How to write a sad story:

Give the reader a wonderful hope or dream, and then crush it...

...really... that's it.

Think about the best sad stories that have made you cry. What happened? You were hoping for a future that became futile and impossible, and in that moment of lost futures, you realized just how badly you wanted it and just how badly you're going to miss the crushed potential. (And sometimes the future was already lost when the story starts but you're really dwelling on the potential that was lost, thus making it sad.)

Now, of course there are the exception stories where they manage to tug on a heartstring or topic that really means a lot to the reader at the moment, but those are really hit and miss because you usually don't know what you're audience is currently going through. These can sometimes be the most impactful if you manage to hit the nail on the head, though.

But in the end, it's easiest to just to make sure that your audience is hoping for a happy future for themselves or another character and then tear it away from them in an unexpected, and sometimes violent, manner.

And how do you make sure your audience has a hope or dream? Simple, get them to sympathize and connect with a character that has hopes and dreams. Well, how do you do that? ...That's a lecture for another time.

But anyway, that's all from me today, students! Have fun with your newly gained knowledge!

4427289 I love writing these I'm pretty good at em I guess

Forgive me for what I'm about to do, Sombra...

4427938

?????

4427947 After the first five chapters of my current fic, the whole thing could be seen as his origin story, and it's nothing short of heartbreaking. Want to hear it?

4429930

O.K *Grabs popcorn* BEGIN!

4430162 30 years before the start of Chapter Six, the siege of Everfree was broken, and with it the Imperial Gryphon Army. Before it had ended, the entire fifteenth ward, or district, was torched, leaving only one colt to wander the smoldering ruins of his home. A conjuror took him under his care, and together they left the city for several years to aid in reconstruction across the continent. As the years went on, the colt became the conjuror's eager apprentice, his upbeat and casual personality contrasting with his mentor's serious and often cynical views of the world. For reasons not explained here, the mentor dabbled in dark magic, as did his apprentice behind his back, which slowly began to twist young Sombra's mind. When the truth came out that his mentor had torched the Fifteenth Ward, Sombra was briefly possessed by its dark powers before his friends managed to snap him out of it. He reconciled with his mentor shortly before the elder sacrificed himself, and he vowed to remember him by fighting dark magic wherever it may arise.

After aiding in the rise of Equestria's first king and queen, who had become close friends of his during their quest, he was appointed their adviser in magic before moving to the Freezing North, in order to study the properties of the crystals mined there. When he fell in love with a mare who had essentially become the leader of the northern tribes due to her efforts to keep them fed and sheltered, he constructed a magnificent city of crystal to profess his love for her. She returned his feelings, and they were chosen by the tribes to rule the north as the Crystal Empire, with the city he built becoming its capital. Under their leadership, the land thrived and the population boomed. The empress soon bore a beautiful daughter, and the Empire remained close with Equestria to the south. All was well.

But then, everything changed. Sombra's former apprentice betrayed his teachings, and began to warp the land in the image perceived by Lord Discord, who seized the Equestrian throne almost effortlessly. The king headed south to confront the tyrant and free Equestria from his vile grip, only to find his efforts were almost completely in vain; His two dearest friends, the king and queen, were dead, and his godchildren, their young daughters, had gone missing. Using all of his strength, he struck down his apprentice and defeated the Tyrant of Chaos, but not before Discord told him his wife was not as faithful as he believed her to be. Sombra retreated north to prove him wrong, but Equestria had been corrupted beyond his ability to repair it, mainly because he had not killed Discord like he thought.

Having lost everyone but his wife and daughter, he rushed home to find her in the arms of a noble, both being under the influence of Love Poison. This was what finally pushed him over the edge. In a fit of rage, he tore the very essence of love from her, leaving an empty shell of the mare she once was. The noble's entire race suffered a similar fate as her followers when he banished them from the land. Before her transformation, however, the queen turned their young daughter to stone and sent her out of the kingdom, so that she would never have to know where she was from and what had become of her parents.

In mere months, he had lost his wife, his daughter, his apprentice, and his dearest friends, failed to save Equestria from chaos, and become consumed by dark magic. All that remained was his shrunken kingdom, a shadow of its former glory, and he wasn't about to lose it. After dismissing his terrified guards from the room, he took one final look at the crystal snowglobe he had presented her with when she accepted his marriage proposal.

With one final tear, he whispered to the winds of the Windigoes, "Forgive me, my Crystal..." before letting it fall to the floor and crushing it under his steel-clad hoof, and with it, any shred of compassion or morality he still had. With that, the tyrant sat upon his throne...

And he smiled.

4427289 Solid advice! Really good pointer for anyone looking to write a sad story.

4435890

Neat

4427289 Out of curiosity then, what makes a tragedy? If a sad story requires you to crush the audiences hopes and dreams, is a tragedy just the futility of their goal? You just knowing that they can't reach their goal, no matter how hard they try?

4436785 Thanks! Check out my fic for more, the good stuff is coming with the next arc!

4436795
So far as I understand it, "Tragedy" has many definitions in the world of writing. You've given one of them, and perhaps the most commonly used in the modern sense: A tragedy is a story about some protagonist figure destined inevitably to a terribly sad end (either the story, or the protagonist, or both can be so destined, at least by this definition).

Other definitions vary but they all carry the general sense of an inevitable loss or realization of futility. Some may require that the protagonist be a heroic or strong figure with better than average qualities, while others may require that the sad story be shown in such a way as to produce a melancholy feeling, or in some cases (such as in Greek tragedies) at least end with a sense of relief or pleasure (release of the emotional tension despite the tragic end).

But yes, in the most common and most generally applicable sense,what you have stated is a tragedy.

Fantastic examples of a tragedy (to my understanding at least) from this site would be The Assassination of Twilight Sparkle, and 500 Little Murders.

4427289

...really... that's it.

Easy there, Sport.

There's more to it than that. For one thing, you need to avoid overdoing it and lapsing into melodrama, as well as avoiding the overused cliches that will earn you groans and eye rolls rather than tears.

4441330
I considered things like those to be general rules that apply to any story; sad, drama, adventure, etc.

Also, they should be sort of obvious but sadly are not.

I may or may not write a lecture on avoiding falling into overdramatic presentation and the abuse of clichés. You could do it if you want, though.

4441335
True, you need to avoid those in all stories... but it's especially important in sad stories.

In sad stories, immersion is crucial. The tiniest break in immersion -- anything that brings the reader out of the story and makes him realize it's all an elaborate lie -- will completely ruin the sad effect.

4441357
So far as I know, the only kind of story where breaking the suspension of disbelief is allowed and sometimes encouraged would be in the comedy category. Everything else, I feel like really always requires such in order to have the full effect. But yes, the greater the desired emotional impact of your story, the greater the suspension of disbelief must be.

Sonata's recorder.

4441366 Suspension of disbelief is a funny thing. It requires subtly and is best implemented gradually.

I wrote a tragedy in which the main character is the villain—not an anti-hero, an honest to goodness villain—and a truly evil one at that. That couldn't be done without a carefully crafted suspension of disbelief and it was my express intent to wreck that disbelief at the end. That's because time and again it's shown how not ok her actions are and the audience still sides with her each and every time, and I wanted to make the audience confront the fact that they were advocating some fucked up things.

So, ultimately, I think the key to immersion is not just the suspension of disbelief but rather subtly in controlling that belief. And disrupting that immersion, or subverting that suspension of disbelief is a tool that can have incredible power if used correctly.

5010714
Hehehe. I know why that happens. ;P

However, in that sense I wouldn't call it a suspension of disbelief. Suspension of disbelief is more about how the reader allows themselves to become immersed in the story without thinking about the fact that it may or may not be a piece of fiction. It's about the reader seeing the story as if they are events that are really happening, and characters as real persons they can connect with. It allows the connection to the story to be much stronger. That's why things like grammar, spelling, readability, and lack of 4th wall interaction is so important. If any of those things are wrong, the reader becomes aware that they are reading a fiction story, instead of watching real events play out.

As for what you are describing regarding the perspective of the readers, that's what I call the 'Stubbornness of Perspective'. I describe it and how powerful it can be in the lecture I just linked.

5011054 There is very much a blurry line when there is a continual disjunction where the supporting characters take the time to say the perspective you're following is not a good one to get behind. Push that angle too hard, that "you're the bad guy, reader" and the disbelief evaporates, don't push it hard enough and the message doesn't get across.

Yes, I very much relied on Stubbornness of Perspective until the last two chapters where I then transitioned to Sunk Costs to motivate my readers (a trend that seems present in almost all my stories). But, I also tried to frequently push the suspension of disbelief to the edge of what can be maintained. I can't think of a way to deliver on the "main character is bad and you should feel bad for liking them" without a healthy (or unhealthy) mix of the two. The lecture on Stubbornness of Perspective was a good read all the same.

I think the distinction is that I don't classify suspension of disbelief so broadly as to say it's an all or nothing thing investment in the world. But rather a belief in the collective individual aspects of the world and how they work together. That we can be jarred within an experience without removing us totally from it, which I feel occurs when our belief in some aspects of the world is subverted or betrayed, but not the entire world.

I think it'd be nice to see more writers play with this kind of give and take. This "I want you to stay with this character" from the aspect of perspective, but also a bit of "but something is definitely not right here" from the disbelief side. Getting readers to become passively aware that they are actively taking in discrepancies blurs the line between what discrepancies will and will not break immersion.

I found the Revenger's Tragedy to be a sad story.

I never wanted people to be stabbed.

4427289
Wow