Sudden Mood Shift Or Dark Entirely?

I'm finally going to actually write my fic, and just had a question: Does this sudden change in mood too jarring?

The story opens up with a military raid in an island, which turns out to be rather graphic, like a terrorist being blown in half, some throat slittings, headshots, and people being devoured by familiars and such. I'm thinking in terms of episode, so this would be around first few minutes.

Then the main characters are introduced, starting their first year in high school. Hyun Soo, the main character, an Augmenter/Plague Doctor is dragged by his middle school friend, Ji Ho, into making an afterschool club. Ji Ho recruits few more members and form a Five-Man Band, and shenanigans ensues until the fourth episode, when the rumored serial killer graphically murders and partially eats one of the member and litters the body in the school yard. Everything spirals down after that, what with the murder being linked to a gang and human experiments and all.

I'm hoping for Higurashi approach, and wonder if it would be good idea to show peaceful high school life for a bit or just outright start with the horrorfest that is the entire first season (probably around 13 episodes, if it ever turned into an anime series).

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Personally, I find a story that starts out light and fluffy and turns dark feels much darker than one that was dark to begin with. Because you build up certain expectations only to have them shattered, and it really helps you get into how Break the Cutie feels for the 'cutie'.

edited 29th May '11 7:13:50 AM by Ettina

If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.

I have a feeling that you'd like Madoka Magica. Well, thanks to my immaturity, it wouldn't be anything too tragic. Just Gorn and psychological horror. Lot of them.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

I say go for it. The Higurashi approach, I mean. The only real decision you have to make with that is if you're going to do a slow decline (a la Higurashi itself, where the horror elements are introduced over a significant period of time*

) or a hard falloff (The best example I can think of is probably Mirai Nikki. Average kid one day, 24 hours later he's evading a serial killer in an abandoned construction site). Go with whatever you think'll work best.

Slow descent...there are a lot of things about my fic that I'm not sure about and one of them is how I would handle the revelation of the main character's secret identity. He's something of a vigilante that accidentally became an Urban Legend, and one of the activity/mission of the club is to find his alter persona.

Shit really gets real when he was investigating another corpse, the moment at which he gets spotted by Ji Ho, who's out to catch the killer and mistakes him for it. Yeah, I don't know where to go.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Just remember that if you're going for a Gut Punch, when it's time to bring it out, hit fast and hit hard.

Hmm, good advice, thanks. Just wondering, would a brutal opening kinda undermine that? I mean, it does involve people getting head blown up, being eaten alive by a familiar, getting blown in half, heads being splattered, neck slitting, Helicopter Blender...

I need to see a therapist....

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Gen Urobuchi needs to see a therapist. You're perfectly normal - relative to the rest of the forums, in any case.

This is TV Tropes, remember?

As for a brutal opening, how about having someone burned alive? It's got more impact than having someone drowned (which is my other suggestion) but is less scary. That's probably just me though; I find all drowning scenes to be High Octane Nightmare Fuel.

edited 1st Jun '11 2:17:01 AM by RiotousRascal

Ah, yes. Burn. One of my favorite way to senseless kill somebody. Since the place is stacked with Fire class Augmenters, it wouldn't be hard to put in.

You know, if I'm the sane one, I really wonder how twisted insaner members of this site is...

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Either way has its benefits and its disadvantages. I personally prefer the mood shift as it catches the reader by surprise.

Also, don't keep going on about how sick and twisted you are. You're just writing fiction. And as long as it stays fiction, people won't care.

Just writing fiction? Although it's not entirely related, what a writer does reflect the mentality of the author, you know. I think some concern is not unnecessary.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Not necessarily. If it's written in a way that gives a fetishistic impression, that's one thing, but a person's story can deal with some nasty themes and subject matters without it profoundly reflecting the mindset of the writer. Their handling of the subjects, on the other hand, is another deal entirely.

Yes, just writing fiction.

You know that thing where people buy into a performance, while recognizing that the actor has not really killed dozens of people and baked them into pies, or saved the world at least nine times before turning twenty one? It's the same thing here.

That's the problem because I am writing it in a fetishistic degree...the violence, at least the ones from the opening, doesn't have any purpose other than to satsify my desire to KILLMAIMBURNKILLMAIMBURNKILLMAIMBU- ok, better stop now. Seriously, the entire series can be boiled down to very attractive superpowered beings beating the hell out of each other and causing as much property damage as possible. If it weren't for my fetish, this work probably wouldn't have been born.

edited 1st Jun '11 10:05:51 PM by dRoy

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

I think an R-Rated Opening can also work wonders, but if you want serious impact give your moment a bit of buildup. Take the audience out to dinner, coddle them, buy them a puppy, and throw it off a bridge.

Hmm, I see. Then how does this sound like; the story introduces a group of high schoolers who form a club and screw around the school and the city, poking their heads in minor crimes and some urban legends...then in episode 4 (around there), one of them gets brutally murdered. Would it be better to have the military operation after that Gut Punch moment?

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Open with the raid, finish that up, then switch to your protagonists going about their business until the Ep4 mark. It's like a Brick Joke, but it's not a joke, it's a genre. Brick Genre?

Alternatively, don't. The only example I can call to mind right now is Medaka Box (which I would like to shamelessly advertise herein), and it has a fairly pronounced genre shift at around the point you're referring to, and does a good job of keeping the elements 'segregated' as it were to their own particular sides of the genre shift. Contrast with Negima, which became a Shounen fighting manga while no-one was watching, but does the changeover relatively slowly compared to the whiplash-y shift Medaka Box has.

And yeah, it is a genre shift. Or a Darker and Edgier-shift. Hard-falloff Cerebus Syndrome?

This is something that's really up to you and how you want the story to be told, though.

edited 3rd Jun '11 6:23:24 AM by RiotousRascal

Hmm, it's not exactly a separate genre. The same militia that was featured in the raid is actually from the city that the high schooler protagonists live in. The soldiers become active when there are major scale Augmenter crisis. Hell, some of them is even related to the protagonists.

Still, in the beginning, they are separate...just like many other "genres"

Then it all connects...to one man's audacity. Hope that doesn't sound too cheesy.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

This is TV Tropes. Ham and Cheese is our Bread and Butter.

Come to think of it...writing a Slice of Life moment is much harder than I thought it would be...I guess blood makes my gear grind more smoothly.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.