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MakingFunOfStuff —
How Not to Tell a Story
Published: 2013-03-06 04:31:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 124313; Favourites: 952; Downloads: 69
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After being on DeviantArt for a few years now, I've noticed patterns in people's stories. Patterns, that I can't say I've ever seen until I started using the internet. I believe that's because these kind of patterns are thoroughly unprofessional. The pattern in short is this:Character = victim
Plot = bad things happening to said victim
Maybe this sounds harsh. It's not if you understand that is ALL there is to these stories. They take any character, hurl them into a tragedy and that's it.
Let's get this straight: We do not know your character well enough to care about them yet. No matter how bloody and gutty their injuries are, no matter how many of their family members are deceased, no matter what their boyfriend did to them, no matter what kind of disease they have, WE. DO. NOT. CARE!!!!!
These kind of things are sad in themselves, but WHO is this person we're supposed to feel so horrible for? Establish THAT. It should be your absolute FIRST priority: no exceptions.
No more pasting faces onto the same cardboard-cut-out sob story protagonist.
If you want readers to care, you must FIRST GIVE THEM A HUMAN BEING TO CARE FOR.
If you don't, yes of course you are still going to get comments from emotional people who find your story intriguing. That is not the point.
The absolute WORST thing you can do is (I hate saying this), taking comments from people on the internet seriously (about your writing, that is).
People who have no CLUE about literature will post comments on the most unprofessional writings and say things like, "This made me cry. You are like the next J.K Rowling."
DO NOT LISTEN TO THESE PEOPLE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE THINGS LIKE TWILIGHT AND 50 SHADES OF GREY POSSIBLE.
All I'm saying is that if you think things like Twilight are insults to literature, I beg you to take the advice given above. If not, what can I say but: carry on. Let the age of Mary Sue begin.
We need to remember: a rich story is made up of so much more than only one element; it can't rely only on being "dark," or "tragic" or "romantic." These things are for bringing out emotion. It's ESSENTIAL that there is something worth being emotional ABOUT.
That is how you tell a beautiful story.
And even then, if you give us something we truly care about, you'll realize "I can make something even less tragic happen and it will have a much greater effect now."
Sometimes you'll even realize that being subtle is even more disturbing and "dark" than going all out.
I said it before, I'll say it again: drama is the anti-suspense. Drama needs something to feed on or else it is dead.
It's up to you to make casual, every-day scenes interesting too.
Humor is a particularly wonderful tool for making characters appealing. The more appealing the character, the more the audience will care when they suffer.
Think of your favorite cartoon character. Now imagine if they died. Not a funny, cartoon-ish death where we know that they'll be all right again in three seconds.
Pretend they came to a permanent end that was actually portrayed very tragically and non-sarcastically.
Kind of leaves you with a disturbed feeling, doesn't it? If this is the way you want your audience to feel about your characters, then follow this example. It doesn't mean your character has to be as silly as a cartoon character, it just means we should feel like we know them in such a way that we can feel their pain.
In short: don't give us another card-board soap opera. Give us something to love.
No more "I'm going to drench this character in blood and my story will automatically be deep!" If that's as deep as you can get, you must be very shallow indeed.
EDIT: CLARIFICATION
I'm saying that introducing the character should be first *priority,* not necessarily the first thing in the story. The point being, don't write a story that you worry about the character second to the soap opera.
Of course many stories (Harry Potter included) start off with bad things happening. This is because they're crucial to setting up the entire story. The point is not to expect your audience to be scandalized yet.
Also, when you read this guide, assume I'm talking about writing seriously. I'm not picking on those of you writing for practice/fun/etc.
This is a concern because things like this are being published these days. If this isn't your goal, carry on by all means.
I posted this because it's getting to the point where there is no unique style. This is the style that most beginners (and therefore most people) tend to use. I'm not picking on beginners, just pointing out not to settle with the first, most obvious style of writing that no one encourages them to grow beyond.
Are there people who enjoy this kind of writing? Of course. But why is it all we should be content with?
The attitude should be something like this: make the character deep enough for whatever you're writing.
If it's a short deviation, naturally less so than in a novel.
Same if it's not the point of the thing you're writing (say you're just trying to bring out a moral or something).
However, if you expect to write a sob story this is highly important.
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Comments: 424
Well said, I think you've just about nailed it.
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It makes sense to me, and is a more to the point way of saying what I had intended. 
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Excellent point. 
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Or, you could just write a happy story instead. That's much easier.
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Oh, this will definitely help me out in writing any future stories. ...Though I'm not exactly sure how helpful it would be in character studies. 
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great advice! a lot of people don't realize things like this. I've read my fair share of cliche writing. I find it most annoying when it's an actual published book.
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I'm glad you put this out there, it's not too difficult to find decent stories nowadays...honestly though, as many people have commented below, every form of art is declining. Music is just the same old karaoke copy bullcrap, art(painting) is just three red lines on a blank canvas(which people actually pay for..?!), and literature, is mostly what you mentioned above. 'Mary Sue/Gary Stu' characters with little to no personality and the most dramatic of backstories ever, just going through more tragedies. Makes you wonder where all the soul's gone...it's all just the same now, sadly. But you, you earn a favourite.
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THANK.YOU. You're right and I feel as if people are becoming desensitized to the fact that many of these stories ARE.THE.SAME. These are guide lines that the next generation of writers should seriously follow. Some stories are okay with the Mary Sue character, but not all of them. Thank you for throwing a life saver before we drown.
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Yes but isnt it the authors opinion what happens in the story? What happens in the story, who the characters are, the settings, its all from the AUTHORS imagination. Even if it is bad, it is still considered as art.
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What you're saying is that anyone can like anything. I agree.
It's possible for people to like anything in the world.
Basically, what you're saying is: if that's true, then why bother?
And here's why I bother: just because anyone can like anything, does not mean that everything is equally as good of quality. Some people may like their ice cream made out of dirt. And good for them! But the fact remains, the ice cream isn't good quality.
And that's all I'm saying. If you like cheap, shallow stories, I'm not standing in your way. You're free to do so. I'm merely pointing out the facts here and you have mistaken it for a personal opinion. That is not the case.
The words, "One day the boy went outside, the end," on a piece of paper are not as good quality as say... Lord of the Rings. If this can be true, naturally it can be true that other types of writing aren't as good quality as others. And that is the point of this deviation. Like what you want, just don't claim it to be something that it isn't.
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Thank you. I personally have trouble writing the first bit where you get to know the character just because I already DO know the character and am too ready to jot down the idea before it runs away. I don't think it's because the writing is bad, just that people have trouble helping the readers make the leap. And you're right. Art is art. You may not like it, but someone will. Don't get me wrong, there's always room for improvement, but don't crush other's dreams in the process of trying to point it out.
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EXACTLY! Glad theres somebody else that understands. It takes a lot of practice to be a great writer. It's not like BANG! Im a great writer. It's normal to just have practice. Even famous authors actually have trouble with their stories. Everyone is equal, famous or not, popular or not, same or different. And besides, everyone has their own opinion on things.
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You'd think so, yeah. Unfortunately you're about to get attacked here for stating that writing is essentially up to the author. What some people fail to realize is that no matter what, even the worst writers can come up with some really fascinating concepts. But the elitist troll-base here will make sure that never sees the light of day--they're too busy bashing multi-million dollar successes.
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I'll just tell you what I told another person:
What you're saying is that anyone can like anything. I agree.
It's possible for people to like anything in the world.
Basically, what you're saying is: if that's true, then why bother?
And here's why I bother: just because anyone can like anything, does not mean that everything is equally as good of quality. Some people may like their ice cream made out of dirt. And good for them! But the fact remains, the ice cream isn't good quality.
And that's all I'm saying. If you like cheap, shallow stories, I'm not standing in your way. You're free to do so. I'm merely pointing out the facts here and you have mistaken it for a personal opinion. That is not the case.
The words, "One day the boy went outside, the end," on a piece of paper are not as good quality as say... Lord of the Rings. If this can be true, naturally it can be true that other types of writing aren't as good quality as others. And that is the point of this deviation. Like what you want, just don't claim it to be something that it isn't.
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Right, cuz I was defending cheap, shallow stories. Excellent point!
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You were defending Twilight.
Enough said.
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My only issue is a small one. You say that the writer must give the reader "a human being to care for," but that isn't necessarily the case. People can care about an entire civilization, a whole culture that may rise or come under threat which people would cry for if it fell. The character does not have to be limited to a single person (or entity, seeing as how there are stories that follow animals), but can be extended towards a whole people. That doesn't mean that each and every person in any group has to be accounted for, if you were writing fiction you wouldn't list the name of each person in the entire world to start the story.
In fact, I find that large groups are easier to work with. They tend to have easier personalities, they're easier to predict and easier to fall in love with. Take the Native Americans for example. You go up to any random person on the street and tell them to name a leader of the Sioux, they'll just stare without an answer. Ask them to give a basic outline of the Native American culture, and they'll probably cite hunting and gathering, a respect for nature, maybe the wars between clans and the traditions each clan had. They're predictable, and the group can stand as a single person because you can ask the same question about a single person and expect an answer. Take Abraham Lincoln, people will tell you about how he freed the slaves, he kept the nation intact, honorable man, "honest Abe," yada yada yada. Same answer to the same question.
Granted, it takes a loose translation between "culture" and "personality," but most of the time they boil down to the way any particular entity behaves. You can make a person love a people just as much as they would love a person.
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I think in that case, you would be treating the entire civilization as one character. I'm pretty sure that "a human being to care for" basically just means a character to care for, so everything this person said can apply to any character. A person, a civilization, a talking animal, an object, a setting if you're creative enough. Anything you like.
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You're right. It really is a small issue, just lying in the wording, but I did feel that it needed to be said.
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Interesting point, but don't you think, that if you're working with a group, you should let the audience get to know the group in that case?
If I randomly said: the people from the mysterious island died, that doesn't make you anymore sad than if I said: Max died, because you still don't know about either. So yes, certainly you can use a group in place of an individual, but the group still needs to introduced (though not necessarily individually).
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Well, yeah. The same way you would introduce and describe a person. All a writer would have to do then is pluralize the wording. Example: "Andrew Jackson was a cold man, but was the greatest leader in the history of America," is the same as "The Know-Nothings were cold group, but were also the best political party in the history of America." (disclaimer: the Know-Nothings were certainly not the best party in the history of America.)
As I said, it's a small issue. Really just wording, but I felt it needed to be said.
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If what you're saying is true then rate my fan fiction that's from soul eater which helped a dude finally create the finale for the fanfic. As Tsubaki entered black star 's soul she felt a tempest of madness push against her but she pushed through to wind up in a starry space that started to darken as the stars faded out one by one . As this was going on she frantically searched for her meister till she found him sitting up curled into a ball as he whispered sorrowfully ... tsubaki i'm sorry for being a lousy meister , a lousier friend , and being so reckless , nearl puttting you in danger . i don't deserve you as my weapon or my partner. upon hearing this she weeped deeply and rushed to until she felt shoots 's madness wrapping around black star 's soul and pushed her away roaring out you don't belong here , leave him to his fate as his madness has taken over half his soul . tsubaki refused and summoned her kusarigama while the demonic aura took the shape of shoot as he said fine then i'll force you out and complete the possession .
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I made my character vague because I just wanted people to see the monster... this is how Creepypasta works.
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You are so right. I really like slice-of-life stories, so when they turn into mystery/suspense...I do feel disturbed because I can relate in a way--and the fact that the character isn't 'out-there', and is a little awkward (like having a habit of eating peanuts with coca-cola) makes them more 'real' in my mind--so I do worry for them when things get 'tense'. I like your guide...I too would love more stories to have their own faces :0!
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Thanks for the comment! ^^
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I totally agree! I'm trying to write a story, and well, I think it is just, I don't know. This helps ALL WRITERS. The pros, the beginners, ALL!
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This, so much this! ;w; So glad to see this get a daily deviation too, your article makes a really good point.
I'm in the middle of writing a story myself where something horrible happens in the beginning, but the tragedy itself is merely a springboard to the rest of the novel, and doesn't get much focus. Seeing this article definitely reinforced that decision.
Still, it's a very hard balance to make because it's so messy; after reading this, I might tone it down a lot, and make sure all the characters involved get a proper introduction. Thanks for the insightful advice, and opening my mind to another dimension of character development; I hope more people see this and extract the nuggets of wisdom written here. ^^
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I hear you. I myself am,actually, very afraid that my ideas for stories are too soap opera-y, and i'm haunted by the thought of writing a mary sue. I asked a friend(who also has a DD award) for critique on one of my drafts. She said it was good, but I think she was just being nice. I don't have much to show for, I don't keep much of what I write, and I have a terrible habit of forgeting how I was going to write something as soon as I get a pencil and paper down, but if I were to ask, would you be nice enough to give constructive criticism?
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On the other hand, some of the best stories I know of are like that.
I have no mouth, but I must scream by Ellison, or "Two baby shoes, never worn" by Hemmingway spring to mind. And they are "sob stor[ies]"
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I happened across this while checking my messages. I believe that you are one-hundred percent correct. I too see abominations that most consider noteworthy, while the truth is that most are blind to the true beauty that a story potentially contains. Despite many efforts by some, the art of language is at a decline and is accelerating with every passing book. Gone are the days of intellectual concepts and the power of the written word; now are the days of a society that is ran by the individuals who deny the arts their true potential and instead arrive at the conclusion that ANYTHING is art. In a sense, this is true but the term "art" has become relative, thus art is no longer art; it is simply a word to describe something that can be perceived as art. This term as nearly all others, has become a stereotype; a term accepted by everyone to mean something untrue to the origin of the word.
You are correct about the bete noire works that haunt our everyday scenery. But it is NOT only writing that has taken this fall. ALL forms of art are at a decline. Thus I condemn those that wish to pursue such "art."** and commend those that wish only to amuse themselves with this "art" and have no further intentions of desolating the view and minds of others with these abhorrent bits of matter regarded as "beauty."
**I am NOT commending those that gallery their work with pride despite their limited skill. I commend you for standing by your work and encourage you to expand and broaden your vision, hone your skills, become a great artist.
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**I am NOT condemning... I apologize for any mistakes.
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Haha glad you added that bit about short fiction, I was starting to think all my writing fell into this trap DX I try to add a bit of back story into my short fiction though, to help readers understand why something is painful to the character, and why they should feel sorry for them or not. I'm a sucker for detail and long monologues though, so I get stuck into detail and my oneshots turn into long ones, like this comment DX haha.
This is a very interesting point though, that I haven't consciously thought of before, so thank you for opening my mind to this idea. 
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Is that a good thing? xD
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I... I don't know... im thinking about my 3 year long comic and all my characters... and im like... people love them and it... and... I read this and im like... they... but... I... but... but... *head explodes because I love my characters too much to ever change them EVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER, same with my comic plus everyone like them/it... but after I read this I felt bad cuz I kept finding so many flaws in it/them and I felt like my story sucked and all my characters sucked... but... but... *dies a second time while currently dieing**
I... don't... know... anymore...
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Well said! I completely agree with this and often see people writing like that, which has made me less inclined to read stories on here.
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I just love it when I find something I've already added to my favorites recieve a DD.
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Haha! Well, thank you for your support. x]
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I cannot even thank you enough for making me realize I needed to re-write my story for my course work or I would have most probably got an F. I've only really gotten upset at one or two stories that I've read and that's probably because of how much the character has been through not that they've written over 15,000 words describing their character's routine but it's more along the lines of character development, I think. Anyway thanks for all the help and I really agree with you!
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It's no different with acting. You want the character you become to have a story to them, to have a childhood, a future. That's what I try to do with my writing (when it's for my own amusement), I try to create a life for the character, build up it's history, some random details that other people might connect with. Then I write out a 'scene' for them. An issue or random highlight of their day that could potentially become part of a longer story, or could stand alone as a short little 'script'. Of course, the 'audience' won't know all of the back story, not when it's a short scene, but it'll be enough for me to care about this character/scene I've made. And usually, I'll come back to the 'script' and add more to it.
Just like those 'Learn to Read' books & the Dr. Suess collections, I'm sure Twilight's been very beneficial in getting people interested in reading, but looking back on it, and even after rereading some stories from elementary school days... Twilight's awful!! 
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You know those, "How to Read Literature/Novels/Etc. Like a Professor" books? I believe you need to write something like that.
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You made me open my eyrs a bit...I try to add a bit of exposition between the violent parts, and I think I've done it well enough, but lately my characters have become bland and raushed, without much reason for caring...I'l read this again and again, thanks for this.
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I understand that the point you want to make is that writers should avoid the same cookie-cutter tragic story lines.
But this article does come across as saying that tragic short stories are not effective. Does a tragedy really need a long and detailed introduction to a character so that people start caring about them? I find it hard to accept that a good short tragic story is not possible.
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Effective in what way though?
To setting up a story, yes.
But to qualify as a story as a whole? Only a shallow one.
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So are you claiming that a tragedy has to be a long story?
Why is the same not true for any story then? Why should I care if a happy thing happens to a character? Why should people write short stories at all then?
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