What do you like/hate in a mafia story?

Erosias · December 8, 2021, 7:11am

Yeah, I hate those kinds of stories too they need to be realistic or at least near

biancahail · December 10, 2021, 5:48pm

It’s the fact that if people were to ACTUALLY portray the mafia, they would be breaking every guideline that Episode has for me.

Friendly reminder that abuse ain’t cute. It’s sad also, that these stories glorify real people’s traumas.

My real advice? Make it original. Let the mafia be the enemy in your story. Don’t let them be where our MC finds his/her love interest. Flip the idea on it’s head and have a badass MC infiltrate them and shut them down from the inside. Make the cop they are working with the mysterious love interest or something. Just something different.

Erosias · December 10, 2021, 6:19pm

I totally understand your point but im not gonna make them the enemy however something unexpected will happen

nylahlovesu1 · December 11, 2021, 7:53pm

I personally love mafia stories i’m writing one currently.
I think people forget that they are just stories there not meant to be realistic. When you’re a writer you have the power to write what you like and often that means it isn’t all that realistic and a writer shouldn’t feel like they have to change something or write a story that’s realistic. That’s not what writing is about

anyway going back to the question
I don’t like the ‘innocent naive girl and mafia LI’
purely because I prefer strong female characters

biancahail · December 11, 2021, 8:53pm

I understand the point you are trying to make, however you can’t take something despicable that causes trauma to people daily and slap a hot love interest on it and call it fiction. The mafia is real, and shouldn’t be used as a “sexy” plot device. I will die on this hill haha.

I mean, you just have to know names like Giuseppe di Matteo (MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING - GRUESOME MURDER) to get a glimpse of what I’m trying to say.

Anyway, please don’t take this as an attack on you or your character. I’m just trying to spread some awareness.

nylahlovesu1 · December 11, 2021, 9:21pm

I grow up around gangs and my step brother was killed because of it so yes I do know what it’s like to an extent but it’s still a story I would like to assume most people know there not realistic at 13+ the age the app is intended for but yes I understand your point
I get annoyed sometimes because a lot of mafia stories do follow the same plot line that’s why I write my own story different

Erosias · December 11, 2021, 10:43pm

Agreead thats a common plot

Erosias · December 11, 2021, 10:46pm

Yeah let the women be strong have to agree i love when the woman aint under the man which can easily happen

Erosias · December 11, 2021, 10:48pm

No I’m not I am so thankful that u comment and let me know because I think your opinion is important however I will do my best to portray the mafia as realistic as possible with a touch of fiction

Erosias · December 11, 2021, 10:50pm

Yas it gets boring after a while that’s why I’m gonna try to make it different

GGriffin · May 15, 2022, 10:12am

healthy relationships PLEASE. i know there’s really only so much you can do to redeem fictional mafia dudes but at least try to make them happy together T_T

Dmfan91 · May 15, 2022, 1:09pm

I don’t read them, but I do enjoy reading the descriptions because they’re cheesy. It’s always nice for a good chuckle.

t3ss4_n0v4 · May 17, 2022, 1:09am

Very descriptive.

I don’t pin down a genre just because the genre is unrealistic (we have fantasy for that reason), but one consistent factor among mafia stories are their plot. It consists of overused themes (rival gangs want the mafia boss’ daughter/girlfriend/MC dead, arranged marriage, etc.).
The characters act like NPC’s. They have a program, they follow. The plot drives the characters, and the characters I’m supposed to simp all over is too bleak to be believable as a human being. And imagine that almost every story you read, you see these NPC’s around.

But then again, there are good things about some good mafia/mob stories I’ve read:

Stakes. If your characters have to achieve something, make it hard and dangerous. Make it costly, so readers genuinely fear that the said character might fail, or die trying.
Secrecy. This works exceptionally well because it increases the hype. Imagine using that overused trope, where the LI’s rival gang wants the MC, LI’s girlfriend dead. Except, the LI have no idea who those people are. He couldn’t combat the situation until either MC’s attacked, or dead.
Suspense. Don’t explain everything right off the bat. Leave a character that has betrayed the mob barely surviving a murder attempt, then have that character making a comeback near the end of the story.