PJO & HP for Dummies

Angst 😔

Just like with the Romance chapter, I'll provide you guys with tips on how to write angst too! 

Tip #1: Gimme a reason

Why do you wanna write about angst in the first place? Is it really necessary in your books? There better be a real good reason as to why your character is suffering or else your readers won't understanding what's going on or why this is happening. 

Maybe you want to show why your character is the way they are? Or maybe you want to use that angst as a way to change your character and give them some development? These are good reasons as to why you would write about angst! 

If the only reason you want to write about angst is so your character could get closer to the love interest, then you're just romanticizing their issues and you should stop. 

Tip #2: Mental illnesses

Depending on the severity of the angst, your character or characters are probably going to have some mental illnesses (which is very likely if you're writing either Harry Potter or Percy Jackson). It could be depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc. Whichever it is, you're obviously going to need to do some research on how to properly write them out.

PLEASE JUST DO YOUR RESEARCH!

And make sure you actually show them through your writing! If your OC is depressed, don't have them go "I'm sad :(" every goddamn line.

Show that they're sad rather then having them comment on it all the time. Your readers aren't stupid (maybe), they're smart enough to figure out how the characters are feeling without you shoving it down their throats. Let your readers discover and feel the emotions themselves, it'll make your book ten times better.

Also, if your story has a suicide scene in, DO NOT write it out in detail. There's been a lot of mental health research about this and so far they've all stated that graphic portrayals of suicide in books, TV shows, movies, etc leads to the increase of suicide rates. I think the same might go with self-harm. So yeah, you can write about these, BUT DON'T GO INTO TOO MUCH DETAIL!

Tip #3: Be careful of the wangst!

What is wangst? According to the Urban Dictionary, 'wangst' is the combination of 'wank' and 'angst'. It basically means ridiculously overblown self-pity or 'whiny angst'.

(*cough cough* Piper *cough cough*)

(And maybe Harry too, sorry man)

This sort of thing happens when authors try too hard to make their stories angsty and make their characters respond to it. Sometimes, the tragedy they're crying over isn't even something super sad.

Wangsty characters choose to cry and/or whine about their issues instead of actually going around trying to solve it. Sometimes these characters are called out on it, but they still do nothing to change, other times these characters aren't called out so they continue to bitch about it even more. They're either excessively angry or excessively sad, and the books are practically filled with chapters of them just wangsting around and doing nothing helpful.

DO NOT DO THIS! Nobody wants to read a book where the main character just bitches about their issues and does nothing to actually help themselves. It may as well just be a diary written by a moody teenager rather than an actual book.

Give your main character a personality other than being whiny and pathetic. Have them actually help themselves or accept help from others. They might not do that at the beginning, but your character should realize somewhere (preferably before the end) in the book that they're being dumb and snap out of it and actually start trying to make their lives better.