I just noticed making Tragedy is easier than Romance

[Kamelingil]

Is it just me or does making a Tragedy seems easier to make than cooking with the Romance? Or am I just that inexperienced?

 

[Iamnotabot]

That just you, i have an easy time going the romance route but find it hard to make tragedy works other than killing people moms and dads, and giving my oc's trauma for life. And taking their body parts.

 

[Gryphon]

I make a lot of my romances tragedies. I think that answers the question.

I just have this fascination with a good tragedy. A good tragedy sticks with me, makes me think "if they did this, maybe it wouldn't have ended so badly." A story where characters who by all means have the answers to their questions, but through a combination of unfortunate life circumstances, decisions, and already going too far to back out, it ends up with a concoction of melancholy.

I just finished playing the Danganronpa fangame Danganronpa Another, and that's a good example of an amazing tragedy and what makes me prefer them over any other type of story and why I like to write them.

That just you, i have an easy time going the romance route but find it hard to make tragedy works other than killing people moms and dads, and giving my oc's trauma for life. And taking their body parts.

Well, what you're describing is less tragedy and more just general hardship. What makes a tragedy, a tragedy, is character agency. Is the character involved in the tragedy making decisions which further their spiral? Anyone can write about a main characters parents dying. However, if you give the character enough agency where they end up inadvertently killing their own parents through their actions, that's when the tragedy sets in.

 

[AstreiaNyx]

Depends on the writers, I think. Personally, I find writing romance hard, as you need to build a believable relationship to show the reader the chemistry is there, rather than telling them. But each genre has its own challenges.

 

[Rhaps]

That just you, i have an easy time going the romance route but find it hard to make tragedy works other than killing people moms and dads, and giving my oc's trauma for life. And taking their body parts.

Nah tragedy is easy af, you just have to contain spite and frustration built up from hours of being a DM

 

[Xam_I_Am]

Sad romances with splashes of tragedy are my favorite, the ones that really make you feel for the characters.

 

[Toast2Venus]

Thou Don't Hath any Wenches?

 

[GlassRose]

Yup. I mean, making tragedy good is still not easy, but making good romance is really hard because you have to have a really good understanding of chemistry and or it comes off really forced, where as tragedy, it's simple in principle, bad thing happens, and that hurts someone emotionally. Maybe throw in that the bad thing was a result of the character's own actions. Romance though has so many factors and different ways to go about it and there's no easy formula for making work.

 

[Tsuru]

I make a lot of my romances tragedies. I think that answers the question.

I just have this fascination with a good tragedy. A good tragedy sticks with me, makes me think "if they did this, maybe it wouldn't have ended so badly." A story where characters who by all means have the answers to their questions, but through a combination of unfortunate life circumstances, decisions, and already going too far to back out, it ends up with a concoction of melancholy.

I just finished playing the Danganronpa fangame Danganronpa Another, and that's a good example of an amazing tragedy and what makes me prefer them over any other type of story and why I like to write them.

Well, what you're describing is less tragedy and more just general hardship. What makes a tragedy, a tragedy, is character agency. Is the character involved in the tragedy making decisions which further their spiral? Anyone can write about a main characters parents dying. However, if you give the character enough agency where they end up inadvertently killing their own parents through their actions, that's when the tragedy sets in.

I just have this fascination with a good tragedy. A good tragedy sticks with me, makes me think "if they did this, maybe it wouldn't have ended so badly."

.............Subaru-kyun...
Stockholm syndrome ? (*pat pat head gently*)

-Insert gigantic list of tragedies that happen to pitiful Subaru and all possible timelines of subaru-

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I see some concerning things in this thread. Making bad things happen to the MC will not equal a good tragedy. Tragedy isn't just "Oh, my parents died. I'm sad." Why should the reader care about the Tragedy?

You have to build characters and bring them along with the MC, and when they die, it has to be set up well. Leading with parents and family dying isn't a Tragedy. The opening of Demon Slayer isn't a Tragedy.

Sorry, had to rant a little.

 

[Haku45]

Is it just me or does making a Tragedy seems easier to make than cooking with the Romance? Or am I just that inexperienced?

Good romance not hard to do. But really great tragedy it's hard to make. I tired of bad tragedies, where mc have sad past and in the final they die because of car crash. But I always enjoy good tragedies like signalis or silent hill

 

[BearlyAlive]

Schadenfreude does not equal tragedy. Misery porn is a whole different genre that gets slapped the tragedy tag because "grimdark edgy storytelling" is too much of a mouthful

I personally think a good tragedy is harder to write than a good romance. You need not only make the readers invested into your story, you also need them invested into your main characters or setting before finding the right grade of cruelty to not turn them off.

Just write comedy. It's easy. Trust me, I get laughed at all the time no matter what I say! /s

 

[Tsuru]

I see some concerning things in this thread. Making bad things happen to the MC will not equal a good tragedy. Tragedy isn't just "Oh, my parents died. I'm sad." Why should the reader care about the Tragedy?

You have to build characters and bring them along with the MC, and when they die, it has to be set up well. Leading with parents and family dying isn't a Tragedy. The opening of Demon Slayer isn't a Tragedy.

Sorry, had to rant a little.

Based +1

(envy say so many of them, need to count them by numbers)

 

[QuercusMalus]

I think part of it is that tragic events are fairly universal across cultures (death of a loved one, abandonment, loss of home, job, possession, health, ect). People can easily sympathize and identify with that experience, at least on some level.

Romance is harder because what is considered 'romantic' varies based on culture, personality, age and experience so its easy for things to go sideways. A suiter serenading you outside your window? Annoying if you're trying to sleep. Sending someone a lock of hair and a love letter? Creepy. Loitering outside their school/job to 'accidentally' run into them? Stalker-esque. Sending a dozen red roses? Allergic to flowers and/or think red roses are so generic that it's a sign of a lack of effort. Public confession? Embarrassing.

It's always easier to write a genre badly then write it well. That's why I will never touch comedy.

 

[GlassRose]

Based +1

(envy say so many of them, need to count them by numbers)

You pinged me with that, I don't think you meant to.

 

[Tsuru]

You pinged me with that, I don't think you meant to.

sorry

I see some concerning things in this thread. Making bad things happen to the MC will not equal a good tragedy. Tragedy isn't just "Oh, my parents died. I'm sad." Why should the reader care about the Tragedy?

You have to build characters and bring them along with the MC, and when they die, it has to be set up well. Leading with parents and family dying isn't a Tragedy. The opening of Demon Slayer isn't a Tragedy.

Sorry, had to rant a little.

Based +1

(envy say so many of them, need to count them by numbers)

 

[Zagaroth]

I am finding romance really easy.

It doesn't show with the first romance in my story, I set up a marriage of convenience when I wasn't confident, but as time moves on I am finding it easier and easier to find connections to build different types and sorts of relationships in.

A real tragedy would be difficult for me. To hurt the characters so badly after having spent so much time helping them grow and flourish would be agonizing.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It depends on what feels most natural to the writer. Some lean towards tragedy, others to comedy in the classical sense (i.e. most of Shakespeare's comedies were not what we would generally consider a "comedy" but all had happy endings; some of his tragedies are downright hilarious but have darker, usually very bloody, endings). And Romance is kind of a loaded term too as the meaning changed over the years.

If it bothers you that you have trouble writing one type of story, either read more stories of that type and try to learn from them, or just don't write them. If it does not bother you, then keep on plugging; maybe you will find a natural rhythm that turns the tragedy into a romance.

 

[Lloyd]

Is it just me or does making a Tragedy seems easier to make than cooking with the Romance? Or am I just that inexperienced?

No rizz