Advice/Help A leap into dark themes

[strawbebbies]

So, I’m fairly new to this website, though I have been writing for about 8 years now. I’ve had an interest in trying my hand at writing “dark” topics. I’ve been able to include dark and triggering themes into backstories, I haven’t been able to take that leap into actually writing it.

Also, I have been wondering how one would go about setting a scene up for something of that caliber. So, If anyone has any advice on how to write scenarios with toxic happening or other escalating behaviors, id love to get some tips.

 

[Idea]

Well-written darker scenes are about three things:
1. Moderation- The dark is most noticeable right after it snuffs out the light. Too much dark for too long, as your eyes will start getting more used to it, it won't be as effective. Stories and characters with dark themes easily fall into the trap of constant negativity, when in reality almost every well-written dark-themed story uses underlying darkness rather than overt, this is, on the surface things appear to be alright or even happy, but either in a twist or with the reader's awareness there is a dark undertone there. Knowing a dark secret about a character they are trying to bury, knowing that something may be coming for them, knowing sacrifices on which the current happiness is built, watching that happiness twisted over time and gradually becoming something else....
However, moderation includes more than just that. Darkness by itself is pointless, it's flair, shock value at best. Well, ok to be fair some works can get away with the darkness itself being the focus, but usually those are incredibly short works that don't have to unveil a whole prolonged narrative and can use much more immediate emotional tools to last their whole duration. You, however, probably don't have that luxury. So it's important to think about how the dark elements contribute to the narrative. Favoring the mundane over the fantastic will make your work as a whole seem more grounded, and help the things which are really important to stand out.

2. Pacing- You can't explore a theme if you're just rushing through it. But if you take too long, the urgency and tension can be diminished. The solution is a progressive evolution of the problem, accompanying other story beats and working in tandem with them. It's hard to be any more concrete than this without the advice becoming extremely circumstantial. In some cases, the best way to go about is to accompany the plot ups and downs with the darkness in the narrative, worsening problems and dark themes as more tension is built in the plot, thus reinforcing that tension and the stakes. In other cases, you want to do almost the opposite, filling the space where nothing tense is happening in the plot with the dark themes, as the characters have breathing room to think about it and engage with it. However, if you take anything from this bit of advice, let it be this: You HAVE to be PATIENT.

3. Set Up- Take the previous two into serious consideration, and one might notice the third: Dark scenes, exploring dark themes, these things largely rely not on the dark scene itself, but moreso on the circumstances which surround that scene. The hard hitting part is just the culmination, the tip of a very long iceberg, and it will sink or melt if it has no larger part under the surface. Like with point 2 there are too many different circumstances to give concrete universal advice on how to do it, but in essence, you're aiming to do two things: Gradually build things up, and set up the best circumstances possible to maximize what you extract out of the character and the dark themes that pertain to your character/the story.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like many things in writing, how you want to approach a topic like this has a lot to do with the particular style of writing you have: Are you more of a planner or more of a "pantser"? Put another way, are you someone who takes time to meticulously craft the writing's structure and what will happen before the writing, or someone who writes as they go along, and prefers to figure things out as they happen?

The planner approach is to breakdown and analyze what you have, what you want to explore, and how those things can interact. Find what works best together where and when, and lay out a plan which goes through those steps. In roleplay this is considerably harder to do because you don't necessarily have say in the circumstances, but you can still do this for individual posts and at least have some plans for the eventual character arc your character might go through. Personally, when I can't get a partner willing to plan with me, I generally keep a handful of plans or arcs might go through depending on the actions and choices of the other players.

The "pantser" approach is, simply put, organic. At best you know what you want to explore, but what you with it is just play out the narrative like you would otherwise and see how the character is affected by it. If it works, this can be one of the best ways to do it especially in roleplay, but assuming one gets to the end of the story this way isn't super reliable towards exploring what you want to explore. I recommend making whatever you wanted your character to go through to be something they already had, and simply gets worse as the narrative goes on.

Lastly, on the matter of sensitive subjects, if you're going for darker themes, then you must understand that the more you seek to approach a topic, the more responsibility you have to approach it well. On thing is a romance flick with a kidnapping as a passing plot device, another thing entirely is a psychological dive into a character with, say, PTSD. If you are engaging with serious topics in a serious manner, then there is way around it, you have to research, research, research. Do that properly, but also remember even your character is first and foremost an individual, not just a collection of trends. And finally, it's fine to play darker themes whichever they might be, but if your partner isn't comfortable working with something, you shouldn't push it on them.

-----------------------------------------

Hopefully this will help. Best of luck and happy RPing!

 

[strawbebbies]

Well-written darker scenes are about three things:
1. Moderation- The dark is most noticeable right after it snuffs out the light. Too much dark for too long, as your eyes will start getting more used to it, it won't be as effective. Stories and characters with dark themes easily fall into the trap of constant negativity, when in reality almost every well-written dark-themed story uses underlying darkness rather than overt, this is, on the surface things appear to be alright or even happy, but either in a twist or with the reader's awareness there is a dark undertone there. Knowing a dark secret about a character they are trying to bury, knowing that something may be coming for them, knowing sacrifices on which the current happiness is built, watching that happiness twisted over time and gradually becoming something else....
However, moderation includes more than just that. Darkness by itself is pointless, it's flair, shock value at best. Well, ok to be fair some works can get away with the darkness itself being the focus, but usually those are incredibly short works that don't have to unveil a whole prolonged narrative and can use much more immediate emotional tools to last their whole duration. You, however, probably don't have that luxury. So it's important to think about how the dark elements contribute to the narrative. Favoring the mundane over the fantastic will make your work as a whole seem more grounded, and help the things which are really important to stand out.

2. Pacing- You can't explore a theme if you're just rushing through it. But if you take too long, the urgency and tension can be diminished. The solution is a progressive evolution of the problem, accompanying other story beats and working in tandem with them. It's hard to be any more concrete than this without the advice becoming extremely circumstantial. In some cases, the best way to go about is to accompany the plot ups and downs with the darkness in the narrative, worsening problems and dark themes as more tension is built in the plot, thus reinforcing that tension and the stakes. In other cases, you want to do almost the opposite, filling the space where nothing tense is happening in the plot with the dark themes, as the characters have breathing room to think about it and engage with it. However, if you take anything from this bit of advice, let it be this: You HAVE to be PATIENT.

3. Set Up- Take the previous two into serious consideration, and one might notice the third: Dark scenes, exploring dark themes, these things largely rely not on the dark scene itself, but moreso on the circumstances which surround that scene. The hard hitting part is just the culmination, the tip of a very long iceberg, and it will sink or melt if it has no larger part under the surface. Like with point 2 there are too many different circumstances to give concrete universal advice on how to do it, but in essence, you're aiming to do two things: Gradually build things up, and set up the best circumstances possible to maximize what you extract out of the character and the dark themes that pertain to your character/the story.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Like many things in writing, how you want to approach a topic like this has a lot to do with the particular style of writing you have: Are you more of a planner or more of a "pantser"? Put another way, are you someone who takes time to meticulously craft the writing's structure and what will happen before the writing, or someone who writes as they go along, and prefers to figure things out as they happen?

The planner approach is to breakdown and analyze what you have, what you want to explore, and how those things can interact. Find what works best together where and when, and lay out a plan which goes through those steps. In roleplay this is considerably harder to do because you don't necessarily have say in the circumstances, but you can still do this for individual posts and at least have some plans for the eventual character arc your character might go through. Personally, when I can't get a partner willing to plan with me, I generally keep a handful of plans or arcs might go through depending on the actions and choices of the other players.

The "pantser" approach is, simply put, organic. At best you know what you want to explore, but what you with it is just play out the narrative like you would otherwise and see how the character is affected by it. If it works, this can be one of the best ways to do it especially in roleplay, but assuming one gets to the end of the story this way isn't super reliable towards exploring what you want to explore. I recommend making whatever you wanted your character to go through to be something they already had, and simply gets worse as the narrative goes on.

Lastly, on the matter of sensitive subjects, if you're going for darker themes, then you must understand that the more you seek to approach a topic, the more responsibility you have to approach it well. On thing is a romance flick with a kidnapping as a passing plot device, another thing entirely is a psychological dive into a character with, say, PTSD. If you are engaging with serious topics in a serious manner, then there is way around it, you have to research, research, research. Do that properly, but also remember even your character is first and foremost an individual, not just a collection of trends. And finally, it's fine to play darker themes whichever they might be, but if your partner isn't comfortable working with something, you shouldn't push it on them.

-----------------------------------------

Hopefully this will help. Best of luck and happy RPing!

Holy cow! This was a bigger response than I even imagined of getting. It was super helpful how well you fleshed out your tips and advice and I appreciate the time you took to write this out for me. I’m gonna have to copy this and save it somewhere for future reference! Thanks!

 

[Idea]

Holy cow! This was a bigger response than I even imagined of getting. It was super helpful how well you fleshed out your tips and advice and I appreciate the time you took to write this out for me. I’m gonna have to copy this and save it somewhere for future reference! Thanks!

I'm honored you enjoyed it that much

 

[strawbebbies]

I'm honored you enjoyed it that much

Of course! I genuinely found it so helpful.

 

[nerdy tangents]

It sort of depends on your partners comfort level.

As one thing to note is trigger and deal breaker are very different.

I might be slightly uncomfortable talking about abusive behavior (a deal breaker)

I might have a full on panic attack and need to take a break from the computer for a period of time (a trigger)

So be very clear every step of the way on where your partners comfort level lies.

Also be sure you are respectful of topics that affect people in their daily lives.

As someone who has a bipolar parent for instance, I will automatically leave if someone creates a character that treats the disorder as a quirk or some flaw to be overcome. As I find it disrespectful to people who actually suffer from the mental illness.

So if you are doing real life issues I would talk to people who actually are affected by those issues. As someone whose family members have had to deal with various toxic behaviors it definately shows.

Not only does it come across as more respectful for people facing the issue but it also makes your character more well rounded and authentic.

If you are looking for less realistic darker themes (ex. Vampire consent issues) than I would just come at it as much as possible from a place of respect and empathy. Also again ask your partner where there comfort level is.

 

[Idea]

As someone who has a bipolar parent for instance, I will automatically leave if someone creates a character that treats the disorder as a quirk or some flaw to be overcome. As I find it disrespectful to people who actually suffer from the mental illness.

If I may ask, I don't understand how that's disrespectful? Specifically, I don't understand why it's disrespectful, assuming we're talking about something which can be resolved, to treat a disorder as a flaw to overcome. I'm pretty sure that given the option most if not all virtually all people with any kind of mental illness would opt not to have it, and wouldn't consider that to be a major disruption of their identity (as in, they wouldn't stop being themselves without the mental illness). So treating the illness as something harmful, something one ought to work to overcome doesn't just seem to be respectful the way I see it, if anything it's praising people in those situations by recognizing this is indeed a hardship and that the disorder does not define them.

I am not trying to argue, but I would like to understand your perspective there.

 

[nerdy tangents]

If I may ask, I don't understand how that's disrespectful? Specifically, I don't understand why it's disrespectful, assuming we're talking about something which can be resolved, to treat a disorder as a flaw to overcome. I'm pretty sure that given the option most if not all virtually all people with any kind of mental illness would opt not to have it, and wouldn't consider that to be a major disruption of their identity (as in, they wouldn't stop being themselves without the mental illness). So treating the illness as something harmful, something one ought to work to overcome doesn't just seem to be respectful the way I see it, if anything it's praising people in those situations by recognizing this is indeed a hardship and that the disorder does not define them.

I am not trying to argue, but I would like to understand your perspective there.

It comes down to empathy.

A mental illness is not a flaw because it’s not something you have control over. You wouldn’t say someone’s skin color or gender or sexuality was a flaw without the expectation that such remarks would be taken poorly.

And to me treating mental illness as something someone can just put on at a surface level as it pertains to the plot is disrespectful. As that’s usually the level to which it is treated as a “flaw”.

It’s a “flaw” in that it inconveniences the character the exact amount needed to gain sympathy for the plot and that’s it.

If someone wants to treat a mental disorder as a challenge you spend your whole life dealing with that’s fine. Again as someone who has mental illnesses up and down my family tree I would be fine with that. As it’s realistic portrayal of what those conditions mean to a person who has them.

Which is why I recommended talking to people who either have the condition or live with someone who does. It’s not enough to just know a list of symptoms. You have to understand how it affects someone’s life beyond just being a “flaw to overcome”. Because you can’t. You will never get to a point where you are entirely free of that mental disorder. At best you’ll just learn to manage it a variety of different ways.

And if your partner is someone who finds mental illness a deal breaker or trigger chances are they are well aware of that.

 

[Idea]

It comes down to empathy.

A mental illness is not a flaw because it’s not something you have control over. You wouldn’t say someone’s skin color or gender or sexuality was a flaw without the expectation that such remarks would be taken poorly.

And to me treating mental illness as something someone can just put on at a surface level as it pertains to the plot is disrespectful. As that’s usually the level to which it is treated as a “flaw”.

It’s a “flaw” in that it inconveniences the character the exact amount needed to gain sympathy for the plot and that’s it.

If someone wants to treat a mental disorder as a challenge you spend your whole life dealing with that’s fine. Again as someone who has mental illnesses up and down my family tree I would be fine with that. As it’s realistic portrayal of what those conditions mean to a person who has them.

Which is why I recommended talking to people who either have the condition or live with someone who does. It’s not enough to just know a list of symptoms. You have to understand how it affects someone’s life beyond just being a “flaw to overcome”. Because you can’t. You will never get to a point where you are entirely free of that mental disorder. At best you’ll just learn to manage it a variety of different ways.

And if your partner is someone who finds mental illness a deal breaker or trigger chances are they are well aware of that.

I see, thank you for the explanation.

 

[strawbebbies]

It sort of depends on your partners comfort level.

As one thing to note is trigger and deal breaker are very different.

I might be slightly uncomfortable talking about abusive behavior (a deal breaker)

I might have a full on panic attack and need to take a break from the computer for a period of time (a trigger)

So be very clear every step of the way on where your partners comfort level lies.

Also be sure you are respectful of topics that affect people in their daily lives.

As someone who has a bipolar parent for instance, I will automatically leave if someone creates a character that treats the disorder as a quirk or some flaw to be overcome. As I find it disrespectful to people who actually suffer from the mental illness.

So if you are doing real life issues I would talk to people who actually are affected by those issues. As someone whose family members have had to deal with various toxic behaviors it definately shows.

Not only does it come across as more respectful for people facing the issue but it also makes your character more well rounded and authentic.

If you are looking for less realistic darker themes (ex. Vampire consent issues) than I would just come at it as much as possible from a place of respect and empathy. Also again ask your partner where there comfort level is.

Very late response, sorry! I couldn’t agree more with your points! Before I start roleplaying anything I always ask for trigger warnings just so I’m aware! You raise amazing points, some I’ll keep myself aware of. Thank you!

 

[Grey]

research, research, research

Always this. And depending on your subject matter be mindful of how it impacts you, too.

I can generally be more helpful with specific topics so if you're interested in sharing which dark themes you want to tackle and why I can probably offer something.