around. It doesn't really focus on one conflict for more than a few said chapters. And with the manga I've read at least, there's kind of a focus on one problem at a time, fixing that problem, and then moving on. Which isn't like novels at all, which is where I'm getting stumped here.

To a certain degree they have their similarities but everything I've been outlining just isn't working with me.
So, I was wondering if anyone had any tips? Or was maybe willing to help me develop my character route outlines?

[Dylan_Bain]

I'd reccommend simply writing the story like a manga, as if you were to publish it as a comic, and then turn that into a visual novel.

[Juno]

It's hard to say without knowing exactly what is going on in the story itself, but if you are stumped on replicating the manga conflict style of tackling on issue at a time while also focusing on the overall story, why not use the different character routes for that.

Like, have the overall plot of the story, but once the story starts branching, it could tackle one issue (or more) with each character and when that is resolved, it is game over for the path and you can start the next game for the next path. Then once you complete every character's path, the "true ending" is unlocked which simply pulls all the stories together and lets you finish the overall plot and get the full ending, and you could make multiple endings that way as well.

Each character path could jump around and include various other characters at different times. I'm not sure if this has any relevance to your story at all.

[LeonDaydreamer]

Hey Inkbrush,

So you'll notice that most manga is really episodic. Like you mention, following one plotline for a number of chapters until its conclusion, and then introducing the next. Something like Naruto has a domino effect with conflicts lined up one after the other to be resolved, while something like Sailor Moon just deals with issues as they arise. At any rate, If that is the format you are trying to reproduce, then that's one way you might do it, just choose one plotline to follow and draw it to its conclusion. Afterwards, you can make a 'chapter 2' with the next plotline.

If you want to jump back and forth between plotlines, that's totally doable as well (IQ84 and Cloud Atlas are good examples of that), in fact that can be a really engaging way to slowly reveal a greater connection between the two that wasn't apparent to begin with.

Other options might be to nest them, as in resolving issues A and B is part of resolving greater issue C; or scatter them, like giving the player the freedom to spend time with person A (and developing plotline A) or spend time with person B (and developing plotline B). I don't know if any of this helps... :-)