McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

How dark are you?

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blgarver:
I'm pessimistic and cynical by nature.

Whether or not that comes out in the things I write, I'm not real sure.  I guess it's tough to define "dark writing", at least in my mind.

I think if any of us could look into our eyes through Harry Dresden's point of view, we'd find all kinds of disturbing things inside us.  Everyone has that base, primal, often perverse aspect of their psyche...some of us just repress it and deny our true nature more than others.

Roaram:
Hello, I am new to this site, but I kinda wanted to jump in on this topic. I am writing a book with a friend, and one of our biggest sticking points is the tone, or how dark we wish the story to be. I personally think that the darkness of a story has less to do with the events, but with the way the events are portrayed. Darkness is just the absence of light, right? Things like George RR Martins "a song of ice and fire" are a good example. The darkness through out those books isn't in anything so much anything the characters do, but the characters themselves, and why they do what they do. Or for example the character if fidelus in the alera books. He is very dark, in his thoughts and motivation, though his actions are no more "dark" than anyother characters.

And if any of you are looking for a great dark toned book, I suggest "ghost in the snow" I will have to search for the authors name, to make sure I am not confusing her with another, but those books are quietly chilling in a way that is hard to describe.

C.T. Adams:
How dark I write really depends on what I'm writing.  I have a few humor pieces which are "light," some horror pieces which are totally dark.  Most of what I write though has shades of both, because I try even in fantasy to make sure that there is a certain amount of realism, and life is both light and dark. 

For example, Jim has things happen to Harry that are VERY dark, but the humor could be considered to "lighten things up."  I mean, how can you not consider "Bolshevik Muppet" a lightening force in that particular scene.

But overall, I'm probably on the darker end of the spectrum.

SirThinks2Much:
I kill a lot of characters but I always go for happy (or at least bittersweet) endings. Weird? Perhaps.

But do you mean dark as in content, or mood?

Content, I'd say I'm a shade darker than medium. I've come up with vampiric immortals, insane warlords, dysfunctional families, rape scenes, and the occasional Electra complex. On the other hand I like offbeat humor, innocent characters, and no random animal violence.

For mood or writing style, I have a hard time being dark. I have a hard time using "dark" prose in order to get something across as "dark". The imagery and content ought to speak for themselves, but that's how I work.

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