User blog:Corbierr/Examining Dark Stories

Hey guys. As many people on this wiki already know, I'm not very interested in writing dark, depressing or angsty stories. I prefer to keep my writing light and happy, and while I have certainly dived into the darker stuff in the past, I can't help but feel that I'm much stronger when I can make things relatively more upbeat and end on a happier note, unless I just happen to be inspired to write a little darker.

But I'm not here to go on a spiel about my opinion on writing dark. It's my personal opinions towards my own work, and the last thing I want to do is try and convince all the people here on this wiki who excel at writing relatively dark stories to go lighter if they don't want to. Right now, I just want to talk about this whole thing. I want to discuss why dark stories work so well, why people write them, why people like them... but also why it's important to go light sometimes as well. I'm going to do my best not to be too biased, but then again, this is an opinion blog, so yeah, just understand that it'll be hard to turn off my personal feelings on the subject. Beware.

First off, let's think of why people like dark fiction in the first place. I mean, it's not too hard to figure out. Happy and light works are often viewed as less mature than darker and more depressing works are. It seems to be an unspoken agreement between people that if something seems to be really happy and heartwarming, it's usually aimed at a younger audience. Even comedies, which are there for the sole purpose of making people laugh, can be dark and often rely on humorous violence or funny insults at a person's expense. But duh, right? Comedy comes from the reaction to the act, or the absurdity of it, not the action itself. This is why it's funny when a person gets hurt for a minute or two- unless it was serious, the annoyed or hurt or scared reaction is where the humor comes from. And that's what it's like with anything. Fiction is about making a person feel, and in order to feel something, we need to see the characters feeling something. If the purpose is to make someone sad, then you need to show the characters being sad. If it's scary you're going for, then yes, you need to make it scary or at least genuinely scary to the characters to have any kind of reaction at all. You need to be dark in order to get that sort of emotion from the audience.

But darkness serves another purpose than making something scarier. It also makes it seem more realistic. Think about it- cynicism is the new cool way to think, and Murphy's Law seems to rule a lot in the real world. Denying the troubles and problems that occur all over the world, to regular people every single day, definitely makes things less realistic and much less mature- it denies the fact that sometimes people do go through tough situations and life is not nearly as simple as it seemed when we were younger. Thus, we expect our stories to grow up along with us and put more genuine challenges in for people to face. It makes you think and it makes you feel much more connected to the characters when done well. There is no denying that life is complex, so why deny fiction the same level of complexity?

But here's the thing: life isn't always made of troubles and angst. Just as there is war and violence and death and abuse, there is also peace movements, and friendship, and life, and comfort. Just because bad things happen in the real world, doesn't mean good things don't either. I just don't understand why some people insist on everything having to be dark, edgy, sexy and depressing in order to come off as more "adult" or just better than happy fiction in general. Denying that happiness exists in the world is just as immature as denying that bad things exist.

That's why I, personally, have an aversion to writing dark stories just for the sake of being dark. If you're going to go dark, it should have a purpose behind it. It could be a psychological character study, a creepypasta, a story with a message about an issue people need to think about more, or even just a way to get bad emotions out of a person's system. I completely get all that.

My question right now is, why do so many of you guys desire darkness in all your stories all the time? This isn't me being sarcastic or complaining or something, I genuinely am interested in hearing why some of you love to go so dark all the time. I am also curious about why nobody here seems interested in posting lighter stories even when there's no reason not to. Please, please, please tell me your reasons and express your opinions down in those comments. I really do want to know, because I want to understand- and if anyone is curious, I'll give a real explaination to why I like to write lighter stories as well. I'm not trying to be biased here, I just can't figure out this and I don't want to pretend I know what you freaks are thinking. So please, tell me.

Anyways, my point is, there is nothing bad about going dark sometimes. Many cases, it makes for a genuinely interesting and challenging story that confronts serious issues. And there's definitely a market for writers and other kinds of artists who write really dark things. The real issue is when it goes too far or gets dark just because the writer thinks it'll be more mature that way. Being completely darker and edgier doesn't always mean it's a better story, because being dark does not garuntee it'll be good. That's why Disney is still around, for god sakes- even in their darker works, they still get pretty light and heartwarming for most of the examples I can think of. Of course, being completely light and innocent does insult the intelligence of the viewers as well. It's all about balance. If you're writing a horror story about a standard psycho killer, don't add pointless sexual assault or cannibalism into the mix, because key word here people: ''it's pointless. ''Unless it'll add to the story, and unless you think you can pull it off, just don't put it in there, because chances are you don't know what you're doing and you just want to make it seem more mature. Thing is, it's not more mature if it's just about gratutitous sex and gore, because that's not what mature people think about and that's not what typical real life is like. It's mature if it handles genuine issues and conflict, and if we see the emotional, physical, and mental consequences of those issues on average people- it becomes more real because we relate to it so much stronger.

So while I agree that it can be a lot of fun to go dark and it's tempting to torture your characters, I just don't agree with the idea that it's always necessary or that it garuntees a mature, complex product. Being mindlessly violent and harsh is just as simple and, in a way, just as immature as being insultingly sweet and happy. If you just want to make a dark product for fun, then yeah, go ahead, because it's not meant to be a serious story. But if you don't want it to seem more childish, the real focus should be on the development, actions and emotions of the characters. It's the difference between a brutal slaughter happening to a manniquen, and a single slap across the face on a rounded and sympathetic protagonist. Just because one is more dramatic, doesn't mean it'll hold the same emotional impact.

And that goes for cruel twists as well. If you get real dark and harsh out of nowhere, even if the original tone itself wasn't happy, it'll come off as jarring and in some cases, angering. Not many people want to see a story where all the heroes end up getting nuked in the last ten pages when the story was about emotional abuse. So unless you have a good set up, foreshadowing and proper pacing, it's probably not best to suddenly take a dark turn, because it's often a turn off and can serve to just make the writer feel like they're being surprising, complex and thought-provoking when it's more of a sign of laziness and trying hard to give the illusion of complexity without actually trying.

... For all of you guys who really enjoy and are good at writing dark stories, keep doing it. You guys are good at it and you're all going to go far one day with your talents. Just don't expect me to kill off the entire House in a romance story any time soon, okay?

'''Thanks for reading, everyone. And again, please share your opinions and thoughts with me. I really do want to know what you guys think when making your stories! I'd love to hear your thoughts on the blog itself as well, and I'm definitely open for a debate. (Seriously, I'm excited to read the comments for this blog, because it's been a while since people disagreed with me and just based on some of our very different preferences, I do expect someone to be giving me something to debate on.)'''

If this thing doesn't get looked at and nobody comments on it, I'll cry.
I HAVEN'T ADVERTISED MY PATROME STORY ENOUGH, HAVE I?