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CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

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~` Tragedy `~
By: Dragon 3011
Tragedy, the genre that I specialize in. If you want to know about tragedy, you've come to the right place.
Now, some people also call tragedy "Drama," although I think of them as entirely different due to Tragedies being generally unhappy and Dramas usually being about some sappy romance plot and some cheesy moral. Remember, a Tragedy is Unhappy, and a Drama is Moody. Moving on, if you want to write tragedies, I can help. However, the first thing you have to ask yourself before writing a tragedy is, "Is this genre right for me?"
You can experiment with other genres, but you have to write the one that you like to write. If you feel comfortable with comedy, the exact opposite of tragedy, then write comedy. Remember, a tragedy is more than just killing, unhappiness, and all that stuff. Tragedy is an extremely complicated, difficult genre. You must have a lot of experience in character development, plots, and you must be in tune with emotions in order to write tragedies. Just like how horror is not all about gore and boos, tragedies are not all about being sad. In order to have a successful tragedy, practice your character development.
Character development and tragedy are like architect and building. There is no way in hell you'll ever write a good tragedy if you don' know character development. Character development is essentially how your characters change throughout a story. You can have them start out as being nice and happy, and by the middle of the story, they should NOT be the exact same. Maybe they've become cold and harsh, or maybe they're now evil. This is especially true for protagonists and major characters remaining in the story throughout.

03-Jun-2008 23:03:14 - Last edited on 10-Jun-2008 21:48:46 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

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In my stories, my well-known character Sokreshel used to be a dreamy, happy young kid. Eventually, he learned to discipline himself and became more reserved. In my stories, you witness Sokreshel transform himself into the very man that destroys his mind. He develops friendships reluctantly with a group of people who have no contact with the outside world, and they've helped him open up. He was experimented on to keep alive only to find out that now he's dying. He loses his arm, and he becomes very sick. His nightmares become more real. By the middle of the story, he kills all of his friends in insanity, including the one person he cared about the most. Upon finding them dead, he becomes a mute and refuses to even talk to people. He goes on the rest of the story tired, alone, and almost defenseless.
This is character development. As you can see, Sokreshel changes due to events that happen. However, his story was more than that. He was on a quest to kill a confused man named Orson who wanted to summon an ancient race back from another dimension. I added some Sci-Fi and Adventure elements, as you can see. By the end of the story, Sokreshel killed Orson in a cave by pushing him onto a stalagmite in a deep pit. Sokreshel then learned about the invention of the gun and returned to the resting place of the one person he ever cared for. He rested next to her body and *hot himself.
In a tragedy, you must use a lot of imagery. Character development, imagery, and emotions are the foundations of them. They're stereotypically known as being all unhappy, but they're actually supposed to be very emotional. My story, although seemingly unhappy in the summary, is actually more heartwarming than plain evil. Do not attempt tragedy if you haven't tried other genres, as just having it be a series of unfortunate events would make it a terrible tragedy. Really, it's depressing how people do it these days, it's so tragic.

03-Jun-2008 23:05:45 - Last edited on 10-Jun-2008 21:48:54 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

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In place of a full FAQ, we present you a ***** section of views given by Englishkid62. These are completely relevant and should be read. Thanks.
~` Tragedy `~
By: Englishkid62
A tragedy is not necessarily sad. If you take Macbeth into consideration I wouldn't find that story sad at all, great tragedy though. A tragedy wouldn't be a tragedy if it is not inevitable. That is right, a tragedy is based around a tragic hero leading towards his ultimate doom by both internal and external forces. The internal forces being his main flaw (For a start the tragic hero must be admirable usually with a high status, otherwise he/she cannot be sympathized), and while the external forces including twists or supernatural/natural forces that leads to the eventual downfall/loss of status of the tragic hero.
Tragedies are often predictable in plot, too, not always. Tragedies are written as far back as Ancient Greece as plays so that the audience can watch the story, and experience its emotional contents and undergo 'Catharsis', a cleansing of sadness and emotion afterwards. In reading, Tragedies are often also 'going down hill', as in the tragic hero started with everything he could possibly have, and the fortune of wheels indicates that from this point onwards his luck will run out. A tragedy is also sympathetic, and it works because the readers can sympathize with the characters, if they despise them then the reader won't even care less if your characters died.
Coming back to my point about flaws, sometimes it could also be a virtue. In John Milton's Paradise Lost Adam's fall is due to his flaw, also virtue, his love for Eve. A flaw could be almost anything. One last thing, I would like to say as well, is that the tragedy must make an impact at the end, often carrying a moral message.

03-Jun-2008 23:05:46 - Last edited on 14-Dec-2008 21:39:03 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

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~` Romance `~
By: Roshinda
The purpose of this guide is not to convince anyone that they should include romance in their stories. Rather, my aim is to help those who are open to the possibility learn how to best execute it. Should any "anti-romance" authors be inclined to change their minds, well that is a bonus.
Contrary to popular belief, romance can add dimension to your story you can't otherwise achieve. Think of the plot twists you can create when your hero unknowingly falls in love with the person he or she is supposed to kill. Consider the character development that occurs when a disciplined, logic-governed soldier finds himself in love, a most illogical thing, or how the personality of a usually happy character would change following the loss of a loved one.
Which brings me to another point. Romances don't have to be lovey dovey happily ever after fairytales. They can end tragically in death (I don't think a reminder about Romeo and Juliet is necessary), they can go badly (disillusionment, unrequited love) or they can end amicably with one or both of the involved characters taking away valuable knowledge that changes them. These of course are but a few examples. Use your imagination.
Romance is a sadly disused genre in the stories forum. I hope with the aid of this guide that more authors will chose to incorporate it into your stories. If you do wish to include romance, it would be in your best interests to follow a few simple guidelines:

03-Jun-2008 23:05:47 - Last edited on 01-Feb-2009 06:09:16 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

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Build up to romance as early as you can, be it through scattered glimpses into a characters thoughts, or actions, etc. Random romance just thrown into a story for the sake of it doesn't flow and leaves the reader confused and wondering if they missed something. Not that you can't surprise the reader, but you do have to leave some hints.
Mood is everything. A loud scene is not going to be as conducive to a tender love scene as a quiet one.It all depends, however, what you as the author are going for. Also, generally speaking, a slow paced romance offers a nice change of pace to the reader, and can break up the action, building more suspense.
At first, writing romance can seem awkward an unnatural, but keep at it and you will improve, as in all things.
Good luck to you, and I hope to see some more romance stories appearing on the forums.

03-Jun-2008 23:05:47 - Last edited on 27-Sep-2008 02:28:55 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

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~` Horror `~
By: Whitewolf492
Your First HORROR Story! *Wishes he had some creepy font for HORROR*
Before you start, outline the goals and main aspects of your story. Get a sort of guide in your head about how you want the finished product to be.
Think about:
- Length (Will this be a novel? A campfire story? A short?)
- Genre (Thriller? Slasher? Gore-filled? Psychological?)
- Setting (Medieval? Future? Present day?)
Also, think about tense. The verb tense and the person (1st person, Omniscient 3rd, etc) can hugely affect the tone of a piece.
This is actually a good idea before you write any story, but with a touchy genre like horror, you need to especially think.
Ok, you're ready to start writing!
You're most likely going to run into what I call the DEATH of horror. What could that be, you ask?
OVER-WRITING.
It seems that new horror authors have somehow got this notion into their collective heads that gore = horror.
"Blood dripping out of his exposed liver and intestines, Keith screamed loudly as the zombie pulled out organs and ate them, chewing on his intestines like they were some kind of meat pasta."
It gets comical. I've seen passages written every bit as ineptly as that one, probably more so (though I have to say, I really like that simile about the intestines. *keeps*).
Horror is a genre of finesse. You have to be intelligent and prudent. It takes a single passage like that to make a potentially frightening work into a comedy of violence.
However, take care also that you do not UNDER-WRITE the piece. This is probably even more damaging. Nothing ruins horror quite as well as boredom.
"The vampire suddenly jumped out of the tomb, biting Joe's neck."
Oh mercy, I do declare. I nearly swooned.
"Guttering torches *ast pale shadows as Joe slowly crept through the crypt.
From the shadows, a single malevolent eye began tracing his progress; a cold grin."

03-Jun-2008 23:06:33 - Last edited on 03-Jul-2008 15:01:15 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

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Horror is every bit as much about what you DON'T write as what you do.
Think back to the last semi-scary movie you saw. Was it scary because of what it showed? Probably somewhat.
But it's also scary because of ANTICIPATION. The SUSPENSE of a piece is incredibly important.
You can't write a horror like you write an Action/Adventure story. The more you tell the reader, the less their imagination can scare them for you. Not saying you should tell them NOTHING, but don't give it all away at once.
If you need a good idea of how a suspenseful passage should work, read the Dream sequence from my piece White as Snow, on the Anthology.
As always, what you DO tell the reader needs to be shown and not told. You don't introduce the character. The environment and other characters introduce the character.
And what you show needs to drip with detail. Intelligent detail, not the "Joe's loud footsteps echoed off the cold, hard stone until he walked up to the large, oak door. He grabbed the huge steel handle and swung it open, creaking loudly in the silence."
Listen up, cuz here's my Golden Secret to writing amazing description.
You're watching a movie. It happens to be about the story you're writing. Picture every scene in your head as it unfolds. Pretend you're looking at a big movie screen.
Every detail YOU would notice when you look at the screen, write down. Every sound that stands out, write down.
If you're watching a panning shot of a poverty-stricken city in an introduction, you're not going to notice the weather vanes. You won't notice what the doors are made of.
You'll notice the broken window panes, the doors hanging off their hinges, and the tattered banners flapping sluggishly in the humid breeze.
In the next shot, you might hear the rusty squeal of the weather vane, and THEN you can write about it.
If you don't know if a detail is important, ask yourself if you'd notice it in a photo or a recording. If yes, it is. If not, it's not.

03-Jun-2008 23:07:35 - Last edited on 10-Jun-2008 21:51:55 by CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

CaptChekaka

Posts: 35,595 Sapphire Posts by user Forum Profile RuneMetrics Profile
And finally, don't be afraid to get gruesome sometimes.
The pinnacle of a piece warrants something more.
You've spent ten pages slowly working your audience to the edge of their seat. They can hear their pulse ringing in their ears as their mind reels with the masterful suspense you've crafted.
And JUST when they don't think they can STAND it anymore, when they NEED to know what's causing the mind-breakingly awful ripping sounds that the character has been searching for the whole time...
"The door opened with a swift silence, the cessation of sound absolutely deafening in the dusk.
'Mother...?' a timid and tremulous voice called out into the inky room, a quivering hand grasping the doorknob with white knuckles.
A thick stench suddenly assailed the nostrils of the boy; metallic, sharp...somehow...familiar.
Eyes rimmed in white peer inwards into the jet, the pitch pallor swallowing any slight vestige of illumination as a fish swallows a worm.
Something glints.
The boy cries out, falling out of the doorway as darkness incarnate crawls forth on inhuman limbs; a halting, gasping, jerking shuffle spoke as clearly of un-death as the trails of blood which followed the stained creature.
Gazing upon the blood-smeared visage of his mother stretched across the abomination's head, the realization slowly surfaced through fear-induced stupor about the source of the ripping.
Soon-blinded eyes glimpsed their last."

03-Jun-2008 23:07:35 - Last edited on 10-Jun-2008 21:52:12 by CaptChekaka

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