How Much is Too Much?

[Leti]

People fear darkness. Some fear the light. How much darkness in a story can you stomach before it becomes unbearable? What makes a story dark, and why am I creating this post?

 

[BenJepheneT]

My tolerance is at a bit of a meta level. I can stomach most dark themes presented in stories. If there's one theme I can't stomach, I have yet heard of it.

What I CAN'T stomach however, is edginess. Not the fun kind of edgy where a black-haired Dante fucks 5 chicks with the edge of his pistol bayonet but the ones that are badly written. I'm the guy that ruins parties. I can't stand it if the characters don't make sense or do dark shit just because, or that dark shit happens because it's dark shit.

And no, "bruh he's a human he's prone to making bad decisions" isn't a viable reason. It's plain autism stupid when a bad guy does bad thing just because it's evil (that Russian general from the MW reboot) and worse if the story itself tries to paint them as sympathetic and, hell, even good (the main cast of TLOU II, yes I'm still salty about it).

 

[Discount_Blade]

My tolerance is at a bit of a meta level. I can stomach most dark themes presented in stories. If there's one theme I can't stomach, I have yet heard of it.

What I CAN'T stomach however, is edginess. Not the fun kind of edgy where a black-haired Dante fucks 5 chicks with the edge of his pistol bayonet but the ones that are badly written. I'm the guy that ruins parties. I can't stand it if the characters don't make sense or do dark shit just because, or that dark shit happens because it's dark shit.

And no, "bruh he's a human he's prone to making bad decisions" isn't a viable reason. It's plain autism stupid when a bad guy does bad thing just because it's evil (that Russian general from the MW reboot) and worse if the story itself tries to paint them as sympathetic and, hell, even good (the main cast of TLOU II, yes I'm still salty about it).

TLOU II ? Wut is thiz?

 

[Deleted member 29316]

My indication that I couldn't take the darkness in a story, is when my head starts to ache.

If it does, I usually drop the work for the meantime, and then get back to it once I could take darkness again.

 

[gaylolis]

when it stops being funny and gets too serious.

 

[OneRanter]

Dark as in fear? This Ranter has not seen good scary stories lately. They usually are just gruesome/gorish or plain repulsive, but not scary.
On the other side, if by dark you mean it in a broader sense, Wildbowpig's Twig marks This One Ranter's line. Too much anxiety and sadness to finish the story despite how good the writing was.

 

[GDLiZy]

I can't stand bad writing. Other than that, all is well.

 

[Laeyioun]

I think you could trace the tolerance to specific dark themes and aspects to the reader's personal tastes, preferences, open-ness, maturity, what they expect of in a novel (for example, out of nowhere there is devastating ntr or cheating in an story that presents itself to be wholesome and fluffy throughout. 10/10 would attract hate) and even fetishes.

 

[Laeyioun]

I can't stand bad writing. Other than that, all is well.

This too

 

[Milk.Milkan]

Too much is only when more than needed.
What is needed that is not too much.
If people cant bear dan, well, kuma.

 

[LordAstrea]

I can't handle if it's just dark. Make it super dark if it is for a good reason. Not just for the sake of it. Like the best grimdark fantasy I've ever read always had sprinkles of humor and a bit of hope. Rebellions are built on hope. Then you crush them over and over again. You pull them out but they like weeds and just keep coming back.

 

[BenJepheneT]

TLOU II ? Wut is thiz?

Golf club to the head

 

[Discount_Blade]

Golf club to the head

Which is?

 

[BenJepheneT]

Which is?

 

[Angry_Clown]

@BenJepheneT

 

[BenJepheneT]

@BenJepheneT

 

[K5Rakitan]

This reminds me of when one of my professors handed out something by Marquis de Sade and didn't actually assign it to us as a reading, and everyone in the class read it because it was an honors class. She asked us if anyone stopped reading it partway through. None of us stopped, and she then reminded us that it wasn't assigned, and that it was completely our choice whether to subject ourselves to that or not. She was trying to make us examine what kind of people we were for reading it.

I mean . . . reading it and doing the actions Marquis de Sade wrote about are quite different things in my book. It's important to know and understand that some people like Marquis de Sade actually exist. What we should do with that knowledge is a different debate entirely.

 

[Discount_Blade]

Yeah that game was shit. If Abby was a woman, then I'm a giant 6 ton antelope with 34 eyes, 8 tongues and 45 eyes with 22 dicks and 54 toes but with only one leg and half an arm which I use to wield a golf club and ruin a toddlers day at the playground by attacking slides and spewing curses at infants.

 

[Angry_Clown]

I'm a giant 6 ton antelope with 34 eyes, 8 tongues and 45 eyes with 22 dicks and 54 toes but with only one leg and half an arm which I use to wield a golf club and ruin a toddlers day at the playground by attacking slides and spewing curses at infants.

 

[Maple-Leaf]

Hm. Personally, I've never read anything that was too dark, to the point where I had to set to drop it. Then again, I don't really go looking for that stuff, so the darkest things I read aren't typically emotionally heartbreaking, and just straight up gore. But again, haven't dipped much in the genre so I'm not going to act like dove into the depths of the ocean and came out with a souvenir.