Closely aligned to — and often resulting in or from hurt/comfort — is angst.
If your protag is critically injured and languishing in hospital, and his boyfriend is out of town on a secret mission, the hurt/comfort quotient drops, but the angst quotient skyrockets. See how that works?
Like hurt/comfort, angst is a staple of male male romance. As you can imagine all those serious illnesses, critical injuries, nervous breakdowns, rapes, betrayals, addictions, kidnappings, stalkings, deaths in the family, broken dreams, shattered hopes and really really REALLY bad days lead to a certain amount of tension. Even anxiety.
Angst is actually a Germanic word meaning “anxiety.” The Danish philosopher and theologian Kierkegaard, used the term angst to express his belief that the human condition was riddled with despair. He wrote a
philosophical novel called Fear and Trembling. What does that tell you?
Typically we associate angst with adolescence. Few people are better at suffering loudly and noticeably than teenagers. It’s an art form with them, and you have to respect that.
Acne and existential quandaries aside, angst is also a very important ingredient in M/M fiction. Well, not all M/M fiction. Romantic comedy and action/adventure are mercifully angst-free for the most part, but any time your characters are suffering over their conflicted feelings — generally for each other — they are usually angsting.
Please note: if they’re just depressed and insecure, that’s not angst. Angst requires serious suffering. Breaking up with your boyfriend is sad. Your boyfriend dying is tragic. Finding out after your boyfriend dies that he was seeing someone else — now that’s angst.
Death, disease, disaster — this is all angstilicious stuff. High drama is what separates true angst from the anxiety normal to the human condition.
Historical M/M lends itself particularly well to angst. It’s the whole, love that-dare-not-speak-its-name thing. Yaoi is also angstful: all those giant cartoon eyes veritably brim with grief at the human condition — mostly
their own.
Wondering if the object of your affections feels the same is not technically angst — unless you’re under 18. Having a closeted lover, however, is generally grounds for angst.
Because I have a weird sense of humor, the more angstful the story, the more likely I am to find it funny. I guess someone left a banana peel on my pain threshold. Anyway, my advice is that you use angst sparingly.
Less is more. Heaping coals on your hapless character’s head in chapter after chapter just reminds me of those sappy Victorian novels where the noble and long-suffering hero (or heroine) endures tragedy after tragedy only to die with a brave smile and an angelic sentiment upon his rosebud lips after saving a child from the wheels of a train.
In my opinion the more angsty the journey, the more life-affirming and reassuring the happy ending should be — but that’s just me. I’m in favor of happy endings from a purely philosophical standpoint.
Sometimes angst is its own reward — some protagonists do suffer beautifully — but generally it requires comforting. Ideally from the other protagonist. You can see what a vicious cycle this could turn into. It’s
enough to make a grown man cry.
17 comments:
You're definitely not the only one who considers angst funny. Well, at least sometimes.
Especially in yaoi sometimes I can only laugh at it because it is waaaaaay too much.
Usually I don't like angst too much. In my opinion it's very difficult to write good angst. It gets ridiculous very fast and when I'm actually in the mood to read something angsty, I don't want to have to laugh. And if the poor character is dragged through catastrophe after catastrophe, the story loses all resemblance of reality. I like feeling with characters, but as soon as I start thinking "not again!!!" the story has crossed the line and is not really worth reading anymore. At least nor if you wanted to read angst.
It's difficult to walk that fine line between angst and ridiculous. Like angyal686 said, sometimes it's way too much and entirely difficult to believe. But when it's done well, I love it. I read a lot of fanfic, and I love the particularly angsty stories. As they say in the fanfic world, I'm an angst h00r. LOL.
Angst can definitely be funny particularly when it is overdone or makes a character trip over themselves. I think some people in M/M fiction confuse angst with stressing about having a boyfriend/lover. I can attest to the idea that having a lover who is closeted is angst producing. Having a lover and friends who are closeted with other friends is intensely angsty. Meeting your deeply closeted lover's family on a trip "home" is enough to give you ulcers and I'm surprised I lived through it. Looking at it now, I see the humor. At the time, it was intensely uncomfortable. Still, it could make for a few interesting scenes. Not a whole story.
It's definitely a fine line, angyal686. Angst can add poignancy to a story -- a romance should certainly be a journey and a few highs and a few lows make for a more interesting trip.
I'm an angst h00r. LOL.
It's finding that sweet spot in the story. Or, in the case of angst, the bittersweet spot.
Some stories turn into an endurance test -- for both reader and character. That's not what I'm looking for, but different strokes (or lashes of the whip) for different folks.
Sarah, I think a good rule of thumb is no more angst per story than can be reasonably resolved within the course of that tale -- unless it's a series with an over-arching angsty storyline.
Tall, dark, and brooding has a lot of appeal for me, the tortured hero--who suffers nobly--hooks me every time.
Some stories turn into an endurance test -- for both reader and character.
Interesting you say that as it was exactly what I was thinking about a book I just finished. I love a good angsty story, but with ebb and flow to catch a breath. This last one never let up.
Angst is an art form, but I'm a huge fan of it when done well. Thanks for sharing once again, giving us some savvy tips laced with a few belly laughs!
I'm just about to start a draft where one of the heroes is pretty angsty. He's very much a wounded alpha. The other guy has issues too, he needs to cut the apron strings. He's a mother's boy, basically, however strong he appears to others.
I'll try not to let either of them wallow in angst too much. They do have lots of guilt too. Oh, I love me some guilt (that'll be the influence of the nuns at school.)
Like you say, it's a balance. If a character is so miserable that the reader starts wondering why they don't just jump under a train and finish it, and indeed, hoping they do, soon, then it's probably gone too far. On the other hand, I always say I don't want to read about happy people, I want to read about messed up people getting themselves into trouble.
Trying to find the middle ground...
Tall, dark, and brooding has a lot of appeal for me, the tortured hero--who suffers nobly--hooks me every time
It's a romance classic, isn't it?
I mean, the struggle to find true love just naturally means more if there *is* a struggle. We don't tend to value things handed to us on a plate.
We don't tend to value things handed to us on a plate.
Unless they're Trader Joe mushroom turnovers...in which case, CANNOT VALUE TOO HIGHLY. :-D
Interesting you say that as it was exactly what I was thinking about a book I just finished. I love a good angsty story, but with ebb and flow to catch a breath. This last one never let up.
Some of this stuff is definitely...season to taste, but for most of us it's about pacing. It's about the emotional ebb and surge. Most readers require--and most commercial fiction delivers--a balance of dark and light. Those make for the most satisfying stories.
You can turn angst into a fetish like anything else.
Angst is an art form, but I'm a huge fan of it when done well. Thanks for sharing once again, giving us some savvy tips laced with a few belly laughs!
Thanks for reading along!
Part of the key to finding that middle ground is this:
I'll try not to let either of them wallow in angst too much. They do have lots of guilt too. Oh, I love me some guilt (that'll be the influence of the nuns at school.)
How impatient and irritated we get with the angst factor has to do with how the protags react to the burning coals being heaped on their hapless heads.
Readers have very little patience for self-pity (just as in real life we all have very little patience for it). A character who feels sorry for himself quickly loses reader sympathy -- even when he has good cause to feel sorry for himself.
In fact, there is sometimes a perception of self-pity where none exists (that's how impatient readers can be with the whole angst thing).
It's a very delicate balance.
I love angst. I love the whole idea of the brilliant, but broken man. The frost on his heart is ultimately melted by love. It's a classic. It has been used in Criminal Minds, think Hotch, and a host of other TV shows. Angst ridden Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre)as if you didn't know, has to be the all-time fave.
The manly hero must to sob in private only or he's way too girly. But the submissive or boyish hero can cry openly.
Girls can cry whenever they want.
The more angst the better as long as it is resolved by the last page.
Excellent post, Josh.
I for one love angst, for me it's a necessary ingredient to make a story poignant and characters and their journey interesting. It's often when they go through angst that they have a chance to grow and realise something new about themselves, and the others.
Thank you also for clarifying the differences between the suffering and anxiety inherent in the human condition, and the 'angst' suffered when a character goes through certain circumstances.
You're right when you say m/m lends itself to angst almost by definition. I find it especially prevalent when one or both the main characters are in the closet, or suffer from inner homophobia, and the fear and shame that this entails, the conflict between their inner desires and what's dictated by family, society or peer pressure, which often bleeds into what the characters expect of themselves too and drives them to do things that may hurt the people they love.
Paola
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