So, as usual, I'm posting mostly in hopes responses and ideas will help me brainstorm a solution to a conundrum. The problem I'm having is a story with a cast of 5-6 MCs. Originally, the story revolves around Jak's mother dying which both creates a looming darkness over the book and allows for a powerful (non-romantic) relationship to develop with one of the other MC's who helps him cope and helps ground him. The problem is that this event of Jak's mother dying creates a much more dire and serious tone amongst the MC's as well which I feel makes it really hard to develop the other MC's because anytime they joke around, get romantic, play, etc it makes them seem callous to the mission at hand. ...BUT... if I remove the event of his mother dying, the plot still goes as planned just without the painful and serious shadow looming over the characters. It allows for a more playful group and more group dymanics to form overall; however it removes a large part of Jak's character development and removes the powerful relationship that he builds with the other MC (which I feel is thus far a very intense development and I hate the thought of removing or hindering it in any way).
What you are looking for is gallows humor. I know that sounds really simple but, well, the way that we cope with really hard stuff is to joke about it. Because when we can laugh at things then they can't scare us anymore; they don't have power over us. Now, of course you need to do this the right way. You can't have everyone laughing merrily. But what you can do is have one character (the one the MC will lean on) be the one to make a bad joke that makes everyone laugh because they need to laugh. And you write it just like that. That it's not funny but everyone laughs because they need to laugh at something. And that breaks the ice and they can all be a bit more relaxed. And slowly you work it through until it all makes sense. Just having characters make jokes doesn't mean that they are callous; in fact if it was me then I'd be making jokes because I care. Because it will help everyone (including me) to deal with it if we stop focusing on how bloody awful everything is and start thinking about it in human terms; what makes it funny. When someone falls off the gallows it's ok to have a character question if he was well hung. Because that's just how we cope. I expect my royalty cheque in the mail
I've heard that tension requires release, and that it's entirely believable -- to the point of being expected -- that characters would joke around, be romantic, and play amidst a more dire tone. If everything is sullen all the time, things start to taste a bit like pancake batter. I assume you're going to show these characters coping in their various ways? Some people cope with comedy. Others stay busy to distract themselves. Some engage in life-affirming activities. If you keep their joking and romancing and whatnot within the context of the mother's death such that reader understands that their behaviors are an escape from the dire atmosphere they're all in, then I think it should be fine.
Lol, its so simple but makes so much sense. I spent all morning racking my brain on this. It'll take a bit to parse out but that gives me a direction to head in. Thank you.
You need more bad people in your life The last funeral I went to was my (now ex) girlfriend's grandmother. She was a nice old bird, about the only member of her family that I thought genuinely liked me. I could just sit and talk with her about all kinds of stuff and she never had any problems that I was a long haired metal head, or that I cheated on her grand daughter. Nice woman. And she had a surprisingly interesting life; she lived in Rhodesia back before they changed the name, all kinds of cool stuff she did. I really liked her quite a lot and she was so happy when I proposed to my ex. I don't mind saying that I cried at her funeral. It's funny how things catch you, you know? But once the service was done and we went to the wake the first thing I said was, well... "This is on the tab right? Ok, so get me a triple. Whaaaat? She's dead, she isn't going to spend it." Because, well, that's how we get through things. I believe that night I drank a whole bottle of Johnny Walker Red. Oh and for future reference; don't go to a wake with methodists; they really don't approve of you bring drunk and disorderly. Still, I made the most of the open bar.
Watch Christopher Titus's stand-up. Start with Norman Rockwell is Bleeding. (For gallows humor. I'm not saying that it's at all directly related to your story.)
The tone of a story is more about how the story is told than the actual events, I believe. I don't think POV makes a difference when it comes to tone. It's how the character or narrator choose to tell the story that really sets the mood.
