~~Angst: the One True Way.

[reenka]

is it me, or is there some sort of `pride' to uphold among angst writers? *laughs* as in, we, the angst writers, do our honorable deed, and any deviation is a shameful, embarrassing thing, because by writing angst we make a Statement about the world, a deep, meaningful statement, and if we renege on that Statement, we aren't worthy of our Angsty Heritage. ahem.

our Angsty roots need watering, our Angsty Credo needs upholding.
we, the few-- the proud-- the Angst Writers. *coughs*


it's not any one person-- i see this again and again-- i mean, mostly in jest i guess, but still. what is it about angst writing that makes one think it's some sort of defining -thing- about you as a writer, and maybe as a person? why is it so different than writing satire or pure drama, or mythical romance or what have you?
    i've never seen humor writers beat their chests, proclaiming themselves to be Proud, to be on the One True Path, the practicioners of the great Art and Science of Satire. *chortles*
    i mean, it would be funny if one said-- i've been writing too much angst and drama. i need to go back to my satiric fluffy roots.

personally, i just write stuff. if it comes out fluff or angst or sweet gooey wuv (not so often), i don't really care. i'm not out to cultivate an image i hold of myself-- if anything because i have no clue what that image would be. actually, i'm sort of a satirically inclined angst writer. not so much that my characters -suffer-... ok, so they suffer. it's just-- i certainly don't write about happy love. neither do i write about doomed love. to me it's all kind of confused and undefined. no love is one or the other entirely. that's the beauty of it-- love is everything all at once. i never thought any character was really doomed unless i plan to kill them-- and i only kill characters in jest, really. or as a metaphor for transformation.

well, that's just me.
    still, it's weird to me that a number of people feel -uncomfortable- with the lighter side, even if they write it. it's like, it's not as deep, not as meaningful-- like it's a lie, somehow, they're lying to themselves and the readers. if they're writing Doomed Love, well, they're telling the truth then.
    i mean, this is definitely a case of the writer seeping into the writing, i guess. your life has been sucky, so if your characters are ok, they're like, in some insane little dreamworld, surely. it seems to imply some sort of personal resentment and jadedness that is seeping into your work. not that that's easily avoided-- after all, your work is a part of you. still, if you're not going to go beyond your own views and opinions on the characters and on life, your work is going to be hobbled, and if you judge what you write as you write it or beforehand, you're running the risk of skewing it, taking away the magical, indefinable quality that makes it beautiful, that makes the reader speechless.
    and yes, my favorite writing, the things i consider magical and truly great, work beyond angst and satire and fluff and encompass all of them. that is the goal. that is the One True Path, for me anyway. say, shakespeare was never entirely one or the other, even though he wrote "comedies" and "tragedies". he never struck just one note. it just bothers me to see writers even jokingly refer to the need to write angst, as if it's more worthwhile, more "real". what's real is the emotion throughout, not the eventual result, not the -nature- of the emotion. i hope anyway.
~~

EDIT: anyway. more interestingly. ztrin. ginny. evil. i-- am-- dead. as in, oh my -gahd-, if i ever write evil and ginny and tom, let me be half, a quarter, a third as good as this. um. yah.

Comments

[wobblygoblin.livejournal.com]

*applauds*

Couldn't have said it better m'self. Angst isn't the only way to go, and an entirely angsty story is nearly impossible if it involves more than one character. Because characters are people, really, and people are very different things. It takes all sorts, and all sorts react in all sorts of ways. Unless you happen to be writing about a modern poetry cafe in a decadent urban sprawl with characters who dress entirely in black and are broody misunderstood artistic teens. Then angst, angst, angst and highjinx abound! (Of course, there's probably a happy shop owner or a cheerful parent, so damn, not entirely angst either.)

But on the whole, some people angst and some people don't and that's what makes the world go round. You should never confine yourself to just one sort of writing.

*steps down off her soapbox*

[yourpoison.livejournal.com]

*dusts off your soap-box and puts it away for later use* :D
you know, that's why i like lj, partly. you get the debate and the agendas and the propagandazing without y'know, the actual politicians and workers unions and organizations for the better treatment of satire :D

but yah. i like things balanced, if anything because too much of one thing gives one stomach cramps and makes me cranky.
and no one likes me when i'm cranky ><;;