Angst/Fluff Ratio

[madlodger]

Angst - Mental anguish, unrequited love, torture, problems with work/parents/school/lovers, death, non-con, teen angst, rain, snow etc

Fluff - Holding hands, sweet love, kindness, people around are nice, no hard problems, blue sky, sunshine.

So, what ratio, in your opinion, works for you when writing a story? Mostly angst, mostly fluff or a combination?

[Demosthenes]

I was really pressed to make a decision amongst these. To me thats like asking how you would break up something like... say The Wheel of Time series.

Is that 3/4 angst, 1/4 fluff? No, because there's a mess of other elements to work with in fiction. It just really irks me that fan fiction now days seems to be so focused and narrow-minded about employing simply angst or fluff. That's like an artist painting with merely black or pink.

Edited June 11, 2007 by Demosthenes

[Guest Serenanna]

Personally, I hate both words, angst and fluff. Angst is a codeword to me for excess emo-ing and potential OOC characters wanking over love while fluff is the opposite, excess cuteness and potentially OOC characters in love.

Realistically, content shouldn't matter as much as plot. If you have a good hook and plot, it shouldn't matter since those two things would come in equal measure. Or at least one would think it would. As a writer of the kitchen-sink fic genre with just about every type of genre covered in some form (humor, epic, romance, action-adventure, drama, and suspense in one fic), balancing all the elements isn't all that hard if you take the time to plot out your fic even in your head. Pidgeon-holeing yourself to one type for a fic make it any more focused.

What's been starting to get to me about long fics is that not many authors set out on a fic with an ending in mind already, they just write till they get bored after leading up to a romantic conclusion. It makes the difference to me as far as a fic having a point and one that's just flailing around till they get somewhere.

Sere

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

I'm gonna say 50/50, though that's not exactly correct. I don't like stories that have JUST angst and fluff, I need some comedy in there too.

Too much Angst and it drags the story down into whiny teenager territory, too much fluff and it's just gross. With just the two, it's... incomplete.

[Demosthenes]

Whatever happened to damn good suspense or mysery in fan fiction? Whatever happened to characters that at LEAST made a show at trying to teach the reader something worthwhile?

The origional Germanic story of Little Red Riding Hood (before it was adapted for children) was a gruesome tale, chalk full of angst, but at least it carried an abject lesson.

It seems that as writers we're so concerned with inciting emotion in our readers that we've gotten lazy and taken the easy way out. Now we barely attempt to incite emotion from our readers, we try to inflict it. We place the reader within our stories and ask them 'will you take the path of pins? or the path of needles?' And no matter which path of pain they choose, we run down the other path and kill the Grandmother.

That is not great fiction, again that is nothing more than the artist painting only with one color. Writers, learn your pallette's. The carapenter does not rely only on the hammer just because it's his favorite, bluntest, cruelest tool.

[Iggy_lovechild]

I have to agree with most everyone here. I'm sitting here thinking. Hmm...erm...ratio? Nevermind the fact that I've always sucked at math (see how funny I am?), I really don't plan on writing "angst" or "fluff". Admittedly, some of my stories are more light-hearted than others and some are just more emotionally intense, but in my longer fics everything's up in the air.

I'm not sure if my pallet of colours is particularily vaired, but I'd like very much to imagine that I don't merely write in black and uh, pink.

[EveKnight75]

Yet another . Deciding on a certain angst/fluff ratio when writing a story seems rather formulaic to me. I don't decide this kind of thing ahead of time, and I don't try to ascertain a numeric ratio for genres when reading stories.

It all depends on the story itself. Every good story has a little bit of different types of genres in different ratios. The real question is how appropriately a genre is being applied. For example, I don't want fluff in a rape scene or an over-angsty family picnic scene. It doesn't work. There's also so many different types of moods in a story outside of angst and fluff.

I'm sorry, but I could never vote on something like this. I like light stories and dark stories. I like stories with variations in tone. I like dark comedies. There's so many different types of stories I like for different reasons, and I never could develop a preference for one tone over another. The weirdest part? Not even my mood can create a preference for a certain moment.

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

When I say I like it 50/50, I meant when it comes to reading. When it comes to my own stories, there's little planning happening. My fingers pose themselves over the keyboard and I'm off. Whatever happens happens. Sometimes I'm dead on with the characters, sometimes I'm off. Eh.

As for angst:fluff stuff... well, m0st of my stories are depressing. There are exceptions (my latest of those being a Naruto fic where Sakura breaks things.)

Here's the thing, I don't think the issue is exactly painting with one color. It's painting with one color and not knowing how. The greats can use differant tints and shades of red and create a masterpiece (and I'm not talking "dot on canvas" either). However, anyone who knows shit about what their doing will end up with something that falls flat and has little value (even if they DO get glowing reviews).

[NightScribe]

I can't honestly pick a ratio either. I've written some dark stuff, (angst) because without it, there wouldn't be a story; it's all about conflict, whether external or internal. I like to paint in shades of grey on what I call my "serious" fics, but there are always lighter moments, as a counter point; in my opinion, it makes the dramatic parts resonate more. My lighter, humorous stories can't be called fluffy, but the whole tone is different, even with the snarky, occasionally dark, humor.

As for reading, I avoid the all out fluff, as well as the over-the-top angst; I can't slog my way through stories that are either all rainbows and butterflies, or hopelessly bleak and dismal.

[DodgeSuperBee]

I haven't done any original stories yet, so the levels of angst and fluff I feel comfortable including in my fic depend on the levels in the movie it's based on. Still, I have to take some license since the movie is for general audiences and therefore isn't overly angsty or fluffy.

When it comes to reading other writers' fics, I can be a sucker for total fluff and get really into an angsty story as well. The author has to make either situation be persuasive and realistic to succeed in drawing readers in. Is the source of the angst believable, or are the characters just angsting for the sake of being emo and dramatic? Likewise, would the characters behave as fluffily as they're written?

Edited June 12, 2007 by DodgeSuperBee

[StoryJunkie]

Angst 80%

Fluff: zero.

the rest is filler.

I can't write fluff. Someone's got to be bad sometime or other, and then it's either on to the next life (death) or spank. guns, knives, near-death experiences....I love the edge.

Reading fluff, however, YES!!!! well-written romantic stuff. (I'm a total softie)

[redsliver]

Angst is just internal conflict, I always preferred external conflict, I'm not good enough with the internal stuff. I also like bad people doing bad things and being quite happy about it, its always good to have a fluffy massacre than an angsty one. The thing is I love revenge, but I dislike angst, it makes it very hard to right.

As for a ratio of angst to fluff? I couldn't declare it. Personally I do adventure before romance which removes the fluff a lot and I prefer external to internal conflict which peels away the angst leaving me with a story that's primarily neither.

[Iggy_lovechild]

Ironically, the current one-shot that I'm working on is verging on fluff, but realy I prefer the term WAFF (warm and fuzzy feeling) even though it makes me cringe a little bit. Calling something fluff kinda degrades it in my mind. It's like saying it's worthless even though it really isn't. Sometimes...I just can't handle angst all the time and I want to read something sweet that makes me feel good.

The thing that really pisses me off is that a lot of people seem to think angst=better writing. I suppose because tragedy and highly emotional situations make for great drama, but I think it really all despends on the delicacy of the writer. There's nothing worse than being assaulted with melodrama with very little relief.

[Sonnet For Muraki]

I can't believe it's 50/50 so far.

I'm a staunch fan of angst 'cos fluff makes me vomit everywhere so I never saw that one coming...

Fluff is really hard to avoid for the angst shipper though, I've been trying to keep "He Loves Me Not" completely angsty and fluff keeps rearing its cutsey pink head java script:emoticon('')

smilie

KiSsEs aND COcK to you all.

[teeta]

Hihi, 50-50 for me please!

I guess it's because I don't really like angst, too heavy for me but on the other hand, too much sweetness just makes me go 'guh!' So the middle for me, please!