Two Storytelling Secrets From Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts is an award winning video game. It also has a plethora of characters, convoluted plot and sometimes, is plain cringy.
But I still love it. And so do thousands more.
What makes the mess of a story so intriguing and inspiring to so many people? How can gamers and non-gamers (like me) still be hyped for the next instalment 12 games, excluding remakes, several mangas, a cancelled Disney TV show and 18 years later?
After thinking about for a while, I've figured two things out. These "secrets" can throw almost every other storytelling advice out the window. Not that you should throw out everything you've learnt about writing, but you get my point?
Be prepared for two of my favourite advice ever.
1. Enjoyability over quality.
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| Source: Gifer |
Even though I know the story is a mess, there are inconsistencies and moments I wish I could forget ("Did someone say a door to darkness?"), I keep watching the cutscenes. Why? Because I like it anyway.
It's like knowing a joke is bad but laughing anyway. Granted, in this example, you're laughing because it's so bad, but we won't talk about that, m'kay? It's also like owning a naughty puppy. Even if your puppy is acting like a spoilt brat, you'll still love them.
The same principle applies to any story. If your story has something that readers love, no matter how badly it's written, chances are that they'll keep reading. The more important question to ask is, why do readers like my writing?
It could be because you nail creating relatable characters or because you have a specific type of humour. It could be because you having high tensions or because you have a strong mystery.
I started watching Kingdom Hearts because I fell in love with Terra's theme song, but I stayed because the concept of warriors wielding keys dramatically shouting "my friends are my power!" too many times to count had a strange appeal.
While enjoyment is more important than the quality of the writing, it's still highly important to make sure your writing is as best as it can be. The less readers have to complain about your story, the more likely it is for other people to read it too. But as long as readers enjoy your story despite numerous technical issues, the majority will still read and recommend it to other people.
2. Character engagement over plot.
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| Source: Giphy |
*spoilers, beware!*
Kingdom Hearts is famous for its convoluted plot. We have Ansem who is not actually Ansem and not-Ansem's other self is a lightsaber wielding guy who wants to get hearts and now not-Ansem and lightsaber guy are dead which means the the old man they technically are but aren't because the old man possessed a younger guy's body so not-Ansem and lightsaber guy are half the old man and half the possessed guy. Oh, and apparently clones and time travel is a thing now? And that's just the villain!
*end spoilers*
The plot is a headache to wrap your, well, head around. The one thing (or two, if you count the music) that keeps us plunging through hours of content is that the characters are incredibly loveable.
There's over 30 important characters throughout all 12 games so far. In fact, here's a rundown of important characters per game. Not by the amount of characters you have to remember per game, but by the number of important characters introduced per game. Disclaimer: Estimated amounts
358/2 Days: 3
Coded: 1? 2? 5? (It's really unclear in this game.)
Union X and Back Cover: 12
Dark Road: 6
Disney characters: 8
Crossover characters: a lot
Already, that's 50+ characters. While this insane amount leads to other problems, it 99% guarantees that you'll have a favourite character. If you don't have a favourite per say, you'll at least have a character that steals your attention every time they appear.
Character engagement tops every other story element. If I really love a character, no matter how bad the plot is, I'll be sticking around to see what happens to them. Kingdom Hearts' plot is not the worst. In fact, it's one of the few shows that brought out my woman tears while cracking me up. And this is because of character attachment.
Many things make characters engaging. They might have an inspiring personality (think Sora) or have a strong character arc (think Riku). They might be the comic relief (think Axel or Demyx) or the tragic fates (Wayfinder and Sea Salt trio *cri*) or attractive (pretty much every character).
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| ~Fabulous |
When you're planning your series, focus on your characters. Make them likeable, relatable, the whole jam. Even if everything else about your book sucks, you've scored a jackpot if you nail your characters.
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Who knew storytelling could be so simple? Even if the plot, setting, writing, any story element is bad, the two things that matter is how enjoyable it is and character engagement. Enjoyable > Quality and Character Engagement > Plot. Got it memorised?Related: Ranting About Kingdom Hearts
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