Discussion Better way to write tragedies?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by AardwarkThe2nd, Nov 28, 2017.

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So?

  1. The good guy protagonist gets fucked by every evil bastard

    9 vote(s)
    32.1%
  2. The evil bastard protagonist fucks over every good antagonist

    19 vote(s)
    67.9%
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  1. AardwarkThe2nd

    AardwarkThe2nd (R-18 writer) Aardwark, the king of aardvarks!

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    See, most tragic, dark stories either have:

    A) The good guy protagonist being continuously fucked over by bastard enemies until he turns the tables for one glorious chapter, after which we return to getting fucked over.

    https://www.novelupdates.com/series/renegade-immortal/

    B)The 'enemies' are good guys and sympathized with, and we follow the evil protagonist fucking them over one by one, with some points where the enemies screw over the hero once, and get repaid ten times over for that.

    Eg. https://www.novelupdates.com/series/inside-the-cave-of-obscenity/

    Which of these do you like better?

    EDIT: added examples, click to get descriptions.
     
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2017
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  2. Kaminomi

    Kaminomi Well-Known Member

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    Write it ,i want to see the b option:sushi_peak::sushi_hide:
     
  3. Serviet

    Serviet Random bumpkin

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    "Better way to write tragedies?" With a pen or a computer.
    ...
    More seriously, if you want something tragic, I think the reader should feel that the MC didn't deserve his/her fate. An evil MC "fucking over" good guys won't bring as much sympathy (the MC is called MC for a reason, his character should have more depth than the others).

    If you want to make an evil MC for a tragedy, he shouldn't be an evil MC for the sake of it.
     
  4. Harry

    Harry Now you see me

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    What kind of tragedy is that? The real tragedy happen when heroines get NTRed
     
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  5. Avil

    Avil Well-Known Member

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    None of the options, the point lies in the balance, our MC has to suffer but as punishment for one of his defects at a time(and learn from it) and the evil guys need to be something more than disposable pawns.
     
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  6. Suijin

    Suijin Blood God [Medic]

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    get viewers attached to 2 main characters. kill the first one who attempts to save the second one And have the second one see the death.then give the second one an option to sacrifice itself to give life back to the first one. then after that tell the first one what happened.
     
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  7. chencking

    chencking [Daolord Grammar Nazi]

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    A sounds repetitive and the same for B, so neither. In Chikyuu Tenseisha no Koroshikata, we have a shitty protagonist screwing over shitty heroes until he sacrifices the only good guy in the series as collateral damage. That, left an impact. Or HSSB, where the enemies are "good protagonists" who become "bastard enemies" and the protagonist develops into someone who can squash them. Neither fit in with your criteria, and thus leave an impact.
     
  8. Flumya

    Flumya ARMY ஐ Wigless Shota ஐ Fluffinya's Unnie

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    it sounds to me like a bl plot
    Option A) Uke--> Seme
    Option B) Seme--> Uke
     
  9. 0000000

    0000000 I B SMILING!

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    I feel no tragedy over these two, can more sad?
     
  10. raltzero

    raltzero Last Year Until BS in IT | Lazy Overlord TL

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  11. Rhorho

    Rhorho Well-Known Member

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    is ntred by the whole town enough?
     
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  12. He

    He Stop using the net, you net addict.

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    well... just look at urobuchi. no matter who you are, no matter what you do, you are fucked.
     
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  13. Guradu Gilgida

    Guradu Gilgida 【Gentleman】【Tembikar Demon】

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    >The evil bastard protagonist fucks over every good antagonist
    That's not a tragedy, it's a wish-fulfilling story written by emo author that actually got bullied in real life.
     
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  14. rav1980

    rav1980 Random Lurker

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    Everybody loves large chests on RRL
     
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  15. Rhorho

    Rhorho Well-Known Member

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    you do know a novel called warlock of the magus world, right?
    well not all the good guy were screwed by te mc, but you know...
     
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  16. Kaminomi

    Kaminomi Well-Known Member

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    but its funny, just like ntr
     
  17. AardwarkThe2nd

    AardwarkThe2nd (R-18 writer) Aardwark, the king of aardvarks!

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    But the problem is that neither of the two are either good or can be sympathized with. In the first case, it is shitty protagonist screwing over shitty heroes. In the second case, xianxia protags are inherently unsympathetic.

    A better option for the first case, would be Xian Ni. MC gets screwed over a lot, and his change in personality from a good kid to a slaughter god isn't abrupt.
     
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  18. Blitz

    Blitz ⛈️ awakened from the reverie❄️

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    Regenade Immortals is not that tragic:hmm:
     
  19. xluferx

    xluferx [The writer who writes for fun][Meme lord]

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    That's easy!!

    Simply don't do accidental deaths for the sake of it.

    Death parents for the heck of it.

    Abusive families for the heck of it.

    Friends deaths for....

    Pretty much anything that is a commonly known tragedy writen a s tragedy.

    For example a tragedy usually has more connection to the psicológical aspect, my favorites are the one linked with the depression and how is dealt with, even more if is dealt in the wrong way.
    Falling in any kind of addiction, and how the world is in their respective, is also a journey of self realization of how fucked things had gotten.
     
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  20. Goblin Sleuth

    Goblin Sleuth Well-Known Member

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    I feel like a good tragedy is none of those things. A tragedy should be a single event in the story, something that deeply affects the protagonist, and changes who they are as a person. This could be the betrayal of a close friend, the death of a loved one, as long as it has an impact on them. The route the story should then take is showing how they deal with this tragedy, how it changes them, what they learn from it, and how they grow past it.

    A story with tragedy on top of tragedy, what is the point of that? To make the readers feel sad, to make them constantly sympathize with your protagonist? Readers will sympathize more with their struggle as they try to overcome a tragedy. Just layering on one bad thing after another that is not a tragedy it is a soap opera.
     
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