Sorry for the lateness.
Hills Like White Elephants is a wonderful example of evocative use of subtext in dialogue. Though it is never outright stated, you can infer that the operation in question is probably abortion – reading through again with that knowledge makes the tension of the man and girl’s conversation all the more palpable. Though nothing is given to describe the characters visually, their personalities are quickly established. The man is, or sees himself as, reasonable and rational. The girl is more distant, perhaps a dreamer. This piece is some fine Hemingway wit and I hope I can draw on it when I make my own characters for the upcoming project.
The work on character design in video games is a good source of reference for choices of visual design and the importance of expressions. Much like Hemingway used subtext in his writing, facial transformations allow the reader/viewer to quickly infer details of a situation. I like the bit about using the movement of the ideas to indicate items of interest within a game environment, although this is less relevant to the visual novel format. Something to consider in the future, though.
