Angstaholics Anonymous Meeting #1 (Intro)

[Chaos]

Hi, I'm Ash, and I'm an angstaholic.

Hi, Ash.

Okay, so I'm a big fan of the angst genre. And I know a lot of other people are, too. But sometimes when I'm writing I get this feeling like I tend to go a bit overboard with the angst and it starts to just become a depressing mass of goo. I usually refrain from actually posting most of those piles of goo (and end up taking forever to update my fics because I have to keep rewriting overly gooey scenes...among other reasons), but I've got discs full of gooeyness.

I also fear sometimes that I use the angst as a bit of a replacement for good storytelling, or as a bit of a crutch. Don't get me wrong, some angst is good. If you're here, you probably agree with me on that. But, as one of my personal goals is to improve my writing (and again, if you're here in this section of the site, I'm guessing you want to do the same) so I thought it'd be a good topic to explore a bit.

To start out with, just a quick couple (erm...trio) of questions:

Which do you prefer: reading angst fic, writing it, or reading/writing it equally?

What is it about angst that makes a story appealing to you?

Is there a point at which the angst becomes detrimental to a story or makes it less appealing?

[RokofAges75]

Hi, I'm Julie, and I'm an angstaholic.

Hi, Julie.

I, too, am a big fan of angst, drama, and anything sad and emotional and tearjerking that can give me a nice catharctic release.  To be honest, it's been quite awhile since I've read any fanfic that has done that for me; I've been reading more of the suspense type of stories lately.  But traditionally, it has been my favorite genre, both to read and to write.

To get to the questions...


Which do you prefer: reading angst fic, writing it, or reading/writing it equally?
I like both reading it and writing it.

What is it about angst that makes a story appealing to you?
Good angst comes from major, life-altering conflicts, and those are the most interesting kind.  I'm not a huge fan of light-hearted comedies or fluffy, romantic stuff - not that I don't love to laugh or enjoy romance, but in a story, I would rather read the deeper, more dramatic, intense stuff.  I've always preferred sad or scary stories to funny or fluffy ones, whether it be books or movies.  It's just more interesting and meaningful to me.

Is there a point at which the angst becomes detrimental to a story or makes it less appealing?
I guess if it seems like there's too much angst in proportion to whatever conflict the character is angsting about, that could get kind of over-the-top and old.  Or if it gets very repetitive, the character angsting over the same thing without the story ever moving forward, that could be detrimental.  I guess basically what I'm saying is that if I, as the reader, am saying to the character, "Dude, snap out of it," instead of feeling for him or her, that's too much angst.

[honey]

Lol, I feel so left out. I heart light fluffy stories. I struggle with the angst. Both reading and writing it. Don't know why.  This is a great idea for a thread though.

[RokofAges75]

You could start a meeting for the lighter, fluffy stuff.  It'd be fun to have a thread for all the genres.

[Sakabelle]

Hi, I'm Steph and I'm also an angstaholic.

Hi, Steph.

I like angst a lot.  I enjoy picking a characters brain to see what they are feeling and thinking about a particular situation.  And hey, if they're unhappy about it, that's even better! 

Which do you prefer: reading angst fic, writing it, or reading/writing it equally?
I think reading and writing equally.

What is it about angst that makes a story appealing to you?
I love drama in stories, and watching fallout of that drama is even better.  I don't like over the top not believable stuff, just enough to put the character in a situation where they have to come out having learned something.  And part of that, of course, is being angsty and contemplative.  Moral grey areas are my favourite thing to write about, which definitely makes a lot of characters fall into a pit of angst.

Is there a point at which the angst becomes detrimental to a story or makes it less appealing?
I think once the issue at hand has more or less been solved or dragged on too long.  If a character is angsting without really making any effort to pull themselves out of a funk that's when I go "Okay, does any of this have a point?"  Brooding for the sake of brooding is boring for me.

[nicksgal]

I'm terrible at angst, so I came to crash this meeting and get some pointers.