Angst and pathos

These are my by-words. Angst and pathos.

According to dictionary.com:

Angst: a feeling of dread, anxiety, or anguish.

Pathos: A quality, as of an experience or a work of art, that arouses feelings of pity, sympathy, tenderness, or sorrow.

So, basically, my characters suffer (angst) and try to make you feel sorry for them (pathos). This is called 'drama.' (for a crash course in what I'm talking about, go watch Season 1 of Veronica Mars. RIGHT NOW)

But is there a limit? Is there a too far? A pit of despair from which the viewer cannot climb, that leaves him less entertained? Of course there is. That's why all angst and pathos must be comingled with laughter and adventure. (for a crash course in this, see Season 1-and-only of Firefly, and the movie, Serenity) Off-set a crushing situation and you have a situation that has unlimited potential. Until a budget-minded exec kills your show.

Now, let's be honest. Angst must be well-done and subtle to be effective. Otherwise you're way out in Smallville territory, and who wants that? Clark, get a spine, and grow some real angst. (season 1 Clark, anyway; I'm still playing catch-up)

Anyway, how does this translate into my writing? (everything comes back to writing, here) Well, some of my projects got so mired down in the angst they started to depress me. That's never good. And there was no wisecracks; it was much too serious a book. Others remained so angst-free or angst-lite--seriously, it was like Smallville's Clark showed up in my novels, angsting hard about things that hardly made sense, acting sensitive and sucking his cheeks in.

I have ofund balance, though, in my most recently plotted out book. One with laughs, high adventure, and deep angst. It started as a writing exercise in writing anti-epic books. What if you wrote a book about a high, epic war, from the POV of one person in it, a minor character, one whose life is turned to tragedy by that war? Not only would you have the terrific show Firefly, you could write a novel that was heartbreaking and funny, full of (you guessed it...) angst and pathos.

And that's where it's at.