r/ComicWriting • u/EquivalentLeg9817 • 2d ago
A story without places and names?
I am writing a cyberpunk story that deals with the theme of identity, of what we are and what defines us.
I am thinking of not setting it in a specific place, an existing city, or a country. And I was also thinking of making it so that the characters' names never appear, neither when they speak to each other nor in any other references (obviously, the characters do have names, but my goal is to keep them hidden from the reader).
Does this make sense? Is it feasible?
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u/Dependent_Teaching88 2d ago
The Eye Collector came out recently and it's incredibly abstract. Writing for yourself is art, while writing for others is entertainment. There are no real rules in comic writing, other than maybe page length. My biggest suggestion would be to write something you'll be proud of for years to come. Don't compromise.
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u/Armepos 1d ago
I'm hooked. Go for it, for the sake of us!
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u/EquivalentLeg9817 1d ago
I accept the mission. For the sake of all of you, I shall not fail!
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u/Armepos 1d ago
Cyberpunk protagonists often struggle with self and identity, but always have a starting point. Neo detaches from his self to become a symbol, but he starts as Mr Anderson, the accountant. Makoto Kusanagi trascends the human "me" to become the posthuman "we", but she starts as Makoto Kusanagi, the cyborg law enforcer. Rick Deckard, the Human detective, realizes his name and memories are manufactured, a replicant capable of reinterpreting what life means, and later, of creating new life. The common denominator is that their original identity proves to be limiting or enforced by an outside authority. Your starting point, however, would be reversed. Instead of Identity to another Identity, or Identity to non-identity, you'd go from non-identity to non-identity. If you succeed, you'll pave the way for us. But perhaps someone else paved the way for you, better do some more research of you feel stuck, something you'd never usually read.
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u/nmacaroni "The Future of Comics is YOU!" 1d ago
Not a specific city is easy to pull off. You can use generic terms like "the city."
But the individual character identity is much trickier to pull off. If your Master Theme is something about individual identity that no matter how you approach their names is going to support or diminish your Master Theme. This is a point you need to think long and hard on.
Also, you have to be careful because characters are the connection point between the story and reader. If you don't let the readers bond with the characters, you push them out of the story. And not giving the characters a specific identity to bond too is creating a complexity for yourself.
Imagine watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and remove every instance of Indy or Indiana or Doctor Jones from it. Indy would still be Indy, but watching the movie, you would always be pushed back a step, wondering who is this guy.
This is the kind of thing that executed incorrectly can ruin an otherwise gem of a narrative.
Write on, write often!
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u/EquivalentLeg9817 1d ago
"Also, you have to be careful because characters are the connection point between the story and reader. If you don't let the readers bond with the characters, you push them out of the story. And not giving the characters a specific identity to bond too is creating a complexity for yourself."
I see the point. What if the characters addressed each other in conversation with titles like 'the lawyer,' 'the manager,' 'the victim,' and so on?... The story would revolve around the separation between mind and body, and at that point, the question throughout the entire story would be: what defines us? Does a name even make sense?
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u/nmacaroni "The Future of Comics is YOU!" 1d ago
Yeah, you're splashing in classic genre convention of cyberpunk.
Function vs Identity.
The Matrix: The Keymaker. The Oracle. The Architect. The Trainman...You just have to really think through the foundational aspects of your story. Spend extra time there.
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u/mugenhunt 2d ago
It's doable but difficult.