Creating Dark Worlds
October 26th 2008 13:18
I have found that when I write the stories that I write tend to be dark. Tales of violence and pain with I hope an emotional core that resonates through the tale. Being dark is a funny thing. In order to tell dark stories you have to allow yourself to spin tales where the shadows that stalk most tales are stronger and have a more vicious bite.
When I started writing "Friday" I didn't know that I would tell as story about a changeling a creature from fairy tales, but now that I look back it makes perfect sense, one of the most influentual books that I read was Fairy Tale by Raymond E Fiest . A book that deals with dark reality of fairies in the real world it even had a changeling in it.
It is funny as I continue to develop as a writer and develop my voice and find the stories that I love to tell. I seem to always be drawn back to that element of the real world with darkness staining it.
So I suppose it is a good time as any to ask the obvious questions, what makes a dark world?
What I have noticed works is you have to ground the story in reality. The real world has to play a part in the tale. It is only in the darkness that a candle looks bright and it is only in using the mundane that small moments of fantastical look fantastical.
I man who devolves into blood and flowers isn't going to seem that remarkable in a story where terrible miracles are an every day thing.
Once you have introduced the mundane then you have to slowly introduce the darkness. The less idea the audience has about the monster or threat the better it is.
Once you introduce the darkness it is important to keep things on a slow simmer, don't give too much away. A really good example of how to handle this are two films that deal with tension in very different ways.
1408 is a film that creates tension very well but then once it hits the half way mark it looses all tension once the main character is being swept away by floods of water. On the other hand if you can forget the ending of the original Japanese version of "The Grudge 2" and watch the 10 minute section where the school girl is flashing back to the house and the tension starts to build you can see that it can very effective to keep ratcheting up the tension.
I am finding that I feel I am on the right track when characters have extreme emotional moments, heightened emotional states, that allow the fantastical to bleed into our world.
Now for anyone who has read the serial or any other story that I have written, you are obviously going to be the final judge.
Let me know if you liked it or hated it I hope that you enjoyed it and to the person who asked what happened at the end, I hope that cleared it up for you.
I go now to dream of creating more dark worlds to explore.
So as we are getting close to Halloween I have one final thing to say.
Beware of the dark and remember that you have no idea what is watching you when you are trapped in your sleep.
Good night
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