The Chocolate Scale, A Citrus Scale For Dark Characterization
If you've been in fandom spaces for any significant amount of time, then you probably have heard about the citrus scale in passing. Or more accurately, you probably know about the infamous lemons. When we talk about "old fandom" one of the first things people tend to think about are lemons. However, lemons were actually one piece of a four part scale used to indicate how nsfw a fic got. Most people only know about lemons (and a select few might be familiar with limes), but as mentioned it was part of a four point scale. This scale consisted of orange, lime, lemon, and finally grapefruit.
Tagging was nowhere near as effective in the days of ye old fandom, so the citrus scale as a quick and easy way of communicating to readers the nature of your fic. It also served a dual purpose of protecting the author in a time when adult content was being pushed out of fandom spaces (and arguably it still is). The citrus scale was really useful though, because it set the expectations of the readers ahead of time.
Recently we've seen the emergence of dark characterization. In the MCYT spaces for example we've seen the emergence of Dark SBI. Fics like these are fun to play with as they allow authors to explore heavier themes and unique settings. But much like with early day nsfw, you never quite know what you're getting into when you click on a fic with dark characterization. There's a scale of just how "dark" things get, and it isn't always easily communicated when you first glance at the tags. So we here at UYF created sometime to help us when we discus fics and we'd like to share it with all of you, The Chocolate Scale!
White Chocolate
White chocolate is the lightest end of the spectrum to a degree it almost doesn't count as dark characterization. Maybe it's just one or two unhealthy character traits that make you quirk an eyebrow, but otherwise you wouldn't ask too many questions. Fics that have "dark (insert character) except not really" usually fall somewhere between this and milk chocolate. White chocolate fics make for a really good starting point though, as they begin to establish some of the consistent running themes found in dark characterization without throwing you in the deep end.
Milk Chocolate
Arguably the most common form of dark characterization, milk chocolate in some senses could be considered the standard. The character might act in way that are questionable but ultimately they're still able to forge healthy relationships with other characters by the end of the fic. You can find a lot of good examples under the vampire or fae tags since often the moral of these characters don't line up with typical human morals. One of the most common traits you'll see in a milk chocolate fic is possessiveness. Occasionally you'll see some works start to veer towards the heavier end of things, such as fics where one character is turned into a vampire without consent a la forced adoption, but overall the content doesn't raise too many ethical questions long term.
Dark Chocolate
This is where you start getting the actual dark characterization. Dark chocolate is characterized by the fact that more often than not this relationship isn't going to be healthy. Possessiveness and control issues go hand in hand with dark chocolate. Most of these fics will have an underlying sense of psychological manipulation and endings might be bittersweet depending on whether the nondark character is able to escape the dark characters or not. That being said, there's still room for a happy ending even if the characters still end up together. Sometimes the dark characters learn how to tone it down and slip into the milk chocolate range. Sometimes (even if it's not quite healthy), the nondark character learns to love the dark character regardless. These fics aren't meant to be healthy though, they're meant to be fantasy.
Bakers Chocolate
You ever try bakers chocolate before? It is easily one of the most disgusting things I've ever tried in my life. It's made worse by the fact it's supposed to be chocolate. It is bitter and uncomfortable where it's supposed to be sweet and that's what make it all the worse. It feels like a betrayal. Bakers chocolate characterizations follow a similar theme. While dark chocolate might try to make itself subtle, bakers chocolate is upfront with the fact that the relationships found between characters are probably abuse. It's written with the intention of being an assault to the senses, and more often than not the bakers chocolate characters are cast as villains. The nondark character either gets away from them or there is no happy ending.
Characterization vs. Plot
Keep in mind that the chocolate scale is for dark characterization, not over all plot points. A perfect example of this is Oh, These Blood Stained Hands of Mine by deathcapshrew. The first chapter is a nightmare. Your first assumption is that Dream is going to be a milk chocolate character if not an outright dark chocolate character. But he's not. The tags might express darker themes, but in terms of characterization, we can see how much the situation is one that he's not especially happy with. Sometimes it can be hard to tell where one stops and the other begins, but when using the chocolate scale it's important to understand the difference between the fic as a whole and it's tags vs the characterization of specific individuals.
