Quote:
Originally Posted by Timdog
I think inner thought works very well in a first person narrative because we are supposed to feel like we ARE the character so we should be able to know their thoughts. Since you don't get true first person from movies and anime, it doesn't seem as natural to dive into their thoughts all the time. This is mostly because we see everything as an outside observer and not directly through the character's eyes.
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Yes indeed, and that's one of the limitations of visual art with respect to literature. Pictures, on their own, aren't very good at communicating thought. They are, on the other hand, superb at conveying emotions.
So, a different approach is required to communicate "inner thought" in movies and animation. Anime, for example, has a tendency to rely on nuances to suggest what a character is thinking, even when he doesn't say anything. The best examples I can think of at the moment appear in the final arc of
Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal.
Spoiler for scenes from that anime:
When Tomoe, Kenshin's wife, saw the ghost of her first husband, not a word is exchanged between them. Yet, there was no need. It's very clear, from their expressions and body language alone, what they said to each other.
At the finale, as Kenshin peered forlornly at the burning palace he had helped destroy, he mouthed something inaudible to the audience. We don't know exactly what he said but, again, given our contextual knowledge and Kenshin's body language, it's also very easy to guess what he was thinking.
I empathise with the difficulties you encounter when writing. While I do write and edit for a living, I am very far from being a fiction writer. Simply put, I lack the imagination. That said, there are many kinds of writing, and not all professional writers/editors work in fiction.
I'd encourage you to persevere with writing, even if you intend to focus eventually on video-editing, because I believe it would help develop related skills. Just as how pictures can inspire a story, a well-written story can also influence the way you'd edit a picture or movie.
As I've said, a good writer strives to show rather than tell. The same process applies to video-editing too. For example, how would you edit a picture or film to bring out the emotions behind a character? An author wonders about the same thing except, in his case, he'd be thinking about the right words to use, rather than about colours, lighting and cinematography.
So, it's helpful to imagine writing as a way of organising your thoughts into a coherent narrative, a way of training the way you think. After all, there's presumably a reason why you're taking up this creative writing class, no?