No idea where else to put this so I'm writing it here but like, I love telling stories without words but I hate having to trust the audience.
Because like, a big part of telling stories without words IS trusting that your audience will understand the cohesion between things.
If I show you a scene that seems mundane it very well could just be mundane but it also very well could be full of details and minor aspects of some overarching plot or narrative.
The idea of plot being something explicitly told to you all the time is kinda boring to me, I don't think it's bad or wrong to like that sort of thing; but I've found that unspoken narrative is just one step beyond unreliable narrator. Which is a form of narrative storytelling I love!
Sure an unreliable narrator may be skewing my perspective of the events to fit their agenda, or even outright lying to me about something in a way I don't understand. However unspoken narrative doesn't even bother with that; it gives you the whole truth and asks you to piece it together. I love that, it's like a mystery that I get to solve, and if I don't? Who cares, it doesn't change anything in the end; but if I do? It's like a little reward for putting in the effort!
The only thing you stand to lose is an actual understanding of the story being presented to you. You can still appreciate the art, but you likely won't have a deeper understanding of it's themes and meaning.
Very often when I attempt to create works of unspoken narrative I hit this wall where someone inevitably asks me about what the narrative was supposed to mean or if they're "right" to see a certain aspect of the "plot" in a specific way.
I got into this shortly after posting a bit of my photography work on various sites; people began to notice reoccurring characters, places, and things. They thought to ask me if there was a meaning behind it, who were these characters? Why were they in these places? What were they doing? I fully admit there was a sort of phantom of a plot there to begin with, nothing real or written; but something I had considered when taking those pictures. Of course the truth is that those were real people simply existing in Virtual Reality; typically friends or people who frequent the same places I do. There's a logical explanation for a lot of it; like how I would blur out usernames and sometimes even faces or identifying characteristics of some models; this was literally just done for privacy of the users. However I have had a few people remark that it felt like intentional story telling. As if these people were a blur I couldn't clearly remember, but were still vaguely humanoid, or like there was something missing from them. One individual even remarked it could be a sort of symbolism about how Virtual Reality obscures the true human behind the avatar.
In reality it wasn't that deep, and this is a big reason why I struggle so much as someone who enjoys writing unspoken narratives. Because to tell anyone their interpretation is wrong would be... well kinda wrong? Like, I might have a story or reason or plotline in mind sure, but if you interpret my photography or narrative differently, who am I to say that's incorrect; the whole point of the unspoken narrative is specifically to allow for this sort of an interpretation.
Currently I'm attempting to write a proper unspoken narrative and deliver it through short videos that deliver a specific kind of "vibe" or feeling that conveys a larger story through music and visuals without words or even too much direct communication through things like body language. I want to create something where people can see a few short clips and get an idea of what's going on in the bigger picture. I have had this idea for a while, the idea of making the mundane as interesting as the whole adventure through a deeper understanding of the person on that adventure via the moment to moment life of the individual.
Anyways sorry for rambling, I have a deep interest in writing stuff that doesn't actually include any writing or spoken word. It's a really fun way to tell stories and an interesting perspective as to how people view the stories I tell in this manner.
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