Miyazaki drops some writing knowledge

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"Lauded animated film director Hayao Miyazaki says anime suffers when the people making it can't stand observing real people.

Hayao Miyazaki spoke out against the anime industry in a recent television interview. He recently retired, making The Wind Rises his final film, with many of his previous works such as Spirited Away becoming popular even outside of Japan. According to Miyazaki the quality of anime is suffering because industry staff is made up of "otaku," or people who obsessively love anime.

The term "otaku" has a rather negative connotation in Japan and is used more to classify fans who obsess over something (this need not be anime). Miyazaki's specific concerns are over the lack of attention paid to people in real life. He said people in the industry "don't spend time watching real people" and can be characterized as "humans who can't stand looking at other humans." He then called the industry "full of otaku."

Miyazaki approaches animation by observing others. In the interview, as Miyazaki sketches, he explains he's able to create art because he spends time watching others. "Whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, 'Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life.'"

With plenty of anime portraying characters without development or capability of change and agency, Miyazaki has a point. In order to create compelling stories and characters, a person needs to both have well-rounded experiences and meet different people."

www.escapistmagazine.com/news/…

(I know I posted the entire article but it's really short and I included a link to the original)

Fucking TRUTH. And not just with anime, this is true of storytelling in general.

If you don't understand people - as in, basic human behavior - you get bullshit like fetish garbage, stock character parades, and Mary Sue self-fulfillment masturbation fests.

I went to school for writing and got my degree in it, but it only counted for about 1/4 of my education on the subject. The rest came from living and working with people of all walks of life, even if I didn't like it.


TL/DR if you want to write well you need outside education.

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ArsenicalLady's avatar
By observing real life, I am able to come up with different ways to connect my stories, sometimes better than the original. Sometimes the dialogue will even be taken from real conversations I've had. In order for your readers to be able to absorb themsves into your story, you need to keep it al real (and relatable) as possible. If not, the dialogue sounds clunky, and you'll find your readers whispering "Dude, who talks like that?"