I finally finished the short story I’ve been struggling with, and I’m relieved and frustrated. Relieved because I finished it and found an ending. Frustrated because I don’t like the ending, and it has me wondering if I just naturally lean to grim/dark stories.

That’s what has my brain upset: my gut says the ending is right, but my heart says “Really? Is this all you can write? Grim/dark stuff?”

I read existential crap literature in college and I couldn’t stand it. Yes, life can certainly suck, and seem like it has no point, but I don’t want to read that, especially for pleasure. So if I keep finding myself writing grim/dark stories when I don’t like them, what does that say about me?

Then I think about people like Stephen King who write dark stories, and yet seem to be decent not-dark people.

I just have to remind myself that it’s just a first draft, that it’s not definitive, that I can change it. Make it better, make it the way I want it to be. Lighter, happier, more joyful.

That would take some work and a lot of rewriting.

Or I can keep the ending and make the most of its darkness (give it some meaning, and not just leave it as is with existential nonsense), and then write a new story that is lighter. Essentially shelve it and move on.

This is assuming that I can actually write a lighter tale. <sigh>