At 02:58 PM 4/18/96 CST, you wrote:

What is the definition of a dark fanfic?  I personally didn't think that
it was that dark...it was, if anything, a story about redemption.  I dunno...
I usually don't consider a fanfic dark if it has a happy ending.  This
does.

The ending may be happy, but the path there was pitch black in
darkness.  I'd say it's a dark fanfic because as mentioned in the
header, the tone of the story dips well under the angst level common
to Rumiko Takahashi works.

See, a dark fanfic is something which has a tone of darkness, or
deals with darkness in a way not common.  It's something that
skirts or touches any sorts of issues which might be considered
disturbing or out of place in the everyday life of people.  A dark
story can have a happy ending, or an enlightening tale to tell
and still be 'dark'.

If anything, we feel better when we read a fanfic which is dark,
but has something more to it than making us look away in disgust,
it has sort of a higher purpose.  In fact, using darkness to offset
the light elements can be quite powerful. Using plain darkness
throughout and ending on a down note can also be powerful, just
with a different end result, which might be more desirable by the
author. ("Is that really you?" and even the film "Seven" come to
mind.)  Either method of plot development results in what
can be considered a 'dark' story.

Frankly, I like reading both dark and light types of fanfics, no
matter what the series they're based on was like.  Fanfic is a
realm where we're not restricted from getting strange with the
series, because we didn't make it originally; we can't make
something as perfect and official as the original work, so we've
got freedom to make it as close to or far from the original as
desired.

---
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