Question

(Is not school related)
(And is mainly intended for fellow writers)

Answer 1

So I’ve been writing a book for a little over eight months now, and I guess I’m just a little curious on something.

What is, in your opinion, ‘too dark’ for a story? I just want some perspective on this, since I shared the first few chapters with one of my brothers. He thought it was ridiculous how dark it got, ‘in a good, shocking, way’ as he put it.

But all I did was kill off characters, and in very descriptive brutal ways, I, as awkward as this sounds, wasn’t satisfied with it. It felt more like I was pretending to be dark, but that was when I was starting. Later, I made sure that major characters didn’t have some protection from god (or writer, depending on your terminology) keeping them alive. Even that didn’t feel like enough.

A while back I finally realized why. Characters dying or almost dying, overcoming something, whatever. It’s all a physical challenge. It can be overcome. That’s when it hit me. In a book, they don’t have the impact they do in real life. So, I wanted to find a way to give the reader a sense of empathy for the characters. The only way to do that was change it from a physical challenge to a psychological challenge. I feel it made the reader be able to empathize with the characters and actually giving them more depth. And as I’m sure you guessed, many of them don’t recover. Also, just a little side note. I didn’t just put the main characters in these situations, the antagonists get them too, everyone does.

I, personally love dark stories like this, so I’m just curious on your opinion on how dark a story should be able to get.

@lostintime

Answer 2

Honestly I don't know what to tell you is "too dark." I love dark stories. I guess I don't like reading stories where a character is raped and killed or just raped because I consider that too dark but it is something that happens in real life and its a real problem. I guess that's what I consider "too dark."
I just realized that anything that could really happen is too dark for me but also death is something that happens and I don't consider that "too dark," so honestly I believe its a matter of perspective and a person's opinion.
I literally kill tons of characters including my main in my stories.
I think a story no matter the genre should always contain real life things like death.
Some people will consider these elements dark while others will not.
Like I said, I believe it is all in opinion. Some people like really dark stories others don't. My parents get worried about my dark stories cause they think there is something wrong with me but I think now they understand it's just a genre I like.
In my favorite book that I have read the main character's best friend is a mermaid. She lives in this tank at this facility that helps catch "paranormals" and one day a bad paranormal comes in and kills her. The scene is described so awfully. To this day that scene is dark but I love it.
So finally, I can not tell you exactly how dark a story should get in my opinion because I don't have a concrete opinion.
I just think it depends on a person's perspective and opinion, as well as how the writer describes and inserts "the darkness" into the story. :]