creative writing describe darkness

15 Best Metaphors for Darkness (A List for Writers)

Darkness metaphors, similes, idioms and proverbs fit into a few different categories.

There are metaphors for darkness that describe how the night behaves, like darkness as a:

We can also see it as a special type of metaphor called ‘personification’ which gives it human-like qualities, like:

• Imposing itself
• Speaking to you
• Being your friend

Then there are the metaphors that use darkness as a metaphor for negativity, like:

• Dark thoughts
• A dark future

Below is a full list of darkness metaphors and descriptions and examples of each.

Metaphors describing Darkness

Related: Darkness Symbolism

1. The Darkness is a Veil

Perhaps the most common darkness metaphor, this one relates darkness to the concept of having something pulled down over your eyes. The most obvious feature that connects darkness to veils is that they both obscure our vision.

In everyday language, we will usually phrase this metaphor as “the veil of darkness”, and use it when describing someone who is being hindered by the night. For example, you might say “the veil of darkness obscured his ability to see his target.”

2. Under the Cover of Darkness

The cover of darkness is very similar to the veil of darkness concept above. To consider darkness to be a ‘cover’ makes us think that perhaps darkness does not simply blind you, but also protects you. It “provides you with cover”.

This metaphor might be used in a situation where the darkness is good for the protagonist. For example, your protagonist might be escaping imprisonment under the cover of darkness.

3. The Night as a Blanket

Imagine sitting on a hill looking out over the sunset. An enormous blanket made by God begins to descend and lay itself out over the landscape. Of course, darkness is not literally a blanket, but because it could feel like you’re lying under a blanket, we can use this metaphorically to provide an image in the reader’s mind.

4. The Darkness Creeps

The ‘creeping darkness’ is a common way to describe dusk. You can sit and feel it slowly and steadily take over from the light. It makes us think of a lion or tiger that gets down low and moves in a really smooth motion toward you. You sometimes feel like it’s not moving and just standing still, but in reality it is moving inch by inch toward you. Before you know it, you’re engulfed in the dark.

5. The Darkness is Broken by the Light

This is a saying that you might use at sunrise when the sun casts its first few rays upon the landscape. Of course, darkness cannot ‘break’ per se, as it’s not a physical object. But there’s a sense of similarity here when the light rays almost punch through blackness to reveal the landscape to us.

6. Darkness Imposes Itself

A person who imposes themselves does not give you a choice. They will come and be there even if you don’t want them in your life. They insist that they be heard.

This metaphor is a type of metaphor called personification. It gives the dark sentient qualities: that it can somehow behave like a human. But we understand this metaphor because it makes sense in a figurative way. Darkness will come each day whether we like it or not. The sun always sets and the moon will rise, whether you want it or not.

7. Listening to the Darkness

Sometimes the night is the quietest time of all. Everyone is asleep and quiet, even the animals. So the idea that you’re listening to the darkness is similar to saying you’re listening to the night or the silence.

But can you literally listen to darkness? The dark, itself, does not make noise. Animals, people, and maybe even landslides make noise. But a state of light (or lack thereof) does not make noise, so this is a figure of speech rather than a literal statement.

8. The Darkness Spoke Back

To extend the metaphor of the dark making noises, we could say that the dark “spoke”. You might say this when you yell into the night, and the echo comes back to you. Or, you might say that it “spoke back with its silence”. As with the listening metaphor above, the idea that darkness can speak is figurative, but here it’s a clear instance of personification.

> Read Also: Silence Symbolism and Silence Metaphors

9. Darkness is my Friend

As a teenager I read the great book “Darkness be my Friend”. It’s a book about teenagers caught in a war. They need to use the darkness as ‘cover’ to hide from soldiers who are searching for them. In this metaphor, the darkness is a friend because it shields them from being seen.

10. It Lifts

This metaphor is the opposite of the ‘veil’ and ‘blanket’ ones above. You could even imagine that blanket that fell during the sunset lift again during the sunrise. As the sun rays pierce through the night, we can imagine the night rising until it disappears altogether.

12. It Settles

The opposite of the lifting of the night is the settling of the night. After dusk, we don’t expect light to return for many hours. So we can imagine the darkness settling in all the valleys and crevices and ‘resting’ there (that’s another metaphor) until dawn.

Metaphors using Darkness

13. the battle between light and dark.

In my articles on moon metaphors and sun metaphors , I discussed this endless battle between the sun and the moon. As the sun sets, the moon takes over. It has oversight over the land until sunrise the next day, when the sun takes over again.

This ‘battle’ can also be related to light and dark, where light comes for a few hours, then dark comes for a few hours after that.

Go Deeper: A List of Battle Metaphors

But another interpretation of this metaphor is that darkness is evil and light is good.

This metaphorical use of dark and light has gone on throughout history, and is likely related to the idea that during night time bad things can happen without being seen by others.

14. The Future is Dark

To say the future is dark is to say that it’s bleak. There isn’t much to look forward to in the future. This might be a thing you’d say in a dystopian novel where the world is controlled by evil people. Here, there is continuation of the motif that darkness is bad and evil, as opposed to light which is good.

15. I’m Having Dark Thoughts

Dark thoughts are negative or sad thoughts. Darkness is employed here to replace the word ‘negative’, but has the same effect because we relate darkness to bad things.

A person having dark thoughts might be going through a hard time. They might be feeling sad or distressed, or even have depression. In fact, in our article on depression metaphors darkness appears a few times.

Similes, proberbs, idioms and metaphors for darkness can help writers to express negativity, sadness or evil things. They can assist you in demonstrating a character’s depression or even to construct an antagonist in a story as someone who is ‘black’, ‘bleak’, and indeed ‘dark’.

At other times, you might want to use darkness metaphors to describe how your protagonist is interacting with the night. They might be using it as a blanket or cover, or they may be obstructed by its veil.

I’m Chris and I run this website – a resource about symbolism, metaphors, idioms, and a whole lot more! Thanks for dropping by.

Search for creative inspiration

19,890 quotes, descriptions and writing prompts, 4,964 themes

Darkness - quotes and descriptions to inspire creative writing

• A cold night
• being blind
• Being in Zero Gravity
• claustrophobia
• navigators of the fog

When you are willing to shine a light upon your darkness and make it submissive to the light, you are reborn a hero.

When your darkness becomes your protective inner dragon whom is the servant of love, bound in duty to obey the light, the darkness becomes the most soft of black velvets illuminated by heaven-spun stars.

Conquer the season of darkness by opening a door to your own light.

When the world has become a pencil drawing, a masterpiece on the easel of the creator, I await for it to fade to black and arise anew. It is as if the nightfall were the curtains closing, and the dawn were their opening each day, the birds singing on cue with their beautiful serenade. While others sleep through the dying of the light, my task is to remain awake and witness its rebirth, to see how the pencil sketch becomes the greatest of high definition movies. As the blackness comes I calmly watch myself be erased, eyes open and seeing nothing at all, the only evidence of my being is the steady thump of my heart and the cool air in my lungs.

Darkness comes as strong protective arms, holding us close until the promised dawn. Within it we are as children once more, safe in shields of duvet. Yet in this place so open to the skies, resting in the cricket's lullaby, our eyes are as bright as the constellations above; our stardust atoms seeking the stars until they can bathe in the light of the sun.

Sign in or sign up for Descriptionar i

Sign up for descriptionar i, recover your descriptionar i password.

Keep track of your favorite writers on Descriptionari

We won't spam your account. Set your permissions during sign up or at any time afterward.

Writing Nestling

How To Describe Night In Writing (10 Best Ways)

In the realm of storytelling, the night is a canvas painted with shades of mystery, romance, and introspection.

Capturing the essence of the nocturnal world through the art of description is a literary endeavor that transcends mere depiction; it is an invitation for readers to immerse themselves in the atmospheric allure of darkness.

Describing night in writing goes beyond the absence of daylight; it delves into the profound symbolism, sensory intricacies, and emotional nuances that unfold when the sun sets.

In this exploration, we embark on a journey to unravel the techniques that transform night into a compelling character, shaping narratives with the subtle strokes of descriptive language, symbolism, and the evolving atmosphere.

Join the nocturnal odyssey as we delve into the artistry of portraying the night in all its enigmatic splendor.

Table of Contents

How To Describe Night In Writing

Describing night in writing involves capturing the sensory elements and creating a vivid atmosphere. Here’s a step-by-step process:

Observe the Setting

Start by observing the night setting you want to describe. Note the surroundings, the moon’s phase, stars, and any unique features.

Identify Key Senses

Consider the senses you want to emphasize – sight, sound, smell, touch. Night descriptions often involve darkness, subtle lighting, cool temperatures, and distinct sounds.

Focus on Visuals

Begin with visual details. Describe the moon, its glow, or lack thereof. Note any shadows, silhouettes, or shimmering lights. Paint a picture of the sky, stars, and the overall atmosphere.

Play with Colors

Utilize color imagery to evoke emotions. Describe the night sky as inky black, navy blue, or velvety indigo. Highlight any splashes of color from celestial bodies or artificial lights.

Capture Sounds

Move on to auditory details. Highlight the quietness, distant sounds like rustling leaves or nocturnal creatures, or urban noises. Use onomatopoeic words to enhance the auditory experience.

Incorporate Smells

Explore olfactory elements, if applicable. Mention scents carried by the night breeze, such as earthiness, floral fragrances, or even distant cooking smells.

Describe Temperature

Discuss the temperature of the night. Is it crisp and cool, or muggy and warm? Convey the sensation of the air on the skin to immerse the reader in the setting.

Use Metaphors and Similes

Enrich your description with metaphors and similes. Compare the night to something familiar or use figurative language to evoke a specific mood or feeling.

Consider the Setting’s Influence

Reflect on how the night setting influences the mood or actions of characters, if applicable. A moonlit night might create a romantic atmosphere, while a dark and stormy night might evoke tension.

Craft a Seamless Narrative

Weave these elements into your narrative seamlessly. Avoid overwhelming the reader with too many details at once, and ensure your descriptions serve the overall tone and theme of your writing .

Remember, the key is to engage the reader’s senses and emotions, allowing them to experience the night through your words.

Setting the Scene

As the sun dipped below the horizon, the world underwent a transformative dance, shrouding itself in the mystique of the night.

The landscape, once awash in the golden hues of daylight, succumbed to the velvet embrace of darkness. The moon, a silent maestro, cast its silvery glow upon the earth, conjuring a dreamscape where reality and imagination intertwined.

Shadows, like enigmatic dancers, pirouetted across the canvas of the night, tracing the contours of hidden secrets.

The air, now a symphony of nocturnal whispers, held the promise of undiscovered tales waiting to unfold. In this nocturnal theater, time itself seemed to stretch and contract, creating a liminal space where the extraordinary became plausible, and the ordinary, extraordinary.

Establishing the time and place

As the clock’s hands embraced the midnight hour, the world hushed into a stillness reserved exclusively for the nocturnal.

The setting, a quaint hamlet nestled between ancient hills and sleepy meadows, wore the moonlight like a silken cloak.

The air, crisp and cool, bore the distinctive fragrance of dew-kissed grass. The village, steeped in a timeless charm, echoed with the distant murmurings of a nearby stream.

The rhythmic cadence of crickets underscored the unfolding night, orchestrating the passage of time with their unseen serenade.

This was not just a specific moment; it was a temporal crossroads where the magic of night met the tangible reality of a place suspended in its own enchantment.

Sensory Imagery

As the inky night unfurled its obsidian wings, the world transformed into a sensory symphony, weaving a tapestry of sensations that transcended the mundane.

Moonbeams, like liquid silver, painted a celestial mural overhead, casting a spell that danced upon the eyes. The night air, cool and velvety, carried with it the whispers of secrets, an olfactory sonnet that blended the earthy perfume of soil with the ethereal fragrance of blooming night flowers.

Each step on the nocturnal path was a tactile exploration, the ground yielding with a gentle sigh as if sharing the stories it cradled.

The orchestration of nocturnal creatures, from the haunting calls of distant owls to the rustle of unseen critters, resonated through the bones, a harmonic convergence of nature’s nocturnal opera.

In this symphony of the senses, the night unfolded not just as an absence of light but as a rich, multi-dimensional experience where every perception became a brushstroke in the masterpiece of the moonlit hours.

Visual Descriptions

Under the night’s cosmic theatre, visual poetry unfolded with the grace of a celestial ballet. The moon, a luminescent guardian, painted the world in silver strokes, casting enchanting shadows that waltzed with the slightest breeze.

Stars, like diamonds strewn across a velvet canvas, sparkled with ethereal brilliance, their patterns telling ancient tales written in constellations.

Wisps of clouds, veiled in obsidian mystery, traversed the heavens like spectral dancers in an ever-changing choreography.

The landscape below, bathed in the soft glow of lunar radiance, revealed hidden details – the glistening dew on blades of grass, the reflective eyes of nocturnal creatures, and the stoic silhouettes of towering trees.

In the quietude of the night, the visual tapestry unfolded, inviting the observer to lose themselves in the mesmerizing spectacle of shadows and silvery luminescence, where reality and dreams coalesced in a nocturnal embrace.

Emotional Atmosphere

In the tender cradle of night, emotions swirled like phantom dancers, casting their spell on the tapestry of darkness.

The moon, a silent confidante, witnessed the kaleidoscope of feelings that emerged beneath its gentle gaze. The night, a canvas for the soul’s expression, wore the cloak of mystery with grace.

It was not merely the absence of daylight; it was a sanctuary for introspection, a refuge for the introspective minds to delve into the depths of their own emotions.

Loneliness, tinged with the sweet melancholy of solitude, coexisted with the thrill of nocturnal secrets waiting to be unraveled.

Serenity intertwined with a quiet chaos, and the night became an emotional alchemy, where each heartbeat echoed against the velvet sky, composing a nocturne of emotions that spoke to the very core of the human experience.

Creating a mood through word choice and tone

In the realm of night, the power of language becomes a magicians’ wand, conjuring moods that dance on the precipice of enchantment.

Words, carefully selected, cast a spell that transcends mere description, immersing the reader in the emotive chiaroscuro of the nocturnal canvas.

The tone, a maestro orchestrating the symphony of emotions, guides the reader through the moonlit corridors of anticipation, weaving a tapestry where each adjective is a brushstroke, and every sentence a musical note.

The night, draped in an opulent lexicon, can be a sultry seductress or a solemn sage, depending on the alchemy of word choice and tone.

It is the subtle interplay of consonants and vowels that transforms the mundane into the extraordinary, painting the atmosphere with hues of mystery, serenity, or palpable tension.

As the words unfurl like tendrils of mist in the midnight air, they invite the reader to not just witness the night but to feel its pulse, creating an immersive experience where language becomes a vessel for the soul of the nocturnal.

Symbolism and Metaphor

In the nocturnal tapestry, the interplay of symbols and metaphors is a celestial ballet, where the ordinary becomes a constellation of hidden meanings.

The moon, a metaphorical lantern in the cosmic dark, doesn’t merely illuminate; it becomes a silent confidante, casting shadows that dance like metaphorical whispers of ancient tales.

Stars, those celestial hieroglyphs, inscribe a narrative on the vast scroll of the night sky, each one a metaphorical punctuation mark in the poetry of existence.

The night itself, a canvas for dreams, is a metaphorical cocoon where reality transforms into the ephemeral butterfly of imagination.

In this nocturnal sanctuary, every rustle of leaves and every gust of wind is laden with symbolic resonance, turning the act of perception into an intricate dance with the metaphysical.

The symbols and metaphors, like cosmic breadcrumbs, invite the reader to embark on a journey through the labyrinth of meaning, where the night becomes a canvas for the reader’s own introspective exploration.

Using night as a symbolic element

The night, a ubiquitous yet enigmatic character in the narrative of existence, dons the cloak of symbolism, transcending its physical realm to become a metaphorical maestro orchestrating the symphony of deeper meanings.

It is the cosmic chalice of mysteries, where darkness isn’t merely the absence of light but a metaphor for the uncharted territories of the human psyche.

The nocturnal hours become a symbolic canvas, painting the complexities of life, where shadows aren’t just absence but embodiments of hidden truths.

The moon, a luminary sentinel in the night, becomes a symbol of cyclical renewal and eternal rhythms. The stars, like distant dreams, twinkle as symbolic aspirations in the vast tapestry of the universe.

Night, as a symbolic element, beckons the reader to delve beyond the surface, inviting contemplation on the dualities of life, the veiled beauty in obscurity, and the profound symbolism that weaves through the celestial fabric of existence.

Character Interaction with the Night

Beneath the cosmic theater of the night, characters don’t merely exist; they are alchemists, concocting elixirs of emotion in the moonlit crucible.

Each step is a dance with shadows, and every heartbeat resonates with the nocturnal symphony. The night is not a backdrop but a silent confidante, witnessing the whispered secrets and unspoken fears that characters dare not reveal in the harsh light of day.

Whether it’s the protagonist seeking solace in the velvet embrace of darkness or the antagonist cloaked in the ambiguity of shadows, the night becomes an intimate accomplice to their innermost struggles.

The stars are not just celestial bystanders; they are the audience to the characters’ silent soliloquies, while the moon, a cosmic mirror, reflects the myriad emotions etched across their faces.

In the nocturnal ballet, characters don’t navigate the night; they immerse themselves in its depths, each interaction a delicate choreography that leaves an indelible mark on the canvas of their existence.

Integrating characters into the nighttime setting

As the sun’s radiance retreated, characters became interwoven threads in the intricate fabric of the nocturnal tapestry.

Their silhouettes, framed against the indigo backdrop, carried the weight of both secrets and vulnerabilities. Nighttime was not just a setting; it was a companion to their solitude, a confidant to their whispered hopes and fears.

Each footfall on the dew-kissed ground echoed the cadence of their journey, and every stolen glance beneath the moonlight held the promise of clandestine revelations.

The characters weren’t mere spectators to the night; they were active participants, navigating the shadows with a nuanced dance of emotions.

Whether driven by the pursuit of elusive dreams or haunted by the specters of the past, the night embraced them in its inky bosom, revealing facets of their personalities that daylight dared not expose.

In this symbiotic relationship between characters and the nighttime setting, the narrative unfolded as a nocturnal odyssey, where the darkness became both a sanctuary and a crucible, shaping the characters in its mysterious forge.

Narrative Techniques

In the nocturnal realm where stories unfold like constellations in the cosmic tapestry, narrative techniques are the alchemical spells that transform mere words into ethereal experiences.

The prose, a celestial navigator, charts a course through the vast sea of night, employing metaphors as North Stars and similes as guiding constellations.

Pacing, like a heartbeat echoing through the narrative, quickens in suspenseful crescendos and mellows in contemplative interludes, orchestrating a symphony of emotions.

Sentence structures are not mere grammatical constructs; they are architectural marvels, crafting moonlit archways through which readers traverse the labyrinth of the plot.

Flashbacks become time-traveling portals, allowing characters to dance between the past and present in a waltz of memory.

In this literary cosmos, the interplay of narrative techniques is not just a means of storytelling; it is the very essence of the night, where the language becomes a celestial chariot propelling readers into the uncharted realms of imagination.

Employing descriptive language and literary devices

In the realm of night, descriptive language and literary devices unfurl like the tendrils of ivy, embracing the reader in a tapestry of vivid imagery and emotive resonance.

Words aren’t mere vessels of meaning; they are alchemical agents that transmute the mundane into the magical. Metaphors, like fireflies, dance in the velvety prose, casting a soft glow on the intricacies of the night.

Similes are celestial bridges connecting the familiar to the fantastical, while personification breathes life into the silent whispers of the nocturnal breeze.

Descriptive language, akin to a painter’s brush, strokes the canvas of the narrative with hues of emotion, detailing the contours of moonlit landscapes and the ephemeral beauty of night creatures.

Each adjective is a palette choice, each adverb a nuanced brushstroke, and every literary device a finely tuned instrument in the symphony of storytelling.

In this celestial dance of language, the night becomes not just a setting but an immersive experience, where the reader doesn’t observe but tangibly feels the magic woven into the very fabric of the prose.

Evolving Atmosphere

As the night unfolded its wings, the atmosphere morphed into a living entity, a chameleon that embraced metamorphosis with each passing moment. Moonlight, initially a shy whisper, transformed into a luminous ballad, its glow waxing and waning in a celestial rhythm.

Stars, like shy spectators, blinked in and out, altering the cosmic audience’s intensity. The air, once a still canvas, began to shiver with the nocturnal secrets it harbored, as if the very breath of the night held tales waiting to exhale.

Clouds, nomadic wanderers in the sky’s expanse, choreographed a dance that veiled and unveiled the moon’s luminous countenance.

The evolving atmosphere wasn’t just a backdrop; it was a character in its own right, an unseen force sculpting the narrative with the subtle touch of a cosmic artisan.

In the ever-shifting nocturnal tableau, the atmosphere became a silent storyteller, etching its own verses into the fabric of the night.

Describing the progression of the night

As the night unfolded its mysterious manuscript, it embarked on a poetic journey of progression, a narrative written in the ink of shadows and stardust.

The twilight’s last sigh marked the inception, a transitional phase where the sky, a canvas in transition, surrendered its vibrant hues to the encroaching darkness.

The initial hush of nocturnal awakening resonated through the air, a prelude to the symphony of crickets and night creatures tuning their instruments.

With the ascent of the moon, the narrative gained momentum, casting a silver glow on the evolving landscape.

Stars, like punctuation marks, appeared one by one, illuminating the cosmic syntax of the night. The zenith of the night unveiled a panorama of celestial wonders, each passing hour etching its own stanza in the celestial sonnet.

The descent toward dawn became a gradual unveiling, a reverse metamorphosis where shadows relinquished their hold, and the world emerged from the cocoon of darkness into the tentative embrace of a new day.

In this chronological dance, the progression of the night became a temporal tapestry, weaving the reader through the ebb and flow of nocturnal wonders.

Frequently Asked Questions about How To Describe Night In Writing

What elements should i focus on when describing night in writing.

When describing night, pay attention to visual details such as the moon, stars, and shadows. Explore auditory elements like sounds in the night, consider the temperature, and incorporate sensory experiences like smells and touch.

How can I effectively convey the visual aspects of the night in my writing?

Use vivid imagery to depict the night sky, emphasizing the moon’s glow, star patterns, and the overall atmosphere. Experiment with colors like inky black, navy blue, or velvety indigo to evoke the mood of the night.

What role do sounds play in creating a night scene?

Sounds are crucial in conveying the ambiance of the night. Describe quietness, distant rustles, nocturnal creature noises, or urban sounds. Consider using onomatopoeic words to enhance the auditory experience.

Should I include smells when describing a night setting?

Including smells can add depth to your description. Consider scents carried by the night breeze, such as earthiness, floral fragrances, or distant cooking smells, to enhance the reader’s sensory experience.

How do I capture the temperature of the night in my writing?

Describe the temperature by conveying whether the night is crisp and cool, muggy and warm, or somewhere in between. Discuss the sensation of the air on the skin to immerse the reader in the setting.

Can I use metaphors and similes to enhance my description of the night?

Absolutely! Metaphors and similes can enrich your writing. Compare the night to something familiar or use figurative language to evoke specific moods or feelings associated with the night.

How do I avoid overwhelming the reader with night descriptions?

Craft a seamless narrative by introducing details gradually. Ensure your descriptions serve the overall tone and theme of your writing, and avoid overcrowding your prose with too many details at once.

How can I make the night setting influence the overall mood of my writing?

Reflect on how the night setting influences the characters or the atmosphere. For instance, a moonlit night might create a romantic ambiance, while a dark and stormy night could evoke tension or suspense in your narrative.

In conclusion, describing night in writing is an art that engages the reader’s senses and emotions to create a vivid and immersive experience.

By focusing on visual elements such as the moon and stars, incorporating auditory details like distant sounds, exploring smells carried by the night breeze, and conveying the temperature, writers can paint a rich and atmospheric picture of the night.

Utilizing metaphors, similes, and careful narrative crafting allows for a seamless integration of these elements, enhancing the overall mood of the writing.

Remember, the beauty of describing night lies in the delicate balance of details that transport the reader into the enchanting realm of darkness, making it a compelling and memorable aspect of any narrative.

Related Posts:

• How To Describe Moon In Writing (10 Best Tips & Words)
• How To Describe Stars In Writing (10 Important Tips)
• How To Write Vampire Novels (12 Best Ways)
• How to Describe a Magical Forest (10 Effective Tips)
• How To Write A Vampire Character (10 Best Tips)
• How To Describe A Sunset In Writing (Words, Phrases…

Similar Posts

How To Write A Gothic Romance Novel (10 Best Tips)

Embarking on the journey of writing a Gothic romance novel is akin to unlocking the secrets of a mysterious, moonlit garden where love and darkness entwine in a haunting embrace. This genre, rooted in the atmospheric depths of Gothic literature, beckons authors to immerse themselves in the delicate dance between passion and the supernatural. Crafting…

How To Describe Moon In Writing (10 Best Tips & Words)

Embarking on the journey of articulating the celestial beauty of the moon through the written word is a venture into the cosmic realm of descriptive prowess. Describing the moon is more than a literary exercise; it’s an artistic endeavor that invites writers to harness the power of language to encapsulate the ethereal essence of our…

How To Write A Manifestation For Love (12 Best Ways)

The pursuit of love, with all its complexity and beauty, has captivated the hearts and minds of humans throughout history. While the path to finding and nurturing love often appears mysterious and elusive, many believe in the incredible power of manifestation to invite love into their lives. “How to Write Manifestation for Love” is a…

How To Improve Literacy Writing Skills (14 Best Tips)

Embarking on the journey to enhance literacy writing skills is akin to unlocking the doors to a world where words transcend mere symbols, becoming powerful conduits of expression and communication. In this intricate tapestry of language, the mastery of literacy writing is a skill that goes beyond the mechanical act of stringing sentences together; it…

How To Write a Superhero Story (13 Best Tips)

In a world where the extraordinary meets the mundane, where the line between hero and villain blurs, and where the forces of good and evil clash in epic battles of morality and might, there exists a genre that transcends the boundaries of imagination—the superhero story. From the iconic caped crusaders of comic book lore to…

How to Describe a Heart Attack in a Story (10 Best Tips)

In the intricate tapestry of storytelling, describing a heart attack is an art that goes beyond the mere portrayal of medical events. It is a narrative symphony that requires a delicate fusion of medical accuracy and storytelling prowess. In this exploration, we embark on a literary journey to understand the nuances of crafting a heart…

Exploring 26 Metaphors for Darkness: A Comprehensive Guide

Share this post:

In the realm of literature, darkness is more than the mere absence of light. It’s a canvas onto which writers paint vivid emotions, sensations, and ideas. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve deep into the poetic world of “26 Metaphors for Darkness.” Each metaphor is a unique lens through which we can view this enigmatic concept. Let’s embark on this journey of words, exploring the profound and captivating ways darkness is described in the English language .

26 Metaphors for Darkness

• The Abyss : Darkness can be like an abyss, deep and impenetrable.
• Velvet Night : It’s as soft and enveloping as velvet.
• Obsidian Veil : A dark, mysterious veil that conceals.
• Blanket of Shadows : Darkness can feel like a comforting blanket.
• Starless Canvas : An empty canvas without stars.
• Midnight’s Cloak : Like a cloak that wraps around the world.
• Inkwell of Despair : Darkness can be like a well of sadness.
• Moonless Abyss : A bottomless pit without the moon’s light.
• Murky Waters : Dark and unclear, like murky waters.
• Dusky Silence : A hushed and dusky stillness.
• Shroud of Mystery : Wrapped in a shroud of secrets.
• Nocturnal Embrace : Darkness embraces the night creatures.
• Ebon Enigma : An intricate and puzzling darkness.
• Cloak of Solitude : Solitary and peaceful, like a cloak.
• Shadowed Whispers : Whispers in the dark reveal truths.
• Abyss of Dreams : Where dreams take flight in the dark.
• Veil of Serenity : A serene calmness within the darkness.
• Enchanted Twilight : Magical moments at dusk.
• Endless Night : Timeless darkness that seems eternal.
• Cosmic Silence : The quiet of the vast universe.
• Velvet Curtain : Like a curtain closing on the day.
• Shadowy Serenade : The night’s creatures sing in shadows.
• Inky Horizon : Where the dark meets the first light.
• Twilight’s Embrace : Embracing the transition between day and night.
• Midnight Symphony : The harmony of the night sky.
• Whispering Void : A silent and eerie emptiness.

These metaphors capture the various shades and nuances of darkness in language and imagination.

These examples illustrate the rich and varied ways in which darkness can be metaphorically described in language.

Velvet Night: Embracing the Softness of Darkness

When we speak of darkness, one metaphor that beautifully encapsulates its essence is “Velvet Night.” Just like the soft touch of velvet, darkness can embrace us in its gentle, soothing caress. In this section, we’ll explore the nuances of this metaphor and how it can be used in various contexts, from formal to informal.

Definition : “Velvet Night” refers to darkness that is soft, comforting, and enveloping, akin to the feel of velvet fabric.

Where to Use “Velvet Night”

In literature and poetry (formal).

In the realm of literature and poetry, “Velvet Night” can be a powerful metaphor to evoke emotions and create vivid imagery. It’s often used to describe serene and tranquil moments, such as the calm before a storm or the peacefulness of a quiet night.

Example : “The poet’s words painted a picture of the world, wrapped in the velvet night, where dreams were born.”

Romantic Conversations (Informal)

When expressing love or affection in an informal setting, referring to darkness as “Velvet Night” can add a touch of romance and tenderness to your words.

Example (Between Romantic Partners) : “As we strolled under the moonlight, I felt like we were wrapped in the velvet night, our hearts beating in harmony.”

Professional Correspondence (Formal)

In professional emails or correspondence, you can use this metaphor to describe a peaceful and calm atmosphere, which can be particularly effective when discussing stress relief or relaxation techniques.

Example (In a Work Email) : “Dear team, in the midst of our busy schedules, let’s find moments of respite in the velvet night of meditation and mindfulness.”

Pros of Using “Velvet Night”

• Evokes a sense of calm and serenity.
• Creates vivid mental images for readers.
• Adds a touch of elegance and sophistication to language.

Cons of Using “Velvet Night”

• May not be suitable for contexts requiring a more straightforward or technical tone.
• Overuse in formal writing can diminish its impact.

Grammar and Usage Tips

• “Velvet Night” is often used as a singular noun phrase, so it should be treated as such in sentences.

Exceptions and Variations

• In a more casual context, you can use variations like “soft night” or “gentle night” to convey a similar feeling without the elegance associated with velvet.

Dictionary Insights

The Cambridge Dictionary defines “velvet” as a soft material with a surface like silk but thicker and consisting of threads of the same length. When applied metaphorically to night, it emphasizes the smooth and luxurious qualities of darkness.

In summary, “Velvet Night” is a metaphor that envelops darkness in softness and comfort, making it a valuable tool for poets, romantics, and those seeking to add a touch of elegance to their language.

Midnight’s Cloak: The Shroud of Night

Imagine a world covered by a cloak, not of fabric, but of darkness. “Midnight’s Cloak” is a metaphor that paints this picture, and in this section, we’ll explore its meaning, usage, and the scenarios where it can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Midnight’s Cloak” refers to darkness that wraps around the world, akin to a cloak worn during the midnight hours.

Where to Use “Midnight’s Cloak”

In descriptive writing (formal).

Writers often employ this metaphor to create vivid descriptions of nighttime scenes or settings. It can be used in formal contexts like travel guides or literature analysis.

Example : “The author skillfully used ‘Midnight’s Cloak’ to set the stage for the eerie events that unfolded in the story, creating an atmosphere of mystery and suspense.”

In Storytelling (Informal)

For storytellers and casual writers, “Midnight’s Cloak” can be a captivating way to describe the ambiance of a scene, particularly in genres like fantasy or mystery.

Example (Fantasy Novel) : “As the wizard ventured deeper into the enchanted forest, ‘Midnight’s Cloak’ enveloped him, shielding him from the prying eyes of magical creatures.”

In Professional Presentations (Formal)

When delivering formal presentations or speeches, using this metaphor can add a touch of eloquence to your language when discussing nighttime scenarios or symbolism.

Example (In a Business Presentation) : “Just as ‘Midnight’s Cloak’ symbolizes secrecy and concealment, our company’s innovative approach will shroud our competitors in mystery.”

Pros of Using “Midnight’s Cloak”

• Creates a vivid and immersive atmosphere.
• Can be used in both formal and informal contexts.
• Evokes a sense of mystery and intrigue.

Cons of Using “Midnight’s Cloak”

• Overuse in a single piece of writing can dilute its impact.
• May not be suitable for highly technical or scientific content.
• “Midnight’s Cloak” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated accordingly in sentences.
• In more casual settings, you can use simpler variations like “night’s cloak” or “midnight cloak.”

The term “cloak” typically refers to a loose outer garment that covers the body. When applied metaphorically to darkness, it conveys the idea of something enveloping and concealing.

In summary, “Midnight’s Cloak” is a metaphor that brings a sense of mystery and concealment to the darkness, making it a valuable tool for writers, presenters, and storytellers.

Shroud of Mystery: Unveiling the Enigmatic Darkness

In the realm of metaphors for darkness, few are as captivating as the “Shroud of Mystery.” This metaphor conjures images of secrecy, intrigue, and the unknown. In this section, we’ll delve into the meaning, usage, and the diverse contexts in which “Shroud of Mystery” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Shroud of Mystery” refers to darkness that conceals and wraps itself in an aura of secrecy and enigma.

Where to Use “Shroud of Mystery”

In mystery novels (formal).

Mystery novelists often employ this metaphor to set the tone for their stories. It’s a powerful way to introduce an air of intrigue, making it a favorite in the literary world.

Example : “In Agatha Christie’s classic detective novels, the ‘Shroud of Mystery’ surrounding the crimes keeps readers guessing until the very end.”

In Creative Writing (Informal)

For writers of creative fiction or personal narratives, “Shroud of Mystery” can be used to describe moments of uncertainty or intrigue in a more informal, storytelling manner.

Example (Personal Narrative) : “As I ventured into the abandoned mansion, the ‘Shroud of Mystery’ that hung in the air sent shivers down my spine.”

In Marketing and Branding (Formal)

In a formal marketing context, this metaphor can be employed to describe the allure and intrigue of a product or service, emphasizing its unique and mysterious qualities.

Example (Product Description) : “Our new fragrance is like a ‘Shroud of Mystery,’ captivating the senses and leaving an unforgettable impression.”

Pros of Using “Shroud of Mystery”

• Evokes curiosity and captures attention.
• Adds an element of sophistication to language.
• Versatile and suitable for various contexts.

Cons of Using “Shroud of Mystery”

• Overuse can diminish its impact and make the writing feel clichéd.
• May not be appropriate for technical or scientific content.
• “Shroud of Mystery” is a singular noun phrase, so it should be treated as such in sentences.
• In less formal contexts, you can use simpler phrases like “mystery shroud” or “enigmatic shroud” to convey a similar idea.

The word “shroud” is typically associated with a cloth used to wrap a body for burial, emphasizing the idea of concealment and covering. When applied metaphorically to darkness, it adds depth to the concept of mystery.

In summary, “Shroud of Mystery” is a metaphor that veils darkness in secrecy and intrigue, making it an ideal choice for mystery writers, marketers, and storytellers seeking to engage their audience’s curiosity.

Whispering Void: The Eerie Silence of Darkness

“Whispering Void” is a metaphor that brings forth a haunting image of darkness. It suggests a silent, eerie emptiness where the world seems to hold its breath. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the different contexts in which “Whispering Void” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Whispering Void” refers to a dark, silent emptiness that feels eerie and mysterious, as if secrets are hidden within it.

Where to Use “Whispering Void”

In horror fiction (formal).

In the realm of horror fiction, this metaphor is a powerful tool for creating a spine-chilling atmosphere. It can be used to describe settings, moments of suspense, or eerie silence.

Example : “The haunted mansion was surrounded by a ‘Whispering Void,’ as if the darkness itself held the secrets of its tragic past.”

In Poetry and Symbolism (Formal)

Poets and those who appreciate symbolism can use this metaphor to convey deeper meanings or emotions associated with the unknown or introspection.

Example (Poetry) : “In the ‘Whispering Void’ of solitude, I heard the echoes of my thoughts, like distant whispers of forgotten dreams.”

In Everyday Language (Informal)

In informal conversation or storytelling, “Whispering Void” can be used to describe moments of eerie silence or anticipation.

Example (Casual Conversation) : “As we entered the abandoned building, the ‘Whispering Void’ of the empty corridors sent shivers down our spines.”

Pros of Using “Whispering Void”

• Creates a sense of foreboding and suspense.
• Ideal for horror, mystery, or introspective themes.
• Evokes strong emotional and sensory responses.

Cons of Using “Whispering Void”

• Can be too intense for some audiences and contexts.
• Overuse may desensitize readers to its impact.
• “Whispering Void” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of eerie silence, you can use variations like “silent void” or “whispering darkness.”

The word “whisper” implies soft, hushed, and secretive communication. When combined with “void,” it creates a powerful metaphorical image of darkness that seems to hold hidden secrets.

In summary, “Whispering Void” is a metaphor that encapsulates the eerie and mysterious nature of darkness, making it a compelling choice for horror writers, poets, and those seeking to evoke a sense of anticipation or introspection.

Nocturnal Embrace: Darkness and the World of Creatures

In the world of metaphors, “Nocturnal Embrace” is a metaphor that conjures images of darkness as a comforting and nurturing entity. It suggests a symbiotic relationship between the night and the creatures that thrive in its embrace. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the diverse contexts where “Nocturnal Embrace” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Nocturnal Embrace” refers to the idea that darkness provides a secure and nurturing environment for creatures that are active during the night.

Where to Use “Nocturnal Embrace”

In nature and wildlife writing (formal).

For writers and researchers in the field of wildlife and nature, this metaphor can be used to describe the unique adaptations and behaviors of nocturnal animals.

Example : “The savanna comes alive with the ‘Nocturnal Embrace’ as creatures like owls, hyenas, and lions emerge to rule the night.”

In Personal Narratives (Informal)

When sharing personal experiences or stories, “Nocturnal Embrace” can be used to describe the feeling of comfort and security during nighttime adventures or camping trips.

Example (Casual Storytelling) : “As we sat around the campfire, the ‘Nocturnal Embrace’ of the forest enveloped us, and we felt at one with nature.”

In Environmental Advocacy (Formal)

In formal discussions about preserving natural habitats or minimizing light pollution, this metaphor can emphasize the importance of maintaining the sanctity of the night for nocturnal creatures.

Example (Environmental Presentation) : “Protecting the ‘Nocturnal Embrace’ of our wilderness areas is crucial for the survival of countless species that rely on the cover of darkness.”

Pros of Using “Nocturnal Embrace”

• Evokes a sense of safety and coexistence.
• Highlights the unique characteristics of nocturnal creatures.
• Suitable for both formal and informal contexts.

Cons of Using “Nocturnal Embrace”

• May not be appropriate for contexts unrelated to nature or wildlife.
• Overuse can diminish its impact.
• “Nocturnal Embrace” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar idea in a less formal manner, you can use phrases like “nighttime embrace” or “darkness’s comfort.”

The term “nocturnal” is derived from the Latin word “nocturnalis,” meaning “pertaining to the night.” It is commonly used to describe animals that are active during the night, emphasizing their adaptation to darkness.

In summary, “Nocturnal Embrace” is a metaphor that highlights the nurturing relationship between darkness and nocturnal creatures, making it a valuable tool for writers, environmentalists, and storytellers.

Ebon Enigma: Darkness as an Intricate Puzzle

The metaphor “Ebon Enigma” paints darkness as a complex and mysterious puzzle waiting to be unraveled. It suggests that within the obscurity of the night, there are hidden depths and undiscovered secrets. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the diverse contexts where “Ebon Enigma” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Ebon Enigma” refers to darkness as an intricate and puzzling mystery, often associated with hidden knowledge or secrets.

Where to Use “Ebon Enigma”

In mystery novels and thrillers (formal).

Authors of mystery novels and thrillers can use this metaphor to create an atmosphere of intrigue and suspense, where the darkness itself becomes a central element of the plot.

Example : “The detective found himself drawn deeper into the ‘Ebon Enigma’ of the unsolved case, where every clue led to more questions.”

For writers and storytellers, “Ebon Enigma” can be a captivating way to describe moments of uncertainty, reflection, or discovery in an informal, imaginative manner.

Example (Creative Writing) : “As the protagonist ventured into the ancient library, the ‘Ebon Enigma’ of forgotten knowledge beckoned, promising answers to long-buried questions.”

In Educational Contexts (Formal)

In formal presentations or educational discussions, this metaphor can be used to describe the complexity of certain subjects or concepts, emphasizing the need for exploration and understanding.

Example (Educational Presentation) : “Quantum physics, often seen as the ‘Ebon Enigma’ of science, challenges our understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe.”

Pros of Using “Ebon Enigma”

• Creates an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue.
• Encourages exploration and curiosity.
• Suitable for both formal and creative contexts.

Cons of Using “Ebon Enigma”

• May not be suitable for straightforward or technical writing.
• Overuse can dilute its impact.
• “Ebon Enigma” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of mystery and complexity, you can use variations like “dark enigma” or “puzzling darkness.”

The word “ebon” is an archaic term for “black” or “dark,” often associated with poetic and literary language. When combined with “enigma,” it creates a metaphor that emphasizes the enigmatic nature of darkness.

In summary, “Ebon Enigma” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a complex and mysterious puzzle, making it a valuable tool for mystery writers, educators, and anyone seeking to convey the allure of the unknown.

Cloak of Solitude: Finding Peace in Darkness

The metaphor “Cloak of Solitude” casts darkness as a garment that envelops us in solitude and tranquility. It suggests that in the absence of light, we can find solace and peacefulness. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Cloak of Solitude” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Cloak of Solitude” refers to darkness that offers a sense of solace, peace, and a break from the hustle and bustle of the world.

Where to Use “Cloak of Solitude”

In reflective writing (formal).

Writers often use this metaphor in reflective or philosophical pieces to convey the idea of finding inner peace and solitude amid the challenges of life.

Example : “In the depths of meditation, I found myself wrapped in the ‘Cloak of Solitude,’ a place of inner calm and serenity.”

In Personal Journals (Informal)

In personal journals or diary entries, “Cloak of Solitude” can be used to describe moments of quiet introspection and self-discovery.

Example (Journal Entry) : “Under the starry sky, I walked alone, feeling the ‘Cloak of Solitude’ around me, offering respite from the noise of the world.”

In Mental Health Discussions (Formal)

In formal discussions related to mental health and well-being, this metaphor can emphasize the importance of finding moments of solitude and inner peace.

Example (Mental Health Seminar) : “Amid the challenges of modern life, it’s essential to seek the ‘Cloak of Solitude’ to nourish our mental and emotional well-being.”

Pros of Using “Cloak of Solitude”

• Evokes a sense of tranquility and inner peace.
• Encourages self-reflection and mindfulness.
• Suitable for both formal and personal contexts.

Cons of Using “Cloak of Solitude”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to emotions, introspection, or well-being.
• “Cloak of Solitude” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of tranquility, you can use variations like “peaceful cloak” or “solitary cloak.”

The word “cloak” typically refers to a loose outer garment worn to cover oneself, often used metaphorically to describe something that provides cover or concealment. When applied to darkness, it emphasizes the idea of a protective and comforting cover.

In summary, “Cloak of Solitude” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a source of inner peace and tranquility, making it a valuable tool for writers, philosophers, and those seeking moments of introspection and mindfulness.

Shadowed Whispers: Unveiling Truths in Darkness

“Shadowed Whispers” is a metaphor that invites us to listen closely to the secrets and truths that emerge in the quiet of darkness. It suggests that within the obscurity, there are revelations waiting to be discovered. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Shadowed Whispers” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Shadowed Whispers” refers to the idea that in moments of darkness or secrecy, important truths or revelations may become apparent through quiet, hushed communication.

Where to Use “Shadowed Whispers”

In detective fiction (formal).

Authors of detective novels and mysteries often use this metaphor to create an atmosphere of intrigue and discovery, where hidden truths are revealed.

Example : “As the detective examined the crime scene, he felt as though ‘Shadowed Whispers’ were guiding him toward the solution to the mystery.”

In Personal Growth and Discovery (Informal)

In personal essays or discussions about self-discovery and growth, “Shadowed Whispers” can be used to describe moments of insight or clarity in one’s life journey.

Example (Personal Essay) : “In the darkest moments of my life, I heard ‘Shadowed Whispers’ that led me to profound realizations about who I am and what truly matters.”

In Ethical or Moral Debates (Formal)

In formal debates or discussions about ethics and morality, this metaphor can emphasize the importance of uncovering hidden truths and exposing wrongdoing.

Example (Ethical Debate) : “In our pursuit of justice , it’s essential to listen to the ‘Shadowed Whispers’ of truth, even when they challenge the status quo.”

Pros of Using “Shadowed Whispers”

• Creates an atmosphere of mystery and discovery.
• Encourages attentive listening and introspection.

Cons of Using “Shadowed Whispers”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to discovery, revelation, or hidden truths.
• “Shadowed Whispers” is often used as a plural noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of hidden truths, you can use variations like “mysterious whispers” or “quiet revelations.”

The word “whisper” implies soft, hushed, and secretive communication. When combined with “shadowed,” it creates a metaphor that underscores the idea of hidden or obscured truths.

In summary, “Shadowed Whispers” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a realm where important truths may be revealed through quiet communication, making it a valuable tool for mystery writers, self-help authors, and those engaged in ethical debates or self-reflection.

Inky Abyss: The Depths of the Unknown

The metaphor “Inky Abyss” paints darkness as an enigmatic abyss, inviting us to explore its uncharted depths. It suggests that within the obscurity of the night, there are mysteries and possibilities waiting to be uncovered. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Inky Abyss” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Inky Abyss” refers to darkness as an unfathomable, mysterious expanse where secrets and undiscovered wonders may reside.

Where to Use “Inky Abyss”

In science fiction and fantasy (formal).

Authors of science fiction and fantasy literature often use this metaphor to describe unexplored realms or the unknown depths of the universe.

Example : “In the far reaches of the galaxy, an ‘Inky Abyss’ stretched beyond imagination, concealing alien civilizations and ancient artifacts.”

In Creative Writing and Storytelling (Informal)

For creative writers and storytellers, “Inky Abyss” can be used to evoke a sense of wonder and adventure when describing uncharted territories or the mysterious aspects of a narrative.

Example (Creative Writing) : “The protagonist embarked on a daring journey into the ‘Inky Abyss,’ driven by the desire to uncover the truth behind the legend.”

In Philosophical Discussions (Formal)

In formal philosophical discussions about the nature of the universe or the human experience, this metaphor can emphasize the vastness of the unknown and the pursuit of knowledge.

Example (Philosophical Essay) : “The ‘Inky Abyss’ of existence beckons philosophers and scientists alike, challenging us to explore the boundaries of human understanding.”

Pros of Using “Inky Abyss”

• Creates a sense of mystery, wonder, and exploration.
• Encourages curiosity and the quest for knowledge.
• Suitable for both formal and imaginative contexts.

Cons of Using “Inky Abyss”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to exploration, curiosity, or the unknown.
• “Inky Abyss” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of the unknown, you can use variations like “mysterious abyss” or “inky depths.”

The word “inky” implies a deep, dark, and often fluid quality, similar to the color of black ink. When combined with “abyss,” it creates a metaphor that emphasizes the unfathomable depths of darkness.

In summary, “Inky Abyss” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as an uncharted realm filled with mysteries and possibilities, making it a valuable tool for writers of speculative fiction, philosophers, and storytellers who seek to inspire wonder and curiosity.

Starlit Veil: The Cosmic Drapery of Darkness

“Starlit Veil” is a metaphor that unveils the celestial beauty hidden within darkness. It suggests that beyond the obscurity of night, there are shimmering wonders waiting to be discovered. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Starlit Veil” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Starlit Veil” refers to darkness as a delicate, celestial drapery adorned with the brilliance of stars, creating a breathtaking and enchanting vista.

Where to Use “Starlit Veil”

In romantic poetry (formal).

Poets often use this metaphor to describe the romantic beauty of the night sky, where stars adorn the “Starlit Veil” of darkness.

Example : “Beneath the ‘Starlit Veil’ of the night, we danced, our love illuminated by the constellations above.”

In Stargazing and Astronomy (Formal)

In formal discussions about astronomy and the wonders of the cosmos, this metaphor can emphasize the awe-inspiring nature of the night sky.

Example (Astronomy Lecture) : “As we peer through telescopes, we unveil the secrets of the universe hidden behind the ‘Starlit Veil’ of space.”

In Casual Observations (Informal)

In informal conversations or storytelling, “Starlit Veil” can be used to describe moments of stargazing or appreciating the beauty of the night sky.

Example (Casual Conversation) : “Lying on a blanket under the ‘Starlit Veil,’ we marveled at the vastness of the universe and our place in it.”

Pros of Using “Starlit Veil”

• Evokes a sense of wonder, beauty, and cosmic scale.
• Creates a romantic and enchanting atmosphere.

Cons of Using “Starlit Veil”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to celestial beauty, romance, or awe.
• “Starlit Veil” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of celestial beauty, you can use variations like “starry veil” or “stellar drapery.”

The term “starlit” directly references the presence of stars, which add a luminous quality to the metaphor. When combined with “veil,” it creates an image of darkness adorned with the brilliance of celestial bodies.

In summary, “Starlit Veil” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a canvas for the beauty of the night sky, making it a valuable tool for romantic poets, astronomers, and anyone seeking to capture the enchantment of the cosmos.

Veil of Serenity: Finding Peace in the Night

“Veil of Serenity” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a comforting shroud of calm and tranquility. It suggests that within the obscurity of the night, there is an opportunity to find solace and peace. In this section, we’ll delve into the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Veil of Serenity” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Veil of Serenity” refers to darkness as a gentle and soothing cover that brings a sense of inner peace and tranquility.

Where to Use “Veil of Serenity”

In meditative practices (formal).

In discussions about meditation, mindfulness, or practices that promote inner peace, this metaphor can emphasize the calming and serene nature of darkness.

Example : “As we close our eyes and enter a state of meditation, we are enveloped by the ‘Veil of Serenity,’ a place of inner calm and reflection.”

In Personal Reflections (Informal)

In informal writing or personal reflections, “Veil of Serenity” can be used to describe moments of quiet introspection and inner peace.

Example (Personal Reflection) : “Amid the chaos of life, I find solace in the ‘Veil of Serenity’ that descends with the setting sun, allowing me to reconnect with my inner self.”

In Stress Relief and Well-being (Formal)

In formal discussions related to stress relief, mental health, or well-being, this metaphor can emphasize the importance of finding moments of serenity and calmness.

Example (Wellness Seminar) : “In our fast-paced world, embracing the ‘Veil of Serenity’ through mindfulness practices can lead to improved mental and emotional well-being.”

Pros of Using “Veil of Serenity”

• Evokes a sense of calm, inner peace, and serenity.
• Encourages mindfulness and reflection.

Cons of Using “Veil of Serenity”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to inner peace, mindfulness, or well-being.
• “Veil of Serenity” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of inner peace, you can use variations like “serene veil” or “peaceful shroud.”

The word “veil” implies a soft and gentle cover, often used metaphorically to describe something that conceals or brings a sense of mystery. When combined with “serenity,” it creates an image of darkness as a soothing and calming presence.

In summary, “Veil of Serenity” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a source of inner peace and tranquility, making it a valuable tool for writers, wellness advocates, and those seeking moments of mindfulness and reflection.

Enigmatic Depths: Exploring the Secrets of Darkness

The metaphor “Enigmatic Depths” invites us to plunge into the mysteries and secrets hidden within darkness. It suggests that within the obscurity of the night, there are profound and enigmatic revelations waiting to be uncovered. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Enigmatic Depths” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Enigmatic Depths” refers to darkness as a deep and mysterious realm where hidden truths and profound mysteries may be concealed.

Where to Use “Enigmatic Depths”

In philosophical discourse (formal).

In formal philosophical discussions about the nature of reality, knowledge, or human existence, this metaphor can emphasize the profound and mysterious aspects of existence.

Example : “Philosophers have long delved into the ‘Enigmatic Depths’ of human consciousness, seeking answers to the most profound questions of existence.”

In Literary Analysis (Formal)

In academic discussions about literature and symbolism, “Enigmatic Depths” can be used to analyze the layers of meaning and complexity in literary works.

Example (Literary Critique) : “In the novel’s exploration of the ‘Enigmatic Depths’ of the human psyche, the author delves into the complexities of human nature and desire.”

In Personal Quests for Knowledge (Informal)

In informal writing or storytelling, “Enigmatic Depths” can be employed to describe personal journeys of discovery and exploration, especially when it involves uncovering hidden truths.

Example (Personal Quest) : “My journey into the ‘Enigmatic Depths’ of history led me to unearth forgotten stories and reveal the untold aspects of the past.”

Pros of Using “Enigmatic Depths”

• Evokes a sense of mystery, profundity, and exploration.
• Encourages philosophical reflection and intellectual curiosity.

Cons of Using “Enigmatic Depths”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to exploration, philosophy, or deep inquiry.
• “Enigmatic Depths” is often used as a plural noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of profundity and mystery, you can use variations like “mysterious depths” or “enigmatic realm.”

The word “enigmatic” is derived from the Greek word “ainigma,” meaning “riddle” or “mystery.” When combined with “depths,” it creates an image of darkness as a profound and mysterious space.

In summary, “Enigmatic Depths” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a realm of profound mystery and hidden truths, making it a valuable tool for philosophers, literary analysts, and those engaged in personal quests for knowledge and understanding.

Obsidian Silence: Where Thoughts Take Flight

The metaphor “Obsidian Silence” conjures an image of darkness as a canvas upon which thoughts and ideas come to life. It suggests that within the quiet of the night, the mind is free to explore uncharted territories. In this section, we’ll delve into the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Obsidian Silence” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Obsidian Silence” refers to darkness as a tranquil and contemplative space where thoughts, creativity, and imagination flourish.

Where to Use “Obsidian Silence”

In artistic creation (formal).

Artists, writers, and creators can use this metaphor to describe the creative process and the inspiration that often emerges during quiet, contemplative moments in the dark.

Example : “As the painter worked in the ‘Obsidian Silence’ of his studio, his imagination soared, giving birth to a masterpiece that captured the essence of the night.”

In Personal Reflection and Journaling (Informal)

In personal reflections or journal entries, “Obsidian Silence” can be used to describe moments of deep thought, introspection, and creative ideation.

Example (Journal Entry) : “Under the cover of ‘Obsidian Silence,’ I found the inspiration to write, allowing my thoughts to flow freely onto the page.”

In Creativity Workshops (Formal)

In formal discussions or workshops on creativity and innovation, this metaphor can emphasize the importance of creating an environment that fosters creative thinking.

Example (Creativity Seminar) : “In our pursuit of innovation, we must embrace the ‘Obsidian Silence’ as a space where fresh ideas and solutions can take root.”

Pros of Using “Obsidian Silence”

• Evokes a sense of tranquility, creativity, and inspiration.
• Encourages introspection and contemplative thought.

Cons of Using “Obsidian Silence”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to creativity, contemplation, or introspection.
• “Obsidian Silence” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of creative contemplation, you can use variations like “creative silence” or “thoughtful darkness.”

The word “obsidian” refers to a type of volcanic glass known for its deep black color. When combined with “silence,” it creates an image of darkness as a peaceful, creative space.

In summary, “Obsidian Silence” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a fertile ground for creativity, contemplation, and imagination, making it a valuable tool for artists, writers, and those seeking to harness the power of quiet thought.

Enveloping Mystery: Unveiling the Unknown

The metaphor “Enveloping Mystery” invites us to explore the mysteries and secrets concealed within darkness. It suggests that within the obscurity of the night, there are hidden truths waiting to be unveiled. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Enveloping Mystery” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Enveloping Mystery” refers to darkness as a shroud that covers hidden truths, inviting us to uncover and understand the unknown.

Where to Use “Enveloping Mystery”

In scientific inquiry (formal).

In discussions about scientific exploration and the pursuit of knowledge, this metaphor can emphasize the mysteries of the universe and the need for discovery.

Example : “Astronomers peer into the ‘Enveloping Mystery’ of the cosmos, seeking answers to questions that have fascinated humanity for centuries.”

Example : “The detective unraveled the ‘Enveloping Mystery’ of the case, exposing the secrets that had eluded everyone else.”

In Personal Quests for Understanding (Informal)

In informal writing or storytelling, “Enveloping Mystery” can be employed to describe personal journeys of discovery, curiosity, and the pursuit of knowledge.

Example (Personal Quest) : “Embarking on a journey of self-discovery, I ventured into the ‘Enveloping Mystery’ of my own psyche, seeking to understand the depths of my emotions and desires.”

Pros of Using “Enveloping Mystery”

• Evokes a sense of intrigue, discovery, and the pursuit of knowledge.
• Encourages curiosity and exploration.

Cons of Using “Enveloping Mystery”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to exploration, mystery, or the pursuit of knowledge.
• “Enveloping Mystery” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of hidden truths and exploration, you can use variations like “mysterious shroud” or “unveiled secrets.”

The word “envelop” implies the act of covering or surrounding something completely. When combined with “mystery,” it creates an image of darkness as a veil that conceals unknown truths.

In summary, “Enveloping Mystery” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a realm of hidden truths and mysteries, inviting us to embark on journeys of discovery and exploration, making it a valuable tool for scientists, mystery writers, and those seeking to understand the unknown.

Midnight Reverie: Dreams in the Dark

The metaphor “Midnight Reverie” paints darkness as a canvas for dreams and imaginative journeys. It suggests that within the quietude of the night, the mind roams freely, weaving dreams and fantasies. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Midnight Reverie” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Midnight Reverie” refers to darkness as a serene and fertile ground where dreams and creative thoughts take shape.

Where to Use “Midnight Reverie”

Writers and poets often use this metaphor to evoke a sense of wonder and creativity when describing the nocturnal world and the birth of ideas.

Example : “Under the star-studded sky, poets find inspiration in the ‘Midnight Reverie,’ where words dance like constellations.”

In Personal Reflection (Informal)

In personal reflections or narratives, “Midnight Reverie” can be used to describe moments of introspection, imagination, and the emergence of ideas.

Example (Personal Narrative) : “As I lay awake in the ‘Midnight Reverie,’ my mind wandered through the realms of possibility, shaping stories that had yet to be told.”

Artists and creators can use this metaphor to emphasize the importance of embracing the quietude of the night as a time for creative expression.

Example (Artistic Workshop) : “In the world of art, the ‘Midnight Reverie’ is a sacred time when artists breathe life into their visions, guided by the muse of darkness.”

Pros of Using “Midnight Reverie”

• Evokes a sense of creativity, imagination, and the birth of ideas.
• Encourages introspection and artistic expression.

Cons of Using “Midnight Reverie”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to creativity, dreams, or imagination.
• “Midnight Reverie” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of creative thought, you can use variations like “nocturnal reverie” or “midnight inspiration.”

The word “reverie” implies a state of dreamy contemplation or imaginative musing. When combined with “midnight,” it creates an image of darkness as a time when dreams and creative thoughts flourish.

In summary, “Midnight Reverie” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a fertile ground for dreams, creativity, and imaginative journeys, making it a valuable tool for writers, artists, and those who seek to explore the realm of possibilities in the quiet of the night.

Eclipsed Hope: Light Emerging from Darkness

The metaphor “Eclipsed Hope” symbolizes darkness as a temporary phase where the light of hope remains hidden but is destined to emerge. It suggests that within the darkest moments, there is the potential for hope and renewal. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Eclipsed Hope” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Eclipsed Hope” refers to darkness as a metaphorical eclipse that momentarily conceals hope but hints at its eventual return.

Where to Use “Eclipsed Hope”

In inspirational writing (formal).

In inspirational speeches, essays, or self-help literature, this metaphor can emphasize the resilience of hope even in the face of adversity.

Example : “In our darkest hours, when hope seems ‘Eclipsed,’ we must remember that every eclipse is followed by the return of the sun’s radiant light.”

In Personal Narratives of Triumph (Informal)

In personal stories of overcoming challenges or setbacks, “Eclipsed Hope” can be used to describe moments when hope seemed distant but ultimately prevailed.

Example (Personal Triumph) : “My journey through illness was marked by moments of ‘Eclipsed Hope,’ but with each struggle, my determination grew, and hope emerged stronger than ever.”

In Motivational Seminars (Formal)

In formal discussions or seminars on resilience and motivation, this metaphor can underscore the idea that hope can shine even in the darkest times.

Example (Motivational Seminar) : “During life’s trials and tribulations, remember that hope is never truly extinguished; it is merely ‘Eclipsed’ for a while, waiting to burst forth anew.”

Pros of Using “Eclipsed Hope”

• Evokes a sense of resilience, renewal, and the enduring nature of hope.
• Encourages optimism and perseverance.

Cons of Using “Eclipsed Hope”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to hope, adversity, or resilience.
• “Eclipsed Hope” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of hope overcoming darkness, you can use variations like “renewed hope” or “emerging light.”

The word “eclipsed” is derived from the Greek word “ekleípō,” meaning “to fail to appear” or “to be obscured.” When combined with “hope,” it creates an image of darkness temporarily concealing the radiance of hope.

In summary, “Eclipsed Hope” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a momentary eclipse of hope, emphasizing the idea that hope can endure and re-emerge, even in the bleakest of circumstances, making it a valuable tool for motivational speakers, writers, and those who seek to inspire resilience and optimism.

Velvet Embrace: Comfort in the Shadows

The metaphor “Velvet Embrace” portrays darkness as a gentle, comforting presence, like a soft embrace that soothes and consoles. It suggests that within the obscurity of the night, there is a sanctuary of warmth and solace. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Velvet Embrace” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Velvet Embrace” refers to darkness as a tender and comforting envelopment that provides solace and reassurance.

Where to Use “Velvet Embrace”

In comforting narratives (informal).

In storytelling or narratives meant to provide comfort and reassurance, this metaphor can be used to describe moments of solace and emotional support .

Example (Comforting Story) : “Amidst the storm, the ‘Velvet Embrace’ of the night sky offered shelter and reassurance, reminding us that even in darkness, there is comfort.”

In Poetic Expression (Formal)

Poets and lyricists can use this metaphor to create a sense of emotional depth and tenderness when describing the night.

Example : “In the ‘Velvet Embrace’ of twilight, hearts find solace, and souls are cradled by the gentle arms of night.”

In Psychological Healing (Formal)

In discussions about emotional healing, therapy, or self-care, “Velvet Embrace” can be employed to emphasize the importance of finding comfort and support during difficult times.

Example (Therapeutic Session) : “In our journey towards healing, we must recognize the value of the ‘Velvet Embrace’ within, a source of inner strength and resilience.”

Pros of Using “Velvet Embrace”

• Evokes a sense of comfort, solace, and emotional support.
• Encourages empathy and understanding.

Cons of Using “Velvet Embrace”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to comfort, emotional support, or solace.
• “Velvet Embrace” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of comfort and tenderness, you can use variations like “gentle embrace” or “soothing solace.”

The word “velvet” is associated with a soft and luxurious texture, often used metaphorically to describe something smooth and comforting. When combined with “embrace,” it creates an image of darkness as a comforting and nurturing presence.

In summary, “Velvet Embrace” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a source of comfort, solace, and emotional support, making it a valuable tool for storytellers, poets, therapists, and those seeking to provide reassurance and empathy.

Midnight Conversations: Whispers of the Soul

The metaphor “Midnight Conversations” symbolizes darkness as a time for introspection and deep self-reflection. It suggests that within the quiet of the night, the soul engages in profound dialogue with itself. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Midnight Conversations” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Midnight Conversations” refers to darkness as a contemplative space where the inner self engages in deep reflection and introspection.

Where to Use “Midnight Conversations”

In philosophical reflection (formal).

In formal philosophical discussions about self-examination, self-awareness, or the nature of the human psyche, this metaphor can emphasize the value of introspection.

Example : “Philosophers have explored the ‘Midnight Conversations’ of the soul, delving into the depths of self-awareness and consciousness.”

In personal journal entries or reflections, “Midnight Conversations” can be used to describe moments of introspection and deep self-examination.

Example (Journal Entry) : “During the ‘Midnight Conversations’ of my soul, I confronted my fears and found the courage to pursue my true passions.”

In Therapeutic Settings (Formal)

In discussions related to therapy, counseling, or personal growth, this metaphor can underscore the importance of self-reflection and emotional exploration.

Example (Therapeutic Session) : “In the ‘Midnight Conversations’ of our inner world, we uncover the layers of our emotions, understanding ourselves more deeply and fostering healing.”

Pros of Using “Midnight Conversations”

• Evokes a sense of introspection, self-awareness, and inner dialogue.
• Encourages personal growth and self-exploration.

Cons of Using “Midnight Conversations”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to introspection, self-awareness, or deep reflection.
• “Midnight Conversations” is often used as a plural noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of inner dialogue and introspection, you can use variations like “soulful reflections” or “deep self-examination.”

The term “midnight” symbolizes the darkest and most introspective part of the night. When combined with “conversations,” it creates an image of darkness as a time when the inner self engages in meaningful dialogue and reflection.

In summary, “Midnight Conversations” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a space for profound introspection and self-awareness, making it a valuable tool for philosophers, journal writers, therapists, and those on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth.

Starry Canvas: The Universe Within Darkness

The metaphor “Starry Canvas” depicts darkness as a canvas adorned with countless stars, each representing a unique opportunity or experience waiting to be explored. It suggests that within the obscurity of the night, there are infinite possibilities and opportunities. In this section, we’ll delve into the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Starry Canvas” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Starry Canvas” refers to darkness as an expansive realm filled with boundless opportunities, experiences, and potential.

Where to Use “Starry Canvas”

In motivational speeches (formal).

Motivational speakers and leaders can use this metaphor to inspire audiences by emphasizing the vast array of opportunities that await, even in challenging times.

Example : “No matter how dark the night may seem, remember that the ‘Starry Canvas’ of your life is filled with possibilities waiting for you to explore and seize.”

In Personal Growth Discussions (Informal)

In informal discussions or self-help content, “Starry Canvas” can be employed to encourage individuals to embrace new experiences and take risks.

Example (Personal Growth Blog) : “As you navigate the ‘Starry Canvas’ of your personal journey, be open to new challenges and adventures; they are the stars that light your path to growth.”

In Career Development Seminars (Formal)

In formal seminars or workshops on career development and goal setting, this metaphor can underscore the importance of setting ambitious goals and pursuing one’s aspirations.

Example (Career Seminar) : “In the constellation of your career, each star represents an opportunity for growth and success . The ‘Starry Canvas’ is yours to shape.”

Pros of Using “Starry Canvas”

• Evokes a sense of boundless potential, opportunities, and exploration.
• Encourages ambition, goal setting, and embracing the unknown.

Cons of Using “Starry Canvas”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to personal growth, motivation, or ambition.
• “Starry Canvas” is often used as a singular noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of boundless potential, you can use variations like “limitless canvas” or “endless possibilities.”

The word “starry” invokes images of the night sky adorned with stars, often associated with wonder and limitless potential. When combined with “canvas,” it creates an image of darkness as a vast space where opportunities and experiences are waiting to be discovered.

In summary, “Starry Canvas” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a realm of limitless potential and boundless opportunities, making it a valuable tool for motivational speakers, personal development enthusiasts, and those who seek to inspire ambition and growth.

Lunar Whispers: Secrets of the Night

The metaphor “Lunar Whispers” invites us to listen to the secrets and wisdom concealed within darkness. It suggests that within the obscurity of the night, there are quiet revelations and insights waiting to be heard. In this section, we’ll explore the meaning, usage, and the contexts where “Lunar Whispers” can be effectively employed.

Definition : “Lunar Whispers” refers to darkness as a space where subtle and meaningful insights or secrets are revealed, much like whispers in the night.

Where to Use “Lunar Whispers”

In spiritual discourse (formal).

In formal discussions about spirituality, meditation, or inner wisdom, this metaphor can emphasize the value of listening to one’s inner self and seeking enlightenment.

Example : “In the ‘Lunar Whispers’ of deep meditation, practitioners unlock profound insights and connect with the wisdom of the soul.”

In Poetry and Literature (Formal)

Writers and poets can use this metaphor to evoke a sense of mystery and revelation when describing the night and its hidden meanings.

Example (Poetry) : “Beneath the stars and ‘Lunar Whispers’ of the night, poets find the words to express the unspoken truths of the heart.”

In informal writing or storytelling, “Lunar Whispers” can be employed to describe moments of personal revelation or insights gained through introspection.

Example (Personal Revelation) : “In the ‘Lunar Whispers’ of solitude, I uncovered the answers to questions that had long eluded me, finding clarity in the darkness.”

Pros of Using “Lunar Whispers”

• Evokes a sense of mystery, introspection, and the quest for inner wisdom.
• Encourages spiritual exploration and self-discovery.

Cons of Using “Lunar Whispers”

• May not be suitable for contexts unrelated to spirituality, introspection, or revelation.
• “Lunar Whispers” is often used as a plural noun phrase and should be treated as such in sentences.
• To convey a similar sense of quiet revelation and inner wisdom, you can use variations like “nightly whispers” or “mystical insights.”

The word “lunar” is derived from “luna,” the Latin word for “moon,” often associated with mystery and the mystical. When combined with “whispers,” it creates an image of darkness as a space where subtle and meaningful revelations occur.

In summary, “Lunar Whispers” is a metaphor that portrays darkness as a realm of quiet insights and inner wisdom, making it a valuable tool for spiritual leaders, writers, and those on a quest for self-discovery and enlightenment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How can metaphors enhance my writing? Metaphors add depth and richness to your writing by creating vivid mental images and conveying complex ideas in a more accessible way.

Q: Are metaphors only used in literature? No, metaphors are widely used in everyday language, advertising, and even in scientific explanations to simplify complex concepts.

Q: Can I create my own metaphors? Absolutely! Creating your metaphors can be a fun and creative exercise. Start by comparing two unrelated things to convey a unique perspective.

Q: Why is darkness often used as a metaphor? Darkness is a rich and versatile metaphor because it represents the unknown, mystery, and a wide range of emotions, making it a powerful literary device.

Q: How can I use metaphors effectively in my writing? To use metaphors effectively, ensure they are relevant to your theme, avoid overuse, and make sure they enhance the reader’s understanding.

Q: Are there cultural variations in the interpretation of metaphors? Yes, cultural backgrounds can influence how metaphors are interpreted, so it’s essential to consider your audience when using metaphors.

In this exploration of “26 Metaphors for Darkness,” we’ve witnessed how the English language paints darkness in various shades and hues. From the abyss to the whispering void, each metaphor invites us to contemplate the profound and evocative nature of darkness. As you embark on your own literary journey, remember that metaphors are not just words; they are windows into the depths of human imagination and emotion.

Similar Posts

26 Metaphors for Fall: Exploring the Beauty of Autumn

Share this post: Facebook X Pinterest Ah, autumn, the season of vibrant colors, crisp air, and a sense of nostalgia. As we bid farewell to the warmth of…

26 Metaphors for the Ocean: Unveiling the Depths of Imagination

The ocean, with its vastness and mystique, has been a perennial source of inspiration for poets, writers, and dreamers throughout history. It’s a canvas upon which the human…

26 Metaphors for Relationships: A Creative Exploration

In the intricate tapestry of human existence, relationships play a central role. They are the threads that connect us, weaving stories of love, friendship, and companionship. Often, we…

26 Metaphors for Power: Unveiling the Dynamics

Power, an elusive force that shapes destinies and defines realms. In this exploration, we delve into 26 metaphors for power, each offering a unique lens through which we…

26 Metaphors for Dreams: Unlocking the Realm of Imagination

Dreams, the ethereal landscapes of our subconscious, have fascinated humans for centuries. In this article, we delve into the poetic realm of metaphors, unraveling 26 captivating expressions that…

26 Metaphors for Health: Unlocking the Secrets to Well-being

Metaphors, the poetic language of everyday life, play a profound role in shaping our understanding of complex topics, including health. In this article, we’ll embark on a journey…

Dark Words for More Descriptive Writing

When it comes to writing , sometimes we want to describe things in a more powerful and evocative way. One way to achieve this is by using dark words, which can add depth and richness to your writing. Dark words can be used to create a sense of foreboding, mystery, or danger, and can make your writing more memorable and impactful.

Here are some examples of dark words that you can use in your writing:

• Abyss – a deep, dark, and seemingly endless chasm or void, often used to describe a feeling of hopelessness or despair.

Example: He stared into the abyss of his own thoughts, feeling lost and alone.

• Cryptic – mysterious or puzzling, often used to describe something that is difficult to understand or decipher.

Example: The message was cryptic, leaving her to wonder what it meant.

• Eerie – strange and unsettling, often used to describe a feeling of unease or a spooky atmosphere.

Example: The old house had an eerie quality, making her skin crawl.

• Grim – depressing or bleak, often used to describe a hopeless situation or outlook.

Example: The future looked grim, with no sign of improvement in sight.

• Macabre – disturbing or gruesome, often used to describe something that is morbid or associated with death.

Example: The macabre painting of a skull on the wall gave her a sense of unease.

• Obsidian – dark and shiny, often used to describe a sharp or dangerous object.

Example: The obsidian knife gleamed in the dim light, its sharp edge glinting.

• Ominous – threatening or foreshadowing evil, often used to describe something that is likely to bring harm or danger.

Example: The dark clouds on the horizon were an ominous sign of the storm to come.

• Sinister – evil or malevolent, often used to describe a person or situation that is threatening or dangerous.

Example: The stranger’s sinister grin gave her a sense of unease.

• Somber – dark and gloomy, often used to describe a sad or melancholic mood or atmosphere.

Example: The somber music filled the room with a sense of sadness and loss.

• Stygian – dark and foreboding, often used to describe a place or situation that is associated with death or the underworld.

Example: The entrance to the cave was a stygian portal, leading to unknown depths.

Finding distinctive dark words can pose a challenge. The word ‘dark’ is multi-faceted and can be depicted in various ways. Picking the fitting words to capture the essence of darkness amplifies the creativity and efficacy of your writing.

Hunting for uncommon dark words can be a struggle. The term ‘dark’ encompasses numerous connotations and can be characterized diversely. Choosing suitable words to articulate darkness enhances the inventiveness and influence of your writing.

Scouting for exclusive dark words can be daunting. The word ‘dark’ is loaded with various meanings and can be portrayed in several manners. Opting for the appropriate words to convey darkness elevates the ingenuity and impact of your writing.

Words to Describe Darkness

Terms to describe dark traits or actions.

Certainly! Here’s a table format for the “Terms to Describe Dark Traits or Actions” list:

By incorporating these dark words into your writing, you can create a more vivid and memorable experience for your readers. However, it’s important to use these words judiciously, as too many can create a sense of overwhelm or melodrama. Use them sparingly, and in the right context, to make your writing more powerful and impactful.

Download Word Coach Application

English word search game, related posts:.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Download the Word coach App on your Android phone

Word Coach - IELTS and GRE Vocabulary Builder & word coach Quiz (10 Words a Day) application helps, you and your friends to improve English Vocabulary and help you become the smartest among your group.

Dark and Edgy Writing (Ultimate Guide + 21 Examples)

If you’re anything like me, you’ve always been drawn to the dark and edgy side of writing. There’s something about the forbidden that just calls to us, urging us to explore the shadows.

But it’s not always easy to find good information on how to write dark and edgy fiction.

That’s why I’m excited to share this ultimate guide with you – It’s everything you need to get started on your dark and edgy writing journey.

What Is Dark and Edgy Writing?

Table of Contents

Dark and edgy writing can be defined as a style of writing that is often thought-provoking, intense, and unsettling.

It is a type of writing used to express intense emotions and strong reactions by exploring topics such as fear, death, suffering, and despair.

Dark and edgy writing may also have elements of shock, surprise, or horror in it.

Often, dark and edgy writing is a shift in tone, word choice, and how much you buck tradition in your stories.

This can make it difficult for readers to engage with the work, but this is arguably what contributes to its effectiveness. The author is able to draw readers into their world by creating an atmosphere of suspense that keeps them on the edge of their seats.

More than just a creative choice, dark and edgy writing can act as a form of social commentary.

By expressing themes such as pain, loss, or injustice in an intense way, the writer is able to bring attention to these issues in an evocative way.

In doing so, they often challenge societal norms, which can be uncomfortable for some readers yet deeply meaningful for others.

Ultimately then, dark and edgy writing is all about creating an atmosphere of intensity and emotion that goes beyond what one might expect from more conventional styles of writing.

From engaging readers in powerful stories to challenging social conventions.

Dark and edgy writing offers up something unique and captivating for both authors and readers alike.

What’s the Difference Between Dark and Edgy Writing? (Examples)

Dark writing and edgy writing are both evocative styles of writing used to explore intense themes and emotions.

However, they differ in terms of the scope and focus of their content.

Dark writing is often characterized by a focus on themes such as death, sadness, despair, and fear. It is fully immersed in these themes in a realistic and authentic way.

Dark writing is expressed not only with themes but also through setting, description, and characters.

Meanwhile, edgy writing can also touch on these topics, it is more likely to look at subjects such as personal strength, rebellion, and justice in an intense way.

As such, dark writing often conveys a sense of hopelessness while edgy writing can be unnerving and yet empowering for readers.

For example, a dark piece of writing might explore the loss of a loved one from the point of view of someone lost in grief. This could be expressed through descriptive prose that focuses on the raw emotions associated with being bereft.

In contrast, an edgy piece might follow the story of someone overcoming adversity to fight for what is right despite all odds.

They are on the edge of darkness, touching darkness, but not fully in the dark.

Here (in edgy writing) there would be a greater emphasis on positive emotion as well as courage and resilience – which might be relayed through dynamic characters or vivid imagery.

Overall then there is a clear distinction between dark and edgy writing in terms of their respective tones and subject matter.

While they are both creative choices that can engage readers in powerful ways, they take different approaches to tackling heavy topics.

What Makes Writing Edgy?

Edgy writing is, to be plain, writing on the edge.

The edge of evil, the edge of darkness, the edge of emotionless. Yes, the edge of decency and societal norms.

Here are a few main elements of edgy writing:

• Edgy Themes. These themes can shock or surprise readers, and can be used to explore complex psychological or moral issues in a creative way. Other popular edgy themes include crime, violence, horror, and dystopia.
• Edgy Imagery . Writing with an edgy flair often involves captivating, colorful descriptions that draw your reader in. At the same time, edgy imagery is uncomfortable, knocking regularly into the taboo and unconventional. By painting vivid, edgy pictures of settings and characters, you can create a compelling atmosphere and make the story stand out.
• Edgy Voice . When writing with an edgy voice, authors can imbue the story with their own style and personality. An edgy voice is often innovative and outside the box, using strong verbs and sentence structure to express the story in a memorable way. It can be humorous or dark, it may tackle controversial topics, or it can be an experimental style of writing that is unique to the author.
• Edgy Plotline . Edgy writing involves taking risks and exploring dangerous or unfamiliar territory in your storytelling. This can involve introducing darker themes or addressing controversial topics that may shock or surprise readers and leave them wanting more.
• Edgy Characters . Characters are what bring stories to life, and when trying to write edgily, creating bold characters is key. These characters take risks, live on the edge, break the rules, and rebel against society’s norms–in short they push boundaries in order to impactfully engage with readers.

Now, let’s look at some examples of edgy writing.

Examples of Edgy Writing

One of my favorite ways to learn writing is through examples.

Here are examples of edgy writing from the categories we’ve discussed above – themes, imagery, voice, plotlines, and characters.

Examples of edgy writing:

• A story set in an alternative dystopian world where technology has taken over and humans are controlled by a single entity.
• A short story centered around a gritty anti-hero who struggles to make sense of the morally ambiguous world around them.
• A poem that explores themes of identity, self-acceptance, and the burden of societal expectations.
• A novella that follows a character as they grapple with their sexuality hidden from society’s judgemental eyes.
• An urban fantasy novel centered on a vigilante using dark magic to seek justice for victims overlooked by the law.
• A horror film about a small town terrorized by monsters beyond human comprehension.
• An experimental play that retells classic stories from unusual perspectives, with unexpected twists and turns throughout.
• A cyberpunk novel with descriptions of futuristic cities filled with technology that threatens humanity’s freedom.
• Dialogue between two characters addressing difficult topics such as death, mental illness, or disenfranchisement without presenting any easy answers or platitudes.
• A western featuring authentic discussions about the intersection between violence and justice set against spectacular landscapes filled with danger lurking around every corner.
• A thriller full of unpredictable plot twists which unravel throughout its narrative leaving readers on the edge of their seats until its explosive finale.
• An unconventional love story that confronts taboos surrounding emotion and relationships.
• Characters who challenge gender conventions and embrace nonbinary gender expression in unique ways.
• Monologues challenging society’s view on race painted through thoughtful word choice, tone, volume, and speed.
• Multi-dimensional protagonists who fight against oppression while considering others perspectives throughout their struggles.
• Unconventional settings featuring locations often forgotten or disregarded by mainstream media yet explored in depth through edgy writing styles.
• Experimental poetry embracing metaphors to explore topics such as trauma, mortality, resilience, and intimacy through surreal descriptions conveying complex emotions.
• Descriptions of dreamscapes reflecting turbulent inner turmoil presented in an imaginative manner.
• Unique voice choices entwining personal stories into abstract prose demonstrating strength despite the struggle.

Here is an even more concrete example of edgy writing:

The playground was what remained of a once thriving community – swings hung still and the ground was littered with graffiti, broken glass, and the occasional wildflower. The two figures in the center of it all had an intensity between them that only two people on the precipice of something could have. The air around them was charged, eyes glinting with an underlying threat and words cut short as if each movement held a possible consequence. Their conversation was sharp, rhythmic, and filled with double entendres. Nothing was said freely yet everything still implied.They moved slowly towards one another, not speaking or touching but conveying as much through their actions than any conversation ever could. It felt like time stood still. Nothing else existed beyond this small corner of the ruins. Both knew there would be no winners that day, but it didn ‘t matter because in the end they would take away what they had come for – understanding who they really were beneath all the chaos.

What Makes a Story Too Edgy?

Writing can sometimes become too edgy for its own good.

When this happens, the author risks alienating not only the subject of the writing but also their readers.

They may make jokes at the expense of others and talk a bit too casually about sensitive topics, including violence and tragedy.

In addition, some writers may rely heavily on shock value when it comes to their writing, relying on dark humor and graphic descriptions that push the boundaries of what is considered acceptable.

Instead of emotional connections or clever solutions to difficult problems, edgy writing will often focus on overdramatizing situations for impact.

This can be counterproductive as readers become overwhelmed by what they’re seeing on the page and disconnect from the story altogether.

What Makes Writing Dark?

To put it bluntly, it’s a descent into the unknown – to some pretty dark places.

When reading a piece of dark writing, there is no guarantee that you will come out unscathed. It can be an uneasy experience for both the reader and writer as somber themes become dominated by uncomfortable emotions and disturbing storylines.

Dark writing involves:

• Dark Dialogue . Keep it pithy yet ominous.
• Dark Description. You could opt for the classic color palette of “black as ink” mixed with a little bleakness here and there; alternatively, why not throw in some emotionally charged sentences that drip despair?
• Dark Themes . If you want to delve into the dark themes, think racism, sexism, genocide, and environmental destruction.
• Dak Plotlines . When dealing with dark scenes and plotlines don’t be afraid to push boundaries; linger on uncomfortable moments and don’t provide a clear way out.

With dark writing, the author must be willing to venture into difficult territory while remaining true to the story’s core.

Asking honest questions is key:

• Who or what is causing all this darkness?
• What drives the character to his or her darkest moments?
• What is the darkest thought possible right now?
• What is the darkest and most evil thing this person could do?
• Can redemption be possible by the end of the story?

By creating tension between fear and hope, horror can be realized with an intensity that leaves readers riveted.

Diving deep into an infinite abyss of human emotion needs detail and specialization; seeking out words that pack a punch is essential to great storytelling.

Ultimately, writing can become quite dark when its purpose is to show human suffering from a raw and visceral perspective.

Such writing must also be profound and thought-provoking in order to stay true to its genre.

Dark writing evokes difficult questions that do not have easy answers while supplying readers with a generous dose of despair.

At its best, writing dark stories feels like standing in front of a raging storm with nothing but truth and wit beating down around you – there’s something strangely invigorating about it.

Here is a good video with tips for dark writing:

Examples of Dark Writing

If you’re looking for some examples of dark writing, look no further.

Think moody characters with mysterious pasts, dialogue dripping in sarcasm, scenes depicting life’s grimmer realities, and plotlines that twist and turn with no real resolution.

When I think of of dark writing, I usually first think of authors like Stephen King.

Here are examples of dark writing.

The man was a walking embodiment of darkness.

Everywhere he looked, the world seemed to be against him. His own thoughts felt so complex and yet not complex enough.

He had moments where he just wanted to disappear, but his reality forced him to stay. What was this? A cosmic joke?

The man had accepted his fate, but there were days when he envisioned himself punching a hole through it all and following whatever came next – good or bad, just something different from this vicious cycle.

When those ideas popped into his head, he felt like an unstoppable force but unfortunately knew that it would never be so.

She shifted in the chair, absently tracing circles on the wooden desk with her finger as her mind began to drift into a darker abyss of ideas.

She stared at the novena candle until it hypnotized her, casting moving shadows over her furrowed brow.

The heat of the flame licked up higher and higher, as if it were alive and reaching for something, just out of reach. Like her hopes and dreams.

Every dark thought seemed to leap from her brain and wrap itself around the flicker of light that flickered in front of her; each consumed by a whirlpool of nothingness, like an invitation to oblivion. It felt so relieving – almost like a brief break from reality.

The dark city streets were alive with whispers of the past and hints of what was to come.

The sky loomed threateningly, dark clouds rolling in as if to warn of some unspeakable darkness on its way. In the dead of night, no one passed these particular alleyways by choice—not even him.

He saw it coming.

He heard the vultures before they arrived, claws clicking against concrete in eerie anticipation of the feast they were about to feast upon. This was not a place anyone wanted be and he knew it, but it would be here that his fate would be decided.

“Gonna be a long, dark night,” he thought as he walked towards his destiny with a wicked smirk.

The night settled around the docks like a thick, dark blanket as the first stars began to show in the sky.

The gentle lapping of waves against the murky ocean and creaky dock pillars created an eerie ambiance. On one side, a scruffy man in all black stood motionless, his face shrouded by the hood of his coat.

He paced back and forth slowly while a figure on the other side taunted him with acidic words and wry laughter.

“You think you can keep me away forever? You lot have no power over me,” cackled the man before reaching inside his pocket to produce something that glinted in the faint starlight – it was a rusty knife.

There was something about its worn handle that almost made you feel sorry for whoever it belonged to.

What Makes a Story Too Dark?

Writing too dark can be tricky to detect. It’s not always easy to know if you’ve taken your dark story too far.

It usually arises when a story’s events and characters are doused in negative emotions – fear, sorrow, despair – with no moments of respite or levity.

This relentless gloom can easily devolve into melodrama if left unchecked.

In its most extreme form, this tone of darkness will not only sap the energy from a story but distance readers by creating an atmosphere that can feel oppressive or even unhinged.

The best way to keep your writing from becoming too dark is to balance out the angst and dread with lighter moments. Or, at the very least, give purpose and meaning to the total darkness.

Those brief windows of hope, love, kindness, or humor help provide something of a contrast that keeps readers connected.

No matter what kind of tales you’re spinning, make sure they don’t get swallowed up in too much darkness.

Is Dark and Edgy Writing Good?

Saying dark and edgy writing is ‘bad’ is like saying a cupcake is bad.

Sure, it might not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s still tasty. And dark and edgy writing can certainly be powerful and meaningful if done right. If you want to write stories that are dark and edgy, that’s great.

Be aware, though, that the devil’s in the details.

You may have grandiose plans of taking on death, war or moral conundrums at a Grand Guignol level, but these aren’t easy tasks to tackle.

Although, no form of writing should be written off. So go forth boldly with your edginess!

What Is Better: Dark or Edgy Writing?

When it comes to writing, there is no “best”.

Edgy writing might be more commercial, but that doesn’t make it inherently better. Gritty stories and darker themes can attract just as much of an audience—and sometimes even more.

That being said, neither dark or edgy writing would be the right choice for everyone.

What kind of tale you want to tell really depends on your own personal style and preference. Either way, both can be powerful forms of storytelling in the right hands.

Final Thoughts: Dark and Edgy Writing

In my mind, saying a story is grim and grittier is much the same as saying dark and edgy.

There are times to scale back the edge or darkness.

And there are certainly a time and place to push the boundaries into more complex and unsettling territory. With time and practice (and good feedback), you’ll devleop a sense of what works best for you and your audience.

Related posts:

• How To Write a Book About a Serial Killer (Ultimate Guide)
• What Makes Stephen King’s Writing So Good? (Explained)
• How To Write a Scream (Ultimate Guide + 20 Good Examples)
• How To Write a Funeral Scene (Ultimate Guide + 20 Examples)

Personal experience (published novels) Fronteirsin.org (Research on horror stories)

🎉 Our next novel writing master class starts in – ! Claim your spot →

BEST DARK WRITING PROMPTS

Join (probably?) the world's largest writing contest. Flex those creative muscles with weekly writing prompts.

Showing 32 prompts reset

Action stations with tom bromley, write a story titled 'desperate remedies'., write a story about someone participating in a seemingly innocent game that suddenly takes a turn., set your story in a type of prison cell., write a story about someone making a deal with the devil., write a story about someone trying to resist their darker impulses. whether they succeed or fail is up to you..

Introducing Prompted , a new magazine written by you!

🏆 Featuring 12 prize-winning stories from our community. Download it now for FREE .

Set your story in an eerie, surreal setting.

Start your story with someone vowing to take revenge., write about a character with questionable morals., write about someone deliberately trying to make somebody else envious., write a story about a pathological liar., subscribe to our prompts newsletter.

Never miss a prompt! Get curated writing inspiration delivered to your inbox each week.

Start your story with someone receiving a one-star review.

Set your story on a day when the sun never sets..

• Write a story titled ‘The Locked Door.’

Set your story in a labyrinth that holds a secret.

Start your story with someone being forbidden from doing something., write a story that involves sabotage..

• Set your story during the night shift.

Write about a character who has landed their dream job, only to discover it isn’t quite what they imagined it to be.

• Start or end your story with a house going up in flames.
• Write about a character who tells a lie which turns out to be true - or a truth which turns out to be a lie.

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Contest #249 LIVE

Enter our weekly contest.

This week's theme: Action Stations with Tom Bromley

Prize money

Contest entries, closes at 23:59 - may 10, 2024 est, recent contests ✍️.

#248 – From the Top

#247 – The Great Unknown

#246 – All Fun and Games

#245 – Heavenly Bodies

Recent winners 🏆

Madeline McCourt – read

Sarah Coury – read

Olivier Breuleux – read

Kerriann Murray – read

Leaderboard 🥇

#1 Zilla Babbitt

32366 points

#2 Deidra Whitt Lovegren

28722 points

#3 Abigail Airuedomwinya

22420 points

#4 Graham Kinross

14512 points

#5 Scout Tahoe

13197 points

#6 Chris Campbell

11250 points

#7 Thom With An H

10613 points

#8 Rayhan Hidayat

10212 points

#9 Michał Przywara

9909 points

#10 Deborah Mercer

9610 points

The best dark writing prompts

While positive stories can be a great comfort read, we're all drawn in by a little darkness at times. Whether it's a story about blood and gore, or something that's more emotionally driven, a lot of our favorite tales feature something we fear lurking in the shadows. While inspiration for these kinds of moody stories can be found anywhere (what's in that dark corner over there?), sometimes it can be helpful to get a little outside help for your writing ideas.

To help you get started, this is a list of our top ten dark writing prompts:

• Five years ago, you moved away, changed your name, got a new job, and altered your appearance. But they managed to find you anyway.
• It was a hell of a way to die.
• Write a story where one character needs to betray the other, but isn’t sure if they can.
• Write about someone who’s so obsessed with a goal that it leads to the destruction of their closest relationship.
• Your character has made a terrible mistake in his/her life and is living with the consequences, at least a decade later.
• Write a story in which a window is broken or found broken.

Want some more help writing a story that will send a chill down your readers' spines? Check out these free resources:

• How to Master the 'Show, Don't Tell' Rule (free course) — To write a dark story full of suspense and mystery, you need to get the atmosphere right. Creating vivid images and describing sensations accurately will allow readers to see through your character's eyes. Use our Show, Don't Tell course to master immersive storytelling, and make your readers feel the fear like they're right there in that dark alley, watching the man walk closer... and closer...
• How to Write a Horror Story: 7 Tips for Writing Horror (blog post) — Our horror writing bible. If your dark story errs on the side of spooky, this post tells you everything you need to know.

Want more help learning how to write a dark short story? Check ou t How to Write a Short Story That Gets Published — a free, ten day course guiding you through the process of short story writing by Laura Mae Isaacman, a full-time editor who runs a book editing company in Brooklyn.

Ready to start writing? Check out Reedsy’s weekl y short story contest , for the chance of winning $250! You can also check out our list o f writing contests or our directory o f literary magazines for more opportunities to submit your story.

NEW VIDEO COURSE 🎉

How to Write a Novel

Join Tom Bromley for a writing master class and finish your first draft in 3 months . Learn more →

Explore more writing prompt ideas:

Adults Writing Prompts ⭢

Adventure Writing Prompts ⭢

Angst Writing Prompts ⭢

Character Writing Prompts ⭢

Christmas Writing Prompts ⭢

Dark Writing Prompts ⭢

Dialogue Writing Prompts ⭢

Dramatic Writing Prompts ⭢

Dystopian Writing Prompts ⭢

Fall Writing Prompts ⭢

Fantasy Writing Prompts ⭢

Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Fluff Writing Prompts ⭢

Funny Writing Prompts ⭢

Halloween Writing Prompts ⭢

High School Writing Prompts ⭢

Historical Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Holiday Writing Prompts ⭢

Horror Writing Prompts ⭢

Kids Writing Prompts ⭢

Middle School Writing Prompts ⭢

Mystery Writing Prompts ⭢

Narrative Writing Prompts ⭢

Nonfiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Novel Writing Prompts ⭢

Poetry Writing Prompts ⭢

Romance Writing Prompts ⭢

Sad Writing Prompts ⭢

Science Fiction Writing Prompts ⭢

Short Story Writing Prompts ⭢

Spring Writing Prompts ⭢

Summer Writing Prompts ⭢

Teens Writing Prompts ⭢

Thanksgiving Writing Prompts ⭢

Thriller and Suspense Writing Prompts ⭢

Valentine's Day Writing Prompts ⭢

Vampire Writing Prompts ⭢

Winter Writing Prompts ⭢

Oops, you need an account for that!

Log in with your social account:

Or enter your email:

• Privacy Policy

How to Describe Darkness in Your Creative Writing

• April 24, 2023

In the midst of an already dark and gloomy season, many of us have been inspired to write creatively. However, writing has never been easy, especially when describing the dark world around us. Thanks to the ever-growing list of COVID-19 related problems, the world is on the cusp of a new darkness, plunging us into a creative abyss. But let’s not despair. With the right writing tools, we can find our way back to the light.

The Difference Between Light And Darkness

The first and most obvious difference between light and darkness is the availability of light. When the sun shines, we can see its rays reflected on the landscape, transforming the world around us into a vivid and living picture. But unfortunately, not all lights are created equal. Even when the sun is out, we can find ourselves in the middle of a gloomy day with only a few faint rays illuminating the sky. During those times, it is extremely difficult to describe the world around us and paint a vivid picture in our heads of what is happening. Writing is incredibly difficult when you cannot see the difference between darkness and light. So if we want to write creatively during this time, we need to find a way to work with the tools the darkness provides.

To help us picture the darkness, it is important to consider the various ways in which we can illuminate it. There are various lighting tools at our disposal, such as the humble flashlight, which can be used in a variety of ways. A flashlight with a stronger beam serves as a better tool for painting a better picture in your head; however, they have their downsides. One downside of a stronger beam is that it can only illuminate the area directly in front of it. So if we want to see something at the farther reaches of the room, we would have to get down on our knees and look directly at the ground. The other downside to a stronger flashlight beam is that the area directly in front of it becomes very intense, making it harder to look at for longer periods of time. A few of these drawbacks are nothing compared to the price and ease of use, however. So if we really want to experience the difference between darkness and light, a flashlight is an excellent choice.

The Language Of Darkness

Although we cannot physically see the difference between darkness and light, we can still feel it and experience it. When you are in complete darkness, there is no difference between night and day. The days are as dark as the nights are, and it is almost impossible to tell the difference. But when the sun starts to peek its head above the horizon, everything becomes brighter, and we can start to see the difference more clearly. This is why we can say that ‘night’ is a more appropriate word when describing that which we cannot see and ‘day’ when describing that which we can. As a writer, this is a very important distinction to keep in mind. In order to create a vivid picture in your head of what is going on around you and your family during this time, it is vital that you choose the right words. Instead of using words like ‘night’ to describe what is happening, try using words like ‘dim’ or ‘dusky.’ These words have the same underlying meaning, but they carry a different tone. A word like ‘dim’ makes the surrounding area a bit hazy, like twilight. Whereas the word ‘dusky’ brings with it a slight sense of menace, as if what you are looking at is not what it seems. Even the lightest, most subtle shades of grey can be used to great effect to create a mood of mystery and foreboding, particularly in a work of fiction. So if you are writing creatively during this time, consider the language you are using and how it is affecting your work. You can use tools like my writing studio homework help to test the effectiveness of your language in creating the right tone and ambiance for your piece.

Describing Darkness As You Experience It

The previous point about using the right words to describe what you are seeing is even more vital when writing about an experience. If you try to describe a sunset as you experience it, you would use different words and possibly even a different sentence structure than if you were writing about a sunset you had seen before. But even more so, if you have never experienced a sunset before and you want to give the reader a sense of what it is like, you would not use the same words and you would most likely phrase it differently. The same goes for describing anything in complete darkness or darkness at its most intense. In these cases, you would almost certainly use different words than if the object or scene was illuminated by the faintest glimmer of light.

Experiencing Darkness As An Active Participator

If you have the opportunity, you should really try to participate in a total blackout experience as an active observer. Even the faintest glimmer of light can be disorienting and even a bit frightening in these cases. If complete darkness frightens you, it is most likely going to frighten your readers as well. If possible, write about the experience in as much detail as you can and include all your senses, particularly sight. For example, if you cannot physically see what is going on, but you still have a sense of touch and sound, describe what you are feeling and hearing as accurately as possible. Even if you do not have the ability to record what you are seeing at the moment, you should still try your best to put it down in words. If you are able to get a hold of a video camera at the time of the blackout, even better. In a way, your writing will serve as a sort of virtual lantern, casting light where there is none and enabling you to see even the darkest corners of your home or office. The more you can include, the more effectively your writing will transport the reader.

What Tools Do I Need To Describe Darkness?

Whether you are describing an experience you have had or are just using words to describe what you are observing, there are a few tools and technologies you will need in order to make your writing as effective as possible. For the experience, you will need a comfortable seat and a place to write. A good pair of headphones to listen to some smooth jams as you work through your notes will also be essential. In order to accurately describe what you see, you will need a camera or a phone with a camera and good lighting. A tripod is also a good idea for keeping your phone steady while taking photos or videos. Even better if you have a drone or a helicopter. They might just fly over your house and catch some amazing shots of the nighttime sky. But other than that, just about anything that will enable you to get the best possible picture.

The first and most obvious difference between light and darkness is the availability of light. When the sun shines, we can see its rays reflected on the landscape, transforming the world around us into a vivid and living picture. But unfortunately, not all lights are created equal. Even when the sun is out, we can find ourselves in the middle of a gloomy day with only a few faint rays illuminating the sky. During those times, it is extremely difficult to describe the world around us and paint a vivid picture in our heads of what is happening. Writing is incredibly difficult when you cannot see the difference between darkness and light. So if we want to write creatively during this time, we need to find a way to work with the tools the darkness provides. 

Working with The Shadow: A Writer’s Guide

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings. — Wendell Berry

The Shadow is multifaceted, amorphous and difficult to define exactly or specifically. It is a force, a concept, a construct, an archetype, existing both externally and internally, universally and individually within the human culture and within the human psyche. It is the opposite of light, love, “goodness” and life. Yet it also contains within it tremendous energy and wisdom. Like the concept of Yin and Yang, within Light and Shadow exists a seed of the other.

In order to understand The Shadow as a whole, we first have to look within the psyche. The unconscious is our perilous Dark Forest where both treasure and ogre exist. There is no light. No way. Adventures and trials await as do fell and foul beasties. Allies and enemies. Neuroses and Complexes. Daemon and Demon. Heaven and Hell. Gods and Goddesses, Mother and Father. Kings and Queens, Paladins and Princesses. Tricksters and Shape-shifters, Charlatans and Shamans. Were-wolves, Wild Wolves, and Wangdoodles.

For the writer, working with The Shadow can be a terrifying and transformative experience, both artistically and personally. In this article, we will explore different types of Shadow: Personal, Collective, External and Demonic, and how they are portrayed in various forms of writing including film/screenplays, stage plays, and fiction.

What Lies Beneath, Below, Within

How can I be substantial without casting a Shadow? I must have a dark side too if I am to be whole: and by becoming conscious of my Shadow, I remember once more that I am a human being like any other. (Carl Jung, 1931. Quoted from Personality and Personal Growth , 2005 6th Edition, R. Frager & J. Fadiman).

In Jungian psychology, the Personal Shadow is the opposite to the Persona (our outer Ego mask). The Personal Shadow is described as being an “archetype” within the unconscious that holds all of the rejected material from the Ego and Persona of the conscious mind: tendencies, desires, emotions and impulses. The things we hate about ourselves. The Personal Shadow also contains underdeveloped qualities, positive as well as negative, and animal instincts. As we develop, this archetype becomes a “Shadow Self;” it is part of the human experience. We all have a Shadow.

If the Personal Shadow is integrated into the conscious mind, it makes for a strong, creative, well-adjusted human being. If the Personal Shadow is not successfully integrated, the results are that the Shadow is either projected outward or projected inward.

The Collective Shadow, according to the Jungian model, contains all of the repressed and rejected qualities that are learned and inherited: cultural, social and familial. It is here where Jung’s archetypes, the “animus” and “anima”, reside. If you are a woman, you have an animus which is male, and if you are a man, you have an anima which is female. The animus/anima archetype contains all that you reject of your self-image as a woman or a man. It also contains the material of what you learned about being a woman or a man from your mother and father, your culture, and your society. We tend to “project” our animus/anima onto the gender of our sexual attraction. If not properly integrated, the animus/anima can become pathologically dominating within the psyche and within relationships.

As with the Personal Shadow, if integrated, the animus/anima and their content can become allies, guides, and a source of wisdom. Jung refers to this integration as a “union of opposites.”Joseph Campbell points out that this “holy union” of the male and female is a universal theme in Hero Myths.

What Lies Above, Without, Around

The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it, when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes…unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself (Morpheus from the 1999 Film, The Matrix ).

In addition to the Personal and Collective Shadow within the psyche, there is a universally accepted concept of an External Shadow. Perhaps not the computer generated prison by human – hating machines as depicted in The Matrix , but the External Shadow is a force that is “out there.” The External Shadow is not necessarily “Bad” or “Evil.” It can be portrayed as “Chaos”, “Dark Force”, or “Dark Energy” or “Chi.” In life it is the energy that fuels, surrounds and infuses conflict. It is “Murphy’s Law” “Fate”, “Karma” and “Nature.” While we interact with it, it is definitively an external, rather than internal, source of Shadow.

A second type of External Shadow, at least in phenomenal accounting, is “Demonic”, “Bad or Evil” Shadow. World-wide, human cultures express a belief in the personification of “Evil”: Monsters, the Devil, Demons, Bad Spirits, etc.. In this instance, The Shadow is its own entity, its own character. It has intention. Specifically, Evil Intentions.

On Shadow and the Writing Craft

Being is a mystery, being is concealment, but there is meaning beyond the mystery. The meaning beyond the mystery seeks to come to expression. The destiny of human beings is to articulate what is concealed. The divine seeks to be disclosed in the human. — Abraham Joshua Heschel, Who Is Man , 1965.

In writing story we know the protagonist needs an antagonist. And for the story to be interesting, the protagonist and antagonist need to compliment and conflict with each other in development, complexity and depth.

In fiction, when writers refer to “character flaw” they are really referring to a character’s Personal and Collective Shadow. The best “character flaws” are the ones that are natural to the character and their personality and psyche, not a fabricated adornment by the writer.

In dramatic writing — including screenplay writing — The Shadow is present in the inciting incident, conflict, obstacles, rising action and increasing stakes. The best in dramatic writing isn’t about the dialogue, it’s about the “subtext,” for it is subtext that we feel the presence of The Shadow: that which is below, hidden, unspoken, within, around but very present.

The following are some examples of how writers work with, express and illustrate various forms of The Shadow. Each example contains one or more Shadow element: Personal, Collective, External and Demonic as discussed above. In talking about writing and The Shadow, we will refer to whatever form of The Shadow analyzed in the work collectively as “Shadow Content.”

Welcome to the Dark Side

Behind the repressed darkness and the personal shadow – that which has been and is rotting and that which is not yet and is germinating – is the archetypal darkness, the principle of not-being, which has been named and described as the Devil, as Evil, as Original Sin, as Death, as Nothingness. — James Hillman

The 1960 film, Psycho, screenplay by Joseph Stefano, (based on the book by Robert Bloch) and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, though highly sensationalistic, is without a doubt the quintessential example of the expression of the Personal and Collective Shadow in character. Norman Bates has been taken over by his anima and it projects outward with horrific results. However, what is striking about this film in regards to writing, and in this instance to directing, is Hitchcock’s use of light and shadow in filming. He creates shadows in his scenes: a metaphorical reference to Norman’s Shadow, the Collective Shadow, and the matrix of the External Shadow that binds the story and its characters together creating the story’s Shadow Content and character arcs.

The Shadow Content in Tennessee Williams’ 1947 play, A Streetcar Named Desire , is created by its three main characters Stella, Blanche and Stanley. Stanley is an abusive, animalistic man, with a pathological need to dominate. His wife Stella is passive, co-dependent and finds Stanley’s abusive nature thrilling. Blanche, Stella’s sister, is an educated snob whose sexual addiction to young men results in her being fired and thrown out of town. At the beginning of the play ( the inciting incident) Blanche arrives at Stella and Stanley’s doorstep with no where else to go. From the natural interplay of each of these characters’ Personal and Collective Shadows comes the story and the play. Williams knows his characters intimately. He puts them in a small apartment with no doors and “character flaws” flow like wine. The result is a seamless and breathtaking drama with naturally Shadow-ridden character arcs.

In Stephen King’s 1977 novel, The Shining, King not only creates an incredibly Shadow-ridden character in the form of Jack Torrence, he creates a story in which the External — in this case Demonic — Shadow of the haunted Overlook Hotel interacts most intimately with Jack Torrence’s Personal and Collective Shadow to create the story’s epic Shadow Content. The character Jack Torrence is an abused abuser, alcoholic and failed writer. King, as writer, exploits both himself and Jack Torrence mercilessly. King’s ability to navigate his own Shadow and those of his characters is what makes the writing in The Shining effective, horrific and wonderful.

Stories like the the 1975 film Jaws , screenplay by Peter Benchly (based on his 1974 book, Jaws ) and Carl Gottlieb, directed by Stephen Speilberg, is a typical and excellent example of the expression of the External Shadow as being “out there” and an entity unto itself. The shark and deep water are, of course, indicative, metaphorical and representative of phobic fears. The three main characters, Brody, Hooper and Quint, also bring elements of Personal Shadow into the story arc. Each experiences his own “Shadow Journey” so to speak, as a result of confronting the External Shadow personified by the shark. The story is also marvelous in that it expresses the traditional hero myth or fairy tale form in a modern way that allows us to experience the fear and find the courage and fortitude to confront and deal with The Shadow.

Comedy & Tragedy: The Yin &Yang of The Shadow

The sad truth is that man’s real life consists of a complex of inexorable opposites-day and night, birth and death, happiness and misery, good and evil. We are not even sure that one will prevail against the other, that good will overcome evil, or joy defeat pain. Life is a battleground. It always has been, and always will be; and if it were not so, existence would come to an end. — Carl Jung

Comedy & Tragedy is in every dramatist’s vocabulary. It should also be in every writer’s. A working perspective of The Shadow, or Shadow Content, sheds a new light on the concept of Aristotelian Comedy & Tragedy. And vice versa.

According to Aristotle’s Poetics, Comedy is “the story of the rise in fortune of an ordinary sympathetic character” while Tragedy “depicts the downfall of a basically good person through some fatal error or misjudgment, producing suffering and insight on the part of the protagonist, arousing pity and fear on the part of the audience.”

In other words, Comedy is the story of a sympathetic character whose life goes from bad to good with the element of protagonist wish-fulfillment, while Tragedy is the story of a sympathetic character’s life that goes from good to bad usually with tragic collateral damage. Comedy often, but not always, has a happy ending. Tragedy does not. But Comedy does not always mean “funny.” A Comedy can have tragic elements and make us weep, think Titanic or Gladiator, while a Tragedy can be darkly humorous, think Seven Psychopaths. In regards to Shadow Content and Comedy & Tragedy, we can look at it this way: in Comedy, the protagonist triumphs over Shadow Content, in a Tragedy the protagonist (and those around them) is destroyed by Shadow Content.

For example:

Psycho -Tragedy A Streetcar Named Desire -Tragedy The Shining -Tragedy Jaws -Comedy

Working with the Shadow as a Writer

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues. — William Shakespeare

First and foremost, a writer’s best friend is their Shadow. Get to know it, make friends, or at least allies, with it. However, refrain from falling in love with it. No one wants to read a writer’s personal self-indulgent Shadow rant. A writer’s job is to serve a story. A writer’s Shadow can and should inform the story, but not take over.

Second, get to know your character’s Shadow. When a writer knows a character’s innermost and intimate feelings, thoughts and impulses, that’s where the magic happens.

Third, avoid gratuitous Shadow. Shadow content that’s mean, violent or psychotic purely for the sake of itself, is not only boring, it is destructive, self-indulgent and dishonest. Dishonest because gratuitous Shadow has far more to do about the Shadow content of the writer, film creators and audiences of the genre, than it is of the actual story and/or the story’s character(s). Example: pornography, gornography or splatter.

Fourth, in opposition to the previous tip, avoid being “nice.” There’s no such thing as “nice.” Nice is also dishonest. Nice is a mask of the persona that hides Shadow content. Nice– and nice writing — often cover up flaws: pain, fear, shame, guilt and anger. But it also covers up attributes: passion, truth, beauty and love. “Nice” in story –and in life– is boring because without conflict nothing can happen. Find out what is underneath the desire to be “nice.” Is it a fear of expressing some truth or experience through writing story and character? Is it a revulsion toward an impulse or tendency in yourself, in a character? Or is it just plain loathsome to “kill your darlings?” When writers dispense with being “nice”, they are able to”stick-it” to their characters and suffer right along with them. It’s an uncomfortable — but honest — place to be when writing.

Fifth, is the story Comedy or Tragedy? Does Shadow or Light triumph? Understand why. Serve your character and story: it will let you know. All the writer needs to do is to get out of the way and let it happen.

A Writing Exercise

In closing, here is a writing exercise that is useful in opening up Shadow: yours and your characters. Write down three things — attributes, issues, vices etc. — you find personally offensive or repulsive. Choose a character you know, like or admire, from your own writing, or from another story or situation. Write an internal or external monologue with your character talking lovingly, passionately or positively about one, or all of the three things you personally find offensive or repulsive. You can do the reverse as well: three things you find personally rewarding and a character you like and admire talks about how they find those three things repulsive or morally offensive. This exercise begs for variety. For example, try it with a character (or person) you despise. This exercise is particularly useful in generating ideas or a more intimate and paradoxical dynamic between protagonistic and antagonistic perspectives.

The use of the writer’s Personal and Collective Shadow in writing ensures that the writer is not playing “nice” or “safe” and therefore character and story become honest and real.

If it doesn’t move the writer, it won’t move the reader.

Works Cited and Resources for the Writer

Aristotle. Trns., Sachs, J. Poetics . Newburyport: Focus Publishing R. Pullins Co. 2006.

Frager, R., Fadiman, J. Personality and Personal Growth . New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. 6th Edition. 2005.

Jung, C-G., Ed. Shamdasani, S. The Red Book Liber Novus . New York: W. W. Norton & Company. 2009.

King, S. On Writing . New York: Pocket Books. 2000.

Peck, S. People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil . New York:Touchstone. 1998.

von Franz, M-L. Shadow and Evil in Fairytales . Dallas:Spring Publications, Inc. 1987.

What do you think? Leave a comment .

Want to write about Writing or other art forms?

Receive our weekly newsletter:

100 Comments

Thank you RJ Wolfe, this is very clear and sums up The Shadow. I am going to pass this to my writing students.

Hi Magen, Thanks for reading! I am honored that you will be passing the article on to your students. The Shadow is a tricky and painful, but enlightening, aspect of the creative process in writing. Yours, RJ Wolfe

This is a great compliment to be part of classroom study excellent job RJ.

The dead wife of the protagonist in Inception is without a doubt the Shadow.

Hi clime, I have only seen Inception once- and it was a while ago- and so cannot remember the situation clearly enough to comment. I will watch it again with the intention of analyzing the protagonist’s wife. Thank you! And thanks for reading and commenting.

This is really helpful in making a path for the development of my characters. Thank you for sharing this.

Hi Eddie, I am so glad the article may help you in your writing. That’s what it’s all about! Thanks for reading.

Thanks for the great article. Your examples bring the archetype to life for me.

Hi Navarrete, The Shadow Archetype is very much an alive entity. The more we can acknowledge and embrace its existence–both personally and artistically–the better: for our own struggles to understand ourselves, and the human condition in general. Thanks for reading and commenting.

Definitely. When the writer understands the archetypes represented in their characters, they strengthens the reader’s connection to the outcome of the hero’s journey.

Something for all of us to remember and apply to our work.

This is the kind of stuff we learn in school and conveniently forget once we get out in the real world until we learn them from someone who can write about it in this intriguing way. Nice job.

Hi Tamar, Thanks for reading and the comment. Yes, no one wants to talk about The Shadow in “the Real World” and yet there it is: Realer than Real and looking us dead in the face from every angle. Hope you found the article was illuminating and uplifting in spite of being about “The Dark Side”.

I’m still trying to wrap my head around these.

Gives me an idea for a character I’m penning… “internal villainy”. It is an interesting concept. Didn’t have a phrase for it before.

Hi dinerclub, “Internal Villainay” How wonderful! We all have it, too, no matter who we are and where we come from! No one is exempt. Thanks for reading the article and the comment.

Great ideas here and awesome analysis. Thanks!

Hi Fairy, Thank you for reading and the comment!

“Within the shadow lies the gold of our potential and fulfillment”

Exactly! Thank you Venus for your help and words of wisdom.

I enjoy discovering (and creating) characters who are complex, contradictory and unpredictable. I think inside we are all like this and reading about characters that embody these traits is somehow pleasurable and cathartic.

Hi SHiva, I think for me the pleasure from catharsis can only occur when the tragedy is honest and natural and flows from the organic Shadow Content of the story and its characters. I often think that Harry Potter should have stayed dead, though I applaud Jk Rowling’s daring in allowing beloved characters to die which allowed her readers to suffer in an honest meaningful way. Thanks for the comment

I think a lot of times, we as authors forget to keep it simple. We’re so good at creating complex characters, sometimes we go a bit overboard.

I love the idea of simplifying characters. I used to create detailed character sketches, but then they’d change as the story unfolded around them. Now I write a paragraph or two about the my characters and let them reveal more about themselves throughout the story or when I put them in situations.

This is one of the best posts I have read in a very long time. Your source material gives it great weight.

Very interesting and informative post. Thanks for posting it.

I love the shadow character. Particularly more twisted, the more demented, the better. I especially love the sick manipulative ones. Heroes are boring, until they turn.

I have so much to say about this subject but you covered it really well!

Thank you, very informative. Gives a better understanding on how to create a story with this type of character. Stephen King is surely the king in this.

I would think that Darth Vadar was a rival and the dark side of ‘the force’ was the shadow.

Nice post – i’m doing some research into shadow characters for some of my presentations and found this really useful.

I am glad you found the article useful and helpful for your presentations. That is part of the intention of this type of article writing: to make it informative and useful as well as interesting and engaging. Thanks for reading and your comment.

Wow, this is a way of looking at the “shadow” that I’ve never heard of/considered before.

Really interesting article. I never knew the use of shadows could be categorized like this in writing–for me it’s always generally been associated with creating a sense of drama or heightened tension

Yes, looking at dramatic writing in terms of Shadow Content has helped me in developing a deeper understanding of craft/structure: inciting incident, creating tension and raising stakes, all based on an awareness of and accessing the place of Shadow that lies within the characters and beneath their actions. It makes finding wants and needs and creating conflict a whole new experience. Thanks for reading and your thoughtful comment.

Nice balanced post. Thank you.

I was well into my novel before I realized that my antagonist was a shadow type character. I spend weeks walking around town with this character in my head, trying different ways to make it interesting.

Sounds like you need to stop thinking, get your character out of your head and onto the page! Put the critic in a box and the box on the shelf and let the character and story out of the closet.

I’ll be thinking about this concept for a while. Cheers for the writeup.

The shadow archetype is not necessarily negative.

Great look at a complex topic.

A very good and informative post Joslyn.

Very enlightening piece.

I really like the ideas of writing characters from the point of views of the, well, characters! Sometimes I fell that even though we as writers create these beings, that they know more about themselves than us.

It is a scary and thrilling place to be when a character truly becomes a living breathing thing. This is when you have to let go and let them guide the story, and you just take dictation, and all your well laid plot plans go into the trash. Thank you for the thoughtful comment.

This remind me to dig deeper when it comes to character development. Thanks.

Loved this. Thank you so much.

I must admit, out of all the ideas between opposites, the idea of the shadow is far by the most complex. I’m probably gonna have to read this over to get a better understanding. Anyway, thanks so much for giving advice.

Yes, the Shadow is by far one of the most complex concepts. And your observation about opposites is astute. The rational (conscious) mind likes to think of things, organize things, in terms of “opposites” Good and bad, light and dark, etc. But in the unconscious mind, there is no opposite, so that’s where the conflict arises. Great observation, Thanks.

I enjoyed this post.

You’ve really given me lots to think about in deepening my writing. Thanks so much!

I would be interested to know your thoughts about Scott Peck’s People of the Lie, which you listed in your bib.

Hi Maureen, I first read the book about twenty years ago after reading The Road Less Traveled and both books have greatly informed and influenced my perspective on psychology, spirituality, good and evil. People of the Lie is an uncomfortable and deeply disturbing book, but it is also an informed book and in the field of psychology, specifically psychiatry, it is daring: Peck’s observations on Human and Demonic Evil are thorough and follow the scientific model of research and theory. It is a book one never forgets. I have studied Shamanisms and psychopathology and like Peck’s observation on Demonic possession and psychosis, there is also the same accounting in the spiritual crisis of the shamanic initiation and a schizophrenic episode. Fascinating stuff. Great question. Thanks for reading.

Thanks for this great guide!!

The shadow is everything that is repressed.

Great post! Really enjoyed your guides.

I have always enjoyed the concept of the dark side. Often the villain is the more interesting of the two. Often darkness of any time fuels the conflict of the story and life as well.

Shadow does not seem to be darkness that co-exists with light, as absence of light, or as interdependent coexistence even. Representing darkness as black and light as white even though co-existing seems a slightly superficial visualization. In a room full of light anyone’s ability to see selective things in the room is light, yet without anything being in dark/shadowy there – It seems things present in that light yet unseen are shadows. Light is when listening, seeing abilities are honed to find meaning, make a sense from everything around.

I am always in need of a little enlightening on Jung for my writing. This was an eye-opening summary of an important element of character building that is so fundamental, and yet (in my case) is easily glossed over until the revision process — at which point it’s a nightmare to work out. Thank you for the exercise. I sense that it will become fundamental to my process from here on!

I think that, as writers, it is easy (or easily glossed over) to forget that no matter how great the idea, concept, setting or plot we have for a a story, it is ultimately character that matters most. Without a “real” character, there can be no “real” story. And like “real” people, characters also have a psychology: good and bad, light and dark.

Thanks for reading and the comment.

I like this concept and puts in context much of how we learn to dance with those shadows.

This is an excellent article, thank you for sharing. The shadow has been a topic run rampant in my imagination since I first began to study Jung. I began reading horror such as Stephen King from a very young age and I appreciate the way in which you link the Shadow to literature and writing.

Yes, I was also deeply influenced be King’s writing, specifically his early work. He has a way (as he puts it) of getting “skin on skin” intimate with his characters that brings us into uncomfortable (and unforgettable) intimacy with them.

great article!

I really enjoyed your work. It summed up the aspects of the shadow without beating the reader up with terms, jargon, or extraneous details. It has given me a few more reasons than I had previously thought up for why the trilogy I’m working on right now is so important and also helped to explain possible ways for why I decided to write on such a controversial, taboo topic.

On a side note, I loved the writing exercise idea. In exchange, one that has helped me in the past is to visualize your character in your head and place him/her in a difficult situation (dangerous, emotionally strained, fearful, tense, or other) and examine how s/he responds physically to the stress. Does one finger start to twitch, does s/he repeatedly put on more lip balm at intervals, blink more than usual, sweat, blush, flare the nose at ultra tense points in the scene, get antsy, punch a wall or throw objects, wrap themselves in a hug or other closed position, tap a foot, twist a bracelet, flip the keys on his/her lanyard or do something else entirely? I find it enables me to a) gauge the physical reactions of a character and b) gives me a visual cue as a point to begin analyzing why the character is reacting to the stressful situation in such a manner and what else this might suggest about the character as a whole.

That is a great writing exercise. It makes a character’s “flaw” very real and individual to the character, and not a stereotypical tack-on.

Thanks for the idea!

You’re welcome! I hope you find it useful!

Great advice for all writers, and a thought-provoking piece all-around. Thanks for this.

Ahhh this is really cool! Gives great advice on how to develop characters. I’m glad I read this, it is super helpful for me.

This was very interesting. I’ve heard of the Jungian shadow before, but I’ve always found the concept to be a bit abstract and difficult to wrap my head around. Something that popped into my head just now while reading this was how the idea of having an anima/animus could relate to transgender people; perhaps Jung would consider being transgender a result of a dominant shadow (i.e. a dominant anima/animus). Anyway, that was just a related thought that came to mind.

Also, thank you very much for that writing exercise. I felt like it helped everything else to click into place; I’ll be using it a lot in the future!

Thank you for the well thought out (and thought provoking) comment. I have also given much thought to the concept of Jung’s anima/animus in regards to gender identity and sexuality. Absolutely fascinating and it makes a whole hell of a lot of sense as well as a possible avenue for understanding the diverse and complex nature of human sexuality and gender orientation.

Thanks again.

Always interesting content from you. I love the idea of the writing exercise at the end – I will definitley be using that in my next writer’s group! Thank you 🙂

When I did a minor in psychology, I was also given the shadow conscious. Pick someone in your life, of your same gender, and name five things you hate about that person. These things exist in yourself and make up your shadow. I have a similar way in writing characters, inner monologues, conversations, and flaws or intelligences that compose who they are and will be. This was a very enlightened and thoughtful article and well done and wording it fantastically.

Pretty interesting stuff here. It’s important that we bring this sort of material down to earth, I think, and put it in layman’s terms so that everyone can come to grips with their discomforts and darker sides. I mean, your writing experiment is a good stab at that; and I think identifying shadow material as a resource for creative writing is the worth of this entire post. We can take this conversation out of the realm of the mystics (Jung, Campbell, etc.) and into an accessible sphere of psychology and fiction (certainly King, but I see echoes of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Erikson’s identity formation in this chatter as well).

Fantastic! As a young writer struggling to find his voice I found this article immeasurably helpful. I will undoubtedly return to it many times for insight.

Very well written! I’m a little surprised that I’ve never heard of this before but this was very informative and I learned a lot. I’m glad I got to read this piece. Thank you for sharing.

Fascinating article! I would be very interested to hear what you think on the conflict between the pro/ant-agonists in No Country for Old Men. I once read an opinion on the book noting that McCarthy uses both Llewelyn Moss and Anton Chigurh to subvert the normal expectations we have of pro/ant-agonists in that Moss comes upon fortune through unsuspecting though dark means. On the other side, Chigurh comes to represent the unrelenting yet oftentimes random or meaningless violence in the world.

I’ve always attempted to get at darker themes with the characters I create, and it always ends up half-hearted. After reading your article, I’m beginning to wonder if I am too “nice” to characters. I’ll definitely be giving that writing exercise a whirl!

I recently encountered the concept of The Shadow, and though i’m familiar with what an archetype is and what it represents, I realized that I’m not too familiar with the Jungian archetypes. I think your explanation and contextualizations of The Shadow, as well as the Animus/Anima, were thoughtful and helped to clarify these concepts for me.

I also think that your exercise will make for some interesting fiction, which my own writing currently lacks. Thank you for sharing!

Really liked the article, and I love writing, reading and watching horror so it definitely struck a good bell with me. It made me think of how every writer projects their own Shadow (fears) into their stories. Edgar Allan Poe – Insanity Stephen King – Isolation

Really effective post. Long ago, I read an article about how the villain can often be conceived as the hero’s Shadow. I love the writing exercise you’ve provided!

A really great article, thank you. It actually inspired me to write about horror as a thing, or at least as a slumbering force, instead of horror as in a mere monster or whatever.

I really enjoyed this piece–giving life and devoting attention to the ugly. Ugly beauty, really. A lovely, dynamic relationship if we get it right!

I fond this article interesting, helpful and practical— and I loved the quotations.

Informative piece. I am excited to try the writing exercise.

A very useful writing exercise at the end! Have been struggling with this concept lately.

This article gives voice to one of my favourite aspects of character development. Working to give a full range of qualities, insights, and feelings to a character is such a thrilling process. Coincidentally, developing the darker sides of a character – or even fleshing out and analyzing characters by other writers – tends to be a challenging exercise for me. This piece gives a clear run-down of some of the trickier parts of writing (and interrogating) the shadow.

Think about how to present data or information effectively. Tables or figures can be useful presentation tools.

Of course, I had work with my shadow for the past 7 years. It resulted in 3 book published in Create Space, now which me luck in the following seven years of creativity. My shadow and I are one while I live, once I am death there is not need for shadowing anymore. I can see reality!

I feel like the idea of a Shadow is much more creatively freeing than the idea of an antagonist. I find that the idea of a polar opposite, or oppositional force is useless. I find if a character faces self hate, the best opposition is someone who agrees with the character. The best villain for a man who feels out of place within his race is a racist. A good villain for a hero on the verge of letting go is a man who already let go. The best villain for a man who always tries to do the right thing is somebody that obscures what’s right and wrong. I think a Shadow, or repressed desire is the best type of opposition a story can have.

Very interesting story. I love “the Matrix”

hmmmmmm… that was interesting read

Thanks for exploring the use of shadow in writing. An interesting twist to thinking about shadow as an opposite, for example love/hate is to consider the shadow as what is lacking. Specifically love/fear. The shadow is fear and how that motivates versus love and how that motivates actions and reactions. A shadow also lacks substance, it is not real, it is cast. How can this be reflected in character development of the villain or antagonist?

The wonderful David Jauss has a great chapter on contradiction as the lever of transcendence, where he pinpoints the way great writing or characters contains contradictory aspects … and transcend our immediate, short-focus either/or thinking.

After months and months of writer’s block, finding an article like this really helped me jog my inner writer! It’s one of the best articles I’ve read on the Internet in quite a while!

A thought provoking article- I shall read it again soon as it contains much to mentally chew on. I’m not sure that I entirely agree with your premise that a character’s flaw stems from or is his/her shadow.A character’s flaw can be a weakness, or fear, or inability to act, (for example), but doesn’t necessarily stem from something ‘dark, primordial or subconscious.’ A character flaw can be something much more mundane eg a dislike of the washing up -which can then lead to serious trouble :-))

This a fascinating subject and a great article. Writing likeable characters who are expressing the collective shadow is one of my core ambitions as a writer, so I look forward to trying the exercise. I think it’s really important for our collective psychological progress to engage empathetically with characters we would otherwise despise. It makes me think of Ignatius from “A Confederacy of Dunces”, who was deplorable but expressed much of what we all feel about the modern world.

Good post though. This is a thing I learned from school.

I loved the part about avoiding being “Nice”. Thanks for this inspiring article. Since I am not a story writer, was interested in knowing if we can use The Shadow concept as well in scholarly/academic writings?

Such an interesting article, Ive never really learned about this concept, it was nice!!

Great read, and brilliant quote.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Prove you are human, type c a t s in singular form below:

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

Additional menu

The Creative Penn

Writing, self-publishing, book marketing, making a living with your writing

How To Write Your Darkness With David Wright

posted on November 11, 2019

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:13:20 — 59.5MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More

We write to share our stories and sometimes our darker sides come to the fore. How can we stop self-censoring and deal with the fear of judgment? How do we write our truth without drowning in what arises from within? I discuss this and more with David Wright in today's interview.

In the intro, I talk about Findaway Voices adding keywords for audiobooks ; the next level GPT-2 AI text generator has been released, check it out at TalkToTransformer.com and I also discuss why we need to face our discomfort at this kind of tech; plus Kris Rusch on the paradigm shift from powerless writer to powerful owner of IP ; and my personal update on NaNoWriMo and more.

Today's show is sponsored by my book, How to Write a Novel . Writing a novel will change your life. It might not be in the way that you expect, but when you hold your book in your hand and say, “I made this,” something will shift.  

The process of getting to that point will light a spark in your creative soul and help you discover unexpected aspects of yourself. It will be one of the things you are most proud of in your life. Click here to learn more.

David Wright is the co-author of 30+ novels spanning horror, thriller, and sci-fi. He's also a podcaster at the Story Studio podcast and one of the three co-founders of Sterling and Stone Story Studio with Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. both of whom have been on this show several times. Dave has a nonfiction book out: Into the Darkness: Hook Your Readers Without Getting Lost in the Dark , which I am super excited about.

You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript below.

• Teaching by sharing personal experiences
• Why writing matters , especially as an outlet for our feelings
• What is the definition of horror and darkness?
• Writing about dark subjects without glamorizing them
• How the fears of a culture or a generation come up out in horror
• Researching dark subjects without getting pulled into the darkness
• Leaving the darkness behind after finishing writing a book
• Making sure there are rays of hope in dark books
• On the current environment for mature indie authors

You can find David Wright at DavidWWright.com as well as at SterlingAndStone.net .

Transcript of Interview with David Wright

Joanna Penn: David Wright is the co-author of 30 plus novels spanning horror, thriller, and sci-fi. He's also a podcaster at the Story Studio podcast and one of the three co-founders of Sterling and Stone Story Studio with Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant. both of whom have been on this show several times. Dave has a nonfiction book out: Into the Darkness: Hook Your Readers Without Getting Lost in the Dark , which I am super excited about.

Welcome back to the show, Dave.

David Wright: Thank you for having me back. I'm shocked that anybody ever asked me to return.

Joanna Penn: I think this is your third appearance on The Creative Penn in the last decade!

David Wright: That's about as often as my wife wants to see me.

Joanna Penn: We have met in person once at the Smarter Artist Summit a few years ago, which was great. And we've talked about writing dark things before but I think you have managed to avoid writing nonfiction up to this point.

Why this book and why now?

David Wright: Basically, Sean and Johnny like teaching. I don't particularly like it and they both said people want to hear stuff from you.

I'm like Nah. I think of ‘real writers’ in quotation marks like Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker other people I grew up reading. I want to hear what they have to say about writing but not what I have to say, particularly.

Two things changed that. One was the Smarter Artist Summit that we did last year. I spoke on stage and told a rather depressing story about how there were two times in my life where I was going in the wrong direction.

Back in 1996, I was pretty much stagnating. I was working the midnight shift at a gas station. I lived in an apartment with another friend of mine and my best friend at the time, Todd, had moved on. He was out of the Navy. He was working at a bar making a ton of money and we were like best friends growing up, and he kept telling me, come on, come move with me, get out of your room. Do something with your life.

He was the one person that actually believed in me becoming a writer before anybody. He's like, ‘you're going to be the next Stephen King.' So he kept asking me to come. I always had excuses not to. I was stuck in a rut, like I said.

The thing about it is when I met Todd he was like this nerdy, dorky kid, and he got picked on and I sort of stuck up for him. We had this dynamic where I was kind of cool and he was kind of the dorky one. And when he came back to visit me in February of ‘96, he had totally changed.

First of all, he looked like a male model now rather than a skinny geek. And also he just had confidence and charisma and he wanted to go to clubs and meet women and stuff. Just a completely different person to me. We were both like these geeky dorks playing Dungeons and Dragons and now he's this cool dude.

When he was criticizing me, he was trying to bring me up, but I saw it as him putting me down, like he was looking down on me and it really annoyed the crap out of me. He left to go back home in February. We had this argument and he was like, “What if you want to waste your life?”

I was just so mad at him. I didn't even walk him downstairs to go home and I didn't think much about it because we would go months without talking especially when he was in the Navy. And it never really meant anything. When we saw each other was just reuniting old friends and we picked up right where we left off. Not a big deal and I figured okay, this should go away. We’ll forget about it, not a big deal.

I never called to apologize and never really thought much of it and then on April 2nd I got a call from his aunt who I never even met, I don't even know how she got my number, and she told me that he had died in a car accident.

And that pretty much destroyed me for quite a while and I was just full of regret for all the things that wouldn't happen now. We had so many plans, we're going to rule the world. And then everything just changed.

I became depressed and I just fell into this darkness and if he thought I was in a bad place before, I was really in a bad place then, and it took me a long time to come out of it.

And what happened was two years ago, I went to the Smarter Artists Summit that we were doing every year for a while and Sean and Johnny and after every conference or summit, we would have a dinner we talked about how it went, where we are and what we want to do the next year.

Sean likes to think about these things. I'm just kind of this chaotic mess and I just go wherever you point me. So we were talking and Sean's like, ‘you're really not keeping up your end of the things.' It was kind of the conversation I had with Todd.

And he's like, ‘you're worse than when we met. You're missing deadlines. It took a year to write this one book.' Just a lot of the things that needed to be pointed out to me that I wasn't picking up on.

It reminded me a lot of the moment with Todd. I have a choice here. There's two paths I can go. One of them is to stay myself, live with my fear and anxiety and just let it rule me or I can take a chance on myself.

This time I made a different choice.

I already saw the other choice. I didn’t think Sean was going to die if I get rejected him, but it just reminded me of where I was and where I needed to be and it was a wake-up call. And a year later was this year, at the summit February, and I went on stage and told that story and since then I've done really well. I'm writing a lot more. I lost a bunch of weight. I’m down under 300 for the first time in forever. For comparison sake, I topped out at almost 400 at one point and for a long time I've been hovering around 340. And right now I'm down to 272.

Joanna Penn: Congratulations. I know that's a big thing.

David Wright: So I told the story on stage in and talked about this. I talked a little bit about bullying and the stuff I dealt with and I don’t remember why I was talking about it. It just kind of came up.

Afterward, all these people came up to me and they thanked me for sharing. They found me. I was off to the side, and when other people were speaking they would come up to me and tell me how much it meant that I shared and how they had similar situations. They had a similar point in their life or they were bullied.

One guy was this really alpha-male sort of guy. The kind of guy you think never had a problem in his life that he couldn't kick its ass and he came up and he told me he went through the same stuff.

I was like, wow. I was just shocked by how many people had similar experiences to me.

Sean basically said, yeah, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, all those people, they can write a nonfiction book, but they can't write your story and connect with the people that you connect with in your life.

Joanna Penn: It's a really good illustration because you started off by saying ‘I don't like teaching' but what you've done in the book, there are some writing tips. But your point is that you're sharing your experience.

There's a lot of what I would call memoir in this book, which I think is the only way now, to write nonfiction. You can't just say ‘do this, do that.' I think your idea of what teaching is was probably wrong.

What Sean knows about you, and what I have recognized in you, is that you teach people by sharing your stories.

David Wright: Yes, but there's a negative voice inside of me. The kid that was picked on who sat in the back of the class and that kid that nobody wants to hear what you have to say. Nobody cares, just move on. That’s hard to get over.

Joanna Penn: Of course and many people don't get over it.

One of the quotes from the book, which I've read and it is fantastic. You say, “It might very well be necessary for my well-being to right dark books.” You’ve hinted at Todd's death and you've mentioned bullying.

How has writing actually helped you through this? How has it helped you make those changes or helped you deal with life?

David Wright: I think it offers a catharsis and a way to deal with feelings that are beyond my power beyond my control. The world is an interesting place and horrible things happen all the time and it's really hard to wrap your head around how it can make any sense at all. And it doesn't. Really, it's random chaos and it's hard.

I also deal with OCD and anxiety and that's a big part of my headspace that makes life even more hard because I tend to ruminate on horrible things and I need some outlet. When I was younger reading stories transported me. They were like an escape out of the real world and into this other world where things made a little more sense. Sometimes the good people won in the end, and I needed that. Even if it's fiction, I needed it.

I needed it to get through and now writing is about dealing with dark things, but also trying to find hope. Trying to find the light in the darkness to hold onto. For me, I just find writing about it helps me to see the good things in the world as well.

Joanna Penn: I know what you mean. Let's come back to a definition of ‘dark,' because I read horror, but I don't watch horror movies. I find that they do affect me in ways. Whereas I devour horror novels, but only specific types of horror novels. You mentioned Dean Koontz. Have you read his latest Jane Hawk series?

David Wright: No, I’ve heard of it. I haven't read him in a while. It’s hard for me to read horror stuff while also writing it.

Joanna Penn: Fair enough, but my point I guess is Jane Hawk could be called thrillers or sci-fi/horror.

To me, horror is fighting darkness with a ray of hope.

But a lot of people seem to think that horror is torture porn and lots of gore, which is not what I like at all. I know there's a lot of death, to be fair, but, torture porn to me is not the definition of horror.

Maybe you could talk about what writing darkness means to you? What does the genre ‘horror' mean?

David Wright: First of all, I never really cared for a lot of horror movies that do fall into that torture porn category. They're titillating for shock value and that doesn't really do anything for me. There are no real characters you can root for so I don't really enjoy that stuff. It's just too bleak and dismal.

I tend to write about the things that scared me and when I was younger, I would write about monsters and supernatural threats, but when I had a kid that changed me. You get new fears when you have a child. You worry about your kid for one and you see the world a little bit differently. You also see things you never really thought about as dangerous.

So I tend to write about things that scare the hell out of me ; bullying is something from my own youth but kidnapping and all the horrible things that you see in the news. You think about a little bit differently when you're a parent.

I write a bunch of different stuff. I mean pretty much anything that it's ever terrified me, the thrillers are more straight up in that area, somebody being kidnapped there’s murder, obviously.

But the sci-fi supernatural stuff, we have monsters creeping in and stuff like that. But typically anything that affects me in some way that I don't want to think about, I force myself to think about.

Joanna Penn: It’s interesting because I really came up against that when I wrote my novel Desecration , which I call a crime thriller, but it has some aspects of horror in and it does have dark stuff in and I came up against my own fear. I'm quite a happy little soul! I know you were quite surprised when I told you about some of the things I write.

David Wright: Our dinner conversation was with one of my favorites ever actually.

Joanna Penn: I do have a dark side even though I'm quite this sunny happy person, so the fear of judgment, I still come up against it all the time.

How do we not self-censor? Is there a line we shouldn't cross or should we just let it all go?

David Wright: I think the line is different for everybody. I get what you're saying about not wanting to be judged because I’ve met people, and they say, ‘you write horror? Wow, okay, something wrong with you.' They think the absolute worst, like you enjoy watching bodies being ripped apart or something like that, and I'm actually pretty damn squeamish with stuff like that.

I think the line is, we're not celebrating. For instance, we have a series called No Justice, which is like a vigilante thriller series and there are some pretty dark subjects in there. There's a child abduction, rape and stuff like that and we tell it from the hero and the villains POV because we want you to be in their heads. It's a fine line where you want to write about a child abductor in a way that someone can be in their head but also not like you’re glamorizing it like yes, I'm pro child murderer.

For me, I always want to write the villain in a way that you can almost see why they are the good guy in their own story or the good girl. You don't agree with what they're doing, but you know why.

You see what happened in their life that led them to that way. That, to me, is important for really good fiction. And books and movies and TV are doing that a lot more these days where the villain is more shades of grey and you know what they what and what they are versus how their life could have been different. But you know something really bad happened and it turned them into the monster that they are.

I like to do that but not in a way that glamorizes it. I think that's a tough one because right now that movie The Joker's coming out and the news is currently worried about well, is that going to cause other incel guys that idolize The Joker to go out and shoot up places and stuff because that happens a lot way too often.

It's tricky to make art in this day where you want to write about something and bring it to light but not in a way that glamorizes it and gives people something to aspire to or motivates them to do something horrible.

I don't know if I've explained it well at all but it is a fine line. I think it's don't glamorize it. I don't know that that's my feeling on it.

Joanna Penn: Maybe it does come from the sense of what we want to explore as authors and we're all different people, right?

All of my dark stuff is all about coping with death and what's on the other side of death and beating monsters and I quite like monsters and demons and banishing demons and stuff. It's weird because we all come back to the same themes over and over again.

There's a joke on your Story Studio podcast that children in jeopardy are the dark trope that you just can't avoid.

David Wright: That comes very much from when I had a kid. It's something I never really thought about before and then suddenly I was terrified about all the horrible things that can happen.

Joanna Penn: Right now as we as we talk, there’s climate change and extinction rebellion is a fear amongst young people and for all of us, but there is a lot of anxiety amongst young people, of course, because we’ll probably be dead and they'll be dealing with a lot of this stuff.

I almost think there's then there is going to be a resurgence in the environmental horror genre, which we saw around the millennium. Do you remember we had a lot of extinction movies and climate change things coming up then?

I feel like that's going to come back and as generations deal with what is in their culture right now that comes up in horror.

David Wright: That's interesting to me because in America anyway, things are so polarized between right-wing and left-wing and while I see what you're saying, I think half the people would see that as some kind of liberal agenda. ‘Oh, you're putting climate change in my horror movie. Well, no, it's not real and I refuse to see it.' And they are one-starring movies before they even come out.

Everything is so polarized that I don't know that these things have the power, at least here, to become a huge thing anymore without half the country just decrying it is nonsense and ridiculing it and destroying it before it can even do well in a movie theater.

Joanna Penn: What about something like AI? AI is artificial intelligence, in case anyone doesn't know, and it has come up in what could be called sci-fi, but actually, a lot of those movies do swing into horror. I know you guys have written these out of Sterling and Stone as well.

So, I mean maybe that's a fear that is a kind of collective worry.

David Wright: That's something everybody can be afraid of. Our robot overlords.

Joanna Penn: We write about dark things in order to understand how you're going to deal with them or facing your fear without really facing it. That kind of catharsis.

David Wright: I talk a bit about this in the book, my obsession with things like slavery and the Holocaust. When I first learned about those when I was young, I was a very happy-go-lucky naive child a lot like Sean is today and when I first heard about slavery, in the TV miniseries Roots, it horrified me. And I had to know everything I could because I wanted to know how can people be so awful. What triggers them to do that?

For some of my stuff, it is trying to understand why people do the things they do. Monsters aren't born in a vacuum, they’re created. What happened to turn someone into a monster? Society overlooks things that are happening right beneath our noses.

The Holocaust went on and there were a lot of willing accomplices to that and how does that happen? What the hell happens? I've always tried to understand these things and for me, horror is part of that and not just horror, but writing dark fiction thrillers. Even in our sci-fi I'm always dealing with some dark subject matter trying to understand either outside forces or internal ones in motivating people to become what they are.

And also the other side, like how does a person overcome the darkness either within or outside of them. How do they extinguish that? How do they protect the people in their lives? So it's all kind of related.

Joanna Penn: I'm similar in that way and many of my books have a lot of religious history and Inquisition stuff or dark things. It's interesting because I have to research these things and learn how could that have happened? And why, to a point.

I am a total research nut and we actually just were in Lisbon, Portugal, and I stood in the square where they burnt all the Jews and it was horrific to stand there in modern Lisbon and this is something I'll be writing about so I'm researching it.

How do we research things or try and write authentic characters and authentic villains, but also stop ourselves from getting really depressed or falling down into darkness?

David Wright: That can be difficult. I think one of the things that depressed me most I was writing a book called Crash . It's the story about a man that lost his child in a car crash but he can't remember it and he's obsessed with trying to recover his memory. He drives around taking photos of car crashes trying to trigger his own memories and there's like a supernatural sort of element to it where he sees something in the photos and that's like the cool part of the story.

But when I was researching it I lost my best friend in a car accident. I've been on the scene in enough car accidents. I was skipping school in high school and I was walking and this girl was driving really fast and failed to turn and she smashed into a pole and I was the first person there. Luckily she was okay. Another time, me and my friend were first on the scene where this guy's truck was obliterated by these giant cement sewage pipes he was carrying and he was crushed. I went to the door to see if I could help him and all I saw was blood coming out of it.

But I didn't take note of the things you would need to remember to write the book. So I went online and I went to some website where there was a video of this car crash somewhere in Europe. It was like 40 cars and it was just somebody walking around with a camera walking up to the people that were dying in their cars and they weren't helping them or anything.

I was just so horrified by it and it still is that thing that stays in your head and you wish you had never seen it. It was just that I was trying to make my story authentic and I just saw this, and there's a person dying and they're just looking down at them and then they walk onto the next one.

Who is filming this? Are they a journalist? Why aren't they helping? I didn't get it and it disturbed the hell out of me.

But to answer your question, I have to take a walk. I can't do anything with that other than put it in my story and try to process it and try to find some ray of hope somewhere in the story. But the real-world stuff, the real world bad stuff that you come up with in your research and you see in the news and all of that, it's hard. I have to take a walk and clear my mind. Otherwise, it really weighs me down.

Joanna Penn: It’s very hard for Americans because you have TV news everywhere, but I haven't watched TV in news and years. We don't have it in our bars and things like you do in America.

David Wright: It's not a sport?!

Joanna Penn: No, it does seem like that over there.

David Wright: It’s Gladiator.

Joanna Penn: It's kind of crazy but I was wondering because I find that if there's something I want to tackle and I tackle it and then I finished the book and I do feel like okay, I finished that book and although the themes might come up again, I feel like part of it is left in the pages of that book.

Does that happen to you?

David Wright: Yes, usually. What you said if you write about it, you're getting it down on the page. A lot of times when I write something, I'm getting it out and it's out of my head. Sometimes it's a joke, and I don't remember my own story.

That does help me and I've heard from readers that stuff I've written has helped them get through tough times and that means a lot to me. I would hate to write a book that was just so dark it stuck in someone's head and made them miserable and depressed. So I try not to do really bleak endings. Short stories are a little different, you can do whatever.

Joanna Penn: Yes.

David Wright: But with a novel or a series you don't want it to end with everybody dying and like why did I waste my time on this?

Joanna Penn: I agree with you and I’m very much focused on that ray of hope and I think Jonathan Maberry whose books I love, horror writer, thriller writer. He said his books are not about the monsters, they're about the people who fight the monsters, whether that's a human or whatever.

In the book, you write, “There should always be a flower pushing through the cracked sidewalk.”

How do we make sure there are rays of hope in our books?

David Wright: You look for the things that survived the darkness, the things that bring us together. A lot of times, when horrible things happen in people's lives they rally around each other and they help each other or maybe they find some connection they didn't have before, estranged friends, lovers, siblings or whatever.

I think darkness in the world can bring us together if we allow it and that has to mean something.

Joanna Penn: I agree. I think we have to have that ray of hope and I feel like by winning in the book it almost acts like a talisman in the real world to say look my character or whatever. The character has won in the way that winning is in this particular book, whatever that means and that's the triumph. You can go through this but you can survive or hopefully, someone does.

David Wright: When I said when I was younger and was dealing with bullying and just a miserable existence as a child and teenager that the books did show me, even if they were fiction, that someone wrote this book and they probably had a bad time too. Or the characters in them are maybe based on some people somehow in their own life or whatever.

It just gave me a sense of hope that other people out there have been through similar things and they found a way through. To me that that means a lot because we tend to get isolated but the more connected we are, the more isolated we feel and sometimes it just helps to know that somebody else has been through this and they got through this somehow and that maybe you can get through it too.

Joanna Penn: Absolutely. And I did just want to mention reading your book and I know a bit about your story and you have gone through some really awful things and I was thinking about my life and I've been through some stuff, but I haven't been through what you have.

I wanted to say to anyone who's listening and they're like my life is great, but I still like horror, that's fine too!

My mum always says to me, ‘what did I do to you?' And I'm like Mum, it's not you. I've been called an old soul. There are pictures of me as a very young child looking really old because as long as I can remember from my earliest memories, I thought about death and dying and the veil being thin and being on the other side of it.  I was just obsessed with this.

David Wright: You were a blast at children's birthday parties!

Joanna Penn: I never went. I'm an introvert. I don't want to go to parties!

I just say that to my mum like, ‘Mom, it's not you.' It's just the thing in my head. It's fine. So she doesn't like to read some of my darker books.

I do want to switch gears because we're almost out of time. I want to switch to you as a writer at this point in time. You've obviously been co-writing now for pretty much a decade. And you and Sean and Johnny are still podcasting at the Story Studio Podcast , and we've known each other online now for 10 years.

I wondered if you could talk about your thoughts right now as a mature indie in a space that has seen crazy change in the last ten years.

David Wright: It's ever-shifting. I hate to put a pin on anything. It's changes tomorrow. I think all of us indies, we've stepped up our game. We're becoming more professional.

Audiobooks are really taking off and TV rights, movie rights, all of that stuff. That is where the future is. People always read obviously. But finding other places to put your stories and connect with people, that's a big thing personally for us.

We focused on the Smarter Artist thing and doing the seminars and teaching and all that stuff and that was never really my thing. Sean and Johnny, they love that. They like sharing their knowledge with the world.

Now we’ve shifted gears. We want to focus more on fiction. That's what we've been doing. Most of our income comes from fiction. Now, we invite other people into our studio and instead of doing courses and seminars and stuff like that we're just releasing our stuff as Stone Table books. Stone Tablet books are the smaller ones.

That's what the Into the Darkness one is. It's one of them. So we're still sharing the information we have, but I think before we let it take over more of our space than we wanted to. We want to focus more on fiction and we course-corrected in did that because I certainly don't like to spend all of my time teaching. I would way more like to just write my stories and the other stuff do it in smaller increments.

That's why I did this one book and maybe I'll do another book in another 10 years.

Joanna Penn: We mentioned screenwriting and it's something I know you've been interested in for a long time and you love movies.

Are you turning your own books into scripts?

David Wright: We sold Crash a couple of years ago and I think it's being made into a movie. I don't know. If it happens it does. If not, then I don't know, I guess we get the rights back after however many years.

In-house we are producing a lot of scripts. We've got different people that we’re in talks with and different stuff in either in production pre-production. I don't know how much it's out there and how much I can say so but that is a huge focus for us because we have so many stories.

We're storytellers, all of us, and we want to take that to the next level. I've always wanted to write TV. Movies will be fine. But I wanted to write for TV. That's where my heart space is. And I don't think I will feel like content until I have a TV show that is out there.

We've got several lines in the water.

Joanna Penn: Did you write the adaptation of Crash as a screenplay?

David Wright: No, I was involved in it. Sean and somebody else wrote that and I was involved and I went over it afterward because I’m not well versed in scriptwriting. I've worked on a few with Sean but he's way better at that than I am. So if I need to I will but mostly I focus on the story and in writing the books.

Joanna Penn: I think that's fantastic and I agree with you. I think it's so funny because I did some screenwriting courses and I wrote a script that was for my Map of Shadows book, which is dark fantasy, but it's actually a split world and it's got this massive universe and I pitched it to an agent and he said it's really great, but it'll cost about a hundred and twenty million to get made. So no one's going to make that. His number one suggestion was can you please write just a small horror movie? Because that's where everyone starts

So it's interesting because what you've said about Crash , I haven't read that one but it doesn't sound like big-budget. It sounds like it could be quite small budget.

We never think about budget with books, but you have to think about it if you want TV/film.

David Wright: Actually I did. The first series we did… well, we actually did Available Darkness first that doesn't kind of count. Yesterday's Gone was our first serial that we did and that's a huge budget. Whoever makes it it's going to spend a billion dollars. It's our hottest series but it's like our Game of Thrones . Whoever buys it is probably going to have to spend a lot of money on it.

So after that Sean and I both started thinking, let's think about location. Let's think about what the budget actually would be in most of our books and since then have been with the thought of this could be done for less money.

Our WhiteSpace series all takes place on a small island off of Washington state so that has very much been in my mind. A lot of our writing, that's one of the only forward-thinking things I think that I've done.

Joanna Penn: It’s funny because I've got a list of things I want to write next year and everything's big budget. I’m like, stop it! What is wrong with you? But then we watched a movie on Friday night, I just love big movies with lots of explosions.

David Wright: I think for me though part of it is I like those movies every now and then but there's so many. If you take a movie like Independence Day , a big alien invasion movie or you take the movie Signs by M Night Shyamalan, a much smaller movie about alien invasion and I cared a hell of a lot more about those characters. I don't remember anybody in Independence Day.

Joanna Penn: Will Smith, surely.

David Wright: I don't remember his character. I don't remember anything about him, but I remember everything about that character in Signs . Everyone's got different likes. I like a smaller cast of characters that I can care more deeply about and that's the stuff I write. Some of it’s big popcorn movie, definitely, but I prefer the smaller set, the more in-depth of the characters' stories and I think those translate to TV better than movies, at least, you know from a production standpoint.

Joanna Penn: I think that’s a great place to stop because it is about who you are as a writer and what you want to create in your lifetime. I'm glad that you decided to create Into the Darkness . I think it's a really useful book.

So tell people where they can find you and your books and your podcast and everything you do online.

David Wright: DavidWWright.com . That's my blog.

For Into the Darkness , SterlingAndStone.net/Darkness

And for everything else for like our podcast and everything, SterlingAndStone.net/stonetable .

Joanna Penn: Brilliant. Well, thanks so much for your time Dave. That was great.

David Wright: Thank you for having me. I hope to see you again in another few years!

Reader Interactions

November 11, 2019 at 7:40 am

Great interview. I was hoping to hear your side of the las Vegas conference. It would be nice to hear another opinion besides Kris’s. I haven’t heard too many people talk about it.

November 12, 2019 at 12:30 pm

I’ll add some comments as they come up naturally in discussions – but I have a lot to process. It was more of a mindset shift conference, rather than specific To Do items.

November 12, 2019 at 3:19 am

Another great episode of my favourite podcast about writing! Interesting insight from David here. I’d recommend trying some Kratom for anxiety, David, it seems to have quite a calming and mentally clarifying effect on me.

November 12, 2019 at 3:27 am

I’d also recommend CBD oil (not the stuff with THC in!)

November 12, 2019 at 6:35 pm

Shad @ Joanna — Thank you for the suggestions!

November 13, 2019 at 12:38 pm

Funny about the AI generated text – within seconds of you sharing the website, I paused the podcast and clicked over to check it out. To me, this is a tool in the making, and frankly good fun. It is definitely still a work in progress, since all it really was doing was grabbing snippets of relevant text off the web and pasting it a bit at a time.

When I restarted the podcast, it wasn’t long until you mentioned some people being uncomfortable with AI, or even fearful. I sat back in my chair and wondered why I’m in my 50s (what some people call “getting old”) and run like a moth to test out tech advances to see “How it’s going.” (I think my SciFi roots are showing. 😉 )

Hearing David Wright talking about his new book is great, too. Been a fan since SPP ep 15 or so. Thanks for having him on the show!

November 13, 2019 at 8:23 pm

Another Great Podcast, plenty to consider, particularly with respect to incorporating one’s inner demons as a means of writing therapy. As an aspiring writer, I also appreciated your reminder that the Indy Writing scene is still in its infancy. Thanks.

November 21, 2019 at 5:34 pm

love this podcast, the darkness was fantastic 🙂

November 23, 2019 at 7:56 am

Good episode. I was thinking about your questions relating to guilt. I think one source of guilt is that AI generating a book means the author is not expressing their own thoughts from the inside out. As an author matures in their craft, the work to bring their book into the world also changes their brain function and memory. They are the engine of germination and creation. Does AI generated content mean the author cedes this important work?

Generated books shift the type of work the author does. Used in one way, the gen book can inspire, reflecting back the author’s concepts, style, and expression. Maybe like a collaborator. It does open up the possibility of more rapid IP development. At the other extreme, the persona of author fades and gen books just enable regurgitation of ideas to enable more, but similar books to be created. The author becomes just an IP purveyor.

For writers who heal through their writing, AI generated content can still provde a cathartic experience if used in a cycle of inspiration, percolation, creation, and review. It gets trickier and authors will have to choose where their balance of self or AI generated story creation lies.

November 24, 2019 at 6:39 am

I agree that AI generated books can potentially become “regurgitation of ideas to enable more,” but that is definitely already happening with many genre books, textbooks and other books by trad pub and indie authors who serve a particular niche. Two examples in trad pub are Harlequin romances and the For Dummies series of non-fiction books, both of which have incredibly stringent rules around what the author can do – it’s more of a fill in the blanks exercise. Note, neither of these are AI generated at the time of writing this 🙂 But won’t books like that be easily replaced by AI writers? For authors who write for creative reasons, then of course, we will never stop creating, and may use the AI generation as a collaborative partner — but I suspect there are a lot of publishing businesses who will replace formulaic writers with AI, as sports and financial journalism is already doing with things like Heliograf etc.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Connect with me on social media

Sign up for your free author blueprint.

Thanks for visiting The Creative Penn!

Log in or Sign up

You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser .

Fronzizzle Member

Describe the Darkest Dark to Me

Discussion in ' Setting Development ' started by Fronzizzle , Mar 19, 2019 .

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); Looking for some ideas and struggling to to figure out ways to say "it's dark", "its really dark" and "omg its just so dark"... Imagine you are outside, at night. No sun, no moon. It's dark out. You have no cell phone, no flashlight. Some might call this pitch black. Now all of the electricity goes out. No street lights, headlights, commercial signs. Nothing. How would you describe this blackness/darkness? How would you try to describe this to someone? After that, you see another patch of darkness, only this one is even darker, like something supernatural. Up close, it almost looks like a wall. It's oppressive. What other words would you use to describe how dark it is, how it makes you feel?  

Zombie Among Us Active Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); For pitch black, I've had experiences where it was so dark I thought my eyes were closed. Example description: I tried to open my eyes and failed before realizing they were open. Most night skies were the darkest of greys, but this one was pure black. It was like someone shut off the stars and moon. For the patch, I'd say something similar to the way you described it here: supernatural and oppressive. Example description: The darkness felt heavy, oppressive, almost supernatural. It was darker than vantablack , if that's even possible. I soon found myself swallowed up in the nothingness, not able to see my own two hands in front of my face.  

XRD_author Banned

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); To paraphrase Hitchhiker's : "darker than the darkest thing ever."  

matwoolf Banned Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); - like the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn't there.  

Hammer Moderator Staff Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); XRD_author said: ↑ To paraphrase Hitchhiker's : "darker than the darkest thing ever." Click to expand...

Malisky Malkatorean Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); In order to get awed about something so dark there needs to be a comparison to a light source and the effect that this darkness might have on it. If everything is dark, pitch-black around you, you are simply blind. No way to compare it to anything, so the "darkness" effect gets neutralized. If you take the negative film of a picture shot in daylight, that's where the dark magic starts to happen. Reversed roles of light and darkness, which make the picture seem like the darkness is something that emanates, in comparison to the light that seems to be consumed by it. In my dreams I've come across with such darkness, which looked as two-dimensional, chaotic polygon holes that transformed on the spot and moved around in the environment, consuming and bending the light like a black hole. For example, if this hole entered a well lite room, the room would immediately darken since the hole would swallow in a sense most of the light inside of it, with a great contrast to the hole that would be the blackest black, the complete absence of light. So, in my point of view, there is nothing darker and most oppressive than a black hole. You can form it anyway you like.  

The Dapper Hooligan (V) ( ;,,;) (v) Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); Fronzizzle said: ↑ Looking for some ideas and struggling to to figure out ways to say "it's dark", "its really dark" and "omg its just so dark"... Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); Darkness in itself isn't so exciting in the scene. Nobody wants to write another series of hopping 'likes.' ...like a black and blacky, black as black ever blacked. But then the hot whisper on his earlobe raised those hairs on his earlobe, and he gushed in his pants, running from the panting and the paws and the publish publish publish the dogs in the graveyard.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); The Dapper Hooligan said: ↑ you'd still never see complete black. It's something that's physically impossible for humans to see. The closest we can get is a colour called Eigengrau, or 'brain gray.' Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); });  

Flummi Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); ...the absolute abscence of light deprived him of his senses, even his hands didn't know anymore where they began. ...he stumbled into a pocket of density and for the first time ever, he understood the essence of darkness... it was crouched, a breathing terror delighting itselfs at devouring every last particule of luminosity...  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); XRD_author said: ↑ I think the OP is looking for something supernaturally black. Something that claws it's way into your skull and sucks the neurotransmitters out of your visual cortex. Click to expand...

jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); Like a black cat in a coal bin at midnight? Actually, joking aside, I remember being up in Ullapool one time, in January, when the power failed for the entire town. Certain pockets of the town managed to light candles, etc. But I remember trying to get from where I was to where I was staying. I didn't have a torch with me (last time that will EVER happen) and I quite literally couldn't see my hand in front of my face. I felt my way along (fortunately I knew where I was) by shuffling cautiously. When I encountered either grass or a kerb, I knew I was straying off track. It was not a fun experience at all. The sky was no help because it was a cloudy night. Not even any stars, never mind a moon. It was definitely a taste of what it must be like to be blind.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); jannert said: ↑ I remember being up in Ullapool one time, in January, when the power failed for the entire town. Certain pockets of the town managed to light candles, etc. But I remember trying to get from where I was to where I was staying. I didn't have a torch with me (last time that will EVER happen) Click to expand...

DPena Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); XRD_author said: ↑ Yeah, the ubiquity of cell phones (most can act as torches these days) has made it more difficult for certain kinds of tension to arise. I wound up creating a plausible reason for my MC to not have one, for the first book and a half at least. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); DPena said: ↑ It was so dark, the glow of his phone was nothing more than a pinpoint of light, in a sea of nothing. Click to expand...

Fallow Banned

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); Super extra dark+, now with inkiness! You shouldn't be struggling to come up with mind blowing adjectives, as they are rarely mind blowing. Describe what happens to the character due to the lack of light and how it makes them feel or what it causes to happen. There really are very few amazing descriptions in language, just amazing situations.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); XRD_author said: ↑ Note that many if nor most smartphones have a full-on flashlight function now, using the LED that also acts as a"flash" for the camera. They are quite bright, and wouldn't be considered a "glow." Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); DPena said: ↑ Note that I also called it a "pinpoint." Even a bright LED might be nothing more than a glow if it was trying to penetrate the darkest darkiness that ever darked. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); XRD_author said: ↑ Where talking a darkness of biblical proportions here. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); So dark that even the gods were blinded.  

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); XRD_author said: ↑ So dark that even the gods were blinded. Click to expand...

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); Flummi said: ↑ ... and that's how mankind came to be.... Click to expand...

Maggie May Active Member

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); The supernatural dark could have movement while the dark (where were you when the lights went out, in the dark) has a stillness that does not scare you.  

DarkPen14 Florida Man in Training Contributor

googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('funpub_cb852443f7b2958043be8dcfdcae5b96'); }); Darkness ruled the air around us. It was as if the void had opened up and consumed all of the light from everywhere on the planet.  

Share This Page

• Log in with Facebook
• Log in with Twitter
• Log in with Google
• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

• Search titles only

Separate names with a comma.

• Search this thread only
• Display results as threads

Useful Searches

• Recent Posts
• This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies. Accept Learn More... Dismiss Notice

• PRO Courses Guides New Tech Help Pro Expert Videos About wikiHow Pro Upgrade Sign In
• EDIT Edit this Article
• EXPLORE Tech Help Pro About Us Random Article Quizzes Request a New Article Community Dashboard This Or That Game Popular Categories Arts and Entertainment Artwork Books Movies Computers and Electronics Computers Phone Skills Technology Hacks Health Men's Health Mental Health Women's Health Relationships Dating Love Relationship Issues Hobbies and Crafts Crafts Drawing Games Education & Communication Communication Skills Personal Development Studying Personal Care and Style Fashion Hair Care Personal Hygiene Youth Personal Care School Stuff Dating All Categories Arts and Entertainment Finance and Business Home and Garden Relationship Quizzes Cars & Other Vehicles Food and Entertaining Personal Care and Style Sports and Fitness Computers and Electronics Health Pets and Animals Travel Education & Communication Hobbies and Crafts Philosophy and Religion Work World Family Life Holidays and Traditions Relationships Youth
• Browse Articles
• Learn Something New
• Quizzes Hot
• This Or That Game
• Train Your Brain
• Explore More
• Support wikiHow
• About wikiHow
• Log in / Sign up
• Education and Communications
• Writing Poetry

How to Write Dark Poems

Last Updated: September 4, 2022 Approved

This article was co-authored by Stephanie Wong Ken, MFA . Stephanie Wong Ken is a writer based in Canada. Stephanie's writing has appeared in Joyland, Catapult, Pithead Chapel, Cosmonaut's Avenue, and other publications. She holds an MFA in Fiction and Creative Writing from Portland State University. There are 10 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, several readers have written to tell us that this article was helpful to them, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 156,450 times.

Dark poetry can be a good way to express any deep, dark emotions you are experiencing. To write dark poems, you should first get a better sense of the common themes of many popular dark poems, brainstorm your ideas for the poem and then create your dark poem.

Understanding the Themes and Styles of Dark Poems

• There is also a sense of longing in dark poetry, as many dark poems romanticize death or dying. Often, poets see death existing right next to life. Death may be given sexual undertones or be portrayed as a figure of romance, but in a dark way.

• “Song” by Christina Rossetti.
• “Minstrel Man” by Langston Hughes.
• "The Pond Museum" by Brandon Shimoda. [4] X Research source
• "The morning after/my death" by Etel Adnan. [5] X Research source
• "Romance Sonambulo" by Federico Garcia Lorca. [6] X Research source

• Ask yourself several questions about the poems, such as: How does the poet explore darkness in the poem? Does the poet focus on a specific moment of darkness? How does the poet use sensory detail and descriptive language to describe darkness?
• For example, in Rossetti’s “Song”, Rossetti asks her lover not to mourn her death, but instead to move on with their life. Rossetti romanticizes death by arguing it has no domain over her once she is gone. She also uses rhyme and rhythm to give the poem a light quality, even when it is addressing heavy themes.
• In comparison, Hughes’ “Minstrel Man” looks at how minstrel shows in America hide a lot of darkness in plain sight. His speaker is a minstrel man who performs racist shows for American audiences. Hughes contrasts the apparent joy and happiness the minstrel man performs for his audience with the pain and suffering he experiences internally. This gives the poem a disturbing quality that is finalized with the last line of the poem, “I die”.

Brainstorming Ideas for the Poem

• For example, around “darkness”, you may write “black”, “grey”, “death” “alone”, “anger”, “powerful”, and “hidden”. You could then try to integrate these terms into your poem or use a specific feeling, such as “anger”, as the inspiration for your poem.

• For example, maybe you recall a moment in the girl’s bathroom at school where you felt lonely or sad. You may then try to describe the scene and how it felt to be standing in the girl’s bathroom with these feelings.

• For example, maybe you relate a lot of dark emotions to the death of your grandfather. You may then try describing how it felt to attend his funeral and see him in his casket. You may also contrast memories of his death with memories of his life to give the poem levity.

• For example, maybe there is a next door neighbor who seems to represent darkness or dark emotions for you. Or, maybe there is a family relative that scared you as a kid. You may also remember a dark experience in a house you once lived in or associate dark feelings with a house in your neighborhood. Maybe there was a family vacation that you went on to a specific place in the States that you associate with dark or disturbing emotions.

Writing the Poem

• Try to stay away from cliches like “dark as night”, “lost and alone” or “so lonesome I could cry”. Come up with more original descriptions and images in your poem, especially when you are addressing dark themes and elements.
• One way you can address cliches in your writing is to go over your poem and look for any familiar terms or phrases. You should then underline them and focus on replacing certain words or replacing the phrase so it is less familiar and feels more original.

• For example, maybe you are writing a poem about your grandfather’s death. You may focus on the smell of the white lilies at his grave or the gray, thin appearance of your grandfather in his casket. You may also describe the food you ate at his wake and the feeling of holding your grandmother’s hand at the funeral.

• For example, you may use a metaphor to describe the loneliness of standing in the girl’s bathroom at school. You may write, “The stalls are blank eyes in the face of this room”. Or, you may use a simile to describe the look and smell of the bathroom. You may write, “The floor is as slick as the surface of a lake” and “The sinks smell like rotten eggs”.
• Some poets, such as Rossetti in “Song”, also use rhyme in their dark poetry. Rhyme can be useful for adding some levity and lightness to a poem about heavy, dark subject matter. But it can also make your poem sound too sing-songy and silly. Use rhyme sparingly.

• You should also pay attention to any images that are confusing or lines that are not as strong as they could be. Make sure you are not using cliches in your writing. Your poem should use unfamiliar and interesting images and descriptions that are true to your style and voice.
• You should go back and edit the poem for clarity once you have read it out loud. Adjust any problem phrases or words you identified and make sure you are using strong, interesting language throughout the poem.

Community Q&A

You Might Also Like

• ↑ http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poems/sad/dark/
• ↑ http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poems/sad/depression/
• ↑ http://www.thehypertexts.com/The%20Best%20Sad%20Poems%20Dark%20Poetry.htm
• ↑ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/55504/the-pond-museum
• ↑ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53851/from-the-spring-flowers-own-the-morning-after-my-death
• ↑ https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/romance-sonambulo
• ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/oct/07/poetry-secrets-how-to-write-a-poem-on-a-theme
• ↑ http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-cliches.html
• ↑ http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/writing-poetry.html
• ↑ http://literary-devices.com/

About This Article

Before you write your dark poem, think of a moment you felt sad, lonely, or depressed to use as the topic for your poem. As you begin your poem, write out some sensory details such as how the flowers smelled at a funeral or the sounds you heard when you were alone in the bathroom at school. You might also try including some literary devices like a simile. For example, you could say “these walls are like a prison cell” to describe feeling trapped and alone. To learn how to avoid cliches in your dark poem, read more from our Creative Writing co-author. To learn how to avoid cliches in your dark poem, read more from our Creative Writing co-author. Did this summary help you? Yes No

• Send fan mail to authors

Reader Success Stories

Allison Culbertson

Mar 18, 2018

Did this article help you?

Mary Paxton

Apr 13, 2016

Jerzy Krakoff

Aug 26, 2016

Jul 22, 2016

Jerzy Krakuff

Featured Articles

Trending Articles

Watch Articles

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Info
• Not Selling Info

Don’t miss out! Sign up for

wikiHow’s newsletter

Dark Writing Prompts: 24 Horrifying Ideas to Spark Your Creativity

By: Author Paul Jenkins

Posted on October 6, 2022

Categories Writing , Inspiration

Do you enjoy writing dark, horror-inspired stories? If so, then you will love our latest list of prompts! These horrifying ideas spark your creativity and get those creative juices flowing. Whether you are a seasoned writer or just starting, these prompts will help you create chilling tales that will send shivers down your readers’ spines. So what are you waiting for? Start writing today!

24 Dark Writing Prompts

• A family moves into a new house, realizing that demonic entities haunt it.
• A young woman is kidnapped and taken to a remote location by a madman.
• A group of friends goes camping in the woods, only to be stalked and killed by a serial killer.
• A woman finds herself pregnant with a demon’s child.
• A man discovers that he can time travel, but every time he travels to the future, it is darker and more nightmarish than the last.
• The ghost of her deceased child haunts a woman.
• A man wakes up one day to find that everyone in the world has disappeared, leaving him completely alone.
• A woman is possessed by a demon and starts committing heinous crimes.
• A group of friends investigate a haunted house and are never seen again.
• An evil witch cursed a town, turning all residents into monsters.
• The devil strikes a deal with a man, and the man must spend his life as a woman.
• A woman commits suicide, only to find that death is not what she thought it would be.
• The ghost of his dead wife haunts a man, and she tells him he must kill her little sister to set her free.
• A man tries to marry the woman he loves, but on their wedding night, she turns into a monster and tries to kill him.
• An army invades a small town, and the army consists of werewolves.
• A teenage girl uses witchcraft to bring her boyfriend back from the dead, but she soon realizes she has made a horrible mistake.
• A woman steals the legendary ruby slippers, and she soon discovers that the shoes are not only magical, but they are also alive.
• A man finds a strange camera in the woods, and every time he takes a picture with the camera, the image comes to life.
• A serial killer kills a woman, but her brain continues to function after she dies due to a rare medical condition.
• A group of young children is kidnapped and taken to a nightmarish circus, where they are forced to perform for the crowd.
• A family moves into a new home, and the house comes alive at night, killing everyone inside in the most gruesome ways possible.

Writing Dark Atmospheres: Tips and Tricks

A dark atmosphere can be integral to a story, but it’s not always easy to achieve.

One of the most important elements of a dark atmosphere is the setting. Is your story set in a dreary, fog-shrouded city? A remote, foreboding forest? Or perhaps a creaking, abandoned house? The setting should be integral to the story’s mood, and it should be clear from the outset that something is not quite right.

Another vital element of a dark atmosphere is suspense. One way to create suspense is to withhold information from the reader. This could be done by keeping certain key details about the story or characters hidden or withholding information about what will happen next. Another way to create suspense is through foreshadowing—hints or suggestions about what might happen later in the story. Foreshadowing can be subtle or overt, but it should leave the reader feeling unease.

Of course, no dark atmosphere would be complete without a few creepy details. These could include eerie sounds, unexpected appearances, or sudden disappearances. Anything that would serve to unsettle the reader can work well here. Remember not to go overboard—a few well-placed creepy details will do the job nicely.

How to Create a Dark and Dying World

To create an effective dark setting, you must first understand world-building elements. Once you have a firm grasp on the basics, you can begin to infuse your unique vision, bringing your dark world to life. Here are some key points to keep in mind as you set out to write a dark and dying world.

The End of the World As We Know It

One of the most important aspects of creating a dark setting is ensuring that your readers believe that the world is ending. To do this, you must first establish what the world is like currently. This will be your baseline; everything that follows should work to create a sense of decline from this point. When writing about the current state of affairs, be sure to include internal and external factors contributing to the decline. For example, in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by war, you might include dwindling resources, widespread disease, and mass economic collapse. Establishing a strong sense of foreboding from the outset will set the stage for the darkness to come.

Including Apocalyptic Elements

When most people think about writing a dark setting, their minds immediately jump to images of fire and brimstone, end-of-days type stuff. And while there’s a place for that kind of thing in certain stories, it’s not necessary in all cases. What is necessary, however, is a sense that things are rapidly deteriorating and there’s no turning back. So whether you’re writing about a zombie apocalypse or simply a city crumbling under its weight, be sure to include plenty of details that convey just how hopeless the situation has become.

Focusing on The Human Element

While it’s important to establish the scope and scale of the impending doom, it’s even more important to focus on how this affected individual people. After all, at the end of the day, stories are about people—not worlds—and so it’s vital that your readers feel emotionally invested in your characters and their struggles. To do this, try to put yourself in their shoes and think about how you would react if you were facing certain death. Would you give up? Would you go down fighting? Would you try to make peace with those who have wronged you? These are just some questions you should consider as you write about your characters’ trials and tribulations.

Dark characters are the best characters

We all love a good dark character. You know the type – they’re brooding, injured, damaged. They don’t play by the rules and are always just a little dangerous. But what is it that makes these characters so darn compelling? Let’s examine why dark characters make for the best stories.

Dark characters are intriguing because they’re not like everyone else. They march to the beat of their drum, and they don’t apologize for it. Something about their darkness is strangely appealing – it makes them different and unique. And in a world where we’re all trying to stand out from the crowd, who doesn’t love a little difference?

Dark characters are also usually complex and multi-dimensional. They’re not one-note beings; there’s always more to them than meets the eye. This depth makes them interesting to read about and fun to write about. It’s always a challenge to try and figure out what motivates a dark character – what drives them to do what they do? – and this can be half the fun.

Lastly, let’s not forget that dark characters are often the most passionate ones. They feel deeply and passionately, which can make for some truly intense scenes. There’s nothing quite like reading (or writing) about a dark character losing themselves in an emotion – anger, sorrow, or desire. If you’re looking for high drama, look no further than the dark character!

Deconstructing the Gothic Mystery

In literature, there is nothing quite so satisfying as a good mystery. A well-crafted mystery tantalizes readers with clues and red herrings, slowly but surely drawing them into the story until they reach the climax when all is finally revealed. And of all the different mystery subgenres, few are as atmospheric and suspenseful as the gothic mystery.

But what exactly is a gothic mystery?

The Origins of the Gothic Mystery Genre

The gothic genre has its roots in 18th-century literature when writers began experimenting with incorporating horror and suspense elements into their work. The first real gothic novel is thought to be Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto (1765), which tells the story of a cursed prince and features many hallmarks of the genre that would come to be defined in subsequent years.

Over time, authors began to play around with the formula, resulting in works like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897). It was around this time that the term “gothic” began to be used to describe this type of literature.

What Makes a Gothic Mystery?

So what sets a gothic mystery apart from other types of mysteries? Several key elements are common to most gothic mysteries:

• A dark, atmospheric setting: Gothic mysteries often occur in haunted castles, mansions, dark forests, or other eerie locations. This provides a backdrop for suspenseful scenes and a source of fear for the characters.
• A sense of foreboding or dread: Gothic mysteries are characterized by an underlying feeling of unease or terror. This might manifest as actual supernatural events or simply as a sense that something dangerous is about to happen.
• Secretive or mysterious characters: Many gothic mysteries revolve around characters hiding something or seeming to have ulterior motives. This air of secrecy only serves to heighten the sense of suspense.
• A slow build to an explosive climax: Gothic mysteries tend to be slower-paced than other types of mysteries, gradually raising the stakes until everything comes to a head in a heart-pounding finale.
• Supernatural elements: Ghosts, witches, vampires, and other supernatural creatures are often found in gothic mysteries. These elements add an extra layer of suspense and can help create an atmosphere of terror.

BRYN DONOVAN

tell your stories, love your life

• Writing Inspiration
• Semi-Charmed Life
• Reading & Research
• Works In Progress.

Master List of Ways to Describe Fear

People have been asking me for this list for such a long time! If you write horror, suspense, mystery, or any kind of fiction with a scary scenes, you need to know how to describe fear.

This list can get you started. It’s a lot of phrases describing fear, including physical reactions, physical sensations, facial expressions, and other words you can use in your novel or in other creative writing.

I’ve included some that can work for uneasiness or anxiety, but most of these are for real terror. You can alter them to fit your sentence or your story, and they’ll likely inspire you to come up with your own descriptions.

Bookmark or pin this page for your reference—it might save you a lot of time in the future. I’ll probably add to it now and again!

fear paralyzed him

his terror mounted with every step

she fought a rising panic

fear tormented her

her heart was uneasy

her heart leaped into her throat

his heart hammered in his chest

his heart pounded

terror stabbed his heart

his heart jumped

her heart lurched

a fear that almost unmanned him

his body shook with fear

she trembled inside

he suppressed a shiver

panic surged through him

her fear spiked

he was in a complete state of panic

she could feel nothing but blind terror

his legs were wobbly with fear

she sweated with fear

his hands were cold and clammy

she was weighed down by dread

dread twisted in her gut

his stomach clenched

fear fluttered in her stomach

her belly cramped

he felt like he might throw up

she was sick with fear

she was frightened down to the soles of her shoes

he was icy with panic

her body went cold with dread

raw panic was in her voice

her voice was thick with fear

his voice was edged with fear

terror thundered down on him

fear caught her in its jaws

fear clawed up her throat

terror sealed her throat

fear gripped her throat

his throat tightened

then she knew real terror was

he was frantic with fear

she was half mad with terror

the color drained from her face

his face was ashen

she blanched

dread gnawed at his insides

dread had been growing in him all day

fresh terror reared up within her

fear choked him

terror stole her words

he was mute with horror

her voice was numb with shock

his voice was shrill with terror

her defiant words masked her fear

her body felt numb

his blood froze in his veins

terror coursed through her veins

fear throbbed inside her

his panic fueled him

adrenaline pumped through his body

adrenaline crashed through her

fear pulsed through him

her scalp prickled

the hairs on the back of her neck stood up

his mouth went dry

his bones turned to jelly

her bones turned to water

she froze with horror

he didn’t dare to move

terror struck her

he was too frightened to lift her head

she was too frightened to scream

his mouth was open in a silent scream

he cringed with fear

she cowered

he shrank back in fear

she flinched

a bolt of panic hit her

terror streaked through him

her terror swelled

his panic increased

anxiety eclipsed his thoughts

panic flared in her eyes

his eyes were wild with terror

her eyes darted from left to right

she feared to close her eyes

he lay awake in a haze of fear

she walked on in a fog of fear

his eyes widened with alarm

she tried to hide her fear

he struggled to conceal his shock

fear crept up her spine

fear trickled down her spine

panic seized his brain

she felt a flash of terror

fear took hold of him

fear flooded through her being

she ordered a drink to drown the panic

he arranged and re-arranged the items on his desk

a nameless dread engulfed him

I bet you came up with other ideas as you were reading!

For more writing lists, check out my book Master Lists for Writers , if you don’t have it yet! A lot of writers use it to make writing go faster, especially when it comes to descriptions.

And if you’re not following the blog already, sign up below—I share lots of writing resources. Thanks so much for reading, and happy writing!

Related Posts

Share this:

30 thoughts on “ master list of ways to describe fear ”.

Thank you, Bryn. I can certainly use this list as I go through and clean up my novel. There are some places that need a stronger element of fear.

Hi Bonnie! So glad this was coming at the right time! 🙂

Love the book and the above list! Thank you for taking the time to compile all of it. So appreciated!

Oh thank you! I’m so glad you like it!

I just love your lists. I often refer to them when I’m stuck. That book is right next to the dictionary and thesaurus when I write.

I’m so glad you like them, Erin! I’m honored. 🙂

I was searching for the perfect list to describe fear. I stumbled across your blog and I am glad that I did, you literally saved my butt out there!!? I got an A* because of you ! Thankyou!!❤❤

Aww, I’m so glad to hear this! 🙂

Thanks for compiling this list. Much needed.

Aw thanks, Ezekiel! So glad you like it!

What a terrifying, fantastical list. Thank you, Bryn

Haha, thanks, Bryan! When I read back over it, I did feel a little creeped out. 🙂

I have a scene coming up that this will be perfect for. Thank you for sharing. Bookmarking now!

Hi Sarah! So glad it’ll be useful! Sounds like you have an exciting scene coming up 🙂

• Pingback: How to Write a Novel: Resources - MultiTalented Writers

This is a great list! Thank you, Bryn.

Wow! When I read it, I was SO / COMPLETELY creeped out!???

Ha! You know what, when I make these lists, I always start feeling the emotions, too!

I’m thankful for your help. It is great to see these lists. Many blessings ❤️

I have been a bibliophile since long, but never before did I read so many blogs in a sequence. I am really amazed to have found them.Thanks a ton . Superb work .

You saved my life ! Thank you a lot ???

So glad to hear that! Happy writing 🙂

Thanks… It’s good to know tath someone is making life easier for those interested in writing.

ohhh ,how grateful i am for this list it will come in handy so thankyou

• Pingback: Master List of Actions That Show Fear

Thank you so much for this list! It is exactly what I was looking for. I ordered the book 🙂

Thanks for ordering the book, Laila. I hope you like it! And glad this list worked for you!

This is an amazing list. I saw in your other comment that you have a book…?

I wanted to tell you that I often return to this page when I am stumped coming up with a way to write some specific reaction. Sometimes I just use one of the ideas you offer directly, and other times something here gives me an idea I riff off of to create something new. Thank you so much for compiling this list!

I riffed this time (last line): “Still feeling the sadness of Manzoa’s fate and wondering what this place was and why he was here, Goff cautiously walked over to the desk. A quill still wet with thick black ink rested next to a sheet of parchment filled with writing in a language he couldn’t read. Crude drawings made with heavy strokes were set within the words. Some of them were disturbing — a bleeding hand cut open with a knife and a person floating lifeless below a ghoul with black eyes poised to attack. He stared at the words, hoping that just like when he traveled back in time to Monstraxen, he would be able to understand them. As he stared, the ink on the page disappeared like water soaking into a sponge. A spider of panic crawled up his spine.”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Discover more from BRYN DONOVAN

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Type your email…

Continue reading

The Emotion Amplifier Thesaurus , a companion to The Emotion Thesaurus , releases May 13th.

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

Setting Thesaurus Entry: Woods at Night

March 5, 2011 by BECCA PUGLISI

There is a forest entry already, but I think that at night the woods can be an entirely different setting, full of mystery and sometimes fear. I figured it deserved its own entry! Notice how other senses are utilized more so than sight–an unusual occurrence.

Dark tree trunks, shadows, overhanging limbs across the path seen at the last second, clumps of bushes, barely visible black trails snaking through the undergrowth, moon shining through a lattice of leaves, patchy sky & stars seen in glimpses through tree breaks, tall shadowed pines stretching up like arrows into the sky, streaks of cloud against the…

Wind slipping through leaves, cracking undergrowth with each step, creaking tree trunks, the flutter of wings unseen, snapping twigs, grass and weed sliding against pant legs, breathing sounds, coyote calls, fox yipping, wolves howling (if within location), snarls, padding feet along a trail, a grunt of pain at catching a root or tripping on dead fall, a rip of…

Rich earth, rotting leaves, pine needles, fresh air, a slight scent of flowers, earthy fungus, tree sap, wild animal musk (if close), possibly the spray of a skunk (if around), green growing things (spring & summer), moss

Sweat on lips, dryness in throat, sometimes a cold metallic tang if lots of stone is present

Cobwebs in face, cold, dewy leaves sliding across skin, slipping on wet leaves and mushrooms, tripping on bumpy roots, stones, dead fall, thorns scratching skin, scrapes and cuts on hands from falling in the dark, pine needles embedded in skin during fall, twisting and jerking at every unfamiliar sound, holding hands out to ward off unseen obstacles like tree…

Helpful hints:

–Think about the conflict that might be present in your setting.

Your character’s emotions will be on high alert at night because their visibility is low, making it a great time to insert conflict. This Conflict Scenario Database is loaded with ideas to help you.

–The words you choose can convey atmosphere and mood.

Example 1:  Devin dove behind a wide cedar trunk just off the trail. Heart slamming against his ribs, he gulped at the air, trying to slow his breathing enough to hear. Back in the shadows, branches thrashed and snapped as Valio growled sharp orders to his men. Sunset had finally drained out of the sky overhead, sheathing the woods in shadow. Devin pressed his face against the bark, the ridges biting into his skin, and tried to become one with the tree…

–Similes and metaphors create strong imagery when used sparingly.

Example 1: (Simile)  Eileen worked her way along the narrow trail, leaves sliding across her bare forearms like wet tongues…

Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers —a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)

Reader Interactions

May 1, 2020 at 8:45 am

This is my new account! Thanks for all your kind replies! 🙂

March 11, 2020 at 3:32 pm

if anyone could help me with how to describe palaces and castles, please comment me back.

March 11, 2020 at 4:24 pm

HI Kit, You can find information on Castles and other fantasy settings at our site, One Stop for Writers: https://onestopforwriters.com/scene_settings

Happy writing! ~angela

December 27, 2019 at 8:16 am

this has just made me re think and re write my whole stroy thank you this really helps

May 1, 2020 at 8:43 am

happy to help!

P.S. I’m Angela, this is just a new account! 🙂

July 13, 2017 at 2:55 pm

I would take that fear away from you Laura. Having spend my childhood surrounded by woods on the hills and shore of Cayuga Lake I have spent time in the woods alone at night. It is the imagination and the untrained ear that brings fear into the equation. Shadows unseen during the day become magical at night. All the nocturnal animals want nothing to do with you.

May 1, 2020 at 8:44 am

Thank you so much for your kind reply. Happy to help you always!

December 9, 2011 at 3:17 pm

I do not think I would be walking around the woods at night.

December 6, 2011 at 2:06 pm

Just came across this one and I have to say, it really helped me with a scene I was struggling with. Thank you so much!

March 9, 2011 at 9:15 am

I think the dark tree trunks description sums it up for me. Creepy and suspenseful. This will help me loads in my continued search for publication and getting my story just right.

March 7, 2011 at 1:20 pm

I totally agree, Ralfast. I was just talking about this the other day with my kids, that if they really wanted to see what it would be like at night they would have to go far, far out into the country, beyond all light pollution and population.

March 7, 2011 at 1:15 pm

What makes forest so frightening for the modern viewer/reader is the near total darkness. We are so used to having sources of light 24/7 that our mind panics when we lack it.

March 6, 2011 at 2:41 pm

I love the woods and only a few times have I experienced them at night. It can be a beautiful-creepy feeling.

March 6, 2011 at 1:41 pm

Great–I’m so glad this one helps. So many great stories have night scenes that take place in a forest or wooded area. I think this is a setting that naturally creates tension.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

March 6, 2011 at 2:23 am

Ooooh, just thinking about the woods at night gives me the willies. You nailed it!

March 5, 2011 at 8:23 pm

Very timely. Might be needing this for my wip!Thanks!

March 5, 2011 at 7:31 pm

Loved this post! I just recently started reading this blog, and it has helped me to totally rethink how I’m going to write! Thanks!

March 5, 2011 at 11:25 am

Just wrote a scene involving the woods at night. You are right, they definitely deserve their own entry!

March 5, 2011 at 11:08 am

This totally makes me want to go write a fairy tale. =)

March 5, 2011 at 10:46 am

The woods are lovely dark and deep but I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep….

March 5, 2011 at 8:58 am

Walking through the woods at night is definitely different than during the day! I don’t think you could pay me to walk through the woods at night!

[…] Does your setting take place at night? Check out this similar Entry: WOODS AT NIGHT […]

[…] beautiful Brothers Grimm-inspired gallery of forest photographs. And if you get stuck, check out Writing Helping Writers’ “Forest Thesaurus” for even more […]

[…] hushed voices and whispers, muffled footsteps, your own heartbeat. Also, see the setting entry Woods at Night. EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS: Mood: Falling stars happen so quickly; to catch sight of one makes the […]

Morning Darkness

by Joe Bunting | 61 comments

Free Book Planning Course!  Sign up for our 3-part book planning course and make your book writing easy . It expires soon, though, so don’t wait.  Sign up here before the deadline!

PRACTICE Write about the darkness of morning. Write for fifteen minutes. Post your practice in the comments when finished. And if you post, make sure to comment on a few other Practitioners' posts. Good luck!

Photo by Per Ola Wiberg

Here's my practice:

His eyes snapped open before dawn from a long restlessness. He had fought for too many hours to stay dreaming, and he knew there was nothing left to do but get up. He got up, turned off his alarm to spare his sleeping wife the sound, and stumbled into the living room, where he stood in front of the window for several minutes, scratching his bare belly.

It was dark. He couldn't remember the last morning he woke to darkness. Behind the bare trees he could see an aircraft warning tower flashing its livid red lights. He thought it an odd thing. Why have a light tower in the middle of the country? Are planes in danger of hitting the oaks? He had never noticed it before.

He went outside. The cold wasn't the biting but the slow seeping kind. He wished he had brought his slippers, but he didn't want to go back to his room to get them. He felt he was doing something important, surveying the land, taking in something he saw only a few times per year: the darkness before dawn.

It was different than nighttime. Night's darkness is a winding down, meant to tell you your world is getting smaller, more stiff with cold, meant to lead you to your bedroom and to sleep. But this darkness that seeped into his bones, that glared livid like the red flashing light tower, seemed full of potential, as if he could reach out and grab it from the sky and form it into a small ball of darkness, make something magical out of it, a jewel maybe or maybe it was like a lump of clay to turn into a small bowl. What he meant was that this darkness felt more like light.

Beyond the darkness were the trees and they were shrouded in it, wore darkness like great cloaks, and before the trees was a field full of dark colored grass. He could not see the grass, though. He just knew it was there like he knew the trees were there and like he knew his wife lay sleeping inside and knew nerves lay underneath his skin and cold was seeping through them and into his bones. Like he knew he must go inside soon.

But there, beyond the trees, stood that red glaring light tower he did not know. It flashed on and off. He looked into it and he did not know why it was there or why the darkness seemed to gather around it as moths gather around light even though they're beaten back again and again by the heat. Yes, the dark was darkest around that red light and he couldn't go inside but just stared into the darkness, trying to memorize its shape.

He stood until the sky let out enough light that the tower he hadn't known was there was gone again and he went in.

Don't forget to enter into our writing contest for February . The theme is love stories, but I'm sure you can figure out a way to keep it as cheese-less and Valentines-Day-free as possible.

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

61 Comments

The alarm blared. I groggily stagger to the dresser to push the button. Just a few more minutes. The same tired shuffle until I collapse onto the bed. It’s never enough, for the alarm blares again. This time I have to open my eyes to find the shut off button. Monday morning bleariness: what a way to start the week. I shuffle to the kitchen, the cold tile on my feet begins to wake me as I prepare the elixer of life. A quick prayer of thanks is offered for the creation of coffee. Stretching I return down the hall. Stopping at each door to wake the rest of the crew my efforts are met with grunts and other noises. I let the robe fall in a puddle in the floor as I step into the shower. Jets of hot water massage my skin and scalp as I begin to wake. Slowly, I begin to come alive again. I can’t remember the last time I woke on my own in the morning, when it actually was morning. It’s still dark and will be for another hour. In my mind, the morning darkness should be for sleeping and burrowing deeper under the covers. It wouldn’t be such an issue if I were actually a morning person. My muse visits me late into the night, causing furious episodes of working while the inspiration is there. Last night was one of those nights. A smile gently plays at the corner of my mouth, the days are getting longer now and the sun is rising earlier. Simple things are worth smiling about. Ten minutes later, I’m fully awake. The hustle and bustle of the morning routine is like a frenzied dance that is well choreographed. It works until somebody misses a step. It’s my job to keep them on task, focused, and moving. By the time everyone is taken care of; the kids on the bus, the husband’s lunch packed and on his way, it’s now time for my day to begin in earnest. A refill of coffee is the all important ingredient as I settle in at my desk, and fire up the beast. The first rays of sunlight stream through the glass of the front door, streaming audio playing, it’s going to be a grand day! I roll my shoulders and begin. After the obligatory staring at the screen period, I eventually find my groove as I pour myself into the current project. I always think I’ll get a nap later, but it never happens. It will be full dark before I even think about sleep, then the cycle will begin again.

This is a good description of morning and especially of coffee, the only morning companion you mention in detail. The coffee almost has a personality.

I like this a lot, Ellie, don’t stop contributing. I smiled several times while reading, sometimes at content, other times at how your phrased it. I loved this blunt line with no explanation of what you were working on (I don’t think it needed one) “Last night was one of those nights.” Loved “fire up the beast” and how you “roll your shoulders to begin.” I actually found myself rolling my shoulders to get into the same groove you describe, except it’s the end of my day and I’m rolling them to get ready the other “beast” — family time. Nice work.

I loved this, Ellie. Loved the description, the dailyness of it all and the commitment to your own good work and how that carries your through from dark to dark. Well done.

Why is it that when I set my fingerts to keys; I always think “Theirs is so much better than mine?” Does anyone else do that to themselves? Not a very descriptive attempt but more of a get the bones down contribution. I loved yours, and wanted to just like a skip posting. BUT,it’s part of my plan this year to challenge myself, so I posted.

Good for you, Ellie. Comparison is a trick of the Resistance. It will kill your creativity (and maybe even your soul). Way to overcome it.

My cell rang one, two, three times. Damn alarm… I turn it off and stumble to the bathroom. I turn on the hot water and get in. My eyes are still closed. I shower in darkness. Only when I get out and turn to the sink to brush my teeth that I open them. I brush my teeth, floss and comb my hair.

I enter my room and turn on the lights. It’s like a cave in here, the way I like it. I put on my clothes and my make up. I do my hair up, after all it’s Thursday already, I might have a drink or two after work. Yes, that’d be nice. Maybe I’ll try that new pub on Carlson Street. I wonder if Nick will join me.

Still thinking about Nick I walk to the kitchen and start a pot of coffee. Maybe I’ll have toast this morning. I eat my breakfast in silence. Thinking about nothing. God, I’m so sleepy today.

As I walk back to the living room I notice. Why it’s still dark? I turn around and walk back to the kitchen. For the first time I look at the clock in the wall.

Damn it. It’s 3 o’clock in the morning.

I’m so tired that I can’t even get mad. I just walk to my room, strip from my clothes and reset the alarm clock. Good night.

Ha! I’ve done that but I never got completely ready before I figured out what was going on. It’s awful when that happens but it’s funny too. Thanks

Nicely done. It really conveys the whole sense of being on automatic pilot very well.

Oooh, nice twist! thank you.

This is beautiful Joe. As an insomniac, I often see the early hours of morning before dawn. It’s almost shiny sometimes, luminous, magical as you said. I like the lines about the trees wearing cloaks and “The cold wasn’t the biting, but the slow creeping kind.” not just because I like that description of cold but because of the way the sentence is constructed. It sounds good. Also your description of the difference between the quality of the night’s darkness in the morning, as opposed to in the evening it interesting, lyrical and memorable. What more could you want from writing?

Yes, luminous and pregnant with the potential of the day. You’re great. Thanks for the critique!

Mrs. Dalloway would approve of the potential of the day I think. ; )

This is my second post here (but I think I everyone missed my first post, on last Monday’s thread, because I was two days late posting).

I wake up suddenly. 7:25. Five minutes before the alarm, as usual. I don’t know why I even set it. I turn it off, walk quietly to the kitchen, turn on the coffee maker. Head to the washroom, relieve myself and splash cold water on my face. Back to the kitchen and pour a cup of coffee. My routine so ingrained I do it in the dark.

The house is so peaceful with the boys still asleep. I stare out the kitchen window at the darkness, broken only by the streetlights. Still an hour till sunrise. I hate these short winter days. I rarely see the sunlight, the sun rising and setting while I’m stuck in my office.

Still, the darkness has its own beauty. Hoarfrost covers the trees and bushes from an overnight ice fog, tiny crystal daggers glinting, giving the trees near the streetlights a ghostly glow. But I can already feel the chill in my bones, knowing that I have to go out into the cold, scrape the ice from the car windows, sit in the ice-cold seat, driving for several minutes before the car finally warms up. Winter is beautiful when you can stay inside. Not so much when you have to go out.

I sit in front of my SAD light, waiting for the bright light to fool my brain that it’s summer, giving me the energy to go about my day. Without it I would probably just crawl back into bed. I dream of the real summer sun, rising before I do, the bright light already shining through the bedroom window when I awake. My time is up. I go to wake the rest of the family.

I too enjoy the solutude of being the first to wake in the morning. You captured that feeling very well.

I can see the trees with that kind of glinting halo they get near the streetlights now. I like how you move though the story with action, but have enough description that I can “see” what going on.

Hey R.E., Welcome back! i just checked out your first post…so you can go back there and know it wasn’t lost in the sea of comments 🙂

This piece is very cool. I love how you use everyday, common language to describe your routine (no fancy adjectives here), and then LET LOOSE when you shift to describing the darkness! Tiny crystal daggers glinting. Fantastic. I can see them without even having to squint.

I wonder if you could stretch this part out a smidge…i’d love to luxuriate in the visuals of the darkness for just a few moments more before having to sit in the ice-cold seat. 🙂

Well, again — so glad you’ve joined us! Will look for you in upcoming posts!!

What a “quiet” piece you’ve written, exactly typifying the experience the charact is having. There seems to be an incongruity, however. You say that winter is beautiful inside, but then describe the use of the SAD light. I understand what you mean, but you might want to make it clearer. Nice work. My wife and I REALLY enjoy the short time we have in the morning before the boys wake up and become the center of our existence.

Morning comes with the blinds pulled and the day, the outside world, not quite real yet. The remnants of a dream dissolve in the buzz buzz buzz of the alarm. There are so many things to do. So many obligations to meet. But you lie still in the dark dawn listening to the cat purr and watching a thin line of creeping sunlight move slowly across the room. “Move,” you say. A command. A wish. The floor is cold; the winter chill coming up through the foundation and stealing the strength from your bones. The cat stretches and curls up without a care next to the pillows in the warmth your body has left there. You walk stiffly to the window; turn the blinds to see only the weak, just rising sun barely glint through the heavy clouds. Dark days. January through March covered in frost or rain or the endless grey that presses on your heart like a nearly forgotten sorrow. No course to take except continue to get ready for the day because the minutes start ticking to the hours that won’t be your own. So much to do and it is all the same every day.

Your story really set a mood. I can remember those cold morning when the only thing that made you move was the fear of eviction.

Nicely done, I like the way you use description.

I like this and especially like that it is short, as if you had to quickly leave the exercise “because the minutes start ticking to the hours that won’t be your own.”

I like this image: “…the endless grey that presses on your heart like a nearly forgotten sorrow.”

thanks for sharing your work.

Not just your description but the whole tone of this is gray and weary, a workday morning, very sad. I like this “Presses on your heart like a nearly forgotten sorrow”.

Exactly. A mood piece – beautifully captured feeling of dark, both in the environment and in your own spirit. Winter can be like that…

The bed creaked as I lifted myself from the warm cocoon of blankets. I hadn’t taken off my jeans when I went to bed last night, so I stepped into my shoes and stood listening to my wife’s rhythmic breathing. I tiptoed out of the bedroom and gently closed the door behind me. In the kitchen I poured a cup of coffee into my travel mug and walked to the front door, then stepped out into the early morning darkness. I settled in behind the steering wheel and turned the key, the engine sounded loud as it groaned to life in the suburban quiet. Gravel crunched under the wheels as I eased down the driveway and pulled out onto the paved road. I turned to car toward the lake high up in the mountains. The Tennessee Valley Authority had created the lake when it built the dams used to generate cheap electricity. It was one of the most beautiful lakes I had ever seen. I pulled in along the side of the road and turned off the engine. I sat there listening to my breathing, the engine ticked as it cooled. I put the cup in the holder and opened the door and stepped out into cool air. I walked to the edge of the lake and sat on a fallen tree and looked out onto the placid water. Looking east I saw a sliver of light on the horizon. A invisible jet engine growled in an inky sky pricked with lights of diamond. My thoughts returned to last night and what happened just as my shift was ending at midnight. The call came in over the radio, her voice filled with static. An armed robbery had just occurred and the suspect fled in a red Mustang. The dispatcher was still speaking as a red Mustang drove past me at high speed. Before I had a chance to reply to dispatch I pulled out and accelerating after the car. That time of night left very little traffic on the road so I was able to catch up to the suspect car quickly. The car suddenly pulled to the side of the road and the driver jumped out and ran. I stopped and chased the dark figure as it ran. As I rounded a corner I saw him and froze. He was only ten feet away and he had a gun aimed at me. I dropped to my knees as I withdrew my weapon and fired, three times, and then watched him fall back and go down. It was a clean incident, one for which I was sure I’d be cleared of making a wrong decision, even when it was learned that the suspects gun wasn’t real.

The lake surface became a mirror as the sun broke above the horizon and turned the sky pink and grey. In the dim light, it was difficult to know where the mountain began and where the reflection ended. I sat back and turned my eyes to the lightening sky and thought about the man I had killed. Kill or be killed? Many people think it’s that simple, but I learned that it isn’t simple at all. He was dead and I was left to think about it.

What a story! You packed a lot into a very little bit of space and it makes sense. I like it. I wish the other guy hadn’t had a toy gun though. Bummer! to put it mildly.

It’s never a good idea to point a gun at a police officer, real or not. But it happens quite often. There is something called, “Suicide by cop,” where a person who lacks the courage to kill themselves will put themselves in a situation where a police officer will have to shoot. Either way, it can have the same effect on a policeman.

Angelo, love this story. I especially like this graf: “Looking east I saw a sliver of light on the horizon. An invisible jet engine growled in an inky sky pricked with lights of diamond. My thoughts returned to last night and what happened just as my shift was ending at midnight.”

I like the thin psychological line you’ve created between doing what’s necessary and doing what can be psychologically traumatic. Very nicely crafted.

The psychological trauma is often missed when a police officer is involved in a shooting, although police departments are beginning to recognize the phenomenon.

Wow…While reading this, I could see it like I was there, and I could feel what he was feeling. You are very talented at describing the details, Angelo. I, too, wish the other guy didn’t have a toy gun.

Was NOT expecting that. And I sure that are those times when you must just have some space and some quiet to reflect on those parts of the job that are the very toughest. You went somewhere bordering on deep with this one. I would encourage you to take this out and write more, reworking, rethinking. If this really happened to you, not only would it be good for your writing skills, but it could be good for your soul, too. Therapy in your fingertips.

My heart started beating faster when I read the action part. Whew! Your use of words like “froze” and “fled” made it so effective.

And boy, I love the description in your last para. It’s like a sort of contrast after the action.

Joe, you turned the darkness into a living, breathing entity in your story.

I can’t take too much credit, Angelo. We’ll blame it on my muse. But thank you for the compliment 🙂

Her heard his wife moving about in the house, coming up from the basement, walking though the dining room, and onto the porch. He looked at the clock’s square illuminated dial. It was five o’cock. He decided to go ahead and get up.

She worried him when she walked around at night just before dawn, and then lay down to sleep as the sun rose. She knew that and tried to act like she didn’t get up like she just needed to sleep a lot now that she was older, but he heard her after twelve, running water to make tea, turning on the fan, typing. He started down the steps and sure enough, he heard her shut the porch door and hurry to the basement where she slept. She would be pretending to be asleep if he followed her. Such an odd woman he thought fondly, how did he wind up married to her.

As he entered the dining room, he heard something moving about on the porch. It sounded like it was pulling out a porch chair, or maybe getting ready to open the door. He went to the closet grabbed his rifle, and rushed back to the porch, but rather than throw open the door and shoot the intruder, he felt it prudent to take a look out there first.

There in the odd darkness of early morning in Virginia, he saw what appeared to be a huge fat old dog moving about on the porch. But no, it wasn’t a dog, it was a raccoon, a vector for rabies. He checked his rifle to see if it was loaded, started to open the door, and then heard her behind him. 
“Don’t shoot Ralph,” she said. He felt her leaning against him, warm and soft in her housedress, taking nervous rapid breaths.

“It’s a raccoon. Raccoons carry rabies,” he said, and even to him, his voice sounded too loud, strident.

“Please don’t hurt him. I opened the door. He looked so sad, you know how they look.” He saw how sad she was and waited for her to add a word or two about how the raccoon’s world was being wrecked by humans, but she didn’t mention that, just stood their, her hair messy, her face childlike, anxious.

“Let’s just let him get off the porch before we go out and keep the door locked,” He said in a gentler but still exasperated voice. They watched as Ralph, who seemed to get the idea that he should leave, slowly sauntered off the porch not looking back.

“Okay, I’m going to bed now,” she said.

He’d hoped for a cup of coffee with her but she’d probably been up most of the night. He made himself a cup and took it to the porch. The sky was still dark but had a glow that meant dawn was coming. He sat in the quiet and smoked. As the dawn lifted and a grayish light moved over the porch, he saw something shining on the floor near the table. He leaned forward to see a dish, with just a little bit of peach preserves clinging to it, and just beyond that on the other side of the screen was a face with a dark mask surrounding luminous eyes, glow in the dark eyes.

“So Ralph, you’re who she’s eating breakfast with now-a-days,” he said.

Marianne, I like your story. Using a raccoon was a great idea. They look like miniature bandits, but they’re cute. But they carry rabbies. You gave your reader lots to think about. Leave him alone, feed him because he’s cute? Or shoot him because he carries a dangerous disease?

Thanks Angelo. I used the raccoon because I used to work at a state hospital, had to go in one night, parked by the building only to see a huge raccoon cracking acorns on the sidewalk in front of the building. I had heard they were rabid and was afraid to go past him. I had to honk my horn until one of the aides came out and yelled “Git coon!” I kid you not. That’s exactly what she said. Bless her heart. The raccoon heeded her, shuffled off and I went in. After asking around about how fat this raccoon was, I heard that one of the aides had been feeding it cat food, so it was getting that in addition to the acorns, and whatever else it could find. It just worries me when people make pets of them because they are vectors of rabies. I’m from the city but have lived where I am now for 25 years, and I love the wildlife but it worries me a lot too.

A number of years ago my family and I went camping in the Florida Keys. The raccoon’s were everywhere. At night you could hear them getting into people’s coolers and they actually popped the tops of soda and beer cans. They not only look live thieves, they are thieves.

What a great little vignette of a story. I’m left wondering so much more – about their marriage, about the area where they live. Way to draw the reader in. (And I’m with you, they may be cute looking, but racoons are wild creatures and need to be respected as such. And they can be scary, sometimes, too.)

“Morning darkness” is an oxymoron. Morning belongs to the sun. Vampires vanish in the morning. Criminals hide. Workers wake.

This morning, however, Trevor slip-slod to the window, swooshing aside with his right foot a tee-shirt and then a pair of underwear with his left. He cracked open the blind. It was dark, but his clock shown 7:13. What was wrong? Where was the light? Were there nefarious beings up to no-good? Aliens in need of a sun who possibly lassoed our hallowed yellow ball and hauled it to a distant galaxy, or at least a few light years past the dwarf planet Pluto?

Trevor’s left hand instinctively scrunched into his left eye socket, deeply rubbing out the confusion he felt. His right hand did the same to its symmetrical visual partner. Still, the darkness reigned.

At the bureau, Trevor flicked on the TV. Large smiling heads seemed to bob up and down, albeit blurry, rambling about stuff that didn’t quite filter through Trevor’s cortextual understanding. But, he thought, this means it’s morning. So where is the sun?

Out to the kitchen, the somnambulant Trevor could smell the coffee brewing. Again, he peaked out the window. It seemed darker than before. What were those lights in between the trees? The bushes? The cars? There seemed to be little twinkling lights, as if the very atoms of matter were visible. These blinkering mirages didn’t seem to give off light, but they were light nonetheless.

“Hey,” he said into his phone. “What time is it?”

Gabe, on the other end, obliged the request. “7:21, why?”

“Where’s the light?”

“What are you talking about?”

“The light outside. Where is it?”

“Where are you, Trevor? Are you okay?”

“I’m in my house. Just woke up and it’s as dark as sin outside, and inside come to think of it, and I want to know where the light is.”

There was a long pause. Trevor blinked out the window again, seemingly dodging the flashing blinkering lights that were everywhere.

“Trevor, are you feeling okay? There’s plenty of light where I am. How do you feel? Do you have a headache? Were you out late last night? What’s going on?”

Trevor dropped the phone. He ran to the bathroom, flicked on the light, but there was no difference. He continued flicking the light switch on and off, on and off, on and off. But there was no difference in his visual perception.

Did he go blind?

I don’t know. My 15 minutes were up.

LOVE this answer. Hope you find out one day!

Ha! I know the feeling, my characters are either getting away with murder, or suffering alone, or who knows what else, now-a-days because I can’t keep my eye on them. I do love the timer though, it makes me not as paralyzed and overly analytical. Thanks for a good story anyway, I will just have to decide for myself what happened to him, I guess that’s the way life really is anyway. ; )

nothing wrong with a cheesy cliche love story.

Wow, Marianne, I really like this story. Full of surprises and humanity, and something perhaps “extra” humanity.

Thanks Chris

Barely awake, but a commitment pulls me between warm sheets. It is a commitment to meet seven or more friends for that early morning walk. Some of the ladies like Ginny, Florence and Cissie have walked together for many years and thirty or more have joined them, but most of the larger group have decided walking at the crack of dawn is not for now.

I’m fairly new to some in the group and as I turn to my side and lower my legs I, too, am not sure that I am one who can keep the commitment for jaunts beginning in the dark and yet, I know the expectations and so I begin the day.

From habit I quickly pull up the bed covers and place the pillows on top making sure of the neatness. Bed making when half asleep was something that I learned early in life when I lived back in the mountains of North Carolina. Mother had taught that a bed made up is the first responsibility of growing up and growing up meant assuming responsibility and no daughter of hers would be a slacker. My second responsibility growing up was to quickly brush teeth, don clothes for school and a good warm coat, a scarf and mittens, go out the front door and out to the road and up the hill to the Scott’s mini farm. They had fresh raw milk and eggs and monthly my Dad paid the milk bill. I remembered that I hated that early morning walk.

The woods on either side of the road were dark. The snow and rocks on the road crunched under my feet. The wind blew hard making trees swish and sway and throw down straggly leaves. Occasionally Bozo my dog would bark and head off into the woods and my imagination would go wild in the semi-darkness. I walked quickly and I pray for God’s protection.

The gate lock into the Scott’s yard creaked but the kitchen light sent rays to the steps so up I stepped up, opening the screen door and before I knew it Mrs. Scott had two bottles of milk in my arms and had turned me around to face the walk home still in the semi darkness.

My eight year old heart raced as booted feet quickly walked down the snowy hill eager to see the light on the front porch and happy when I was back at the kitchen table where fried bacon, scrambled eggs, apples slices had been fried with just enough brown sugar added to made them sweet. Hot thin buttered biscuits slithered with butter and a cold glass of Mrs. Scott’s milk then made the awful walk worthwhile in the warmness and brightness of my Mother’s kitchen.

Sixty years later, a recent widow, who for forty-six years had enjoyed a dependable and loving husband crawling out of bed, making the hot coffee, filling the carafe and returning to my side of the bed he put the carafe on the night table, bent over and gave me a kiss. All was a glorious habit and love received. I had to make the decision whether I would get up and get my own coffee. For some reason I couldn’t. It wasn’t delivered with loving attention so the taste wasn’t the same.

It was something that I simply gave up. So with an aching heart I walk to the bathroom, brush teeth, wash my face squinting into the mirror I see wrinkles but hair still brown. I add some silky-smooth face cream, a little make-up and slip from gown to warm ups and then a jacket, grab gloves and turn on the alarm system I walk to meet the women.

Stepping into the semi-darkness again the trees sway but they don’t bother me and my imagination doesn’t work overtime. I again take the time to pray as I feel the cold air on my face.

It is dark in this flatland far from the North Carolina mountains. But the glow from a lamp in the window of my friend’s house, an unlocked door with the understanding that one simply opens it plus the smell of hot coffee and a warm welcome draws one in from the darkness into the light.

Fifteen minutes later warmed with the hot beverage all are out the door and soon in the darkness we walk the sidewalks that wind through the country club golf course. As daylight approaches we see that the greens are perfectly manicured, the trimmed trees are beginning to leaf and here and there a dogwood is beginning to bud. Walking over the humpback bridges we enjoy the awakening of life. It might be doves cooing, or the rushing brook or a distant bark of a dog. In the semi-darkness aloneness has been shattered by togetherness

Every morning is different but usually advice sought and given has been received, the concerns of hearts have been listened to and the assurance that one is never really alone has been experienced. The day began in the darkness, but now it is light and there is day ahead.

That’s so well described that I felt like I was not watching a movie, but was there as I read it.

I wasn’t sure what time it was. How long had I been asleep? My dream woke me in a panic. My heart raced. I felt paralyzed as small streaks of light came through the dark window. I slowly got out of bed and tip-toed around the squeaky floor boards. I went down the stairs and breathed a sigh of relief. I can do this. I know I can. I pulled out my brown canvas bag. I reached inside and pulled out my notebook. I flipped through the pages. So many ideas already in there. “I don’t need to write anymore today,” I thought to myself. My heart beat faster at this thought. I pulled out my pen and started to mark on the page. “I’m not giving in today,” I told myself. I’m a writer, so I write.

Jim, i can totally see the action of pulling out your notebook…something so pedestrian as a brown canvas bag, and the verbs that accompany it: reaching in, pulling out, flipping through the pages.

i’d love to know more about the dream. is there any way to tie in the content? something that wakes you in a panic — seems like a perfect “hook”, and would be so awesome if you could bring it back somehow at the end. or keep it as a theme throughout the piece.

i know what you mean, when there are so many ideas already logged in, it seems almost fruitless to add more. but not giving in is key. thanks for the reminder!

Thanks Kati! I don’t remember the dream, so it is hard to tell you more about that 😉 Glad I can offer a reminder to keep working!

I like the interesting way that this is arranged, the halter-skelter of morning, and that thought of not needing to write in quotation marks. It catches that idea that I, and I imagine most of us who want to write have, that maybe it can be put off, and then the kind of anxiety that comes with that thought “My heart beat faster at this thought”. I wonder if you might make the source of the anxiety more apparent. I think I know it’s the “I need to write” anxiety but I’m not sure. This is really good Jim and join Kati with a “thanks for the reminder”.

Thanks, I’ll think about your suggestions and see how it hits me when I write more later 🙂 Thank you so much for the kind words, I’m glad you liked it.

“Good morning,” I tell myself. I’m so tired. It’s not quite light yet and the warm covers steal me back to dreamland.

My alarm yells at me. Again. I groan, press snooze, and snuggle up to my husband on my left while my Doberman mix sneaks up on the right side.

This happens every morning. Paisley, the dog, hears my alarm and gently comes sneaking on my bed. She noses under the covers and rests her warm head on my stomach, sighs, and sits still. All 50 pounds of her are against my right side, all 220 pounds of my warm husband on my left. So warm. So happy. So quiet. So perfect.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

My eyes snap open for the third time. I groan, slip up to the tip-top of the bed so I don’t disturb the over-sized sleepers that have officially blocked me under the covers and get up.

Paisley slips out of the covers with me, her desire to be by my side more important than sleep. She whines quietly and wags her stub. “Good morning!” it says.

I smile, although I hate crawling out of bed, I just realize that I’m secretly a morning person. Lying awake next to quiet beings who love unconditionally reminds me that in a few hours the hectic day will take over and that part of snuggle time will be over.

The details here create a clear picture. Being the one who’s always asleep I like to know what it looks like to the ones who get up early, and make the coffee, make morning inviting for us night people. I envy you that moment, which means even in fifteen minute, you’ve created something visceral. Thanks

Aw, thanks! Don’t give me too much credit. I do love those early morning hours, but only until I have to slip out of bed! Thank you for thanking me. I’m never really sure about my writing. 🙂

Four-thirty. Yes, that’s what it said. Shaking her head as she rolled over, she remembered: market day. Stifling a sigh, she sat up, rubbed her eyes and headed for the bathroom. Clothes laid out the night before were pulled on grudgingly – teeth brushed, hair combed, sleep washed from eyes. All of it quietly done, so that her husband could doze until a more normal rousing time.

Mornings were not part of her routine, especially dark mornings. But she had signed on for the whole enchilada when she opened her business, so down the stairs she went. Backing carefully out of the narrow driveway, she headed down the silent street, wondering if anyone else was aware of how very dark it got before the light made its morning debut.

Sailing easily onto the freeway, she headed her car towards downtown Los Angeles. No competition for lane space today, even on that granddaddy of all freeways, the 110, heading toward the interchange. Impossibly narrow lanes seemed wider in the crowdless dark, and the car seemed to steer itself round every bend.

Exiting at Hill Street, she wound her way through Skid Row to Sixth, pulling into the ramp for the parking structure. It was now 5:00 a.m. and parking was at a premium. Hanging her badge around her neck, she locked the car and rode the escalator into another world. This one was brightly lit and noisy, filled with the hustle of vendors and buyers, each wanting to make the deal of the day. But it was the smell that brought her fully awake: the sweet scent of lilies, the spicy aroma of carnations, the ripe, growing smell of greens, all kind of greens.

Grabbing a cart, she began her usual circle, finding bargain roses in the corner, interesting newer breeds along the narrow hallways. “Have you got any scabiosa today?” she asked, still somewhat amazed that something could be so delicate with a name like that. “How about freesia? No, not fully open – have you got some still in buds?”

Slowly, the cart filled with newspaper wrapped bundles. There were two weddings this weekend and a graduation party. And she always liked fresh flowers around her own house – the best advertising in the world and so cheap! When her cart was full and her list checked off, she lugged them all to the car and locked them away.

Then it was time for the supplies. A large warehouse on the floor between the parking and the flowers was filled to the rafters with the stuff of dreams. Designer ribbons, boxes of Oasis, floral tape – anything and everything she needed to make her clients happy. The list was short this week, and soon the shopping was done. Now it was time for breakfast.

This was often the best time of these mornings – fried eggs over rice and char siu pork at the greasy diner next door to the flower mart. Each table filled with shoppers like herself, with a few vendors to liven things up. Lots of hot tea, lots of eavesdropping on conversations, lots of people-watching. Yes, this is what capped off the morning best.

Except, of course, for the ride back home. She knew there would be hard work to do once she got there. The flowers needed to be unwrapped, re-trimmed, set in buckets filled with tepid water and plant food. They needed to harden off for several hours before any arrangements could be assembled. But until then, for the next thirty minutes of so, she had the joy of the rid. With the sun just peeking over the horizon, coloring the California sky with pinks, peaches, lilacs. she could imagine that anything was possible. Anything.

What a beautiful morning from the empty freeway in early morning darkness (reminds me of the one ride on the DC and Baltimore expressways during which I felt almost safe), to the busy shopping, to the breakfast (that sounds so nice and fattening) to the ride home into that sunrise. Well done.

The truth is, she was afraid of the dark, always had been ever since she was little. As a five-year-old, she would lay in her bed, clutching her teddy bear close to her body, covers pulled all the way up to her chin, ready to use them as a sheild at any moment against a nighttime invader. The darkness was dangerous; it brought hideous unnamed monsters out from inside her closet and under her bed.

And even now, when she was all grown up, it was no different. The terrors had merely changed. She’d never admit it to anyone, but the darkness of night still frightened her. It changed her, turned her into an entirely different person. It was during the darkness of night that her demons crept back to her, and she was forced to fight them off. It was only in the hours of the early morning, when the nighttime darkness slowly gave way to morning darkness that she could truly rest easy.

The morning darkness was different than at night. At night, when the sun set and dark came all it brought was more darkness, more black which promised to creep into your thoughts. The darkness of morning was different; she knew its promise was not of more dark, but of light. It promised to chase away the monsters.

Even as an adult, she lay in bed, covers pulled up to her chin, waiting. Waiting for the darkness of morning to come, to give way to dawn, when she could finally rest easy.

She slowly opened her eyes. Waking up this morning wasn’t the usual rude jolt that rocked her out of restfulness. It was more like the gentle coaxing of Mother’s tender voice, lulling her awake with fond crooning.

The room was still dark, her sleepy brain slowly realized. The deep blue shadows of the fading night lingered around the folds of the curtains. There was that tinge of gathering light that made the darkness somehow, comfortable and cosy. She yawned lazily and rolled over. It was too early to get up. She lay there, not willing to remember the anguish of the night before, wanting only to enjoy the quiet moments of restfulness before the sun awoke the rest of world and demanded that everyone get back into their crazy schedules.

She savoured the quietness, the happy, comfortable silence that afforded her a sort of safety. The taunting, the rejection, the whispers behind her back, the sarcastic grins the others exchanged with each other could not find her here, warmly snuggled down under her downy blanket. Here she could rest, and feel like she fit perfectly. She sighed softly, a sigh that was not solely sadness and longing, but one of settled resignation. She had accepted life as it was. There was nothing to do now, but to face it and live above it.

A quiet smile played gently across her young solemn face, adding a hint of the spirit that sparkled in her character. Even in her sad moments, the natural cheerfulness of personality would not be suppressed for long. Yes, she would live above it. She would show herself and others that she was made of nobler stuff than low back-biting and petty resentment.

The darkness was almost gone now. She lay listlessly, waiting for her alarm to sound to signal the start of another hard day. There it was now. As if on cue, her muscles involuntarily tightened. She slowly sat up.

It was time to give life to the resolutions born in the morning darkness.

Alarm. Jerked rudely out of sleep. Lie for a minute. CAN’T STAND IT. Jump up. Whack snooze button. Collaspe into bed.

-9 minutes later-

Alarm. Repeat above.

Alarm. Think nasty words. Smash snooze. On second thought, turn off altogether and force self to get out of bed. Begin thinking in coherent sentences. Well, mostly.

I cover my eyes against the blinding hallway light and walk to the bathroom. Bathroom door. Slam shut. Put paper on the filthy dorm toilet seat. Begin to nod off while performing bodily functions…

…and remember that there’s something important due in Art History today…

Shit. I flush, wash hands, return to room, gather shower paraphernalia, return to bathroom. Doze off slightly in the shower as well. I use conditioner this morning as an excuse to just stand there for a minute, bare skin reddening under the hot water. Wasting water. Killing the environment. Idly, I contemplate drowning myself in the bath, or just slitting my wrists with the razor. Then I rinse out the conditioner, step out of the shower, towel off.

Wrap towel around self. Feel slightly awkward passing another towel-wrapped person in the other direction. Escape to room. Dither over what to wear. Dress to fit mood: oldest, ugliest jeans; random t-shirt; sneakers. I could stuff a sock down my throat to suffocate, but I should probably just blow-dry my hair. I do that. Don’t bother with makeup.

Books — packed. Homework — done. Breakfast — missed it. Coffee — not enough time to make. I hear taking in too much caffeine can kill you. I wonder if anyone’s ever done it on purpose before. Some poor, overworked secretary or boss, probably. Class in fifteen minutes.

If I leave now I can make it, easy. If I fell down the stairs, I could be dead before my roommate woke up. But there’s that homework due. Eh, I still have five minutes til I absolutely have to leave. There’s a large vein in the neck that’ll leave you dead in two minutes flat.

Too tired to find the razor. Too tired to move. I lie back on the bed. I have slept but I have not rested.

Don’t sleep. Lose all track of time, lost in contemplation of the ceiling cracks. The sun has been up for hours, but my morning is dark with potential.

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Submit Comment

Join over 450,000 readers who are saying YES to practice. You’ll also get a free copy of our eBook 14 Prompts :

Popular Resources

Book Writing Tips & Guides Creativity & Inspiration Tips Writing Prompts Grammar & Vocab Resources Best Book Writing Software ProWritingAid Review Writing Teacher Resources Publisher Rocket Review Scrivener Review Gifts for Writers

Books By Our Writers

You've got it! Just us where to send your guide.

Enter your email to get our free 10-step guide to becoming a writer.

You've got it! Just us where to send your book.

Enter your first name and email to get our free book, 14 Prompts.

Want to Get Published?

Enter your email to get our free interactive checklist to writing and publishing a book.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Picture Prompts

125 Picture Prompts for Creative and Narrative Writing

What story can these images tell?

By The Learning Network

For eight years, we at The Learning Network have been publishing short, accessible, image-driven prompts that invite students to do a variety of kinds of writing via our Picture Prompts column.

Each week, at least one of those prompts asks students: Use your imagination to write the opening of a short story or poem inspired by this image — or, tell us about a memory from your own life that it makes you think of.

Now we’re rounding up years of these storytelling prompts all in one place. Below you’ll find 125 photos, illustrations and GIFs from across The New York Times that you can use for both creative and personal writing. We have organized them by genre, but many overlap and intersect, so know that you can use them in any way you like.

Choose an image, write a story, and then follow the link in the caption to the original prompt to post your response or read what other students had to say. Many are still open for comment for teenagers 13 and up. And each links to a free Times article too.

We can’t wait to read the tales you spin! Don’t forget that you can respond to all of our Picture Prompts, as they publish, here .

Images by Category

Everyday life, mystery & suspense, relationships, science fiction, travel & adventure, unusual & unexpected, cat in a chair, happy puppy, resourceful raccoon, cows and cellos, people and penguins, opossum among shoes, on the subway, sunset by the water, endless conversation, falling into a hole, lounging around, sneaker collection, the concert, meadow in starlight.

Related Picture Prompt | Related Article

Public Selfies

Night circus, tarot cards, castle on a hill, security line, batman on a couch, reaching through the wall, beware of zombies, haunted house, familial frights, witches on the water, blindfolded, phone booth in the wilderness, shadow in the sky, a letter in the mail, hidden doorway.

Point of No Return

Darkened library, under the table, playing dominoes, looking back, a wave goodbye, out at dusk, conversation, walking away, alone and together, a new friend, heated conversation, up in a tree, hole in the ceiling, under the desk, at their computers, marching band, band practice, in the hallway, in the lunchroom, the red planet, tech gadgets, trapped inside, astronaut and spider, computer screen, special key, tethered in space, on the court, in the waves, city skateboarding.

Fishing in a Stream

Over the falls.

Under the Sea

Sledding in the mountains, cracked mirror, wilderness wayfaring, car and cactus, walking through town, tropical confinement, travel travails, roller coasters, atop the hill, climbing a ladder, under the ice, other selves.

Students 13 and older in the United States and Britain, and 16 and older elsewhere, are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public and may appear in print.

Find more Picture Prompts here.

Navigating Through Grief: Finding Light in the Darkness Thriving Together Podcast

• Christianity

Summary In this conversation, Keira and Corine discuss grief and loss, with Corine sharing her personal journey and the inspiration behind her recently published book. They explore the creative process of writing and the different manifestations of grief. Corine also shares her experiences with handling reactions from others and offers advice for those struggling with grief. The conversation concludes with information about where to find Corine's book. Takeaways Grief and loss can be difficult topics to discuss, but it is important to have open conversations about them. Writing can be a therapeutic way to process grief and share one's experiences with others. Grief manifests in different ways and can include shock, anger, guilt, and blame. Having a strong faith and relationship with God can provide comfort and hope during the grieving process. It is important to be mindful of the reactions and comments of others when dealing with grief, and to set boundaries when necessary. Seeking support from others who have experienced similar losses can be helpful in navigating the grieving process. Corine's book offers a personal and faith-based perspective on grief and restoration. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Book Announcement 06:05 Personal Journey with Grief and Loss 11:21 The Creative Process of Writing 15:23 Manifestations of Grief 27:43 Advice for Those Struggling with Grief 32:18 Book Information and Conclusion

• Episode Website
• More Episodes
• The Thriving Woman Collective