: Re: How can I get my readers in the gut? Braveheart. Titanic. Lord of the Rings. What do these movies (movies, not books) have in common? Besides great musical scores, they have what I call Gut

@Ogunnowo420

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Everything you've shown has a simple formula. Show the reader a possibility that could be, that they can hope for. Give them every reason for wanting that possibility. But, every step along the way your characters or your setting defines that hope as impossibility. When you finally get to the moment it will be tragically inevitable and undesirable, but your reader will also acknowledge this is the only way it could happen.

It's a simple loss principle and it's built into all of us. One day we all die. But we grow attached to the people around us. When the illusion of permanence is shattered we must grapple with the reality that the thing or person we have lost had to happen, that there is no way around it. But there should be many excuses that a person could make as to why that person deserved better. It's ultimately the conflict of what people feel is deserved and what actually is.

In some ways it's more interesting to think about how people fail to write these parts successfully. The most common thing is the "everyone is stupid, if only they could think" bit.

For that reason when you write a tragedy many of your choices will determine whether your tragedy is justified. Even just picking a time and place can make your story work in different ways. Without spoiling anything, consider the recent stranger things. That story doesn't work in a world where it's not the 80s. Not being able to call people or use facebook drastically changes risk and social interaction. When the tragedies happen, part of what "locks" them in is the inevitable restraints that society puts on the characters. Also, the preconceptions many of those characters hold that would not be held today locks the characters in positions of helplessness that furthers the tragic elements of the story. Meanwhile as a 21st century viewer you have all of these ideas about how it could be, but you know: "No, this is right. This is how those people would act. This loss was unavoidable for them, because the time, place, and people make it so." The other side of the coin for Stranger Things is the nostalgia. Everyone in it, everything in it is extremely relate-able so the emotional investment happens. You want more for these people who are trying their hardest and it's not enough.

Tragedy = Inevitability + Hope + Connection + Loss

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