Is this okay? (toxic relationships in fiction)

[Lilmonstart]

As creators we sometimes show dark and serious topics and I think this one is one of those
So I´ve been meaning to ask this.

I have a little story in development that will include a toxic relationship and well the abusive one in the relationship happens to be the protagonist/antagonist

And Spoilers
Besides the mess that he´s gonna do throught the whole story he will seduce and manipulate the person who is in love with him and then betray them and get them killed off

And they deserved better but getting them killed off helps me not to deepen with that toxic relationship
Because I don´t want to romaticize toxic relationships

And I know that in a more possitive and happy way a person in a toxic relationship has to get out from there and leave that person who hurts them but in my story they realise that too late and die

So what do you think? Is this closure ok?
Do you have something similar?

[Freemints30]

Let me be real here.

Its your story not mines.or anyone else.

B) Its a fictional story, not mine, yours.

Whether or not not is okay hinges on one question.

What are you trying to accomplish?

In my opinion the word romanticize X has lost so much meaning I'm growing to despise seeing it and my eyes glazes over it. But here you go.

If your point is to write a tragedy and the plot has believable characters then honestly just go for it, That ending that ending is more a cautionary tale than anything else.

If your are writing a very dark messed up I would say watching a person live and still get gradually worse and worse of a person is appealing and can work very well. Especially when the author is self aware and people love to see a horrible train wreck.

Once again your story not mines. However if your point is to make the audience go "aww cute" not "holy shit, this is horrible" then I say there is a flaw in your writing, cus that's not how it reads on paper.

Take it from someone who does write a lot of unhealthy relationships with (at least in one VN I did) end toxic couple best ending remaining together and tragedy ensues, with the point being its provides horror and intrigue in what can lead to this.

So don't ask is this to okay in fiction and more "What am I trying to do?"

Just provides the appropriate content warning to for people, please

[Aleksei]

I don't think that killing a character is 'closure' xD
But yeah, hard topics is what should be written, talked, painted, etc, so they stop been taboo and we can talk about them with maturity. I have no problems with toxic relationships as longs as they are not romanticed. There are a lot of writen examples of red flags in literature, without even entering Wattpad (Thirty Shades of Grey, hello?), so I would say that as long as your character gets all the karma that he is building, there is no problem.
You already know that you don't want to romantice the thing, so I think that you want to do what you think is right, but as the bad character is your MC, you gonna have to have special careful of how you do things. Mostly because the MC is the character who the reader feel identified, if you gonna write him as a jackass, the reader will tend to hate your MC, and wonder why are you doing this. But there are always ways to hide things and make it. Like in a dark humor? It's certainly hard to make a script for that, but not impossible.
Maybe do a couple of chapters with what you want, and try with some beta readers to see how they take it, and then move from there.
Cheers!

[Lilmonstart]

Oh yeah, the thing is that it's still a work in progress and I still need to figure out more things besides touching a topic I've never touched before (since it just gonna appear for a short period and then the story will continue), sorry if I used the wrong words and thanks for your comment and feedback!

[Freemints30]

No problem, you didnt use wrong wording honestly. Its more a personal thing recently. No issues on your part. Its alright. Honestly best advise is to develop your story and ask questions. Cus especially with heavy subject matter, the best questions to ask is "DO you need it, does it further the plot, does it makes sense for the characters and your intent, genre and the audience you intend to target"

Once you answer them, always do a bit of research just to see what are the realistic character responses to said relationship..

In other words get that first draft out there and see how it goes, somethings will stick and work some things will not . Never be afraid to expreiment in a first draft, it what makes it so magical:sparkles:

best of luck fellow creative

[UrMom]

-laughs in "I also have a story where the MC is in a domestically abusive relationship with the antagonist"-

Really, I'd tell you to do what you want. There are a good number of psychological discussions and studies showing creating messed up fiction is fine actually, the only time it isn't is when someone isn't old enough or mentally stable enough to separate fiction from reality, and in that case they shouldn't even be consuming dark fiction. If exploring that specific dynamic and outcome gives you some kind of catharsis, then go for it! It's not anyone else's place to tell you what kind of closure is and isn't okay for you. (Unless you're causing harm to yourself and/or others.) Just tag your stuff with the proper warnings and age rating.

Edit: To comment on the romanticization thing, even though you're not planning on doing that kind of story yourself. Honestly, everyone explores dark stuff differently, I've encountered plenty of SA and abuse survivors who cope with their trauma via sexualized and/or romanticized SA and abuse fiction. Especially women and queer folks. Again, people can generally differentiate fiction from reality, understand that fiction's influences on reality aren't on a 1:1 ratio, and won't suddenly think that stuff is alright just because they consumed a piece of fiction treating that topic like a good thing. The only people who would see it as encouragement for rl harm are either too young to see that stuff, or too mentally underdeveloped/unstable, which is where you use the content warnings and age ratings.

[Lilmonstart]

Now that you say that. writting a story of a protagonist/antagonist seems a little problematic on that aspect,since they´re going to do a lot wrong things which most of the time aren´t morally right at all

So I assume the best thing to do is to make the readers understand why the MC does the things they do without justifying MC´s actions

and the thing about the beta readers sounds good! thanks!

[candiedcotton]

Aside from what others have said, one thing I strongly recommend (even insist) is understanding the psychology behind why characters do what they do. Do your research and ask professionals. I had a very good friend who was a professor of psychology that I learned a lot from when I was working on a similar idea, and that's outside of my own years of studying psychology. Anything you might have learned from media about how disorders work (especially things like PTSD or DiD) forget it, because it's largely offensive nonsense.

People usually will respond well to even the darkest themes if they are educated. It's when those themes are totally misunderstood by the author that people usually get angry/offended/upset.

[Lilmonstart]

So true always like to see how even the draft can evolve
will do and thanks!

[Lilmonstart]

Oh so trueee
Good that you mention it I even have seen a some videos of phsycological analysis to characters from shows done by psychologist they´re very interesting
but yeah it´s what makes their behavior and thinking more realistic, very helpfull thanks!

[goatbat]

On paper all of that is fine. In my opinion.

I think if you are worried that this may come off as insensitive or poorly handled, it's more so the execution and framing of the subject matter that is what you should try to focus on. If you do not want to romanticize toxic relationships in your work- there's no real plot point that will definitively make it romanticized or not romanticized- it's all about the framing, like what visuals you have, what you choose to focus on, etc. Plot points by itself does not really tell me much as it's not necessarily the broad strokes that makes the distinction here.

And for 'romanticisation,' what one person may consider to be romanticisation one may not. Art is subjective- which is great, but in cases like this, it can be difficult.

Also, agreed with candiedcotton, doing some research behind toxic relationships/the psychology of abusers, abuse & trauma would help. Everybody is different but personally, I do sometimes cringe when I get the impression that someone did not do their reading and went with the archetypal pop culture assumptions for certain things (not saying that you will or will not come off this way, but for me personally, that is the one way I get the impression that someone does not take a certain topic seriously.)

I'd just hire a sensitivity writer after you wrote out a script/first draft if I were you and say "here is what I want to convey, does this appear to match my intentions." Doesn't always fix everything, but if you have the money to do so , I feel like that might be a good option for you.

[BoomerZ]

And I will come at this with a completely different angle. Write what you want. You don't need a sensitivity writer to read your stuff. Hannibal Lecter is a horrible human being. He has very little redeeming qualities. But people loved to watch him and read about him. Toxic relationships exist. People write about them all the time. (Fight Club is a massively horrible relationship, but people love that movie.) If you have a story to tell, and you find the subject interesting enough to write about, let the audience decide on it. The world is full of stories about horrible people ( Dexter, Breaking Bad, Sopranos, Game of Thrones, to name a few.) And dying at the end shows an exaggerated type of ending to what a relationship like that can lead to. Write away and see if it works. You won't know until you put it to paper.

[system]

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