Hello Hello
I come in search of thoughts on what makes a good angst, in your opinion - Percy
Hellooo! So to answer this I’m gonna be all over the place in terms of where we’re talking about making angst.
The Connection and History:
So one thing is for certain the connections the characters have with each other but also the reader's connection to the characters! That's what really makes it hit, and original pieces that harder to do than with fanfiction in most cases.
(great example why we read and write so much of it)
Original pieces need more layers to bring the readers to the level where you will affect them, while with fanfiction we already care, that's why we’re there. (and for the dopamine that floods us when reading)
Being able to convey that history without explaining it as an info dump is important, and not just for angst, that's just for any type of story!
Attention to Details:
Now this one is heavily a “my opinion” one. The attention to details and how that attention is brought.
Now details when making a story can be anything, from a theme to symbolism. Or sometimes it’s just that one character remembered something that's so small about them but jesus christ you remembered that one thing I have to remind everyone else or no one has ever seemed to notice.
One great example that has made me emotional 😒 is @starry-bi-sky Clone^2 AU, she has talked about it a lot, but the significance of Danny’s hands, the scars on them. (Spoilers, I suppose I should mention)
What they mean, yeah in the moment, in every moment, it’s Danny kinda being a dumbass and catching this tiny Dami’s blade in his hands. But down the line, it shows how he didn't give up, how he wasn't fighting the small child but fighting for him. Fighting for his future.
There’s plenty of posts written by Starry about the hands and other moments between them. The significance of the hands is already emotional, now add in connection and history.
For that AU the Damian and Danny we follow are clones of Damian Wayne and Bruce Wayne (DC), so we have that, but Danny is still Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom).
There are layers to the connections the reader has to these characters, Bruce and Damian being characters that have thousands of hours worth of content for you to somehow grow connected. Damian has been cloned before in Cannon and killed by that clone, so the drama of that is enough to make you want to hold your breath.
Now Danny Phantom has history with clones, Dani Phantom. You already have Danny’s experience with them and the idea of them. But then Starry makes Danny a clone of B, and he has to come to terms with that, and soon following that is a clone of the guy’s kid??
There's a quite a bit going here, and it works. We have established care for the characters, now we add a few layers of cannon fuckery, then something to focus on: Danny’s dilemma of taking in his reality (which I didn't get into), and Danny’s hands representing his immediate dedication to Damian.
Another example of his dedication is him learning Arabic and teaching Damian English, lord I love them helpp😭
So conclusion,
It doesn't matter what you choose to do, it's how you focus on it. How is it significant to the story or characters? What are the possible lasting effects? And of course, does this make sense?
Just ask how it fits with the characters or story, whether its a one-shot or multi-chapter.
Thank you for the ask, I loved this, it made me think ^-^