Dark Fantasy Among Christians?
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Does anyone write Dark Fantasy? Tell me what yours look like.
Do you have Christian themes or allegories for Christ? Is there always a bright ending? Do you always end with hope? Do you include go deep into the shadows, or do you make sure to keep it on the lighter side?
If it doesn’t have some kind of uplifting message, will it be accepted among Christians?
Dark Fantasy has always been what my soul bleeds.
I quit. I quit trying to change it for the reader, or what I think a Christian will accept. For a long time, my creative well has been dry. After reading The Eden Option by Allen Arnold, I’ve begun to just let it flow the way it presents itself in my head.
Suddenly, I love writing again in that deep way that I’ve missed.
Oh I love Dark Fantasy!!! I like writing psychological fantasy thrillers!!
Mine usually have some pretty dark and gruesome themes but it will have a very beautiful beautiful hauntingly hopeful ending (theoretically speaking 🫠)
But I like darker more complex deep stories and you’ll find people here who will chat about any topics and controversies and it’s awesome!!! What’s your current WIP about!?! 🙂
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
Hi Cathy! Your work sounds so intriguing!! I’m so happy to hear where you stand on Dark Fantasy. So I’m not alone, then?? 😅
My WIP is a short story (possibly novelette depending on where the ending lands) about a teen boy who enters the dark, forbidden woods where monsters lurk who used to be human. I may post a link on here once it’s completed?
What about yours?
Hi Cathy! Your work sounds so intriguing!! I’m so happy to hear where you stand on Dark Fantasy. So I’m not alone, then?? 😅
Thanksssss.
Oh noooo you are not alone!!! Lemmie find like @rose-colored-fancy @irishcelticredflowercrown and @calidris – you do dark fantasy right? – and my sister @hannahrenner and @brian-stansell and I think a buncha others. You’ll find tons of people who love dark themes in a Christian light here like any mature thing from lgbtq+ topics to suicide/self-harm topics to S/A topics and just about anything that’s dark and controversial you can think of (I am totally not a part of every single one of those😅✌️)
So yeah you are not alone and you should have a pretty big group of people willing to discuss those themes and topics and ideas (…probably as soon as school’s out that’s when things are a little more active I think…)
My WIP is a short story (possibly novelette depending on where the ending lands) about a teen boy who enters the dark, forbidden woods where monsters lurk who used to be human. I may post a link on here once it’s completed?
Oh sweet!! I’d love to read that!!
What about yours?
Mine’s a 5-year-old novel series that I started when I was 13 (yeesh what kinda morbid weirdo kid was I? 😜) about a fugitive prince with C-PTSD escaping a cult that exploits people with special powers while following a puzzle series of blotted out history into an ancient religion that might have the key to saving the world!!!
*out of breath pause*
Well that’s the really simplified version XD (I’m never gonna finish it it’s too awesome in my head and too blah on paper😭😭😭)
But yeah! That’s me!!
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
Why do you summon me?
This link will take you to a good article by Flannery O’Conner that might help you sort through some of your conflict. It’s kinda funny I was just rereading this today. I think the Holy Spirit must have bonked me. 😄
The main point is that if you are pursuing the art that God put in your heart, then you are ultimately giving Him glory and praise. So if He put into your heart to write Dark Fantasy, then you would be wrong to NOT write Dark Fantasy. (But, um, do pray over this carefully. Your job is to shine a light!)
When life knocks you down, wait 'til it passes over you and then attack it from behind.
Does anyone write Dark Fantasy? Tell me what yours look like.
🫥
I don’t know? I never really thought about it as DARK Fantasy. But, based off my understanding, that probably does fit?
I guess my current WIP is dark fantasy? @this-is-not-an-alien? Is Lost City of Dragons – Burn’s story – Dark Fantasy?
I know that Dungeon Punk is one of the genre names I’ve stumbled across. But I’m not intentionally doing that?
Oh well.
Do you have Christian themes or allegories for Christ?
Depends on the work. Right now both my main WIPs have clear allegories for Christianity.
Um, aren’t all themes Christian? By virtue of us all being Children of God? How to you define Christian Themes? Can’t answer that very well until I know.
Is there always a bright ending? Do you always end with hope?
I am fundamentally a hopepunk writer so you better believe there is hope. It’s a bloody-knuckles hope, most times though. Sometimes faint. But that’s what I HAVE to write, ya’know?
Do you include go deep into the shadows, or do you make sure to keep it on the lighter side?
Again, depends on the work. Lately I’ve been diving deeper into shadows, and coping with sarcastic narrators. (It’s. Almost. Like. MY. Coping. Mechanism. Is. Sarcasm. Who knew?)
If it doesn’t have some kind of uplifting message, will it be accepted among Christians?
Is God calling you to write to Christians though?
And I don’t actually know? I’m not writing to a Christian market. That’s not specific enough for me. I use the one-reader method to find out my audience. Have you heard of it?
Ah. Anyway, hi! Nice to meet you!
When life knocks you down, wait 'til it passes over you and then attack it from behind.
fugitive prince with C-PTSD escaping a cult that exploits people with special powers while following a puzzle series of blotted out history into an ancient religion that might have the key to saving the world!!!
this sounds incredible!! And lots of fun! Aren’t they always more lame on paper than it is inside our heads? I like the space inside my head. It’s quirky and fun. 🤣
Um, aren’t all themes Christian?
I agree with this strongly. I appreciate your warning to pray about writing dark fantasy because it’s our job to shine a light. I agree there, too ut that’s where I e been messing up. When I START the story with plans to shine a light, it comes across as too pretty and shiny and pure. When I start with the shadows, by the time I’m at the end, I’ll read back and realize the light showed up all on its own.
I love the term hopepunk. 😄
I have been summoned from the depths of school-induced digital hibernation!!!!
Hi Natalie, I’m Rose! I’ve been very inactive here recently, but it’s lovely to meet you!
Welll… Gilded Blood jumps wildly between a fun, light “Chaos teenagers on an adventure” fantasy and some extremely dark subjects XD However, overall the tone is pretty light, so I wouldn’t exactly call it a dark fantasy XD
Like Cathy said, a lot of writers here have some very dark subjects they’re handling, so you sure aren’t alone!
I love your story idea, especially the idea of the monsters having once been human, that’s a really interesting concept! How did you come up with it?
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
How did you come up with it?
I love this question because I love hearing how other people come up with their ideas, too!
So often my ideas come to me in a single glimpse of a single scene. When I sit down to describe the scene, everything else before and after that scene suddenly appears. The more I write it out, the deeper it goes, and more unfolds.
It’s like a true pantser way of doing things. For YEARS I’ve tried to train myself to plot and write linear and chronologically.
It’s so much fun to do it this way because I’m living the mystery as I write it.
A very good writer friend said, “I don’t like pantsers. I don’t trust them.” He says it with a smirk because he knows I fight so hard against my pantser ways. He’s a detailed plotter (spends like 2 months outlining before he drafts the first page).
I recently read a book called The Eden Option by Allen Arnold. Story Embers did a webcast with the author and it was life-altering for me as a writer. From that book I gave myself permission to just write the way I write. To just let it flow the way it flows. Because God wired my brain that way.
I’ve fallen in love with writing all over again, and it has been YEARS since I’ve felt this way. It feels like coming home.
Why do you summon me?
MWahahahahahahahahaa
Is Lost City of Dragons – Burn’s story – Dark Fantasy?
Yes. I mean Dark Fantasy is kinda like a blanket title for well…dark books that are also fantasy…And your books are dark 🙂
this sounds incredible!! And lots of fun! Aren’t they always more lame on paper than it is inside our heads? I like the space inside my head. It’s quirky and fun. 🤣
🥰
I have been summoned from the depths of school-induced digital hibernation!!!!
YAS YASSSSSSSSS MY ARCH NEMESISSSSSS!!!! ARISE FROM THY COFFIN!!!!!!
It’s like a true pantser way of doing things. For YEARS I’ve tried to train myself to plot and write linear and chronologically. It’s so much fun to do it this way because I’m living the mystery as I write it. A very good writer friend said, “I don’t like pantsers. I don’t trust them.” He says it with a smirk because he knows I fight so hard against my pantser ways. He’s a detailed plotter (spends like 2 months outlining before he drafts the first page).
Welp, I feel called out. 🫠
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
MY books are not THAT dark! I read YOUR draft!
When life knocks you down, wait 'til it passes over you and then attack it from behind.
🤫 We don’t speak of that horrible monster. 🤫 We never speak of Bruno 🤫
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
Welp, I feel called out. 🫠
🤣🤣 Not knocking you plotters out there! I would do it that way if I could, if my brain only worked that way! My friend has been trying to convince me that This Is The Way (he’s amazing… Not knocking him, either 🤣). I just couldn’t do it.
For longer stuff, I start making plot nots once I get a few thousand words into it. But never before. My brain fights me, like, “What is this you’re doing to me??”
🤫 We don’t speak of that horrible monster. 🤫 We never speak of Bruno 🤫
Omgosh y’all are cracking me up 🤣 This is fun ❤️
So often my ideas come to me in a single glimpse of a single scene. When I sit down to describe the scene, everything else before and after that scene suddenly appears. The more I write it out, the deeper it goes, and more unfolds.
It’s like a true pantser way of doing things. For YEARS I’ve tried to train myself to plot and write linear and chronologically.
Ah, that’s really cool! I occasionally get the ‘single scene’ ideas, but so far those have always been for short stories! For novels it usually starts with a world or concept idea, and then I plot from there.
I very recently discovered that even though I am very much a plotter for long-form work, I am a pantser when it comes to short-form work. I used to be completely unable to write short stories because I couldn’t ‘come up with all of it’ before writing. Recently, I took those scene glimpses and just sat down and wrote a story in one or two sittings, even without knowing anything about the story itself! It’s been a great joy! It hasn’t made me less of a plotter for long-form work though XD
A very good writer friend said, “I don’t like pantsers. I don’t trust them.” He says it with a smirk because he knows I fight so hard against my pantser ways. He’s a detailed plotter (spends like 2 months outlining before he drafts the first page)
Lollll I relate to that, I both admire and fear pantsers. They do what is impossible for me, plunge into the darkness of an idea with more courage than I could ever manage XD I need to Know Things XD
From that book I gave myself permission to just write the way I write. To just let it flow the way it flows. Because God wired my brain that way.
I’ve fallen in love with writing all over again, and it has been YEARS since I’ve felt this way. It feels like coming home.
I’m so glad you found a way that works for you! Figuring out how your writing process looks is always one of the biggest and hardest parts of writing, but it’s so rewarding!
I also saw you have some short stories on your website! I’ll probably read some of them later, I’m really curious!
How long have you been writing?
Without darkness, there is no light. If there was no nighttime, would the stars be as bright?
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