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Thread: I was chatting with someone last night about a neat trick someone told me when it comes to locking in plot details, characters and world lore elements of comics (and for writing in general)
It's to basically ask "Why?" three times.
Like this...
It's to basically ask "Why?" three times.
Like this...
So you have a character: let's say they're a little hot-headed, maybe a bit brash.
You ask "Why?"
You might answer: "Well, because they're angry at their past."
Then ask again "Why?"
"They had some traumatic incident that changed them."
Yeah, but "Why?"
You ask "Why?"
You might answer: "Well, because they're angry at their past."
Then ask again "Why?"
"They had some traumatic incident that changed them."
Yeah, but "Why?"
"Because they suppressed it for so long and haven't been able to talk about it."
By asking why three times and questioning your own ideas, you can give them so much more depth, and flesh the element out quite easily.
It's also helps you pick holes in your idea.
By asking why three times and questioning your own ideas, you can give them so much more depth, and flesh the element out quite easily.
It's also helps you pick holes in your idea.
We now know that the seemingly hot-headed, brash and stand-offish character has a reason for being how they are, and they're perhaps hiding something about themselves that could bear fruit in a twist or some revelatory scene where they let their emotional guard down.
Asking "why?" and grilling your own ideas in this way really can help add many more layers to small kernels of ideas. You can also remove plot points and start to see how things connect a lot easier. It's also good for discarding ideas that don't work.
Because...
Because...
If you find that you can't answer the "Why?" three times with a solid answer that you believe in, then perhaps the idea doesn't have legs or needs a rethink.
You can even try having a friend ask the "Whys" and see where it leads.
You can even try having a friend ask the "Whys" and see where it leads.
