Hey /adv/,
I have a problem and maybe you'll have a new perspective or two to share with me.
Basically, I want to write a short story that covers a niche of our society. And I want to say, a niche, nothing more. This is not the WHOLE world and this is not HOW THINGS REALLY ARE, it's just a slit of society I have been watching lately.
Now, my linkage is wrong, but it may be very representative, thatswhy I took it.
Here it goes: Mass shooters and other extreme societal deviants (always MEN*) are always seen as monsters, but society never admits how men, unlike women, are thrown to the grinder. Some get on top, some turn out monsters, all suffer.
Now I've based this assumption on a simple yet scary premise of »boys dont cry«. From the start, in order to get people/citizens to go to war, to do hard work, to even take pride in harsh shit they have to put up with is - an emotional encripplement. While girls are seen as ones who can cry and express feelings, who are guarded by society (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlFAd4YdQks), men are thrown to the wolves.
Now I'm trying to write a short story and I tried a few times and have always failed. In every writing, I have fallen into two traps: (MALE)Character is either percieved as complete monster OR he is reduced to a child(suffering was not done to a boy but to a child. Could be a girl, too).
So. A story where man is crippled because he was a boy-child. Got any ideas how to approach it?
thanks
*society deems them as Always men. You'll find male shooters all over google, while female will be like a note in wikipedia.
Interesting idea but you might have better luck in /lit/.
You need to realize what you're actually writing about: society's idea of masculinity in the 21st century, and how that idea and the assumptions that go along with it can be harmful.
Masculinity = Strong, virile, never showing emotion, always providing and never receiving, etc.
How are these pressures toxic to society? How is the phenomena of male mass shooters a reflection of this?
There's a web series called Folding Ideas that you might find useful. Specifically, watch his analysis of Fight Club.
Not to shit on your parade OP but if you want to write a good short story you need to be a good writer. Having an idea for a story isn't much more useful than having an idea for a painting.
>>17264193
Not bad.
>>17264220
Have won a few regional short-story awards. Not an English native speaker though.
Hmmm. This may actually be properly executed with twins. Male + female. Or even triplets: pretty girl(saved), ugly girl(unsanctioned tormentor) and boy(sanctioned tormentor).
A man's father dies but he is unable to bring himself to attend the funeral, written like a classic Greek tragedy
>>17263713
>*society deems them as Always men. You'll find male shooters all over google, while female will be like a note in wikipedia.
This would be because to date, very, very few mass shooters have been female. There have been a few -one of the San Bernardino shooters was a woman, for example- but not many. No one knows why for certain, though there are plenty of opinions on the matter.
>Now I'm trying to write a short story and I tried a few times and have always failed. In every writing, I have fallen into two traps: (MALE)Character is either percieved as complete monster OR he is reduced to a child(suffering was not done to a boy but to a child. Could be a girl, too).
So if I understand things correctly, you're asking for advice because you're trying to write a story in which a mass shooter doesn't turn out to be a complete monster. Your problem is that you're having difficulty inagining a scenario in which this might be the case.
Might I propose the possibility that there is a reason for all this? That you cannot imagine a scenario in which a mass shooter turns out not to be a complete monster because such scenarios not only do not exist, but defy human imagination?
>>17265062
>Projecting this hard
Op was just asking for ideas to frame the narrative of man being limited by his own abilities
>>17265062
>Monsters
Have a read, buddy.
http://www.tv2.no/a/8241631/
>>17264210
Whoever you are, a BRILLIANT contribution. Just saw it. Blew my mind.
