[2022 Year in Review] Storytelling lessons

[2022 Year in Review] Storytelling lessons

by missvictrix

I almost didn’t write an essay this year — not because I didn’t make it through a truckload of dramas or have lots of words to share, but because it was a rather lackluster drama year for me.

You see, I like to squee and squeal — yes, like a farm animal — when I watch my dramas, and I feel like I got less of that this year, and more of that moment where you only have the word “Really!?”

From dumb plot moves to bad endings to generally disappointing execution, this year might have felt meh, but it did offer a lot of lessons around storytelling, as I asked myself questions about what each story was doing. Or not doing. So, below is a selection of the dramas I watched (or dropped) this year, and some conclusions I’ve drawn from them. This, of course, is entirely personal and not at all critical in nature. It’s mostly made up of my own thoughts on stories, storytelling, and creating; the lessons I gleaned from these dramas might not be the ones you did, and that’s okay, because stories are personal — and I take them damn personally.

 

Our Beloved Summer
Storytelling lesson: A story can live on its tender moments

I have pretty much nothing bad to say about this drama, which I truly enjoyed. But months and months after watching it, what still stands out to me are its tender moments. I can think of three in particular: our hero putting his head in his mother’s lap and getting comforted; our heroine locked in a hug with her grandmother; and the black-and-white sequence that so beautifully captured a moment in time when two people knew they loved each other deeply. The storytelling lesson tells itself: those tender moments gave the drama life, and they’re the things I’m still thinking about. Stories need these.

Forecasting Love and Weather
Storytelling lesson: Don’t make your metaphors do all the work

Metaphors must be used delicately and carefully — that is what I learned from slogging through this drama, which had basically no appealing qualities or characters to me. What it did have was overwrought weather metaphors that were meant to attach thematically the episode’s reactive/emotional plot lines. If this is going to be done, it must be done sparingly, and be excruciatingly well-written. Otherwise, it feels heavy-handed, loud, and like the writer used a crowbar at some point while writing. Don’t do this. Respect the metaphor!

 

Business Proposal
Storytelling lesson: Give the people what they want

This started out as the drama that was set to deliver all the squeals and squeeing I mentioned above — and don’t get me wrong, I love it dearly. But my live-watching love also faded as the story reached its final four episodes or so. I started to wonder why the drama was doing certain things, instead of delighting in what I was seeing. Why set up such a colorful and fantastic grandpa character if he’s only going to wind up fulfilling a cookie cutter plot purpose? Why not turn the tables on that trope, and have fun? Why not give us a wedding? Why give us a separation period? The questions go on, but the lesson is clear: give the people what they want. You set the expectations, so keep them. And, maintain your rhetoric all the way through.

 

Tomorrow
Storytelling lesson: Don’t neglect your secondary characters

Tomorrow was bursting with weekly story arcs and guest appearances that created the flow of the story and generated its primary content, but they also worked a bit against the drama’s secondary characters. There was so much more to mine and have fun with when we look at Yoon Ji-on and Lee Soo-hyuk’s characters. Why build such brilliant characters and character dynamics and then not take advantage of everything you’ve set up? Make your secondary characters work for the story, and don’t forget them in your fuss to tell your wider story.

 

Twenty Five Twenty One
Storytelling lesson: Plan your punchline with requisite caution

A part of me kind of knew that I was going to be set up for heartbreak before I even watched this drama, but when the Jaurim soundtrack first hit, I knew in my gut that the entire drama was created for that song, that moment, that bittersweetness. Now, while there are very mixed reactions to the drama’s ending, it’s not the ending facts themselves that I am drilling into here, but the fact that if you’re pre-planning to make your audience cry ugly tears (which, not a bad goal), make sure you do it well and fully. Don’t even leave a shadow of a chance that those ugly tears could become angry tears. Land your punchline with all you’ve got; your whole story is riding on it.

 

Welcome to Wedding Hell
Storytelling lesson: Dimensionality is crucial

If there were a drama that made me actually want to gag this year, it was this one — and that’s sad, because I adore Lee Jin-wook, and I was completely open to the prospect of an old school drama setup of typical pre-wedding hijinks. But this was not that. Despite having many tools in its hands, this drama was flatter than road pizza, and every scene felt like it had been created just so characters would be forced to talk to each other in order for the plot to move to its next wrinkle. Dimensionality is crucial. Life is crucial. Without those things, you just have actors reading from a script (and not even a good one).

 

Yumi’s Cells 2
Storytelling lesson: Careful you don’t tease your audience too much, or they might not forgive you

As a big fan of this drama and its world, I dove into Season 2 without a second thought, not realizing that the drama would not only not form a conclusion to its love lines, but that it would make them into more of a game than was actually fun. I appreciated that they were keeping to the webtoon, and it’s not the dissolution of the romance with Bobby as much as it was the push-and-pull between that romance, the return of Woong, and the lack of commitment from the writers to pick a side, already. This is not a love triangle drama, and there’s no need to keep up suspense just to tease us. Don’t tease your audience needlessly, and don’t treat them cheaply. They might not forgive you by the time you try to land your ending.

 

Somebody
Storytelling lesson: Think about what you’re putting out into the world

Now, I didn’t even watch this drama, but even the trailer brought up a storytelling lesson for me, which was thinking about the story you’re telling, and what impact it will have on the world when you set it loose. Creating a story and putting it out into the world for other people to watch or read is actually a responsibility, I think. Not every story needs to be optimistic and hopeful — there’s definitely a place for cathartic tragedy and dark storylines — but also, what does your story say about the world? About people? About you? Think about your story as a whole, and how it will impact people.

 

Alchemy of Souls
Storytelling lesson: Make your audience fall in love with your characters

This is an easy lesson. I once got advice that when you’re creating, you have to love your story more than anyone else — and I think this jumps off the page and comes to life when we think of Alchemy of Souls. This world and these characters are clearly adored by their writers, and that… well, it’s positively addictive. Make your audience fall in love with your characters, and they will follow them anywhere.

 
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[2022 Year in Review] Storytelling lessons
Source: Buzz Pinay Daily