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kylaraingressI wrote this piece back in 2002-ish for the Zendom mailing list website. It's no longer on their page, but I think this is still relevant - and especially relevant considering what's been going on in the Sherlock fandom.
Yin and yang, love and hate, peace and war, life and death, light and dark. Some believe (including myself) you can't have one without the other – in order to define light, you must have knowledge of the dark. And while fluffy / comedic stories have their place, they are also almost a requirement as an opposition to dark fic.
But what is dark fic? It's a term thrown easily about, and has a wide, incongruous definition. While one fan would consider an angst-ridden internal monologue of a story dark fic, to another that's pure sugar compared to their definition of dark fic, which would encompass everything from rape and torture to deathfic. For the purposes of this essay, I define dark fic as stories that delve into the worlds of pain, rape, incest, bondage, taboos, and more. Even the angst-ridden pieces mentioned above have somewhat of that edge of dark fic to it, for the characters are typically put through hell and back before being able to have their happily ever afters.
But, of course, the main question about dark fic is why. Why do we read it? Why do we write it? What is the pull, for both reader and writer? Well, before I go any further, a caveat. I can't speak for anyone else's reasons. People read (and write) for a variety of reasons, and there's no way to identify why one person picks up a book (or pen) and delves into one genre. I have my own reasons, and a few other ideas based on the many 'conversations' I've had on fic lists about dark fic (and the many articles about authors such as Steven King, V.C. Andrews, and Tanith Lee). So, I may not cover your reasons for writing/reading fic – but I also am trying to go as broad as possible on these reasons, and it's a good bet if you think about it, your reasons probably fall into one (if not more) of these.
1) The BISS Principle (Because I Said So). There's something inherently lovely about doing something against the rules, and specifically because it's shocking. Why else are comics such as Dennis Leary and Andrew Dice Clay (and to an extent George Carlin, Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphy) so happy to be so raunchy in their monologues? Shock value is a very good way to get a point across, and get attention. After all, ask Coppla about The Last Temptation of Christ or Kevin Smith about Dogma about the benefits of getting people outraged – both movies may have gently flown through without much box office had the detractors not made such a big fuss about it. Some writers write specifically shocking things, knowing it's going to get a 'public' outcry.
There's a lure to sinfully delicious chocolate cheesecake, and a guilty pleasure in watching horror movies. For some of us, there's a sense of sneaking out from your parent's house by reading a dark fic. You know it's wrong, and that's what's so right about it. When I choose to read dark fic, sometimes it's specifically so I can have something reach out and grab me.
2) Psychology, Freud. Delving into the darker side in fiction (either by writing or reading) lets us acknowledge that part of ourselves that is dark in a safe manner. The world can be a scary place, and sometimes the safest way to be prepared is by reading about how scary it can be.
In the '80s, I remember reading about a phenomenon known as 'rape fantasies'. Women would fantasize about a mysterious man (always handsome, of course) who would break in and ravish them ala 18th century romance novels. These women were obviously not really wanting to be raped, and either didn't know or didn't want to acknowledge the reality of it: the fear, the terror, the pain, the loss of self-esteem. But it was the lack of control, the mysteriousness of not knowing the lover, the illicitness of a one-night stand type of activity that drew these women to it. For a lot of people that enjoy reading and writing dark fic, doing it gives us a chance to explore, try new things, all in relative safety.
After all, there's something primal that gets us on a roller coaster, braving the drops and the creaky sounds (especially in a wooden one), ready to experience falling and tumbling around, yet in the back of our heads is the knowledge that – for most of the time – it's a safe contraption. You're most likely go around, end, and want to do it again. There's something to be said for a good scare of a book/movie, because you know – deep down – that it's not real.
However, a subset of the psychology angle was brought to my attention by a fellow writer. She reminded me that another psychological response is not necessarily to explore unknown territory, but to exorcise the demons we already live with (yes, I know that's a mixed metaphor – sue me <grin>). As I mentioned, the world is an unsafe place – and for better or for worse, we all have first hand knowledge of life kicking us in the proverbial ass. Writing (and reading, for that matter) can be very therapeutic – letting us work out our own inner demons. I readily admit my own death fic, "The Last Leap", has its share of demons I slay, as I've never quite gotten over my father's death when I was 12. And my fantasy novel (non fan fic) has helped me conquer everything from high school bullies to an ex-lover who treated me rotten.
On the reverse side, writing (and reading) about the darker side of life can help put distance between us and it. The one thing I still remember about 9/11, a year later, is how many people compared it to a Hollywood movie. For some, it may have been a way to put the events in the foreground, to where they could take in the information without going nuts. I know when I had my fire in January of 2001 (the second in three years), I had a running joke with my SO (significant other) that we were really on a TV show, and the fire was just our season finale. It helped me distance myself from it.
3) The Rise and Fall of Action: Making Our Characters Suffer. Before I get too far into this, let me say this: fluffy/light-hearted/comedic romps are just as hard, if not harder, to write than dramatic dark fics. As the saying goes, death is easy – comedy is hard. But it's called 'fluff' for a reason. There is no substance to it, no 'meat and potatoes' to go with the cotton candy, whipped cream appetizer. It's very difficult to maintain a long story if there is no conflict, no action, no . . . drama. After all, how many of us would want to see story after story (show after show, movie after movie) where all the characters lived in bliss, and everything went well?
In order to feel like our time was worth it – either as author or as reader – we often need the rise and fall of action. After all, art imitates life – and while life may not have the exactness of rising and falling, bad things do happen. It's not realistic to have your characters live in complete harmony and bliss, and while it would work for something small, it's hard to do in something longer. Many creations use dark plot lines as dramatic devices – the rape, the exploration into the thrill of mutilation, the torture, and even the delving into bondage.
Inevitably in slash, this also results in suffering – be it mental, physical, or emotional – for one or both of the lovers. To have them ending happily together requires 'payment' of pain and despair. This is where a lot of my angsty pieces (both ones I've written and ones I like to read) fit in – it's not really dark fic per se, but it kinda falls into that category because so much gets put in the way of the boys. I will readily admit that some of my favorite stories (written and read) spend a good 85% of the story keeping the two apart. For some reason, it makes the happy ending – in my mind, anyway – that much more 'worth it' to have them go through so much beforehand.
4) The Bunny Made Me Do It. This is solely a writer's reason, and it is a slight combination of all three reasons above. As a writer myself, I know what it's like to get ideas. Sometimes, you have no idea where they come from, and sometimes it's a specific reaction to something else you've read/seen.
If it's fan fiction dark fic, sometimes the series/book/movie (whatever you're fanficcing) teeters on the edge of going into the dark side, but for one reason or another, it doesn't – it pulls back right at the precipice. A writer may feel the plot didn't explore as much as was possible, and so write the dark fic to compensate. As one person on the zendom list wrote, "I think of this one as the dark mirror/missing scene thing, where canon gives the writer an opportunity to go very, very dark, even if canon itself doesn't go there."
Also, it could be a reaction to the other fiction in the fandom. Either a plethora of those self-same 'happy fics' I mentioned in "The Rise and Fall of Action", or a dark fic the writer considers to be less than stellar. As the same person on the zendom list wrote, "the shock value stories can be so bad that you just want to do a dark story *well*."
As another zendom writer put it, "For me, pursuing an unusual or dark theme (or pursuing a dark theme in an unusual way) has to do with taking a risk. (This can be done with any kind of fic, but dark seems to bring it out more.) Stories of mine that I would classify as 'dark' were written as challenges. Not necessarily responses to newsgroup challenges, but stories that challenged me as a writer. Did I have what it took to go to those places with the characters? To follow it through to the end, no matter what the end was? Even if there was no comfort/happy ending? And . . . (this to me was the risk) could I write it well enough to get readers to go there as well? To move them and get them to accept the 'truth' of what I'd written, even if it was unpalatable?"
*****
Like I wrote when I started this, I can't speak for anyone else – there's probably a different reason for each and every story out there. After all, I have a different reason for liking Steven King's It than V.C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic. When I've felt the whisper of darkness in writing, there have been different reasons for why I felt I had to write it and for why I could set it aside. Many of us have probably fit into all of the categories at one point or another. And there are those of us who don't fit into any of them. Some of us even prefer to not even acknowledge the dark side, and that's no crime either. There is plenty of darkness in the real world; for some of us, that's why we look for it, and for others, that's why we don't. But whatever the reasons – from the deeply psychological, to the simple 'because it's fun' – the dark side is part of fandom, and part of us. And whether you choose to explore it or not is up to you. But as for me, I'll be seeing you – on the dark side.
Yin and yang, love and hate, peace and war, life and death, light and dark. Some believe (including myself) you can't have one without the other – in order to define light, you must have knowledge of the dark. And while fluffy / comedic stories have their place, they are also almost a requirement as an opposition to dark fic.
But what is dark fic? It's a term thrown easily about, and has a wide, incongruous definition. While one fan would consider an angst-ridden internal monologue of a story dark fic, to another that's pure sugar compared to their definition of dark fic, which would encompass everything from rape and torture to deathfic. For the purposes of this essay, I define dark fic as stories that delve into the worlds of pain, rape, incest, bondage, taboos, and more. Even the angst-ridden pieces mentioned above have somewhat of that edge of dark fic to it, for the characters are typically put through hell and back before being able to have their happily ever afters.
But, of course, the main question about dark fic is why. Why do we read it? Why do we write it? What is the pull, for both reader and writer? Well, before I go any further, a caveat. I can't speak for anyone else's reasons. People read (and write) for a variety of reasons, and there's no way to identify why one person picks up a book (or pen) and delves into one genre. I have my own reasons, and a few other ideas based on the many 'conversations' I've had on fic lists about dark fic (and the many articles about authors such as Steven King, V.C. Andrews, and Tanith Lee). So, I may not cover your reasons for writing/reading fic – but I also am trying to go as broad as possible on these reasons, and it's a good bet if you think about it, your reasons probably fall into one (if not more) of these.
1) The BISS Principle (Because I Said So). There's something inherently lovely about doing something against the rules, and specifically because it's shocking. Why else are comics such as Dennis Leary and Andrew Dice Clay (and to an extent George Carlin, Robin Williams, and Eddie Murphy) so happy to be so raunchy in their monologues? Shock value is a very good way to get a point across, and get attention. After all, ask Coppla about The Last Temptation of Christ or Kevin Smith about Dogma about the benefits of getting people outraged – both movies may have gently flown through without much box office had the detractors not made such a big fuss about it. Some writers write specifically shocking things, knowing it's going to get a 'public' outcry.
There's a lure to sinfully delicious chocolate cheesecake, and a guilty pleasure in watching horror movies. For some of us, there's a sense of sneaking out from your parent's house by reading a dark fic. You know it's wrong, and that's what's so right about it. When I choose to read dark fic, sometimes it's specifically so I can have something reach out and grab me.
2) Psychology, Freud. Delving into the darker side in fiction (either by writing or reading) lets us acknowledge that part of ourselves that is dark in a safe manner. The world can be a scary place, and sometimes the safest way to be prepared is by reading about how scary it can be.
In the '80s, I remember reading about a phenomenon known as 'rape fantasies'. Women would fantasize about a mysterious man (always handsome, of course) who would break in and ravish them ala 18th century romance novels. These women were obviously not really wanting to be raped, and either didn't know or didn't want to acknowledge the reality of it: the fear, the terror, the pain, the loss of self-esteem. But it was the lack of control, the mysteriousness of not knowing the lover, the illicitness of a one-night stand type of activity that drew these women to it. For a lot of people that enjoy reading and writing dark fic, doing it gives us a chance to explore, try new things, all in relative safety.
After all, there's something primal that gets us on a roller coaster, braving the drops and the creaky sounds (especially in a wooden one), ready to experience falling and tumbling around, yet in the back of our heads is the knowledge that – for most of the time – it's a safe contraption. You're most likely go around, end, and want to do it again. There's something to be said for a good scare of a book/movie, because you know – deep down – that it's not real.
However, a subset of the psychology angle was brought to my attention by a fellow writer. She reminded me that another psychological response is not necessarily to explore unknown territory, but to exorcise the demons we already live with (yes, I know that's a mixed metaphor – sue me <grin>). As I mentioned, the world is an unsafe place – and for better or for worse, we all have first hand knowledge of life kicking us in the proverbial ass. Writing (and reading, for that matter) can be very therapeutic – letting us work out our own inner demons. I readily admit my own death fic, "The Last Leap", has its share of demons I slay, as I've never quite gotten over my father's death when I was 12. And my fantasy novel (non fan fic) has helped me conquer everything from high school bullies to an ex-lover who treated me rotten.
On the reverse side, writing (and reading) about the darker side of life can help put distance between us and it. The one thing I still remember about 9/11, a year later, is how many people compared it to a Hollywood movie. For some, it may have been a way to put the events in the foreground, to where they could take in the information without going nuts. I know when I had my fire in January of 2001 (the second in three years), I had a running joke with my SO (significant other) that we were really on a TV show, and the fire was just our season finale. It helped me distance myself from it.
3) The Rise and Fall of Action: Making Our Characters Suffer. Before I get too far into this, let me say this: fluffy/light-hearted/comedic romps are just as hard, if not harder, to write than dramatic dark fics. As the saying goes, death is easy – comedy is hard. But it's called 'fluff' for a reason. There is no substance to it, no 'meat and potatoes' to go with the cotton candy, whipped cream appetizer. It's very difficult to maintain a long story if there is no conflict, no action, no . . . drama. After all, how many of us would want to see story after story (show after show, movie after movie) where all the characters lived in bliss, and everything went well?
In order to feel like our time was worth it – either as author or as reader – we often need the rise and fall of action. After all, art imitates life – and while life may not have the exactness of rising and falling, bad things do happen. It's not realistic to have your characters live in complete harmony and bliss, and while it would work for something small, it's hard to do in something longer. Many creations use dark plot lines as dramatic devices – the rape, the exploration into the thrill of mutilation, the torture, and even the delving into bondage.
Inevitably in slash, this also results in suffering – be it mental, physical, or emotional – for one or both of the lovers. To have them ending happily together requires 'payment' of pain and despair. This is where a lot of my angsty pieces (both ones I've written and ones I like to read) fit in – it's not really dark fic per se, but it kinda falls into that category because so much gets put in the way of the boys. I will readily admit that some of my favorite stories (written and read) spend a good 85% of the story keeping the two apart. For some reason, it makes the happy ending – in my mind, anyway – that much more 'worth it' to have them go through so much beforehand.
4) The Bunny Made Me Do It. This is solely a writer's reason, and it is a slight combination of all three reasons above. As a writer myself, I know what it's like to get ideas. Sometimes, you have no idea where they come from, and sometimes it's a specific reaction to something else you've read/seen.
If it's fan fiction dark fic, sometimes the series/book/movie (whatever you're fanficcing) teeters on the edge of going into the dark side, but for one reason or another, it doesn't – it pulls back right at the precipice. A writer may feel the plot didn't explore as much as was possible, and so write the dark fic to compensate. As one person on the zendom list wrote, "I think of this one as the dark mirror/missing scene thing, where canon gives the writer an opportunity to go very, very dark, even if canon itself doesn't go there."
Also, it could be a reaction to the other fiction in the fandom. Either a plethora of those self-same 'happy fics' I mentioned in "The Rise and Fall of Action", or a dark fic the writer considers to be less than stellar. As the same person on the zendom list wrote, "the shock value stories can be so bad that you just want to do a dark story *well*."
As another zendom writer put it, "For me, pursuing an unusual or dark theme (or pursuing a dark theme in an unusual way) has to do with taking a risk. (This can be done with any kind of fic, but dark seems to bring it out more.) Stories of mine that I would classify as 'dark' were written as challenges. Not necessarily responses to newsgroup challenges, but stories that challenged me as a writer. Did I have what it took to go to those places with the characters? To follow it through to the end, no matter what the end was? Even if there was no comfort/happy ending? And . . . (this to me was the risk) could I write it well enough to get readers to go there as well? To move them and get them to accept the 'truth' of what I'd written, even if it was unpalatable?"
*****
Like I wrote when I started this, I can't speak for anyone else – there's probably a different reason for each and every story out there. After all, I have a different reason for liking Steven King's It than V.C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic. When I've felt the whisper of darkness in writing, there have been different reasons for why I felt I had to write it and for why I could set it aside. Many of us have probably fit into all of the categories at one point or another. And there are those of us who don't fit into any of them. Some of us even prefer to not even acknowledge the dark side, and that's no crime either. There is plenty of darkness in the real world; for some of us, that's why we look for it, and for others, that's why we don't. But whatever the reasons – from the deeply psychological, to the simple 'because it's fun' – the dark side is part of fandom, and part of us. And whether you choose to explore it or not is up to you. But as for me, I'll be seeing you – on the dark side.
