How To Write A Sad Story

But why?

This part is probably the most important one when writing a story. The WHY? Why is the character like this? Is there a reason? People in real life don't just magically become sad, something happens to make them feel that way. Think about one time when you were sad. What happened before that? Saying something like Welp, I'm sad now. It just doesn't happen in real life, so it shouldn't happen in a story either. Here are a few good examples of the why.

Scenario 1 : Plastic surgery
Instead of saying someone got plastic surgery make it more like this,
I walked into the doctor's office happily knowing after this, I will never be put down because of my looks.
This shows the character is getting plastic surgery because they are getting bullied because of their looks.

Scenario 2 : Near death
Don't just say, I was near death (this is a good statement to say after you explained the why)
I had been in the hospital for years, and today the doctor's had told me, we are pulling the plug. The doctors have given up on me. My cancer had spread to far throughout my body. I was near death.
You now know why they are near death. The character is near death because their cancer had spread to far throughout their body. The character has cancer.

Scenario 3 : Sadness
"I was sad. " This just doesn't explain anything. Why is the character sad? Did something happen? Maybe say something like this,
"Mom? Are you there?" I said.
The tears started coming up in my eyes.
"Is she going to make it?" I asked the doctors
"She already left us. She passed an hour ago."
Tears rolled down my face. I was extremely sad, and my condition was severe. The only thing thing though, was this happened years ago. My mom died 4 years ago but this flashback keep coming back.

did I just write you an entire story idea? Meh, you can get a good story out of that. Your welcome for a story idea! :)

From that mini story, you know the character is sad because her mom died. But in the mini story, you get something else about the character, her mom died years ago, but she can't seem to get it out of her head.

The final scenario. We will just call it something like, giving up. Haha so many questions! (This is why explanation is important. To prevent confusion.)

"I just give up." You give up on what? Life? An assignment? Many questions rush through our head when writers don't provide an explanation. If I didn't provide examples for you, you might think, why what? Why am I reading this? Why did you put this here why there should be a good way to write I give up? (That's not a bad idea. I'll give you an example now xD)

Why am I still here? I gave up on myself years ago, but for some reason I am still alive! Do I need to scream it for you?
"Life!!! I GIVE UP! TAKE ME OUT OF THIS WORLD OR I'LL DO IT MYSELF!"

Interesting. But now we know what the character on the story is giving up on. Their life.

So you see, not telling your readers why give them a lot of questions about what they are reading. Make sure when you write any story, and not just a sad story, you tell your readers and you make it clear why the character feels this way.