What makes a story... sad/tragic?

[monotone_ink]

And how do you do it right?
I'd just like to hear your thoughts on it.
I'm managing two stories at the moment, and they're probably heading down this dark and twisted road.
(this one's probably gonna be the one that I'm focusing on in terms of sadness.)

[zetina]

I associate tragedy with helplessness and being a victim of circumstance. It can be a result of a well-meaning choice, it can be a cruel twist of fate... But ultimately, to me, it's something that has little to do with anyone meaning to hurt someone. Or rather, the tragedy doesn't lie in the fact that someone did something bad but everything surrounding that.

And then, to raise it up a notch, make it a struggle. A continuous struggle for happiness that just never bears fruit. And even if it does, too much has been lost and the people involved are too changed to really appreciate it.

But since you also said "how to do it"... I think it's important to always remember humour. By which I don't mean gags or outright comedy. Just humour in life. Otherwise, everything's just doom and gloom, ha-ha~ Developing close, heartfelt relationships is probably the most important part in making a painful tragedy
...//cries

[StevenDacasin]

To me a good tragic story would develop its characters really well and ultimately plays the risk of either A. creating an event that changes the character(s) one way or another in a way that progresses the story and at times growth for the characters, or B. turning it into a sob story where nothing really progresses and the characters either stay in a angsty,depressive state or the story becomes too edgy to the point the story becomes laughable.

[Kura]

The story I am currently working on deals a lot with death, the main character is given a second chance at living his life, but at the same time he's also given a count down to his death. Along with that he is informed that the life he grew to lead amounted to very little, and that he was not happy with it, forcing the main character to leave his comfort zone and make decisions he would not normally make in an attempt to change things to what will hopefully be a more favorable outcome. Whether or not those changes are ultimately benefiting him in the end or not never clear.

The story itself is full of ups and downs, and as the main character continues to get older things get harder and the story runs into more depressing situations and complications as he gets closer to his death. The experiences he has, the relationships he has with the other characters, all of these things affect him, as for the tragedy and sadness that he undoubtedly experiences, some of it is from circumstances outside of his control, some of it is caused by his own choices and mistakes. It's just life. That's not to say the story is all nothing but depression and sadness (not only would that burn out me but my readers as well), the story at this point manages to keep itself pretty light hearted and humorous despite the overall theme and the moments where a situation may start to get deep.

What makes a story sad when being read is how much the characters or situation relates to or just affects the readers. If the readers hate a character and want to see them suffer , than any tragedy that befalls them is not going to be seen as 'sad' (but there are exceptions to that rule, as some times a reader will find themselves feeling bad for a character they hate even though they wanted horrible things to happen to them before). In another situation, if the readers are used to NOTHING bad sad and tragic stuff happening to this character, then they're not going to see it as sad and instead as a 'laughably emo character/life' (again, there are exceptions to this rule, as sometimes you'll have stories where nothing but bad things happen, and it manages to not create a laughably emo character/life) Pacing, characters reactions, and build up to the 'sad' moment, as well as not over saturating your readers with 'sad' moments are all very important, and because of the many variables involved there is no single right way to handle and present these situations in your story.

Also, it's important to note that you want you readers to be upset at some points in the story, YET you do not want to MAKE your readers upset for the sake of making them upset. (example, killing a character because it affects the story and the characters in the story (good) as opposed to killing a character for the sake of making the readers upset (bad, bad, bad). Don't DO things to mess with readers. You're choices in your story should not be based off "I'm going to do this BECAUSE it will make my readers upset." It's indirectly breaking the 4th wall, your readers are not a physical or written part of the story, the decisions you make in that regard should not be dependent on reader reaction and 'if you can make them cry' Mess with your characters all you want, make your situations relevant to the story and character, but don't deliberately try to hurt your readers. (not to be confused with an upcoming point in the story where something will happen where you know may upset some readers, foresight is not the same as intentionally trying to provoke emotions for no reason but the sake of reader reaction)

[Doubtcent]

The best way to make a story sad or tragic is to have a lot of established humanity. We have to have fallen in love with these characters or have invested our interests in them.

Then, after a struggle (conflict) you can have it so that the character not make it. And you HAVE to show the effect of the loss on the rest of the characters. If death or loss doesn't affect your characters, how can we as the readers feel the same way?

The main thing is just have your characters go through something, or if they have already, you can show the effect that something made them. It's really hard to get a reader to find something sad or tragic through exposition.

Also, you gotta be honest with your readers through your characters. If a character is going through something, you don't need to out and say it. Most people don't state it through words, but through their inner expressions or in their mannerisms.

[AnnaLandin]

The one key to make ME feel like a story is sad/tragic in an effective way is to make me care about the characters. I'm going to be a lot more upset if something bad happens to a character I care about, than if it happens to someone I don't.

And keep in mind that piling bad stuff on your characters doesn't automatically make them more sympathetic. If a character just keeps getting screwed over by life, and never gets to have any moments of hope or triumph, I'm going to stop caring - and probably stop reading - because it doesn't feel like they have a chance any more, and that's just not interesting. There needs to be a tension, a kind of what-if, for me to care.

[Jabbage]

@zetina - I agree that a major componant to tragedy is the victim of circumstance, to create a series of events where if one thing had one differently or if one person had made a slightly difference decision, the whole thing could have been avoided.That makes the reader feel like they're stuck on a train that's picking up speed towards an inevitable plunge off a cliff!

I think sometimes its hard to get the tone just right though. My story Breaking the Lore will end with a certain amoutn of bittersweet sadness, but in my first draft it was just empty, too sad because there wasn't enough that was emotionally resolved. I think (hope!) that a few tweaks in the script fixed that. I'll have to wait and see, I guess!

[RioBurton]

A good writer for this kind of thing is Robin Hobb! Although the stories always work themselves out, things never go the way you think. Normally things have to get much worse before they get better lol. She is a master at character development, especially her character FitzChivalry in the Royal Assassin series. Such a tragic life!

My webcomic I've just launched is pretty depressing in the world it is set in. All these cruel and harsh circumstances drives the main character to question everything around him.

[VermillionWorks]

When I think of tragedy in a story, my mind immediately turns to character deaths or some serious mental suffering we witness a beloved character going through. Most of the people here already took the words out of my mouth about all of this though - if you've already managed to make me connect with your character(s), it'll make dark moments like that all the more heart-wrenching....which is why I think the death of a character in like, the first or so episode/chapter/whatever of a story rarely leaves much of an impact. Even if we technically can relate to the sadness of losing a loved one, we hadn't been given time to develop a connection to that character.

And keep in mind that piling bad stuff on your characters doesn't automatically make them more sympathetic.

Also, THIS. Relentless angst does not tragedy make.....errr, says Yoda.

I will say, if you manage to make me cry with your story, I will admire you forever.

[dichrome]

From the top of my head what makes me really into a sad story is when something tragic happens,and the character(s) involved have their own unique reasoning, maybe even going against human morals, they seem more like a real person with their own way of thinking and it makes me look up to them because they come to a revelations that I couldn't even reach myself.
In short, making relatable characters and having readers become attached to them on an intellectual level can really help make a sad story in my opinion.

[Choosybeggar]

The stories that grip me the tightest with their tragedy are the ones with a pretty okay person is slowly getting twisted into a pretty terrible person. They become the bad guy to other people, and the whole time I'm feeling it deep inside me how much I want it to be better for them and everyone else. When you see a character making poor choices again and again, when they could have said, "Enough!" The story keeps throwing bad circumstances their way, and they seem to have some sort of block that just baaarely keeps them from having a fair chance at standing above everything.

Two cents for you.

[purrlpankras]

It should have very good character development through out. Meaning being emotionally involved in their life?
I find sad/tragic stories are slower in pace sometimes. Although sad/tragic is the main focus, I find adding a few happy areas are good to make the sad part stand out? Normally it's the happy times they are sad about because they can't be in that time again idk

I've read a few ones like this, long after I've read them, dem feels never go away.

[michaelson]

I think the easiest way to think about it is:

A tragedy is not when sad things happen. A tragedy is when you're sad that those things happened.

[Skyhornet]

The sudden revival of loneliness will make stories sad.

[NickRowler]

I think a tragic story works similar to haw a tragic hero works.

They start out on the high point. There is an event which causes a major conflict, and causes the character to fall into a very low point. This is followed by either no recovery from that point or a small recovery which may be better than the lower point but not as good as the high point.

So more or less, to make a sad story, you need events leading up to the sad points.

[KSlinger]

I associate tragedy with helplessness and being a victim of circumstance. It can be a result of a well-meaning choice, it can be a cruel twist of fate... But ultimately, to me, it's something that has little to

That's tragedy to me. When someone tries really hard to achieve something or do something but the success of their actions comes down to the flip of a coin, and unfortunately it lands on the other side. Bonus sadness: when the character is fully aware that their actions won't succeed/that they won't survive, but does it anyway because they simply have to try. I cry ever tim.

[TACOBERTO]

I find the best tragedies are not one's where the characters are victims of circumstances out of their control but become victims through their own choices, either because they made mistakes or choose the harder path for reasons only they understand.

[indagold]

Tragedy is always start with a character that had something and went to nothing in the end.

To do it well don't oversaturate it to the point it's unbearable. I remember watching a movie where the worst of worse happened, I think it was called House of Sand and Fog and it was just enraging in the force fed tradegy to the point where it was almost satirical. And people seem to think this makes a good piece of work, if it just a fest of agony, despair and a billion cases of bad luck it must mean it's deep!

[lunaartemisasama]

I don't do drama. But I read it, for me the saddest ones are when they feel too real, or even in a fantasy world when you feel so attached to a character that you cry if the character dies. For me the important part is that it has to be realistic, even if it's in a fantasy world.

If you want a really good example that made me cry is Family Man from webtoons, from here I also like Regarding Dandelions

Some other webtoons that I also like from that genre are Kids Are Alright and About Death.

[nessiefynn]

Stories feel saddest to me when they're relatable and inevitable.
Unfortunate things happening to characters we know nothing about is usually not very emotional, it's like seeing a bad car accident on the news. You feel sorry for victims, but you probably won't deeply emphasize or mourn for long because you don't know them personally. Before shit starts to really go down for a character, I want to know who they are as a person and why I should care about them.
Additionally, tragedies need a build up. You could go any point in a story and say "this character's entire family just died in a car accident," to introduce an element of tragedy. Most of the time that wouldn't really feel sad though, it would just feel like it came out of nowhere. Tragedies hit hardest when you can feel them coming, when you're just waiting for them to hit you. You can hope that the characters will be able to avoid it, but no matter what they do it's inevitable.