Support for Indie Authors discussion

My current WIP is set in our world filled with mythical beings (I.e. werewolves, witches, psychics, etc) The antagonist is a group of extremists called the Society. The MC is fourteen and the book is targeted toward that age group. So I was wondering how dark is too dark?

For example:
Early on in the book, MC has to fend off intruders, sent by the Society, in her house and protect her two best friends.
Later MC's mentor dies protecting her against the Society.
Then MC's parents are kidnapped by the Society and her beloved older brother betrays her, revealing he had been working for the Society for months.
In the later half of the book, MC goes to her uncle's house for help, only to find he and his family were murdered by the Society. (I'm not sure if I'll keep this in.)
Plus, MC's brother, Danny, struggles to deal with the fact that he murdered someone (in self-defense, but still). MC's best friend, Maisie, left her parents because they blamed her for her sister's death and they couldn't accept what Maisie was. MC's other friend, Billie, has to deal with prejudice for being a human witch, not one that came from a lineage of witches. And MC has to deal with hate for being a Grimm Reaper, a race of super humans who notoriously hunted down magical beings for hundreds of years.

I don't know. Is it too dark? Too much death? Not enough death??? Any thoughts?

In a world of abject darkness, nobody casts any shadows.

Hi Grace,
I moved this into our brand new Writer's Workshop folder, so congrats on being our first 'customer.' ;-)

To be honest, from the synopsis you provided, I can see this taking a very dark turn or being written in a lighter vein. It all depends on how graphic you get and the overall tone. Personally, I think teen readers can handle heavy subject matter, but holding off on the graphic depictions and overt use of foul language might put parents at ease. It's a bit of a balancing act.

In my opinion, it depends on how you present it. As long as you don't go into explicit morbid details, you should be fine.

Grace wrote: "So I was wondering how dark is too dark?"

Well, my initial thought is - nothing is too dark. But, I write for adults. My current work in progress deals with teenagers and bullying and does go to extremes in places, but it is intended for adults. Sometimes I wonder if I could make it a little darker.

Since you write for young teens, you might compare your book to others targeted for the same age group. Is the death count in your book more, less or about the same as similar books?

Ultimately, though, it is your book, your world, your rules. So, bottom line is -- is it too dark for you? If not, then it probably won't be too dark for your readers.

My first year of teaching, one of my students shot his dad and killed him. His little brother was in another of my classes.

My students have been exposed to suicide, both attempting and losing people, pedophilia, and abandonment.

In my experience (which is not the only experience) there is very little that teenagers can't handle. Some teens read to escape their lives, but others need confirmation that they are not the only ones going through hell. They are pretty good at self-selecting which are "escape books" and which are "not alone" books.

Nothing is too dark for me, but I write for adults and I love everything horror. I mean my first book had people asking what I dream about at night, but it was about people completely succumbing to anger.

Its all about who you write for. But also remember it puts you into a tighter category. That book was super hard to market because a lot of people(that I've come across at least) don't like gore and dark stuff.

It's your story. Tell it how it needs to be told.

I'll reiterate what I've said before about writing. Write what you want. Others will either like it or not, and that's their choice. Plus, you can't please everybody.

I think what matters most is whether or not you like it. Whether or not you think it's too dark.

This might seem odd since I want others to like my writing so they'll pick it up, but I ultimately write as an outlet for me. If others like what I put out, that's the icing on the cake :)

Christina wrote: "Hi Grace,
I moved this into our brand new Writer's Workshop folder, so congrats on being our first 'customer.' ;-)

To be honest, from the synopsis you provided, I can see this taking a very dark t..."

I'm definitely not using any language and I don't get graphic. And generally, it is mostly light-hearted with that darkness lurking under the surface.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Look at Harry Potter, lots of dark themes there. -- Ooh, Alex already brought that up. So, don't be too gore specific and I think you'd be okay.

Grace wrote: I'm definitely not using any language and I don't get graphic. And generally, it is mostly light-hearted with that darkness lurking under the surface.

It sounds like you have good direction and handle on it. You've got the right idea to stay away from the graphic depictions. But echoing others, there's a lot of popular literature that hits on all of those, so don't be afraid to go a little dark if the story requires it.

Life is dark at times. If the darkness is part of the character then leave it there. George R.R. Martin wrote Ramsey Bolton and that's pretty twisted and dark. Look at King's "It" that one is still dark for today's standards. I say let your characters tell the story.

I say it's impossible to get too dark unless you're writing expressly for young children (and even then, I still say darkness isn't that big a deal). I personally believe that a good story needs a bit of darkness for every bit of light, and vice versa. That said, I've always been drawn to stories with darker, more adult themes, even when I was a very young child, so I might not be the best judge.

When I was the age of your target audience, I was reading Stephen King and John Douglas books, obsessed with Resident Evil video games, and in a horror movie club. I guess what I'm saying is that I wouldn't worry too much over making it age-appropriate if I were in your shoes. There are kids who can handle a lot more than many adults are willing to give them the chance to or credit for.

You seem to know what you're doing/what you want out of the story just fine, so don't fret over it. Just go with your gut, write the story as honestly as you can, and let the chips fall where they may.

You seem to know what you're doing/what you want out of the story just fine, so don't fret over it. Just go with your gut, write the story as honestly as you can, and let the chips fall where they may..."
Thank you, your comment made me smile.

Just my opinion, but I agree with what others have said - don't get too graphic and everything is fine. Think Harry Potter or Series of Unfortunate Events - lots of darkness there, but age appropriate.

Hunger Games was very dark, indeed. But in each book of the series, there were points of hope.

I remember watching one of the Freddy Krueger movies years ago, as an adult. The main characters were teens. In the last moments of the movie, the main characters had prevailed through courage, hardship, luck. Despite the darkness, it had a satisfying ending. It seemed to honor the teens' ordeal. But then at the very, very last moment, all of that was taken away when Freddy Krueger somehow returned and flipped the ending into one of hopelessness.

So I don't think it's necessarily possible to go too dark, but in my not so humble opinion, I need to be mindful of my final message to the reader, especially when my audience is teens. Is there any hope? No hope?

I'm also leery of what I consider to be violence porn, where the details are so gruesome and frequent, and the focus is on the acts rather than on their impact on the characters or the story.

Hi Grace, your WIP doesn't sound too dark to me. I think gratuitous/purposeless violence and lack of compassion would be dark, but death in itself in a story about witches and, I'm guessing, some undead(?) elements wouldn't strike me as something to worry about. :) I say this not having been too bothered by stories with death when I was 14! Besides, it sounds like your MC is dealing with stuff and fighting for hope and friendship; I feel that balances things out nicely. :D

J.L. wrote: "Hi Grace, your WIP doesn't sound too dark to me. I think gratuitous/purposeless violence and lack of compassion would be dark, but death in itself in a story about witches and, I'm guessing, some u..."
Thanks! :)

Alex wrote: "If it helps, I read Lord of the Rings when I was under 12, so I doubt you're going to have much of a problem."
Thanks. The consensus seems to be it's okay. Which is good, because I don't really want to change anything :)

If George R.R Martin has taught us anything it's you can never have enough death. Is it too dark? Eh, it sounds within reason to me as you have build up, twist/shocking moment and then it continues on. I don't think it's too dark but then again I write horror so dark to me is probably a bit more up there lol

If fairy tales for children can talk about kids shoving women into ovens, old ladies being eaten by a giant talking wolf, and princes kissing random corpse-like women hoping they might wake up and marry them, I think 14 year olds can handle what you've mentioned as long as (like others have said) it isn't super graphic and full of curse words.