midnightmooncatcher:

Hello! Thank you for your question! So angst in and of itself is a huuuuge category and sick fic kinda falls under it a lot. I will do my best at keeping to a few main points on angst that I hope help and if you have more questions related specifically to sick fic let me know!

1. What’s the Sitch? a.k.a.

Know Your Story

I know this sounds stupid and self evident since you’re the one writing, but you have to think about what kind of angst situation your characters are in. Angst is caused in different ways and by different things. Sometimes it’s an outside factor affecting the relationship like a chronic illness* or a character being fired and sometimes it’s an inside factor like a character withholding information from the other or a miscommunication. Characters will respond differently to their significant other having cancer than to there being miscommunication between them. Hell, sometimes it’s a combination. Maybe one of them lost their job and isn’t telling their partner. But as an author knowing exactly what the problem is stemming from and how each character feels about it is very important. Which leads to the next tip.

*If you decide to go with something like an injury or chronic illness, do your research. The better informed you are about how people in real life in these situations feel, the problems they face, and how people who support them keep going the more realistic your story is. 

2. Feels? What feels?

a.k.a. Know Your Characters 

Another “Of course I know my characters, it’s my story.” But just take a second. This is important for dialogue (or lack there of). Think about what kind of character you have. You’ve now fully mapped out your situation, how does each character react in that situation with what they know? Are they anxious? Are they suspicious? Are they the type to accuse? Do they try to console? Do they try to block everything out and ignore the problem? There are so many different feelings that can contribute to angst in a story, especially when miscommunicated or gone unnoticed. Angst tends to be an emotional cocktail. Figure out what each of your characters is feeling and how this makes them act. This influences dialogue. Some characters when emotional may spill their guts while others may not say anything at all. One character might say everything when they’re nervous, but nothing if they’re depressed. Are your characters yelling at each other? Or is only one character yelling at the other? 

3. Build it Up  

Yes, feelings can happen split second, but angst isn’t one. It’s a slow building feeling of anxiety and fear. It’s tension. A rubber band being pulled and pulled, stretching, getting more taught until it snaps. You pull the rubber band with characters’ actions. There’s usually something not being said, or some underlying truth that both characters don’t want to talk about or that one character does, while the other doesn’t. The feelings build and that makes the moment when the tension snaps that much more powerful. 

4. Describe

Describe, describe, describe. In angst describing feelings goes a really long way. Words caught in someone’s throat that they can’t get out hurt more than ones that would completely resolve the situation. Also describing the characters emotional state helps. Is one stuck in their head so much that they talk themselves out of what is actually the case? Describe that. Is a character second guessing themselves at every turn? Describe it. Does a character have tells on their anxiety that the other doesn’t notice, or does notice? DESCRIBE IT! Even if you’re in the other characters POV give the reader body language clues to what’s going on in the others head. They could be saying the opposite of what they feel, but the reader should have a clue that they are even if the character that they’re talking to doesn’t. Dialogue with double meaning where one character is trying to say something but the other misinterprets requires this. 

5. Don’t make it overly dramatic

Yes, angst is dramatic and it makes for high tensions sometimes, but remember that you don’t have to have people gasping and yelling and fainting left and right. Sometimes really soft subtle things make you feel far more than the big ones. For example if a couple is having a communication problem and one tries to reach out but the other dismisses it, it hurts more if your character withdraws (unless they’re the type to lash out). Just remember that little things hurt, not just big things.

On the note of dialogue, I think something very important to think about is why is your character saying what they’re saying? What’s the purpose of it? What is your end goal? Even casual conversations are important, they give pieces of information away about characters, setting, and story. Also think about how people talk. Read your dialogue out loud if it helps. Is it natural sounding or are you tripping up on the words? What kind of slang do your characters use? And let the dialogue speak for itself, your readers are smart. they can draw connections, you don’t have to go into their heads and describe exactly why they say things.

Sorry, that turned into a monster, hehe. I hope that in some way, shape, or form helped. Thank you so much for the ask!