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Wait a second. I didn’t. How did I forget that I did not forget your tag?
"Courage, dear heart." -Aslan
That’s a good perspective, I’m not sure yet if I’m actually ready to write it yet since it would be lot of research on radiation and might make me a little sad. That’s one of the reasons I don’t like dystopian since it’s usually pretty depressing, like The Hunger Games or The Tripods. We’ll see though, I’ll probably try to lighten it up somehow. Anyway thanks for the answer!
"No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"
How did I forget that I did not forget your tag?
Good question XD
"No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"
@theshadow thanks! I’m glad you were willing to listen to my randomness
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
thanks! I’m glad you were willing to listen to my randomness
You’re welcome, and anytime!
"No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"
@theshadow I’ll be here. LOL.
Where'd I get ya this time? The liver? The kidney? I'm runnin' outta places to put holes in ya.
Just reading over this now. I pretty much agree with what everyone else has said. In the words of Andrew Peterson, “Sometimes it is necessary to paint the sky black in order to show how beautiful is the prick of light.” Writing something dark is not bad if we use it to glorify God. If you still feel uncomfortable writing about something, then perhaps swap it out for something else. (I know, it can be hard. But you can trust God to help you find something that will glorify Him better.)
Now about the mutants you mentioned. I relate to putting something in for the sake of the story or because it is cool. But I don’t think that means you should take it completely out. This idea sounds quite similar to my idea for magic that corrupts its users into monsters and was the start of the redemption arc for my protagonist. Now this may be dark, but I think monsters/mutants seeking redemption is something we can use. One of the things I love about writing fantasy/sci-fi is that it allows us to write some things that we could not write otherwise. We can make up something not as dark to communicate the truth about something darker. One example I will give you is intrusive thoughts. These are a problem, but it is hard to write about in a real-world setting without encouraging these bad thoughts in the reader. So how do I write a story pointing the reader to trust in God to help them overcome those bad thoughts? My magic system is thought-based. While these spells may harm a fantasy world, they are completely harmless in the real world. Now I can encourage readers to trust God to help them overcome this sin without distracting them with these dark thoughts. Your mutants could still have a use to glorify God.
I have an idea for a book, but I’m not sure if it’s too dark to write about. It was essentially going to be dystopian and where atomic bombs destroyed the major cities of the world, but looking back on it I realized how dark that actually is.
The main message was going to be that no matter how dark the times are, there is always hope and God will always be with us. However, I have been having doubts about this since I don’t think having this justifies a dark premise, though I also realize that many of the greatest works have a lot of dark elements (because if you think about it, LOTR is not exactly a happy, lighthearted trilogy that many people think it is). What do you all think though? When is something too dark that it shouldn’t be written about?
Late to the discussion but here’s my immediate thoughts.
I’d say that everyone has their own boundaries when it comes to how much dark is t far. The thing we must realize is that there is evil in the world, and we can’t hide it. We obviously don’t want to embrace it either though. So where’s the line? Once again, I think that’s between you and God. That being said, there’s categories of evil I think that should be acknowledged in this discussion.
Global destruction is kind of a weird one when it comes to kinds of evil, because of how humans work psychologically. We don’t want it to happen, and know and believe it’s evil, but when its on such a grand scale, we lose that intimate relationship with the darkness. If it was your mother being stabbed in a gory scene, personally I’d say that at least feels more dark than the whole world exploding, even though your mother is part of the world, and the effect is ultimately worse, and more dark from a purely logical prospective. In this sense, I don’t see atomic bombs as that dark as long as they remain in the global lens. It’s when you think of the personal cases though that it suddenly becomes horrendous (think Hiroshima bombing survivor stories). This is utilized all the time in fiction, where the true implications of something are simply not touched on in the name of not wanting to be dark. Personally, I would explore the darkness beyond that, because there’s a lot you can learn from it. However, I do have a line. What is too dark for me though comes down to, at least in part, the context. I’m willing to acknowledge and discuss the evils of (I won’t say what I was thinking, but many of you can likely guess), which I would put up as likely the darkest of the dark, but I don’t care to see or write about those evils, because that would be engaging on them at an intimate level, instead of looking at them from a nebulous prospective, again like the world exploding.
He is perfect in Justice, yet He is perfect in Mercy, even when we fail Him. For this, He is good.
That’s a good point, I guess I’ll have to think about the mutant thing more. I was thinking of maybe replacing them with regular people who are forming gangs to survive, and maybe show how desperation can divide people (which is also dark but can show that being alone and only thinking of yourself, jumping to the worst conclusions, giving into paranoia, etc can lead a person to do awful things). Thanks for answering, and I love your magic system, it’s really unique and interesting!
"No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"
You’re welcome! Happy to help!
Thanks for the help, that was really thought provoking. What you said about the relationship with darkness was interesting, I’ll have to think about that more.
"No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"
@theshadow @anyone
~ Mentions of several sensitive topics all at once, sensitive people should not read ~
I really want to give an example of a too-dark story idea so Shadow doesn’t feel too bad about the atomic bomb idea.
I know a girl who is writing a fanfic love story. In it, the guy gets sent to war before making a proposal. Many of his friends die gruesomely. He returns to find that the girl was abused (a certain kind of abuse) on multiple occasions. They make a promise to always be there for each other. The guy cheats on her twice, gets drunk from guilt and tries to commit suicide. She saves and forgives him.
Meanwhile, the girl has three miscarriages, and becomes an alcoholic. Has dark thoughts about herself. She then has three children, like a replacement, I guess? The children convince their parents to stay together. They live happily ever after.
I believe the writer is 14 years old. As I talked to her, she clearly wanted to write this story because it showed how mature she was. She said something like, “I’m not a little kid anymore. I’ve grown up and I understand these things.”
She expressed how much she loved the two protagonists, and how devoted their promise was. …I told her they seemed rather un-devoted, since they each broke their promise at least once. There had to be a huge chasm between them, and tons of miscommunication She denied this, and said overall, it is a wholesome relationship.
Finally, she seemed hesitant to talk about these topics with her parents. There were other concerning things but I’ll skip them.
On the one hand, I could really use some advice. How should I tell her to stop?? Please, someone help 😬 She’s a nice girl, and all of this is just unnecessary.
On the other hand, this is what I think of when someone worries about including darkness in stories. I really believe teens write about unnecessary things because they’re learning about them. After you become aware of a dark topic, it’s hard to unsee it. But at the same time, teens are still treated like kids. They want to be seen and heard, and prove themselves mentally capable.
Anyone have thoughts about this?
“Everything is a mountain”
This is a hard situation. I’m not going to tell you what to do, because I haven’t dealt with such situations before, and I’m not going to claim any authority on the subject (though I do have family who might be able to help). That being said, the biggest red flag to me is her parents. If she is not only willing, but actively discussing this with her parents, then I’d actually be much more ok with the dark themes she’s going into, because she genuinely is handling it in a mature way. If she’s writing about these things purely for the sake of proving that she’s mature, that’s also a major red flag.
What I would ask is who is she trying to get approval from? If she wants to show that she’s mature, the number one judges in that respect is her parents. Most likely I’m thinking that she’s trying to get approval from friends that also think they are more mature because they know about those things, she could just as much simply be trying to prove it to only herself though, though if that’s the case, why would she share it with you, unless she thinks you’re someone that would congratulate that sort of thing?
Perhaps you can ask her what maturity means to her. Based off of what she tells you, likely something along the lines of “knowing what’s in the dark and/or not being afraid of it”, you can let her know what you believe it means. If she respects you enough, or is wanting your approval, she may be able to take that to heart, as long as you don’t push too much.
If she’s Christian, and respects her faith, perhaps you can remind her that Christ said that we should liken ourselves to children. Not to be childish, but to be childlike. Humility is the true maturity in my eyes. Humility entails being ok with where you’re at right now, but still have a desire to grow, submitting to your parents, and knowing that there is always something else you can learn, even from let’s say a child.
Those things take real maturity and experience to understand though. What seems to be the issue is that she doesn’t have real maturity right now, instead she seems to have had a bunch of garbage thrown into her mind, and she’s trying to figure out how to deal with it.
Concerning the story itself. I’d say that it has potential as a story, though not written by a 14 year old, unless she’s somehow had first hand experience with some of these things, which could be a possibility, though I pray that’s not the case. You ironically can see her innocence shine through in the story, so I find that it’s probably just a lot of stuff she’s just seen and heard elsewhere.
Going into full editor mode right now, I would just say that the parents need more redemptive arcs, where they renew their commitments to each other, knowing each other’s imperfections and their own, but choosing to repent and change their ways humbly. The children can be part of their desire to change, which would make sense. It can’t be the whole reason, but it should be the catalyst. And it shouldn’t be a Parent Trap situation, like what she seems to be going for. The thing is though, it is honestly just so much darkness that no-one will really want to read it, unless again, they are the type that thinks that’s what it means to be mature, amongst other kinds of people she probably doesn’t want to attract.
Hopefully something I’ve said helps. Ultimately just pray for her, and be a good example. Show her the real maturity found in those you respect in that way. Show her love and humility.
He is perfect in Justice, yet He is perfect in Mercy, even when we fail Him. For this, He is good.
I agree with every single thing you said. 🙃 And thank you, I’m glad you agree with me that she’s looking for some recognition.
What I would ask is who is she trying to get approval from?
I don’t know her family too well, but I’m sure she realizes her parents wouldn’t have a good reaction to so much serious material in her work. So she leaves them out of the approval equation. I know she has issues keeping friends.
She talks constantly about her story with me, and when I shift the conversation to my own projects, she usually interrupts me to return to discussions on her character trauma. So it’s possible she wants recognition from other teens.
In any case, I really want to help her because I know people who have lived immaturely their entire lives. But she’s only 14 so she might only need time.
Perhaps you can ask her what maturity means to her.
Good idea. She is a Christian.
unless she’s somehow had first hand experience with some of these things, which could be a possibility, though I pray that’s not the case.
I believe this isn’t the case based on talks with her. Actually I think she gets a lot of her ideas from bands like Twenty-One Pilots and NF. Huge music lover.
Ultimately just pray for her, and be a good example. Show her the real maturity found in those you respect in that way. Show her love and humility.
Yes sir, I will do my best 🙃
“Everything is a mountain”
I don’t have much to add since @thearcaneaxiom points were really good (nice job!)
"No! Monkeys should have pets, all monkeys should have pets!"
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