#please!?

To start: People who are just learning to write/are writing their first few fanfics and getting their feet wet on angst are not subject to this. They are young writers, and 9 times out of 10, I've seen all of them evolve and figure out how the dos and donts of angst writing. Encourage them, offer advice, but take age and experience into account, especially fanfic writers, as it is hard to get the brain in order when writing for a few years easily. Experimental phase! This rant applies to people who are veteran writers, script writers for media that makes it to big producers, people producing content that involves heavy script writing for several years, or who otherwise claim years of writing experience and lord it publicly. THE RANT... BEGINS Angst for the sake of angst, just for that "shock" from the audience and to make people sad through "Ohhhhhh! This person DEAD/SUFFERING TERRIBLY/ A PUNCHING BAG" is just really poor writing. Angst is not just feeling bad and finish reading something feeling awful and like you got gut-punched. It is also not characters dying for NO reason and being brought back because why not. It is not this character has to be made to look bad/suffer so your other character looks better by default. THAT is not good angst. That is poorly writem angst. Just as Aristotle has said and Shakespeare as well, you NEED the catharsis release! Angst is good to make people feel, but they must also feel it has been released, an understanding OF that feeling!

And the reason for that character death or that characters suffering MUST have a purpose to both the theme of the story, and to the readers. It has to make sense! Has the characters actions brought this on? Their situation? The society they have been brought into? What did they do to deserve this and why do I NEED to see this suffering? Take Avatar the Last Airbender for example. There are points where we really FEEL for these characters. We know them. It hurts us when they fail. We see them at their lowest, coping with emotions WE cope with...and we see them overcome it. There is release when they rise. Zuko shows this well with how he is brought to his lowest point, but we get to see him rebuild himself stronger. It helps us as people to cope with similiar emotions and help make us find ways to cope in a safer environment in case we are confronted with it later. It exposes us!

For a more aching sort of angst that hits home and takes no punches.... Devilman Crybaby. You FEEL for the characters, even minor characters as every moment with anyone on the screen is used to develop them. When the world falls apart and people react to what is going on, the heart-break of seeing people be killed, the inevitability of the end of the plot... it is HEAVY angst....but the ending is very catharsis. You understand how this ending came. Understand the loss, and it links together with the powerful line of "You are crying too". GOOD ANGST. I feel, I understand and look in at myself. I let it go. I may even cry which is a form of the release. Something touched us...and the tears are a way of letting go. I cried during the pixar movie Soul because the angst they used, the sense of finding yourself and your "spark" hit home. It affected me. I introspective and cried, but the ending made me feel so good, that I was able to ground myself and feel at peace. Bad angst? *Gestures to 80% of Hollywood movies* kill off character because Audience will be sad but have no good reason for it. (most mavel movies.... except Love and Thunder. That was actually handled well.) Characters are not developed enough to feel the sadness and ache involved with their plight. Character development makes no sense to the plot or theme and is just done for the sell or shock of it (looking at you Game of Thrones ending...) Character is just beaten up and put through hell and you feel bad for them but it NEVER gets better for him, and almost because laughable or a trope.... (a lot of female characters have this happen to them where they are there to either suffer, or have suffering that makes them more ideal to a male character. LGBTQA+ characters and other marginalized identities also tend to be made to suffer, as if the only part of our identity is SUFFERING in society, not thriving.. )

Character does not learn anything from the angst and if this character or event was removed from the story, it would not really change anything. The angst is just there for the cheap jumpscare of angst. Character's situation never is resolved, is forgotten, or just used as a "aren't we glad we aren't them? so much suffering!" CHARACTERS DON'T STAY DEAD. Oh my fecking GOD! If a character DIES and it had IMPACT, then you RUIN IT by just...magic bullshitting character back to life... DON'T. Read a webcomic that LOVED to just "murder" people and then bring them back, thus eliminating any impact their death could have or kill off characters just because eh... could. It was POORLY written. It was POORLY executed. Character death is good to have and can be used to give a punch...but give it MEANING! Even if a character dies in vain, they leave a legacy! They leave an impact on those they touch! They could have been an awful villain with no redeeming features and audience is happy to see them go, but GIVE IT MEANING, not shoe-horned bullshit at the very end that was never actually explored/brought up. UGH! But not saying don't bring back a character if it makes sense to the plot. Looking at Love and Thunder where the villain ends up bringing back his daughter.... that is done correctly. Make the return have purpose and aids in the feelings of release and acceptance, not "I brought them back because haha cute character!"

So in conclusion: ANGST IS GOOD when done RIGHT! Where it is catharsis in nature, aka the audience feels, but can feel a sense of release, are given time to sort the feelings through and find a sort of release inside themselves that leaves them feeling better for it. BAD ANGST is shoddy use of characters for perceived cheap thrills, shock in the audience, and 100% makes it feel like there are dollar signs on the story rather than a want to TELL a story. It is cheap. It is unimpressive, and cheapens the characters to stock footage brats, especially when done intentionally and not learning to improve.

My Rules of Writing Angst 1. There is a reason for the event happening and it affects the character's personality and how they interact. 2. Trauma is handled delicately, even if being used for angst. Respectfully and nuanced, not as a cheap cash "reason" for random changes or shoe-horning in a reason for them to be as they are 3. Character deaths have a purpose and bring a conclusion to the character's journey while impacting the journey of other characters and the cope of their lost is given time to expand (or lack of time and it lingers with another character, causing them to have to change/go on a journey where they can finally find closure...) 4. Everyone is free to be angsted and no one is safeguarded. Marginalized identities are not...just fodder for angst. Yeah people of all walks of life suffer.... but ALL walks of life. Suffering is not the defining trait of anyone one identity. 5. Let characters stay dead if their death is meant to have strong impact, unless bringing them back makes sense to the plot and delivers just as strong an impact. 6. Angst is not a character trait. Being depressed doesn't make you pure angst. Angst is a human reaction to the situation that invokes emotions, some negative, that we are allowed to feel. Sadness and anger are reactions, not natural states of beings. Something always causes the feeling.

7. A catharsis release is NOT a happy ending. It is a moment where the reader is given time to process the emotions, learn to cope, and can move forward. They can be moments of hope or moments of acceptance, but they are periods in the story where those enjoying the media can...process what happened and self-reflect some. Give your viewers/readers the time to take a breath and shed a few tears. (sometimes I take a whole chapter or five to do this, depending on how high the angst was. Sometimes just takes a few paragraphs. be the judge of the length!)

8. Remember hope. Even at the worse times, there must be a sense of hope that remains. Hope in the future, hope a character could change, an open window that readers can imagine. Just...crushing hope does nothing. Readers need to always feel there can be something, even if it isn't likely or hard to achieve. It is there.