Script Format rather than story format?

[Five_Inch_Heels]

As in doing a TV show spoof.



Have you tried it? Did it work?


.

 

[TheLobster]

Well, a submission in a script format has recently been a subject of this thread, so making it work might be... difficult.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think you can make it work as long as you are extremely clear about what you are doing. Have an introduction that explains the setup. Also, you probably want to keep it short, because reader patience with a format like that probably won't be great. And it probably will work better if the spoof is artful and it's funny.

I haven't done something quite like that, but I've written two stories in the Humor and Satire category that I would describe as "meta-format" stories. One was in the form of a classroom tandem story assignment, where the two authors began to work against each other. The other was in the form of a short Loving Wives story followed by mock reader comments that I made up. The scores for both were bad, but I received a lot of positive comments, so I felt it was worthwhile.

So, do it if you want to, but don't expect universal reader appreciation.

 

[Britva415]

Why? What is the motivation, and how does this unusual format serve the story you want to tell?

I do get that it's intended to be a spoof, but, you could spoof a TV show with regular prose. It might even work better because you can narrate stuff which a viewer could see on screen which isn't included in the scripted dialog.

Scripts just aren't supposed to be appreciated by reading. They're the writing which is necessary so that a repeatable performance is possible.

There's a lot which scripts don't provide, that's why directors and producers have so much latitude and freedom to fill in blanks which the author intended for them to fill in. That's something readers generally can't do.

I mean, did you ever read the script of a play? Sure, literature teachers will include some of these in the curriculum, but normally it's the work of scriptwriters who were an absolute genius at dialog. So much so that it just provides strong enough dialog that the absence of narrative might have a chance at being overcome enough, but it still doesn't make up for the absence of narrative.

So, I'd never tell someone not to publish a script. Especially if it were the script of something which was really intended to be performed. But if the author isn't a playwright or screenwriter and doesn't expect or even imagine the script ever being performed, then, I think it's inevitably going to be severely lacking in literary impact and appreciation.

A clever enough spoof could overcome that, too. Clever enough, and completely transparent, too, like @SimonDoom was saying. "How clever?" I don't know exactly. Pretty clever.

 

[Voboy]

I'd never in a million years want to read a story like that, so I'd never write one.

I have to imagine that if it was a good way to consume content, there'd already be several such stories posted.

 

[grey228]

Eew. No. I found a few interesting titled stories and as soon as their format was evident with the first few lines, I skipped them.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I've seen that in fanfiction, and pretty much not anywhere else. They call them chatfics.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

There's a whole category called Letters and *Transcripts*. Lots of scripts there, mostly IMO terrible and hoping someone will make them into an audio story. But any play needs a script. so if OP wants to write one, why not?

Though a dialogue-centred story in any other category would get more readers.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Maybe you'd call it dialog rather than script ....


--------


“You know what happened at the shore store today Peg?”

“A fat lady came in and you insulted each other?”

“No Peg. Just pretty girls. All pretty girls all days long.”

“Sure Dad, tell us another one. I suppose one dragged you in the back room and sucked you dick too, right?”

“No Bud. Well not today. And I told you not to tell your mother about that. Damn kids!”

“OK, Al so what did happen?”

Well, there was this one really hot brunette in this tiny blue two piece thing. Said her name was Jade and she was going out to Nevada for a while to work in a brothel. Bought five pair of really high heels.”

“Sure Al, sure she did.”

“No really Peg. Here Kelly, I brought you a pair just like I sold her.”

“Wow Dad, those are high!”


----


Really not much narrative except maybe to describe scene changes.

 

[Gamblnluck]

“You know what happened at the shore store today Peg?”

“A fat lady came in and you insulted each other?”

“No Peg. Just pretty girls. All pretty girls all days long.”

“Sure Dad, tell us another one. I suppose one dragged you in the back room and sucked you dick too, right?”

“No Bud. Well not today. And I told you not to tell your mother about that. Damn kids!”

And dialog without knowing who said it or what is going on is gonna be criticized terribly.

 

[alohadave]

And dialog without knowing who said it or what is going on is gonna be criticized terribly.

I was able to follow that, even without knowing the character names before.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Fans of the single greatest TV show ever produced will know the characters and the scene references.

Al (four touchdowns in one game), Peggy, Kelly and Bud Bundy and their neighbors Jefferson and Marcy (I'm a cartoon!!) D'arcy.