Hi, I’m Italian and english is not my first language so, please, don’t mind the grammatical or syntax errors in this post. I’m writing a story, well, multiple stories for a fantasy book, the target is 18-35, it’s a book with a, as I see it, deep message about humans, not really politics but mostly about what humans can do for a bit of power. The thing is that the, let’s call it, “first” story is about two friends traveling the world in search for one’s dad, it’s mostly an introspective and comedic adventure. The “second” is a political intrigue of a noble guy trying to stand up for himself in a corrupt environment, pretty dark and not at all comedic. The “third” story is about a group of revolutionaries trying to eliminate the corruption but failing giving the lack of manpower and interest from the people around them, also a pretty grim story full of betrayal and death. Now the question: is having different tones ok for this kind of book? Or should I change the “first” story and make it less comedic and a bit more dark? Thanks in advance! I really need help!
Aside from the comedic story, do the rest all share a similar tone? Personally I don't think it would be a problem, unless all the others share a particular tone and one stands out like a sore thumb. But even that wouldn't be a problem for me unless the book is set up for a particular tone, and maybe the title reflects that, such as "Nine Dark Tales" and then one is a light fun comedy.
Yes, pretty much. They are all a la Game of Thrones but not sociological, they’re personal. It’s not a sore thumb but it sticks out a bit, at least the first three acts are light hearted, the last becomes “dark” like the rest.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing. The light story might serve as relief from the bleakness for some people. I know I don't expect short stories to all have the same tone when I buy a collection, unless it's advertised as being all dark.
Well more like a collection of short stories I’d say it’s like, again, Game of Thrones. They’re different prospective of the same world that interconnects at different points of the “whole” story. One of the protagonist literally kills the protagonist of the other story in his last act.
Oh that's right, now I remember you saying that. Still I don't think it's a big problem. I've watched TV series where some episodes are dark and occasionally there's a funny one, like Xena or Buffy. Of course those shows had humor built in from the beginning though. Game of Thrones I never really watched, I don't know if humor would work as well there.
In GoT there are some jokes but 99% of it it’s serious social problems and politics. My story is more personal, so I think it should be ok to have one of the parties in comedic situation. Thanks a lot for the answers! p.s. If you like fantasy or politics I definitely suggest you read the “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. It’s too good to pass up.
I think it is good to have variety, but I think the real problem is "what is the first story?" If you open with a humorous story the reader is going to expect more of that. Adding levity is one thing, and even a whole story that focuses on that levity is a good thing to do. But that first story is what sets the audience's expectations. Xoic brought up how hows like Buffy and Xena have an occasional funny episode. We could extend that list to just about any TV show with a tense theme. X-Files, Supernatural, Doctor Who, Farscape... They all have an episode or two each season that shifts things to a somewhat comedic style. Angel gets turned into a puppet, Chriton imagines his crewmates as Looney Tunes, Mulder and Scully tell conflicting versions of what happened in a pudunct city full of vampires. This is actually really important to do in a high-strung series; you need to bring the reader down for a little bit and let them breathe. On the flip side of things comedic shows will have times when they pull at people's heartstrings. Futurama did this a lot. Having variety is good, so I would say that having the changes in tone throughout your novel is a good thing. But two things come to my mind: One, have you considered putting clear divisions between these different stories? Like perhaps having the book be written as if it were a a collection of short stories, but yet the stories also clearly relate to each other? Or possibly divide the story into different parts, with clear breaks in the formatting, like when starting a new chapter except that the parts could contain multiple chapters. (e.g. Part 1 { chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3 } Part 2 {chapter 4, chapter 5, chapter 6 } Part 3 { chapter 7, chapter 8, chapter 9} ) Since most books remain tonally consistant, efforts like this would help set the reader's expectations and ease them into any changes in tone. I am particularly fond of the idea of calling them short stories, if the tone varies wildly. (For a good example of this, watch "The Ballad of Buster Scrubbs" on Netflix.) And two, be particularly mindful of the tone carried in the opening story. If it is humorous, the audience is going to expect more humor. If it is dark, the audience is going to expect more dark. Don't give your audience an expectation that the rest of the book won't follow. Whatever happens at the beginning is going to set the baseline for everything that the rest of the book delivers, and you want the rest of the book to follow after what drew the audience in with that opening story. (For a bad example of this, watch "The Ballad of Buster Scrubbs" on Netflix.) Look for the tone that remains universal throughout the whole work, and open with something that matches that tone. Even the humorous episodes of the shows I mentioned still carry a bit of that same tone the show is known for. Even the most tender moments from comedy shows are still spiced with humor If you need your humorous story to come first chronologically, but the rest of the book doesn't follow any more humor, then write some other story to come first that adequately sets the tone, even if it doesn't have as much to do with the plot. I would argue that the first chapter needs to establish tone moreso than it needs to establish plot. (But that's just my opinion.) Even if there isn't a consistent tone throughout each story, look for the most frequent tones. You could open with humor as long as you still have another couple humor stories in there.
I think the thing about all the shows just mentioned is they have a lot of humor, even if it's subtle, mixed in throughout, in even the most tense of episodes (except maybe now and then when they get really intense). And this goes along with the old maxim "If you want to make them cry, make them laugh, and if you want to make them laugh, make them cry". This is a great formula and it really works, by 'cleansing the palette' from one emotion before hitting them with it again. I think it works not just for making them cry, but for extreme seriousness, horror, powerful intensity of various kinds. Put some humor in between, even if it's very subtle and dry as Mulder can often be. So can Scully in her own way. It's just so low-key most of the time it almost goes unnoticed. But if you keep trying to hammer away at readers or viewers with the same emotion over and over, it gets old real quick . And I think they use the same strategy in a season as well, doing occasional funny and occasional extremely weird/funny episodes. probably right before or right after a powerful intense one, like the season closer.
I wish you'd added "reposition story #1" as a choice. I agree with most of the prior respondents. The stories can certainly have differing tones in a collection of stories, but that very first one, rightly or wrongly, is going to serve as that which sets the expectation.
