A few days ago I asked about Slice Of Life type fiction. Its true that when I normally think of it, usually its Seinfeld or Full House I'm thinking of.
Does the format work if the story isn't a comedy?
When I was younger, I actually didn't like the format -- mostly for the canned laughter. Though I thought the format in and of itself could work -- at least in theory.
Maybe I just haven't seen a good drama like that (yet, ... I know its there.)
But my issue is, what you would be called? With the comedy, well its easy. It's called a sitcom. But would it be called a sitdrama? Still a sitcom?
What an odd question. Are you talking about literary fiction?
A half an hour show that isn't funny is just called a drama.
I guess, if that's what literary fiction is. I just always called it Slice Of Life.:P
A sitcom = situation comedy. So the situation is, a single dad and his two friends raise three girls on their own (Full House) and it's funny, so it's a comedy. Dramas usually focus on a more overarching plot. So... for instance, you would talk about Full House like "That episode where they redecorate Uncle Jesse's room", and that's a standalone story. With a drama, like say, Breaking Bad, you might say "That episode where he tries to rape Skylar," but you understand that if someone only saw that one episode they wouldn't understand what the show was really about. So I would say that no, there are not dramas like that (Actually... Maybe American Horror Story is a long-form situation drama, since each season is a standalone story dealing with a specific situation - but that's a hell of a stretch).
In short fiction, it's just a vignette. In long form it's literary fiction, which is often described just as you've said "slice of life."
Most of the "vignette" short fiction I've seen is not comedy. It's about the last memory someone had of their grandfather before he died. Or some scene about how much more carefree they were as a child. Or a serial killer selecting and stalking a particular victim. But not always.
You don't see many slices-of-life on episodic television, because series have established casts that we know so much about already, and the audience expects some sort of conflict-du-jour. There are special episodes sometimes that go outside the norm, like Tony Soprano's dreams, or "bottle episodes" where they're all stuck somewhere the entire time so it becomes more about character development. Speaking of plotlessness, Louie (C.K.) falls into that category often.
To do vignettes on a TV series, it would probably have to be an anthology series, like Masters of Horror or something where it's different each time. And even then, you're most likely to see traditional plot structure. The closest thing to what you're probably looking for is short films. They embody the same scope as short stories: sometimes with fully-realized plots, but often just being vignettes. Hell, I'd say short films do slice-of-life even more often than short stories do.
So like a short story about say, coping with the loss of a loved one would be a vignette? I wish I had known this sooner.:/ (Not saying thats what I write about, although this is sometimes.)
Also short films is an akward format to learn to write I've noticed, in trying it myself. Cause I've come from sort of a mini-epic poem background. (Thats not the right word, I'm sure -- but I don't know what you would call a short story in verse -- other than narrative poetry.)
I made a mistake again, I said write word at first. Well of course it's the write word, otherwise it would be the said word. And that would be the spoken word.
So like a short story about say, coping with the loss of a loved one would be a vignette?
It might be, or it might not be. If it's just, like, a scene or two you pulled that's indicative of what the character felt, but without resolution, then yes. But if there's a character arc, and they actually do go from mourning to closure or whatever, then that's a more traditionally-structured complete story. A vignette is sort of a snapshot, a slice of life, just jumping into the middle without a beginning or end (similar to a one-chapter excerpt from a novel). What happened before and/or after that portion of the story is left to the reader's imagination, though it might be implied by the tone of the writing.
Think about what a vignette means visually. It focuses attention on the middle of the frame, while the edges fall off into darkness. Just like what I'm talking about above.
I think Law and Order is a good example of a situational drama and that may be the reason is the most aired show in television history. The spinoffs like SVU and Criminal intent not so much. But in the original shows, there was little to none character development of the police detectives and the lawyers. Each episode was plot driven and delivered on a case to case basis. You could watch any episode without any context from previous episodes, and follow along with no problem. It's actually a pretty good format. Other shows try, like say Criminal Minds or CSI, but they get way too involved in the characters. Not to say the shows are bad. I like Criminal Minds but sometimes I need to see a previous show to follow the next. It's not the case with Law and Order. So yeah, that's the only example of a true situational drama I can think of.
I guess I did a more complete character arc then. (I tend to prefer call it an internal conflict arc, as their body language and subtext in the story is indeed minimal -- which might be the cause of some notes about lack of character development.)
I may not be using the right word, as I mean more of a plot constructed from an every day topic instead of a far out far flung future topic even if it's set in 2130.
I'll see where Multiverse Contemporary goes with I study my plot sketches (little notes that indicate how multiverse plot is contructed) a little more later on.
Starting to question my SF bent though, as last night I wrote a historical horror short after all these years.
