Being Too Saccharine vs. Being Too Cynical?

This is an issue that has been haunting my writer's thoughts for quite some time now: being too saccharine or being too cynical.

Over the years, there have been shows that i like that did some things and showed some things that i didn't. Things that i (for the most part) would prefer not to incorporate within my own stories. However, in my attempts to bar such things from my own writing, i'm starting to think that that makes certain aspects of my stories unrealistic.

Example:

In some shows and movies, it is a common idea that if you do something good for someone else and show them kindness and compassion, it will not go unrewarded, even if being rewarded wasn't your intention. The same has been said to apply to animals in such stories, for example: if you help an injured lion and show it some love and compassion, then later on, when you're attacked by a another animal, the very same lion would come to your defense. I sort of liked that reasoning. However, in recent years, i'm reminded of at least two TV shows that i watched (both by Disney), which both showed the heroes doing something good for a carnivorous beast and then had said beast go back to attacking them. I know, I know, that's more realistic, but it's too cynical for my tastes.

So, the question remains: how do i keep out the stuff that i don't like without the story becoming too saccharine and how do i make the story realistic without seeming to cynical?

Try to split the difference.

There's a lot of territory between those two extremes. In my opinion, as a reader, not a writer, you have to work harder to reach either of them that you would to stay in the middle.

Your example is really easy to make neutral. Have the beast leave, but there's no reward later. The heroes might have to take action to keep themselves safe from the beast so that they don't look reckless, but caution isn't cynicism so much as wisdom. They get reward by the warm fuzzy feeling of doing the right thing. The "saccharine" and "cynical" aspects aren't tied to the saving-the-animal itself, so you could just... remove them.

When the consequences for an action seem tacked on, it's usually the case that you could lop them off and not be much worse off for it.

Well, this scenario happened to me again

This time, it was the idea of someone saying that coming to another person's aide is what friends do, only for the person they're saying this to to hesitate in agreeing with them, thus implying that the latter does not see the other as a friend. This has led me to think about all the times i heard characters say things like "we're not friends" and "nothing's changed between us, we're still enemies" or times when the animal companion was only loyal because they were getting treats. It also led me to think about the possibilities of my characters being naive.

Say what you want about such concepts, but for me, it just bothers me like nobody's business, especially when it disrupts the kind of story i want to tell.

edited 1st Aug '14 11:12:07 AM by srebak

Happens all the time in Sentai. They usually come around eventually.

It depends on the circumstance and the animal, although neither route you give is "cynical" or "saccharine."

I guess when it comes down to it, i want to work in certain things that sound ideal and good, and make my heroes sound like heroes. But my mind keeps thinking back to shows and movies that actually poked fun at these things (I don't even see the humor in these circumstances or any other reason for doing them)

I think it'd help if you were more specific.