The art of dread and misery.
May 6, 2011 1:44:55 GMT -8
Post by Deleted on May 6, 2011 1:44:55 GMT -8
Sounds like a bad poem some teenager would come up with, eh?
Anyway, I did a little exercise, and I find that people have varied views on what can be the source of angst-driven dread. Obviously. But I'm interested in what the majority finds to be the most soul-crushing. For example, rank these in terms of solemnity:
A. The usual Lovecraftian "you can't understand" angle, where the protagonist is driven to madness or suicide due to physical and/or mental and emotional distress. This is only after being dogged for chapters and chapters, having each attempt to understand or resist the antagonist results in utter defeat and a failure to understand his or her reasons for being a failure in the face of this greater power.
B. The story of someone living in selfish ignorance, only to realize the truth when it's too late, after having committed some horrific misdeed without any knowledge of it. The protagonist then has to live with that knowledge, and regret it for the rest of his/her life. Example, inadvertently killing the only one who truly cared for you.
C. Happenstance. Life can be terrible, or great, but it's more often than not terrible (to the protagonist, in this situation, anyway) and the attempt to rationalize that is absurd. But the main problem comes from the protagonist's failure to realize that most of his/her problems are not only completely out of his/her control, but the character's lack of motivation to even fight against the tide of misery.
I know, I know. Boring and lame subject matter, but bear with me.
Anyway, I did a little exercise, and I find that people have varied views on what can be the source of angst-driven dread. Obviously. But I'm interested in what the majority finds to be the most soul-crushing. For example, rank these in terms of solemnity:
A. The usual Lovecraftian "you can't understand" angle, where the protagonist is driven to madness or suicide due to physical and/or mental and emotional distress. This is only after being dogged for chapters and chapters, having each attempt to understand or resist the antagonist results in utter defeat and a failure to understand his or her reasons for being a failure in the face of this greater power.
B. The story of someone living in selfish ignorance, only to realize the truth when it's too late, after having committed some horrific misdeed without any knowledge of it. The protagonist then has to live with that knowledge, and regret it for the rest of his/her life. Example, inadvertently killing the only one who truly cared for you.
C. Happenstance. Life can be terrible, or great, but it's more often than not terrible (to the protagonist, in this situation, anyway) and the attempt to rationalize that is absurd. But the main problem comes from the protagonist's failure to realize that most of his/her problems are not only completely out of his/her control, but the character's lack of motivation to even fight against the tide of misery.
I know, I know. Boring and lame subject matter, but bear with me.