Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Trivial non-dark twist in dark fantasy

I would like to offer a frame challenge: you're asking "will X make my story not fit the 'dark fantasy' sub-sub-genre". I say, write your story, make it a good one, then think what genre or sub-gen...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:39Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46778
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T12:30:18Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46778
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T12:30:18Z (about 5 years ago)
I would like to offer a frame challenge: you're asking "will X make my story not fit the 'dark fantasy' sub-sub-genre". I say, **write your story, make it a good one, _then_ think what genre or sub-genre it fits.**

Does the twist you're planning make your story a good story? Neil Gaiman says "Fiction is the lie that tells a truth" ([source](https://jenny-arch.com/2013/10/16/neil-gaiman-fiction-is-the-lie-that-tells-the-truth/)). Are you telling a Truth? Then go for it. If in the end your story comes out not "grimdark fantasy" but just "fantasy", where's the harm in that?

For what it's worth, I find that a world that goes all wrong because of somebody's trivial wants, and somebody making stupid mistakes, and somebody burying their head in the sand, and somebody clucking their tongue but being unable to be bothered to do something - that's both more realistic and more tragic than some evil mastermind deliberately working to destroy things. But that's not the main point.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-07-21T11:39:14Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 27