The Art of Nothing Happening

Lately, I really enjoy stories where nothing is happening.

I don’t know why, and I assume age has something to do with it.

Hollywood and Western storytelling always put the emphasis on conflict as the main meat of the story. The protagonist must have a very strong desire that drives them towards their goal, and this desire must be met with an equal force of obstacle. The clash between this desire and an opposing force is what we call “Conflict”.

In storytelling classes (including my own) we are told that conflicts must be strong. Without a strong conflict, you don’t have a good story.

But is it? How do we define “strong”?

“Smoking Behind The Supermarket With You” by Jinushi is a story about two people smoking behind the supermarket.

“Ruri Dragon” by Masaoki Shindo is about a girl who noticed that she was half dragon… and living a normal high school life.

“Yotsuba&!” by Kiyohiko Azuma is about a 5 year old girl experiencing the discoveries of life.

It would be one thing to say that these are just critical darlings, but they are also high-selling manga titles. Not as high as hit action titles like One Piece or even newcomers like Kagurabachi, but their numbers are not ignorable.

It would be inaccurate to say nothing is happening, or to say that those titles have no conflict at all, but they certainly aren’t the kind of conflict that writing classes will give as an example.

Lately I enjoy easy reading books like “An” by Durian Sakegawa, or “The Cat Who Saved Books/本を守ろうとする猫の話” by Sotsuke Natsukawa. These don’t really have characters with a strong desire to obtain a goal, yet they’re successful enough to be picked by local publishers and went through reprints. Even a mystery novel like “Hen na Ie/変な家” by Uketsu can have no villain, no sense of ticking bomb or danger to the protagonist, yet still provide a compelling enough mystery that the book is undoubtedly a success.

It may be unthinkable to teach that a story doesn’t need a conflict whatsoever, but really, let’s slow down and understand what “conflict” actually mean and find what resonates with you.