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TheLemmaLlama
Jul '22
2

So I've tried to look up the following:

"stories where someone is about to do something bad but is talked down by their friends (or anyone really) but in a convincing way that doesn't feel talk-no-jutsu-ish"

"stories where there's a controversy surrounding a character/event and there are online debates/flame wars in-universe with comments arguing for both sides"

Any oddly specific scenes you've tried to look up? :stuck_out_tongue:

(Or recommendations for what I've tried to look for? XD)

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Kalebell
Jul '22

That's actually similar to what I'm including in one of my stories lol.

Well I would probably want to see a really old main character or someone described as "ugly" but in a way where it's actually normal in that universe.

TheLemmaLlama
Jul '22

Ooh, show me when you get up to that part :smiley: (if you remember :P)

RobertBMarks
Jul '22

I once had this idea for a hypothetical James Bond movie...

Basically, the premise would have been that there is this terrorist organization that has been gathering all the world's most dangerous terrorists together, and Bond is sent out on a worldwide hunt for clues to find and kill its leader before the organization actually does something...

...but, in reality, the organization is a front created by an MI6 agent as part of a forgotten operation, and the leader just wants to "come in from the cold" and WANTS to be found, and has deliberately left clues leading directly to him...which Bond has ignored, thinking they are a red herring...

...leading to a scene in which the two finally meet, Bond reveals how far he's travelled to find this leader, and the leader looks at him in disbelief and says "Wait...you mean you DIDN'T just follow this really obvious clue I left you that would have brought you straight here?!"

I present the climax of Doctor Who's "The Zygon Inversion":

The Doctor's Speech | The Zygon Inversion | Doctor Who
UrMom
Jul '22
1

Haaah I was going to suggest Drop-Out (Can't remember if I already have.), but even though the whole story focuses on building up to the thing, the two MCs pretty much talk it out in the end so it fits that "talk-no-jutsu" thing. xP

Actually I can't think of anything "talking down" scenes that don't have the person being talked down since it's a type of power imbalance, and the only thing the other part can do (Usually) is talk. Hollow is a comic that has something a little different going on in the current scene, it might be what you're looking for.

As for me, I can't think of a specific type of scene I want to see, it's more how a topic is handled in general. Like, I would like to see a story where the concept of depression wasn't depicted with blackness or dulled out colors. I mean, I get why it's like that, but it's always like that. I'd like to see layers and nuance, or more creative surreal visuals.

Edit: Also I would like to see dying and suicidality to be brought up in a death-positive light. I think there's a lot that can be explored combining a heathy outlook on death with depression and suicidality, how it could affect that mindset, not just for fiction but for general psychology. Like, while it's a slippery slope to travel, it would be nice to see fiction that brings up death (Not just suicidality but grief or illness and what not.) be more open about discussing it. Dying is normal, we're all going to do it someday, no point in treating it like "He Who Must Not Be Named!".

powerplantanimations
Jul '22

Not a scene, but

"Cosmic stories that feel down to Earth, but at the same time, get over the top, but not too over the top where things just get pretentious/silly".

This one has been bugging me since everyone wants to be like Rick & Morty nowadays. So far Guardians and Spider-Verse scratched this itch.

TheLemmaLlama
Aug '22
UrMom

You haven't (not to me, at least) :smiley: (Actually, now that I actually try to look it up, is it a comic? On Tapas?)

What I meant by 'talk-no-jutsu' isn't people talking things out, but rather that unconvincing situation where Character A has been thinking about doing X for a long time and has spent an inordinate amount of time and effort planning to do X and not wavering in that plan despite all the obstacles they face and people trying to stop them, but Character B comes along and gives them a lecture with some obvious moral arguments that Character A would most certainly have considered after all that time if we're being realistic, but instead they're like 'oh shit you're right' and drops everything they've been doing so we're like 'seriously, that's all it took for you to change your mind?' -_- I would say if it properly builds up to the thing, it's not 'talk-no-jutsu' :]

I'm ... not entirely sure what you mean by this ^^; Are you saying the all the "talking down" scenes you've seen result in success (i.e. the person never just ignores the person trying to talk them down and continue doing what they're doing)? And this is because the person doing the talking down has less power than the person being talked down, because the only thing the former can do to stop the latter is talk?

And yeah, totally, I would also like to see those topics being handled in more novel ways from different perspectives :smiley: It can be scary though, the potential audience reactions, so I get why people don't do it very often :'D (Even something like depression being depicted with brighter/more saturated colours, if the creator explicitly says it's about depression you might have people saying 'that's not accurate, it's more like this other thing that's kind of like depression but you're conflating things, are you even a professional bro' ... or I might just be worrying too much and this isn't actually that likely to happen XD)

Thanks for the recs! :smiley:

UrMom
Aug '22
TheLemmaLlama

Awesome! Another person to rec this to! It's actually on Comicfury. I won't lie that the text can be hard to read, but once you get used to it the comic is pretty great! (Of course, CW: Suicidality, mental illness, substance abuse, profanity.)


There's a prequal to it called Fresh Meat, but it has a more sad ending. I'm up in the air whether I'd call it a tragedy since you don't see what the MC does in the end, and most of the comic is slice-of-life-y drama, but what they say and implications are pretty sad.

Oooh! Alright, that makes sense, and I totally agree! Unless it's used for comedy purposes the "all it takes is an inspirational speech" thing is kinda tired, if they're going to go with something simple like that I'd rather the person be talked down with an ice cream bribe or trip to a theme park. (Honestly, if someone offered to take me to Dairy Queen I'd drop anything I was doing.) Reminds me of a lot of Robin Williams films. The guy was one of my favorite actors, but his stuff did tend to have those deep speeches that instantly changed the opposing character's minds. Not all of them, but a chunk. The guy loved being in those inspirational movies.

Yes and no. It's definitely not always successful, but the person needing to be talked down does have some form of power at the time, either using their life as "hostage" or the world or something. It's a really delicate situation usually, so the only thing a person can do is try to get their attention with talking, either to distract them long enough or to make them stop on their own. That's not always how it goes since some situations are more quick, requiring immediate action, but that's what you usually see. Especially in fiction... if that makes sense.

Lmao! I think as long as you understand what depression feels like, and how you're portraying it still feels like that, it doesn't matter how colorful or odd the visuals are. I mean, there's a subgenre of horror art called Pastel Horror and there's also Neon Horror, I don't see why you can't do dark topics in whatever visual style. xP

TheLemmaLlama
Aug '22

Awesome, thanks for the link :smiley:

chuckles nervously in also-handwrites-the-dialogue-in-their-webcomic

Ah, so you're saying in situations when one person is trying to stop another from doing something; it's usually via talking because the person being stopped has some form of leverage against the person trying to stop them which prevents them from acting/'trying to pull something funny'?

UrMom
Aug '22

Lol -Also hand letters their comic- This person's work is particularly hard to read because I think they drew their comic in MS Paint, and it's written with the fine pencil tool.

Exactly! Like the Dr. Who scene Robert showed. I've never seen the show, but from an outsider perspective it looks like two emotionally driven idiots have their hands over some doomsday buttons, they can slam their hands down at the slightest sneeze, so the only thing that can be done is talk them down with the slightest hope that those brain cells start working. If he were to just tackle one of them or something they could both press their buttons before he even makes it to them, so it's safer to talk.

Cryptic_King
Aug '22

Ok so I plan on doing this in my book but... Main character and Villain are in the middle of a fight something inconvenient happens they stop fighting, to fix the incontinence and go straight back to fighting, like nothing happened.

Here's my book if anyone is interested.

Black Rose city. A normal city once you ignore the death and blood pooling in the drains. What secrets are hidden in the shadows of this world not far from our own? What monsters lurk deep in the crevasses of alleyways and in plain sight? Who will protect us from the monsters? The police of course. Until the task requires blood on your hands then, well then it's us, Henbane. A group of bounty hunters who hunt monsters and criminals alike. Will you join our fight? or pretend there's nothing in the corner of your eye?

liaroger
Aug '22

Tbh all of my stories are oddly specific things I want to see in stories. XD I guess I can share my latest idea/random thought I had though.

I'd kinda like to see a natural deity interact with a conservationist who's trying to preserve/restore their habitat with a little bit more nuance than just "all people bad I don't trust you" or "omg thank you my saviour!" I mean technically I have an ocean deity and an anachronistic magic-tech patchwork world. I could write that myself but there's no room for a storyline like that in my main story. So I guess it'll remain a side story in my head.

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