Visual Novels... With Expository Non-Fiction Writing?

[noeinan]

I have been killing myself over not being able to write fiction for years, and because of that I haven't been getting games out. But if there's one thing I can do, it's write in an educational/expository fashion! I've been doing it for years in various educational forums and if I want to make games, need writing, and can't do fiction writing, then by George I've just got to make it work with what I've got. >_<

So! My question to writers in here, is what are my options with this kind of writing? I know that I can go straight into making educational vns, like Uncle Mugen's game on the history of marijuana legalization. Are there other more creative ways to use this kind of writing? Would it be better to release a series of short educational games, or collect similar topics all into one game, with buttons/navigation? Could I find a way to add links to sources, or other materials? Maybe I can add in gameplay elements or stories that develop along the way? Or is that road going to lead to disappointment(doing both aspects poorly), and I should just go educational and stick with it?

What are you guys' thoughts? Much appreciated!

[truefaiterman]

I think, educational games aside, your best choice may be to get a partner specialised in writing the fiction, so that person can develop a plot and it's characters, while you expose a setting. I'm sure there will be multiple ways yo play with that.

You can also colaborate in games that have any kind of in-game-library, like Hakuouki's Enciclopedia or The Elder Scrolls's lore scattered around the world. Any kind of glosary might need you.

[RotGtIE]

I think, educational games aside, your best choice may be to get a partner specialised in writing the fiction, so that person can develop a plot and it's characters, while you expose a setting. I'm sure there will be multiple ways yo play with that.

You can also colaborate in games that have any kind of in-game-library, like Hakuouki's Enciclopedia or The Elder Scrolls's lore scattered around the world. Any kind of glosary might need you.

I was hesitating to reply to the OP, but this post is on point and I second it. Encyclopedic knowledge is extremely useful to have when writing fiction, and people are more likely to experience tangential learning while seeking entertainment than they are to deliberately pursue strictly educational pieces.

That said, in any fiction, the story comes first. Technical information can aid or enable the plot, but it shouldn't drive the narrative. When you start talking about reality and facts in your fiction, it's easy to slip into (and be accused of) preachy behavior that readers are not too stupid to catch and be disgusted by.

[noeinan]

I'd been trying to form a team, and in fact my partner is a very good narrative writer, but my problem is that I currently have a lot more free time, drive, and emotional need to complete a work than my partner. (I have also tried cominibg with folks from lemmasoft to varying degrees of success.)

I basically agree that a story should be about the story-- and I think it's possible to add educational elements without getting preachy/overbearing. (Optional encyclopedias work, but also a limited classroom setting like the tests in Persona 4 or the class descriptions in Long Live the Queen were nice.)

What I was thinking of doing, so that I can write it myself, is making an educational game, so the purpose is education. Kind of like various educational YouTube channels, like Crash Course: World History.

You can add humor, but folks watching are there to learn so it's not like it's being shoved down your throat when you're trying to romance a character.

It's sounding like it's better to flat out call and present it as an educational game, so that people don't feel tricked or looked down on. (Aka. adding minimal other elements so that it is clearly education with dressing.)

I figure that at the very least, making something like this could build my confidence, and possibly attract future writing partners who are more free/motivated? I don't think very many gamers specifically go for educational games, though, so I wouldn't expect them to be very popular.

[Kailoto]

You know, I'm reminded of a book I read recently, the Manga Guide to Relativity. Just like it sounds, it's a crash course in special and general relativity that's mostly explained through manga format. It stood out to me not only because it was fun and interesting to read, but also because it actually did quite a good job explaining the basics of relativity and showing examples - it was something that any high school student with a year of physics under their belt would be able to understand.

If you really want to go with an educational game (which sounds like a great idea, honestly), I think as long as the player knows it's going to be educational going it, it'll be fine, better even, to dress it up with as much visual novel-y tropes. I mean, if chemistry was taught in visual novel format, I probably wouldn't have failed that class for never turning work in. XD In that case you can focus on creating "lessons" and get someone else to find a narrative to build around it.

Seriously, the more I write about this idea the more I like it.

[noeinan]

Hm, that makes sense. Maybe I'll check that book out as an example.

[YossarianIII]

Have you read any of Scott McCloud's comics about comics, like Understanding Comics or Making Comics? They're really great, and for people who like comics, he is generally considered one of the best "creative expository" writers out there.

His books are educational, in the sense that the main goal is to educate readers, but they're also entertaining and totally rooted in the tradition of comics, instead of just being textbooks with pictures. It sounds like his books are in the same vein as that manga book about relativity.

As Kailoto said, I think it'd be interesting for an educational VN to somehow incorporate the tropes and mechanics of a typical VN. Actually, it'd be interesting to see more "creative nonfiction" VNs in general. Nonfiction isn't really my specialty, but if someone makes the VN equivalent of Maus, I will be the first in line to give them all my money.

[Kuiper]

To take things in a completely different direction, you could try writing creative nonfiction--that is, nonfiction writing that is focused on conveying a narrative and applies the sensibilities of fiction writing (while still staying factually accurate). Many journalistic pieces fall into this. For a good example of this, read The Girl in the Window, a story from 2008 about a feral child discovered in Tampa, Florida.

Moneyball is a great example of a creative nonfiction book (it chronicles the events of a baseball season from the perspective of the team's general manager), several years ago it was adapted into a film starring Brad Pitt. The book Accidental Billionaires (which was later adapted into the movie The Social Network) is somewhat similar, though it's quite a bit more speculative and can't truly be considered nonfiction (though it is "based on a true story").

One of my favorite creative nonfiction books is "Finders Keepers" by Mark Bowden; here's an excerpt that highlights his writing style--the book is a factual account of actual events (as best as he was able to construct them from interviews and police reports), but it reads like a novel. It's a very fun, very quick read; I recommend checking it out.

[PyTom]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... busa&hl=en

Is a good example of a non-fiction - if moe-anthromorphized - visual novel. IIRC, there's also an iOS port.

[Kailoto]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... busa&hl=en

Is a good example of a non-fiction - if moe-anthromorphized - visual novel. IIRC, there's also an iOS port.

Oooh, that looks interesting. Not too expensive either. I'll have to give it a look.

[noeinan]

There was also an anime I watched recently-- Anime de Wakaru Shinryounaika, which is basically teaching about mental illness through a highly sexualized comedy skit. While I was definitely off put by the way they dealt with a cross dressing character in one episode, it was educational and worth watching if you aren't going to go into a raging fury over transphobia. (I did a little, and definitely wouldn't recommend it to other trans folk, but worth looking at if someone wants to learn about mental illness or do research on education delivered with humor.)

I'm not sure I'm too confident in my own ability to write jokes, though... Hm.

[Kailoto]

There was also an anime I watched recently-- Anime de Wakaru Shinryounaika, which is basically teaching about mental illness through a highly sexualized comedy skit. While I was definitely off put by the way they dealt with a cross dressing character in one episode, it was educational and worth watching if you aren't going to go into a raging fury over transphobia. (I did a little, and definitely wouldn't recommend it to other trans folk, but worth looking at if someone wants to learn about mental illness or do research on education delivered with humor.)

I'm not sure I'm too confident in my own ability to write jokes, though... Hm.

Come to think of it, there have been a lot more of these "explore a particular thing" stories recently... or maybe I'm just finding them all now. Anime like Shirobako, which goes into heavy detail about the anime industry while still developing characters and narrative, seem to be in vogue. Silver Spoon is another example of an informative-yet-engaging story.

I guess in those examples the defining aspect is the setting; the characters are placed in a setting that the audience knows little about, and the writers work in little bits of information here and there. The only drawback is that it's much more narrative-centric than the previous examples; if the story and characters are weak, it'll lack the pull to keep people engaged.