So let's talk about brutality. Really. Why the divide?

[Vicious]

So... I've been in transgressive writing for a while, let's say. I started with commissions. I went way, way back. Like Yahoo Chat! era way back. Everything I was always asked for was transgressive. Combined with the fact that I'm autistic, I tend to write very cinematically, I don't shy away from brutal detail and more importantly: I learned my niche. Like it or not, it's transgressive writing.

The stuff the softies get upset about, if I may. Y'know. Power dynamics, fundamentally flawed and or twisted characters, psychological torments galore... That.

My question is: Why does there seem to be this strange divide on some platforms where it's like: We either lean hard romance or we lean hard dark. Maybe it's just me... Maybe I don't get around enough. Just seems like either everybody's whispering rosebud or there's a crazy chick with a machete swearing her love to a vampire who self harms with garlic biscuits.

Thoughts?

[jwabeasley]

It might be like how sexual or fringe political stuff has to be vigilantly policed or it can taks over a platform.

I don't mind some harshness but it's easy for people to go overboard and as I get older my interest and tolerance for it keeps diminishing.

I'm glad you've found your niche.

[moontokkym]

I feel like it's kind of not really one or the other? Like sure there are kind of those two different spaces with the stories more focused on the explicit and the stories more focused on the romance, and there are people who are very devoted to one not the other, but I'd venture to say that the same readers are often in BOTH of those spaces, it just depends on their current mood for what they want to read.

The harsh divide is probably because there are people who just aren't interested in sex scenes in books at all because it does nothing for them plot/character-wise, and they've kind of created a space for that because it's useful.

I say this as someone who'll get teary at a sweet romance, but whose also a massive fan of psychological horror with romance elements like Killing Stalking when that was popular. People aren't doing only one or the other, they're usually looking for their own personal sweet spot in the middle, if you'll pardon the innuendo.

[Vicious]

I actually have a lot of respect for this response. It's weird, I'm in the middle. I used to absolutely hate transgressive stuff, but then life gave me a rude awakening:

It sucked.

Then I started wanting to write from truth more.
Then also I'm such a boy it's stupid so... explosions, action, fight scenes, badass female leads (cus we all play female characters online. You know it's true. Haha)... ya know. I guess that stuff kinda came with it.
Also, meeting a lot of people online.

I started out writing in transgressive RP with a lot of ladies who liked dark stuff. Turns out I had a knack for it. Good response though, thanks.

[Vicious]

Yeah, I get that.

Kinda like a "I don't like people yucking my yum" thing. I see that point. And heard.

I'm kind of a fence rider, as I just told the other person who responded. I don't tend to like sex in things I read, it feels awkward, right? But I'll totally write it cus I came from RP channels that had it in as well. You almost couldn't get into scenes unless you were willing to do something of the kind. I think at the end of the day "it depends" has to be the only answer, right?

Sometimes I'm in, sometimes I'm out.

Good response, thank you.

[remiquise]

Folks usually lean one way or the other because typically readers looking for romance aren't looking for anything extremely dark. They're reading for the enjoyment of a fun romantic romp, not a psychologically challenging thing to break their minds or get them to think in that way. And folks delving into dark horror/thriller stuff only care for romance in however it might help along plot or characters but it's not the main focus. Readers have tones they like, and normally such rigid tones are more likely to float to the top.

That is not to say some folks don't dabble in both, or write less conventional thing. Just the usual suspects are more common and typically more "widely enjoyed".

Personally, I like to think I write a variety of things, but I identify most with being a horror writer. I've been told my stuff is too gratuitous and grotesque. So I suppose I do fall more on the latter side of your outlined divide, but that said, it isn't as if I don't try other genres. I used to write mostly romance before I moved out and started unpacking abuse as a possible subject to write about. I'm still dabbling in it currently with a swashbuckler side project. But I'm also a nobody, so. Not exactly the type to paint a platform in a specific light.