Hey you egregiously incremented idiots! (Alliteration: Mission failed.....goddamit) It's a me! Mr.Ignorable! Or just call me Mr. I, "the boogyman", the terminator (of fics). I go by all of them.

All joking aside, today's lecture will be about sad stories. Now, today's sad stories, which thankfully have a bit more variety in terms of ideas than most other types. Some of which include: stories where ponies are dead and passed on and either their children, loved ones, or friends are remembering them. Stories where something bad has transpired and a character is reflecting on their actions and what they could have done/ being all sad. And thirdly: my little dashie spin offs.

The later is like the failed abortion that shows up to the family reunion. Everybody knows about it, nobody wants to acknowledge it, and sooner or later the whole abortion thing will come up resulting in a bad fiasco (a.e when people start up a debate over if MLD was sad or not). Which will escalate VERY quickly until the hired band is playing mariachi music while half your relatives are beating each other with the legs of turkey and other cooked birds, the cops have shown up and are ALSO getting beaten with rolling pins and table legs by your fat uncle Bob who's drunk off his ASS, and your fifteen year old self is drinking beer in the chaos like he/she is trying to get rid of a couple million brain cells.

Sorry, all personal memories *shudders* aside, SAD fics are one of the most easily exploitable stories in this whole fandom because of ponies. And you wanna know why ponies? Because the rule of exploitation of feels exists in the same vein of the rule of exploitation of ponies R34 style: the more innocent it is, the more awful it is when it gets corrupted (and it WILL get corrupted. Cabbage Patch kids taught me that). Or in this case, the more fun, wholesome and silly it is, the more it becomes bittersweet.

Ponies and sad fics are like fine wines really. The older you make them in your fic, the wiser and way more fond they'll become of their past as they reflect upon it in their later years. And the more FEELZ you can draw from your audience because THEY CAN RELATE.

Seriously, take it from me..

One thing I missed when I was rattling off my sad fics list was Sad Spike stories and sad immortal stories (Celestia, Luna, and Cadence). Those are also fine as well, but you have to pull it off just right (a.e have them pondering something YOU ponder about immortality).

So yeah. Five, er, Six! No that's not right. Seven? Whatever. Seven easy steps into making your sad story likable!

P.S I probably missed a lot of points, so feel free to ask away.

P.P.S: Sad/Nostalgic music made me complacent. which isn't why I'm ultra caps-lock rage-festing right now.

In terms of incorporating a sad moment in to an adventure/dark story, would you recommend dedicating an entire chapter to the protagonist(s) dealings with sadness? I.E: Expressing their suffering, friend(s) attempt for comfort, and coming to accept the loss/vowing eternal revenge? (With two to three or so chapters of build up at least?)

Or would you recommend a drawn out, follow the bread crumbs of clues that ultimately lead up to: exposing/dealing with said sadness?

(Or is this lesson only applicable to stories that revolve around the "Sad" genre?)

Thanks.

344277 If you were to incorporate a sad PART into a story, then I'd suggest devoting a rather large chapter just for their sadness. Also, don't do the bread crumbs thing, especially at the beginning, people want the character already in the throes of their sadness to truly portray a SAD character. Again, it doesn't have to be an entire chapter, but make a paragraph in your story long enough to fully cover why the character is sad, and what they're thinking about during the midst of their sadness.

344295 I am one tired M***ther F***Ker.. Probably doesn't help that I'm an insomniac.

But yeah, I watched "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence." For the first time in eons and I cried so many tears because I remember how awesome it was.

344293 I will bear that in mind, and appreciate your response.

344344 I think it's the one movie I would recommend with the gusto of a witness.

On a completely related note, "FiMFiction Banner".

There is also another type of sad, the type in Bubbles.

Here's my version of sad If you look into it. It has all the types of sorrow you can think about. Envy of your friends, suicide and co-dependency. The best types of sad fic is varied.

346096 Bubbles is a great example of why varied sorrow is a must for good sad fics. You have the saddness for the abuse Derpy gets, saddness that she's abandoned and sad that her father didn't even realize what was happening