Board Thread:Bully Fanon Writing Club/@comment-2173402-20160317001721/@comment-5385060-20160317212621

Millstone is a tricky one. There is no denying that it is an emotional story, with an obvious sad end. So naturally a story like that will have a lot of sad scenes, and moments where whatever they do it will naturally go wrong so the end won't come out of nowhere. Those kind of stories can have a major setback; in the fact that the character's mood has to stay down, so it doesn't become easier to just keep them happy.

I think something worth considering, is throwing in some chapters or short storylines where everything goes well, and is happy. That will make the end have even more of an impact. All seems well for a while, and then BOOM! tragic end.

I do have an example. A TV show someone told me about, had this idea to it. The plot was about boy, who had to care for his siblings while the mother left them in disgusting living conditions. One of the children was so starving, she was eating gravy cubes. There were some sad moments, where the boy was pooring milk through a hole in the door for his sister to drink. Then the right people found them, and took them away from their mother. There were scenes where they were getting proper care, playing, laughing, and it really did bring on emotional tears. All seemed like it would be a happy ever after. Then the final line happened. "Baby Coral was adopted. The others were to go to Australia, and they would be happy... for a while. Sadly that was not the case, but the promise and hope for a good life was enough." While that is said, the three children are boarding a boat, and they are clean and well dressed, smiling.

The quote isn't word for word, but that is the general idea. Maybe that is something worth thinking about? The possibility of letting the worst of the plot happen early on, then have a sequence of events where things might just turn around, only for the tragedy to happen.

I'm not saying you should change anything about Millstone, just suggesting these possiblities as something to think about.