Author Update (& Question)

[MakBow]

I'm just posting this because I want to.

So, I've stopped posting for now, about like a week I think and honestly, it was the best thing ever.

Not worrying about posting one chapter a day while I just write at my own pace. (I will post eventually once I reach 50 chapters of the novel)

I would say my writing has improved and I've been able to keep consistent quality (At least I think)

I'm going to finish this off by asking this:

What do you look for in Dark Fantasy, specifically, when writing dark fantasy?
(To be more specific, if you are currently writing dark fantasy or intend to write one, what kind of themes or feelings do you want to bring to the table?)

 

[eagle_360]

Congrats on the revelation!

Personally, my interpretation of dark fantasy :

I'm looking for emotional trauma when reading dark fantasy. I want grit, I want moral ambiguity, I want hopelessness, dread, violence. I want you to punish your characters as hard as possible. Put them in impossible dilemmas in which either choice is despair.

You cannot write evil in dark fantasy, only them making bad unavoidable choices.

Traumatize them and then get them to come out of the trauma, stronger, more emotionally resilient, finding some form of meaning yet remain utterly powerless.

Hope this monologue helps.

 

[TinaMigarlo]

Congrats on the revelation!

Personally, my interpretation of dark fantasy :

I'm looking for emotional trauma when reading dark fantasy. I want grit, I want moral ambiguity, I want hopelessness, dread, violence. I want you to punish your characters as hard as possible. Put them in impossible dilemmas in which either choice is despair.

You cannot write evil in dark fantasy, only them making bad unavoidable choices.

Traumatize them and then get them to come out of the trauma, stronger, more emotionally resilient, finding some form of meaning yet remain utterly powerless.

Hope this monologue helps.

I see this whole thing, as just "really gritty hard-boiled noir" meets fantasy genre.
think... "sin city" movie banged Lord of the Rings? and this is the love child.

 

[TheKillingAlice]

I'm just posting this because I want to.

So, I've stopped posting for now, about like a week I think and honestly, it was the best thing ever.

Not worrying about posting one chapter a day while I just write at my own pace. (I will post eventually once I reach 50 chapters of the novel)

I would say my writing has improved and I've been able to keep consistent quality (At least I think)

I'm going to finish this off by asking this:

What do you look for in Dark Fantasy, specifically, when writing dark fantasy?
(To be more specific, if you are currently writing dark fantasy or intend to write one, what kind of themes or feelings do you want to bring to the table?)

In General, when you label something as Dark Fantasy, it can mean all sorts of things; it will depend on the lore, the main storyline and the characters in it. But no matter what happens, it has to be gritty; it has to have emotionally draining, psychologically heavy story beats; it needs to make you feel disgusted, horrified or at least give you an icky feeling.

Example for a story that's technically a Dark Fantasy, but also not really:
I write one dark fantasy at the moment, but it always depends. I classified it as Urban Fantasy first and foremost, because it's some Action, some Angst, some Drama, but overall Urban Fantasy and Dark Romance in a pretty even mix. The main story is neither sidelined, nor dominant; it's about the protagonist and his love, which entails him facing his past trauma and pain, along with a lot of fucked up shit, but there is indeed another overarching plot that spans around the interpersonal drama. Like, the whole fantasy part.
So what I put in, which is hard to classify, is already all of that and on top, the main lore is all about Gods and the protagonist is basically a Zombie, working for the God who brought him back to life, which entails him going around, killing people who are doing bad things. There's no jail option available.
So there are Dark themes strewn throughout the whole story; it's gorey, filled with weird creatures and even bleak at times, even. But it's still not really very Dark, in my opinion. The Dark is really centered about the whole Romance part of it. I didn't want to disappoint, so I didn't call it Dark Fantasy.

 

[seavmun88]

dark fantasy just means you as the author think there's something depressing and/or edgy. its a statement of intent if anything

 

[thegingernut]

My novel clearly states "no fixed update schedule, the ADHD pixies won't allow it". Even still I feel guilty when I haven't published a chapter in a few days. Such as right now. Because I've just hit THE SCENE™. My readers might not even like it. But its something that's been on the docket for about half of the novel's publication timeline and its been hyped up so much in my head that I'm too excited to even write it. Oh the irony. Wish me luck. And enjoy the roses. You don't owe anything to anyone. Hope your novel turns out good

 

[Eldoria]

What do you look for in Dark Fantasy, specifically, when writing dark fantasy?
(To be more specific, if you are currently writing dark fantasy or intend to write one, what kind of themes or feelings do you want to bring to the table?)

Dark fantasy is about looking at ourselves, society and humanity, along with its darkest/worst sides, and facing them to find what it means to be “human” in a broken world.

 

[Rolanov]

Since I'm still writing Dark Fantasy, I will say : our current reality is already cruel enough, you just need to applied it in the Fantasy World. And... Viola! You got Dark Fantasy you're looking for!

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I just like to "wed" classic horror tropes with high or urban fantasy myself, and look for the same.