: Too much is when you start adding in elements that have nothing to do with the story except for just adding gore/murder/death/fighting/ etc. You didn't need to kill off that person to further

@BetL639

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Too much is when you start adding in elements that have nothing to do with the story except for just adding gore/murder/death/fighting/ etc. You didn't need to kill off that person to further the story. Their death was an empty death for the sake of killing someone off. You add in a scene where maybe some people end up raped but it otherwise plays no factor in the story and added just for the sake of throwing in something dark.

Dark topics hold meaning because they hold emotional value. They further drive the plot and draws the reader in because they hopefully are emotionally invested in the characters. If you start applying dark themes willy nilly, people will become detached from your characters because there's no point to being emotionally invested if they are just going to have xxxx done to them for no reason.

I wouldn't be afraid of having it be "too much". Just make sure that when you do apply the dark theme(s) it has meaning!

For those of us who watch anime, it would be like when you are sitting there watching a show and they have built a great core plot that you are really into and then all of a sudden BEACH TIME!... All that emotional value you just had built up into the story was not only taken away, but they have a full episode of gratuity that has no meaning to the plot outside of drawing girls in swimming suits and kills the flow of the story. You want to avoid doing something like this but in the dark aspects. Don't have a great story going and then randomly insert a dark scene just for the sake of having it because you want it in there.

EDIT:
Usually when a senseless death happens, people will be like "did that person really need to die?" So I will throw people who read this the same question... in your writing does XXXXX really need to happen? If you can't find a reason why they have to xxxx then it probably would fall into the pointless xxxx category.

We can look at Star Wars. Obi died so that he can succeed his physically body to become one with the force and better assist Luke. We can argue that Yoda's death may have been unneeded as he only died of old age without any apparent plot pushes with his death. At least that is how it appears on the surface. If you actually analyze the symbolism of that scene, Yoda tells Luke that he has taught him everything and the only thing left for him to become a full Jedi is to defeat Vader. That means that Yoda's character has served it's full purpose and is no longer needed to advance the story plot. It also is a symbolism of passing on the Jedi ways from one generation to the next.

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