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This article was originally posted on May 19, 2018.

Darker Themes


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There are going to be times, every now and again...when the written content of your stories may take a very dark turn, or veer off into situations that are somewhat uncomfortable for other readers to absorb as readily as they do some of your 'brighter' themes. This can be an intimidating atmosphere for you to thrive in. The gritty realities and graphic nature of the story that you want to tell may be too much for some of your readers to handle or understand. But, while there is the temptation to avoid darker themes and controversial material at all costs, especially with the sheer brutality of the typical ′internet comment section′ working against you...I say GO for it anyway! They′ll get over it. The people who pretend to be the most offended by the story you wrote have NO problem ripping the author to shreds with their opinions. So you might as well balance things out by treating them the same way when you′re writing what′s in your heart. Hehehe, that being said, there are ways to tell a ′heavy′ tale without having it totally wreck the lives of the people absorbing it for the first time. Still, there are some stories with sensitive, and sometimes disturbing, details that deserve to be told. Whether your reading public is ready for it or not isn′t your concern. They have the option to stop reading. Period. But, as a writer, you have the right to bleed through your words and tell your story any way that you see fit. You just have to find a way to keep things ′accessible′ so at least some of your audience can latch onto it, and appreciate it for what it is. That′s the topic that I′m going to tackle today. So let′s get DARK! :P

The thing about many of these darker themed stories you may read online...is that they often come from a very personal place in the heart of the writer. It′s not always an author trying to be dark for the sake of being dark. Sometimes, it′s a much needed healing process, translated into fiction and created to convey some kind of message or express some sort of personal tragedy. Stories of loss, heartbreak, suicide, rape, physical or emotional abuse...they can be extremely hard to digest for some readers. And if they take it too close to heart, they may end up turning away from the project instead of dealing with the turmoil the story is putting them through. That′s understandable. But if this is a story that you really want to tell, something you really want to put out there for public consumption, then do it. Why not? Get it off of your chest. Share it with other people who might relate and feel even closer to the work than you do. You may touch something deep within them that they haven′t fully dealt with themselves. So every paragraph may end up being a therapy session for the both of you. Again, these stories are often very personal in nature. You′ll never find a more exposed artist than one who is delivering you an unrestricted look at their pain. There′s a rawness in it. Strip every piece of armor away and speak from the heart. It connects to an audience in a way that your ′happy go lucky′ romance stories just can′t. So, if you′ve been holding off on giving a dark themed story a try...maybe you′ll change your mind and step up to the plate after you finish this article.

Hehehe, I′d love to read it! But, then again, I happen to be a very dark individual, myself, at times. So that′s just me.

There are a lot of readers out there who use fiction as an escape from the problems and stressful impact of the world at large. They may be looking for something cheerful, or uplifting, or inspirational. But that may not be the kind of story that you want to tell. And that can shake a percentage of your audience out of their comfort zone in ways that they weren′t looking for and don′t appreciate in the long run. When it came to some very painful memories about my own past, and I felt the need to talk about it and add them to one or two of the stories that I was writing for the site...I had some difficulty with it at first. I dealt with some extremely abusive memories growing up in a household with a father that was...ummm, less than fatherly. I remember adding ′elements′ of that abusive relationship in a few stories, but I clearly wasn′t ready to tackle that situation yet. Especially when I added it (Briefly) to ″New Kid In School″. If you notice, that plot point was rather quickly written out of the story, and never brought up again. I simply wasn′t practiced enough to take the theme head on like I wanted to. Not at that time. In ″Gone From Daylight″, I tried to do the same, but it was a side story until I was more comfortable talking about it. However...when the time came where I really wanted to tell a ′no holds barred′ account from my personal experience with physical domestic abuse...I started writing ″My Only Escape″, and that was the right time for me to do so. That was my release. A lot of that story is autobiographical, and I still have moments where I have to deal with the aftermath of what happened way back then, even when I would rather leave it behind for good. But it was a story that I felt was dying to get out, and since it′s first chapter, I have received sooooo many emails from people who could relate in one way or another. Emails of support, and sympathy, and encouragement, as well as messages of people who had gone through similar experiences (Or who were younger, and experiencing them currently). I have NO regrets, whatsoever, about finally writing that story, and waiting for a time when I was emotionally stable enough to get it right. If you have a painful part of your past that you want to bring to the screen, and tell from a perspective that only others in your position can truly understand...then don′t wait. Do it. Pour your whole heart and soul into it. Let your voice be heard, and know that your writing had an impact on your readers that they′ll remember. Good or bad.

Three things to remember when writing a story that may come off as a bit disturbing to your readers, are as follows...

  1. Give it meaning! If you′re going to sink into some truly dark themes and bring that into your story, make sure that you′re doing it for a legitimate reason. NOT for shock value. Shock value doesn′t last long, and will ultimately just become a part of your story that people would rather forget about instead of taking it to heart. If you′re going to have a rape scene, or a drug overdose...a suicide attempt, or someone battling terminal cancer...then I think writers should make sure that it is actually a part of the main character′s growth and evolution as a person. Don′t just throw it in there as some kind of sucker punch to your audience. That′s just plain MEAN! Hehehe! If a character of yours has recently beaten Leukemia? Then have that be a part of his or her personality. What outlook do they have on life now? Maybe they′re super excited to get back to living their lives. Maybe they′re angry at the time they lost battling the disease. Who knows? That′s up to you. But let it be known that the dark circumstances of the story had some meaning, and some impact on how the rest of the story plays out.
  2. Don′t go overboard! Scenes of extreme violence and sexual abuse are hard to read. If it′s a part of your story, and you don′t want to pull punches about the reality of what happened…then use your own judgment when it comes to what you say and what you don′t say. I′m not saying that you shouldn′t include some of the graphic details needed to get your point across...but keep in mind what your goal is. You don′t want to depress and disgust your audience. Evoking sympathy and an emotional bond, capable of getting your readership to cheer for your main character is great! But let′s not drag our readers down so low that they can′t recover. Learn to ′allude′ to certain parts of your story, and go into painful details about others. As always, its important to find a balance. Don′t ′bully′ your audience into sharing a truly disgusting experience in a way that overpowers every other aspect of the story that you′re trying to tell. I think it′s important to not let the dark content take center stage, when it′s the characters and how they deal with the content that should be the focus of your story.
  3. Give us hope! No matter how horrible a character′s life may seem, no matter how graphic you are with the details of their suffering...readers will struggle through it if they think there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Give us a few brief glimpses of joy. A possible solution to the tragedies they′re facing from chapter to chapter. If all you′re bringing to the table kis pain and murder and rape and misery...your audience will eventually get turned off and go elsewhere for a story that doesn′t make them feel like shit every time they read it. BUT...if you dispense some truly awful scenes here and there, but combine them with possible ways out of their situation...opportunities to experience some level of happiness if only they could get away...then people will keep reading. They may be disturbed and disgusted by the events that are currently taking place...but with just a few hints at a hopeful outcome, they will continue to read to see if things get better or that justice is served for the character involved. Be proud of that. It means that you told a great story and that people sympathize with your situations, no matter how dark they may be. This doesn′t mean that every story has to have a happy ending. It just means that you have to give your readers a break from the misery every now and then, to let them believe that things are not as dark as they may seem. At least for a little while. Think of it the same way as swimming underwater. Let your readers come up to the surface for a breath of fresh air every now and then before they drown. K?

The world isn′t always a happy place. Not by any means. And the stories of the abused, the less fortunate, and those in turmoil, are just as important as the uplifting stories that are told elsewhere. But there′s a skillful way to deliver that message without sending your audience running for the hills.

As always, I hope this helps you out! And I′ll be back soon for more! ((Hugz))

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There are only three categories of books on GA, suitable for everyone, teen, and mature. That is reasonably clear. Thus any books with descriptions of graphic sex, violence, drug abuse, rape, fall into the label mature. Meaning, for adults 18 years or over. There is no need for trigger warnings on chapters. There are no warnings whatsoever on published books and I see no reason to change things. Any warnings such as 'Some of the content of this book is graphic and includes....' should if required be at the beginning of the book and such warnings should be compiled by the website owners, whose responsibiity it is for the material published on their site. So if required a choice of warnings, or a warning, to be checked on the new story publication process. This really is up to the website to decide it's policy. I think it would be difficult to introduce given the hundreds of books already published, so there really is no debate. If you think you might be adversely affected by something you read, do not read the category 'mature.'

 

I did a quick search of books by rating and it is roughly 50:50 split between mature, teen and everyone, so there is plenty of choice for every type and age of reader.

Edited by William King
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Story tags are there for a reason. Apart from guiding readers about content, the main one is to protect authors from the outcry of offended readers. If you tagged your story using any of the tags below, no one can say readers weren't warned.

Number of stories tagged with:

abuse  232
dark  325
depression  163
hate  71
rape  58
suicide  58
violent  63
Assuming tags don't overlap, the total number of such stories are 970. Number of Fiction stories with rating Mature is 3675. Ration of Tagged as above to Mature: 26%, ratio of Dark tag to Mature: 9%. Staying away from Mature stories, some of which are the best on GA, simply to avoid dark or violent content, does not seem a viable strategy to me.

 

Warnings in story and chapter notes are up to authors, but why not provide the service ? Unless the author delights in the shock effect of readers not knowing ? You don't have to be specific, a simple Warning, violent content, will suffice. As for the argument of books not having such warnings, I thought a point of reading online is to have an advantage over books. Interacting with authors and other readers are the main ones, but tags etc. are useful too.

Edited by Timothy M.
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2 hours ago, Timothy M. said:

Story tags are there for a reason. Apart from guiding readers about content, the main one is to protect authors from the outcry of offended readers. If you tagged your story using any of the tags below, no one can say readers weren't warned.

Number of stories tagged with:

abuse  232
dark  325
depression  163
hate  71
rape  58
suicide  58
violent  63
Assuming tags don't overlap, the total number of such stories are 970. Number of Fiction stories with rating Mature is 3675. Ration of Tagged as above to Mature: 26%, ratio of Dark tag to Mature: 9%. Staying away from Mature stories, some of which are the best on GA, simply to avoid dark or violent content, does not seem a viable strategy to me.

 

Warnings in story and chapter notes are up to authors, but why not provide the service ? Unless the author delights in the shock effect of readers not knowing ? You don't have to be specific, a simple Warning, violent content, will suffice. As for the argument of books not having such warnings, I thought a point of reading online is to have an advantage over books. Interacting with authors and other readers are the main ones, but tags etc. are useful too.

Tim, i agree with you.

 

Paper books do come with 'warnings' of a sort, it's called a synopsis ... hardcover and paperbacks have them ... they give a brief description of the story and introduce the main character. Usually there is enough there to convey if the story is dark or a comedy etc.  No, there are no tags on physical books like there are online.  And frankly if you want to publish on other people's websites, and that website has rules, then they should be followed.  The other option is to start your own.

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4 hours ago, Timothy M. said:

Warnings in story and chapter notes are up to authors, but why not provide the service ? Unless the author delights in the shock effect of readers not knowing ? You don't have to be specific, a simple Warning, violent content, will suffice. As for the argument of books not having such warnings, I thought a point of reading online is to have an advantage over books. Interacting with authors and other readers are the main ones, but tags etc. are useful too.

GA requires that warnings are used in certain specific themes. Such as Sexual Assault and Incest. Aside from what is required by the site, I think throwing a warning on the chapter, is a waste of time, and spoiling the story.  I do agree with tim that the Story's description on the main page, should be used to convey such feeling and tone of a book, in a creative way.

 

Also, there is the new Death tag... It was added earlier this year and has seven-stories with that tag.

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5 hours ago, BHopper2 said:

GA requires that warnings are used in certain specific themes. Such as Sexual Assault and Incest. Aside from what is required by the site, I think throwing a warning on the chapter, is a waste of time, and spoiling the story.  I do agree with tim that the Story's description on the main page, should be used to convey such feeling and tone of a book, in a creative way.

 

Also, there is the new Death tag... It was added earlier this year and has seven-stories with that tag.

I agree with BHooper. If it's a mature story you've got your warning. You are also free to stop reading at anytime the story takes you towards somewhere you don't want to go. I doubt you open a book that starts with a graphic rape scene or violent murder, but I could be wrong. In any event I regard 'mature' as an adult library, for adults. You can easily wait for a book to be finished, read the comments and reviews, before embarking on the story. If you choose to post chapter warnings, that's up to the author, but personally I think they are in the wrong place. Who wants to get halfway through a book to find a chapter they can't read. If the book is violent etc. tell the reader in the summary using the description of the story or adding a specific warning if you like.

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To me a chapter warning isn't there to stop me reading the story, but to be prepared for unusually bad stuff. But I think further discussion on this is moot. Each of us will have to decide what we want to do with the stories we read and write.

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Writing stories with dark, difficult themes and action has been challenging for me sometimes. Yet they can be part of what drives a story forward. I really appreciate the advice given here, and I probably ought to have heeded it myself on more than one occasion. 

 

I understand that a story tag can convey enough warning to a potential reader. However, the tags must be sufficiently general enough to cover plenty of ground, and the treatment of material under dark themed tags can vary widely, from subtle to explicit.

 

A warning may have some use, as a GA novel may not have the same kind of cover a physical book does. The Story Description becomes the analog of the jacket blurb. It ought to say enough to tell readers what kind of take they’re getting themselves into. Perhaps that’s why publishers have professional jacket-writers; it seems to be an esoteric art form. 

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