i was asked to talk about slice-of-life stories today. now. that’s interesting. i’ve never written anything remotely.

ok, maybe i have written a couple of flashes that qualify as that. i certainly see them as that. and even presented them like that to a critique group. but i wasn’t planning to make them that. they just turned out that way.

so. what to talk about slice-of-life…

they are some of my favourite –emotionally– kinds of stories to read. partially because they are potentially endless? as in, during my life-time, i could write everyday about one character, one day of their life at a time, and have a story lasting until i die. i’m not sure other people would ever write like that, but i keep coming back to this.

anyway. i’m drawn to them, for their offer of just spending time with someone that you’ve come to know and, (usually), come to like. that last part is not even needed, is it? i’m drawn to them, because they offer the prospect of controlled change. you get to know the characters, and… that’s it. you get to know them. from my experience of them, plot twists are very much frowned upon. the characters are presented challenges, then, with the help of the established cast of support characters, overcome them. or not, opening up space for a kind of story arc to develop, or the introduction of more support cast.

and i think that’s pretty much it? that’s the beauty of it, to me. the simplicity. and the very controlled introduction of change. there’s no heroic journey. there’s no plot twist. there’s no need for cliff-hangers, is there?

that might actually be very high on my list of favourite things about slice-of-life.

but. i do think that something like the concept of a volta , a tone or emotional turn, change, in the story in very well suited to slice-of-life stories. their presence could indicate the start of the resolution of the episode. or take the place that a cliff-hanger would take in a more traditional episodic story, indicating that “this phase is done, time to move to the next one.”

ok. that’s something to actually have a look, if i ever decide to make this a research thing, and not just a “this is what my memory of reading these stories feel like and i’m making sense of things as the words come to paper. and i’m rambling.

so. if i where to actually try and write one season of an episodic slice of life, what would be my plan? at this time, without having written any yet?

well, i like self-similar structures a lot. so, i would want the first part of a “season” to be about introductions, and establishment. of the cast, of the mood, of the tone, of the theme. the episodes would present very minor challenges and their voltas very soft, completely resolving the challenge.

then a short “phase-change” sequence of connected episodes, presenting a major challenge showing the cast struggle and ending the first in the sequence with them realizing that they are ill-equipped to resolve it. the other episodes in this sequence would then each end in a harder volta leading to something –but not *everything– of the challenge being resolved. and keeping some part –either the kernel of the issue or i even preferably a spin-off not noticed by the cast– of the challenge unsolved, creating an undertone that will be present on most –or a selected key– episodes of the rest of the season. i think that’s a place that there’s a lot of room to change the flow from season to season? maybe?

then the rest, i would make a slow tackling of the remaining issues. the episodes could have stronger or weaker voltas depending on what i wanted the rhythm to be. i think stronger would give a feeling of things happening fast, even a bit out of control, while slower can give a sense of the problem being impossible? the first-one feels like would give rise to feelings of helplessness, while the second, hopelessness, but that’s something i would have to experiment to be sure.

then the ending, i would start with another phase-change sequence, the cast realizing what they need to do to solve the principal challenge, then a short sequence actually resolving it. i would not use any loose (filler?) episodes on this last stretch.

and that’s all i can make up for now.

but maybe i’ll make this a research topic in THE FUUUUTURE.

and be warned that i’m probably using volta wrongly here, but it’s the closest concept that i could remember that fits what i’m trying to describe.