Downbeat stories

[gunhilltrain]

It's not a surprise, but downbeat stories, especially with unsympathetic characters, are not going to do that well in regards to voting and comments. (Although other readers may add them to their favorites.)

And yet if I have a story that I like that I suspect won't be popular I'm still going to post it. (Of course Loving Wives has its own set of expectations so I'm not referring to that.)

 

[SimonDoom]

It's not a surprise, but downbeat stories, especially with unsympathetic characters, are not going to do that well in regards to voting and comments. (Although other readers may add them to their favorites.)

And yet if I have a story that I like that I suspect won't be popular I'm still going to post it. (Of course Loving Wives has its own set of expectations so I'm not referring to that.)

I think this is generally true, but there are some exceptions. I've seen some downbeat stories do well. I prefer my erotica to be more upbeat.

But if your muse is telling you to write a downbeat story, write a downbeat story and forget the popularity.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Understand the problem.

I did A Maid for Timon, a Sci-Fi story for a Summer Lovin' contest. I thought it was reasonably well written but it didn't do well for scores and many of the commenters were specifically unhappy because it wasn't a happy-ending tale.

So it's a toss-up. If you want votes and happy comments, I guess you need to be upbeat. Only if you are writing for yourself can you be free.

FWIW, Dylan Thomas wrote about precisely this.

In My Craft or Sullen Art

In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.

Not for the proud man apart
From the raging moon I write
On these spindrift pages
Nor for the towering dead
With their nightingales and psalms
But for the lovers, their arms
Round the griefs of the ages,
Who pay no praise or wages
Nor heed my craft or art. ​

 

[KeithD]

Downbeat stories can still be high-quality short stories. I write them when my mind comes up with one and post them, like my recent "The Summer After," knowing they go to the edge of comfort or aren't going to do well for reasons that don't appeal to the Happy Endings readers. If readers aren't going to give latitude for varied themes in a full portfolio of stories, fuck 'em. Readers here aren't going to stop paying you what they do for what you write.

 

[Voboy]

I enjoy downbeat stories, both as a reader and as a writer. But I don’t always post them because they usually end up less-than-satisfying for me. I love a good antihero, though.

 

[Javahead]

I generally don’t enjoy really downbeat stories, no matter how well written, for much the same reason that I usually avoid horror, and stories where the protagonist just meekly accepts abuse. Just not my cup of tea.

Which doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the quality of writing for a well done example. Or that I haven’t written them. Some stories I work at, some I meticulously plot - and occasionally one grabs me by the neck and insists on being written, just to get it out of my head.

Write what grabs your attention. Praise from others can be pleasant, but your real reason for writing is to please yourself right?

 

[oggbashan]

My very downbeat story, Donna, is also one of my lowest rated.

 

[CuteSlaveLisa]

In another thread it was recently opined that an effective writing devise is to have the sad ending right up front. Getting it out of the way, and telling the tale in flashback.

Love and Kisses

Lisa Ann

 

[yukonnights]

As has been said, I can appreciate the quality of the writing, but I'm a perennial seeker of all that is positive. It just seems to me that there is enough actual 'downbeat' reality in the world...so why seek more in my spare time? But that's just me. I don't read horror, beat the bitch, abuse or similar stuff.

I'm pretty sure every story I've ever written is 'happy ever after'. One Lit friend describes my style as 'sappy', but urges me not to try to change since it's just me. The one thing upbeat stories makes harder is finding a powerful dilemma, at least for me...but I'm working on it

Like everyone else, I can only encourage those who do have these stories in their heads to just write what you need to write. It's a big diverse world, and nothing is one size fits all.

 

[RetroFan]

I often write works with unlikeable characters, often for comedy purposes.

The Erotic Couplings and Fetish readers seem more open to this - some hated the unlikeable characters in some stories most notable Breanna from 'Trailer Trash Teen Hates Rules' - but I have noticed some definite trends in two other categories where I also write, Lesbian and Incest/Taboo.

Of my lesbian stories, the readers reacted well to a serious story 'April Leads Julie Astray' about two very likeable girls who had traumatic childhood experiences. They also liked my Australia contest story 'My Gay Friend's Hot Mum', which was a comedic story with nice lead characters, and 'Debbie the Dumb Gold Digger' was pretty successful too. Reaction to my 'PTA Queen Bee & Teen Rebel' stories was mixed. The first one attracted much attention possibly because it was so unusual, but scores were mixed and the characters are for the most part awful people. My Christmas story 'The Unsuitable Girlfriends' was a big flop; maybe the fact that the girlfriends were unlikeable girls was a factor in that.

My works don't seem to impress the Incest/Taboo crowd much. They didn't care for my lesbian story 'The Squabbling Stepsisters' and many of them absolutely hate a story series I'm currently writing called 'Body Swap With Sister's Boyfriend' which has many unlikeable characters. And while the characters in 'Perving On Natalie's Knickers' were for the most part nice, they didn't like that either, but probably because the characters were foster brother & sister and not biological relatives.

 

[YDB95]

My most downbeat story, "And I'm Pulling Out of Here to Win", got quite a few nasty comments, but the score wasn't (and still isn't) too bad.

 

[RetroFan]

My advice in writing serious stories with sad aspects is to make the characters sympathetic and likeable that readers will empathize with them, introduce these plot elements as the story unfolds rather than hitting the reader with the straight away, and where possible have some lighter aspects to your story.

For example, in April Leads Julie astray, we meet Julie first, and she is a sweet-natured Reverend's daughter living in North Carolina in the early 1960s. Readers get to know and like her before it is revealed that one of her legs is crippled from polio which she caught at summer camp as a child years earlier and she has to wear a leg brace which she hates. April on the other hand is a very confident and outgoing young woman, until midway through the story when it takes a twist and it is then revealed that April along with her twin brother was subjected to some very serious emotional and physical child abuse as a little girl - being locked in a dark closet, beaten and tormented by her war-affected and now estranged mother. If I had simply thrown this information at readers in the first paragraph before we get to know the protagonists, it would not have had had the same emotional impact. Some comedic elements in this work, such as a bumbling fat guy having a crush on Julie, lighten the mood in this otherwise serious story.

Conversely, if you want to write about bad things happening to unsympathetic characters, my advice is to write a comedy. I did this in 'Sexy Savannah at Number 9', where the main character is a 19-year-old Italian-Australian called Dino. Dino has a rotten lot in life. His strict father yells at him all the time, his mother also yells at him, his twin sister lords her superiority over him, Dino is sent back to repeat Year 12 at high school after he failed the year earlier, a place where the kids all laugh at him and torment him especially the school's alpha bitch and her football star boyfriend, and his teachers give him a hard time. We also get to meet Dino's principal and guess what? He's an asshole too.

Yet never once do you feel any sympathy for Dino. He is an immature, lazy, selfish slacker content to wallow in self pity, until his redemption at the end. And rather than make the father a complete monster, I made him a large ham, chewing the scenery in the story and SHOUTING EVERY LINE OF DIALOGUE HE SPEAKS.

 

[SimonDoom]

I enjoy many dark and gloomy stories. I love Flannery O'Connor's short stories, and most of them are rather dark and twisted, some with horrific endings.

But for me, downbeat doesn't mix well with eroticism. I prefer eroticism with a lighter and more upbeat touch. It doesn't surprise me that downbeat stories might have lower scores on this site than more positive ones.

 

[SolarRay]

My closest thing to a downbeat story involves two (likable) characters who died in a plane crash just days after they met and are forced to relive their last days together over and over, Groundhog Day style, trying to cheat fate so they can spend their lives together. It ends with the discovery of a possible means of escaping this fate but leaves it up to the reader to decide what they think the outcome will be.

This was definitely something different for me, since I pretty much always have a very clear and upbeat happy ending. Still, the story actually won a contest. I would say that while it's not necessarily characteristic of my style, or of stories I tend to read, I'm proud of it and think that there's a way to do a downbeat story that works. After all, I would characterize the story as still romantic and optimistic, not gloomy, even though it's tragic and open-ended. (I've also - much later - indicated in the comments that I think all turns out well for these characters, but not because of any negative reactions.)

 

[gunhilltrain]

Usually I don't do outright tragedies - death, prison or that kind of thing. But sometimes I write about sex or love that is disappointing.

For some reason I decided to write about men's experiences with prostitutes and I had to guess what that would be like. There are men on-line who claim to prefer prostitutes. Maybe some of them are truthful. But I imagined the more common experience to be flat and abrupt at best.

 

[NotWise]

Usually I don't do outright tragedies - death, prison or that kind of thing. But sometimes I write about sex or love that is disappointing.

"The Third Ring" is an outright tragedy, and it's fairly well-accepted despite the lack of erotic content. It's an epic tragedy, hence more acceptable than just a downer of a story.

 

[Hypoxia]

Let an .alt write your downers and tragedies so you won't be blamed.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Usually I don't do outright tragedies - death, prison or that kind of thing.

Don't worry, I've got that covered.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Let an .alt write your downers and tragedies so you won't be blamed.

Yes indeed. I second that one.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

Don't worry, I've got that covered.

Actually I tend to view "My fall and Rise" as a redemption story and not downbeat. Sometimes the shadows are cast by the light.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Actually I tend to view "My fall and Rise" as a redemption story and not downbeat. Sometimes the shadows are cast by the light.

Thank you, I appreciate that. But that requires that you stick with it until the end.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

True, I had always suspected that was a bit autobiographical. I worked almost 30 years in the justice and correctional system, so I figured you had experienced it from one side or the other. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there.

 

[Pocketshaver]

Oddly Im the only one who sees the cheating wife stories as downers

 

[CuteSlaveLisa]

Thank you, I appreciate that. But that requires that you stick with it until the end.

Fall and Rise is probably the best story I have read on Lit.

Love and Kisses

Lisa Ann