my (unsolicited) stance on darkfic/dd:dne
disclaimer: the darkfic categories i write are major character death, sad endings, and horror, and most things under that umbrella. i do not read nor write any sexual darkfic.
i also do not consider myself a regular darkfic writer. most of my "serious" stories will have elements of hurt/comfort, which doesn't necessarily fall under darkfic. when writing hurt/comfort, i enjoy dissecting the effects of death (and grief), the complexity and depth of emotions, and character interactions and analyses. i only refer to these themes as "dark" when it gets to a point where the character's morality is being tested.
okay now that that's out of the way...
when i write darkfic/dd:dne (ESPECIALLY about real people), the core takeaway of the fic is Never about the act itself.
for me, the purpose of writing a morally gray character is to show that morality is flexible. it’s interesting to explore the limits of being human, of making humane decisions. a person might have understandable intentions, but at the end of the day will make difficult decisions that are hard to agree with. i want people to read about them and be like “well Fuck i don’t know if that was the right thing to do”. when i write darkfic, i want it to be engaging--almost interactive. i think that's what makes it so twisted and so good, because then, the horrific stories are almost too close for comfort.
i want my fics to be a little bit scary and a little bit unsettling. my characters' actions will always be up to interpretation. i want people to question if they even agree with this character anymore, if they’ve broken the readers trust. the purpose of putting a character through this situation is to explore Why they are risking everything. there’s always an outside motivation when it comes to gray characters. when i wrote about chan as a murderer, he did it to protect his family. so the core of the fic wasn’t about murder, it was about found family and the extremes someone would go to love and protect.
darkfic is not something i see myself writing a lot of. i certainly don't read it often, if ever. it's exhausting and mentally draining! that being said, there's something appealing about learning the limits of the human psyche. exploring what's possible, and what's beyond possible. maybe it's the autism in me but exploring all facets of humanity, the good and the bad, is incredibly fascinating!!