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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37229
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37229
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

One of the best examples that come to my mind of executing a tonal shift is _Catch 22_. It starts hilariously funny, mocking all the absurdities of the military. Then the same elements are revisited again and again, only they become darker each time, until what is left is the horror of war. For example, right in the beginning, there's a mention of "the dead man in Yossarian's tent", and of a naked soldier sitting in a tree. In the last chapters we find out

> The dead man is a soldier who was on board a bomber before his paperwork was ever processed on the base. He was killed, but he can't be reported as KIA because officially he wasn't there in the first place. And Yossarian was naked because his only uniform set got soaked in said dead soldier's blood.

How is this tonal shift done?

First, **it is foreshadowed**. As I have said above, events are revisited, with new layers of meaning revealed. You needn't be as spiral as _Catch 22_ - no reason why your plot sholdn't progress more linearly. But something that will turn out to be dark later can be half-mentioned - hints, that you don't linger over at this stage, but later the reader will realise they were there all along.

Second, **it is gradual**. There is no jarring jump from comic to tragic. Instead, the plot sort of spirals into tragedy. Events develop. We learn new things as we read on. Things that appeared funny and light-hearted suddenly reveal darker meanings and stop being funny.  
It is like Al Gore's frog metaphor: if you jump from comedy to horror all at once, readers will flinch. If you make the change gradual, they won't notice things are spiralling out of control until it's far too late.

Original score: 3