All I have to say is...
Melodramatic writing is not good writing.
There is a way to do angst well. There is a way to do tragedy well. And it is not melodrama.
If anything, I find melodrama hilariously funny. I end up laughing at it, even when I shouldn't. Mostly because the writing is so contrite and effusive and not the kind of stuff that suckerpunches me in the gut when I'm reading or brings me to tears. Instead, I'm too distracted by florid descriptions of "PAIN" and "ANGUISH" and "SUFFERING" and other ridiculous shit that is just so in your face it's just not something I can sympathize with as a reader.
Then again, I am a very harsh critic.
In the Naruto fandom, I think crimsoncourt takes the cake for being able to do tragedy well. Hush Little Baby is quite possibly one of the best pieces of fanfic I have ever seen before. Just so many layers of subtext and complication.
"It’s quiet, the way they’re losing their minds [and does it really count as losing it if it keeps him going. The parts he’s already lost say no], quiet and long-suffering. That’s the way they get to this point: by seeing things. Seeing too much."
Or you can read December, which I think could pass for original, with how good it is. It's AU, and has some of the best writing I've seen in fanfic.
"What happens here is made of languages that are foreign and familiar and tricky and easy all at the same time. Languages that I think we all know how to speak, but have either forgotten how or haven’t had the chance yet. The language of silence. The language of regret and desperation. Of hopes and fears. Grudges. Stubbornness. The language of guilt. The languages that whisper in the corners of Kakashi’s house that refuse to leave, no matter how many times he leaves the door open."
Tragedy is more about just writing the tragic and pushing it in your reader's face. It's about framing it properly and laying it out, piece by piece. Sometimes they miss the tragedy completely, and aren't sure what they're seeing. But for those who do see it and realize the mastery you have over it, it hits them so hard they can't breathe when they're reading it. And that's when you know you're doing tragedy well.
"There is a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up; holding, holding on, this motion, unlike a ship's, smooths and contains the rocker. It's an inside kind -- wrapped tight like skin. Then there is a loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down. It is alive, on its own. A dry and spreading thing that makes the sound of one's own feet going seem to come from a far-off place." Beloved, Toni Morrison
There is a way to do angst well. There is a way to do tragedy well. And it is not melodrama.
If anything, I find melodrama hilariously funny. I end up laughing at it, even when I shouldn't. Mostly because the writing is so contrite and effusive and not the kind of stuff that suckerpunches me in the gut when I'm reading or brings me to tears. Instead, I'm too distracted by florid descriptions of "PAIN" and "ANGUISH" and "SUFFERING" and other ridiculous shit that is just so in your face it's just not something I can sympathize with as a reader.
Then again, I am a very harsh critic.
In the Naruto fandom, I think crimsoncourt takes the cake for being able to do tragedy well. Hush Little Baby is quite possibly one of the best pieces of fanfic I have ever seen before. Just so many layers of subtext and complication.
"It’s quiet, the way they’re losing their minds [and does it really count as losing it if it keeps him going. The parts he’s already lost say no], quiet and long-suffering. That’s the way they get to this point: by seeing things. Seeing too much."
Or you can read December, which I think could pass for original, with how good it is. It's AU, and has some of the best writing I've seen in fanfic.
"What happens here is made of languages that are foreign and familiar and tricky and easy all at the same time. Languages that I think we all know how to speak, but have either forgotten how or haven’t had the chance yet. The language of silence. The language of regret and desperation. Of hopes and fears. Grudges. Stubbornness. The language of guilt. The languages that whisper in the corners of Kakashi’s house that refuse to leave, no matter how many times he leaves the door open."
Tragedy is more about just writing the tragic and pushing it in your reader's face. It's about framing it properly and laying it out, piece by piece. Sometimes they miss the tragedy completely, and aren't sure what they're seeing. But for those who do see it and realize the mastery you have over it, it hits them so hard they can't breathe when they're reading it. And that's when you know you're doing tragedy well.
"There is a loneliness that can be rocked. Arms crossed, knees drawn up; holding, holding on, this motion, unlike a ship's, smooths and contains the rocker. It's an inside kind -- wrapped tight like skin. Then there is a loneliness that roams. No rocking can hold it down. It is alive, on its own. A dry and spreading thing that makes the sound of one's own feet going seem to come from a far-off place." Beloved, Toni Morrison