Embrace Your Dark Side Mwahaha

One of my favorite book genres is grimdark fantasy.

In addition to being a compelling read, it also offers a powerful but underused strategy to stand out as a creator.

Not everyone is willing to use it but that’s precisely why those who do stand to gain a lot from it.

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Warning: I’m allowing myself to go a little nerdy in this email so if you’re pressed for time, feel free to scroll down to the “5 Ways to Embrace the Dark Side” headline.

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If you have no idea what grimdark is, think of Game of Thrones but make it even more violent, amoral, bleak, and… yep, grim.

It doesn’t make for fun and light beach reading, that’s for sure. But there’s something fascinating in reading a book where all the tropes are turned upside down.

There’s no white knight who dies for honor with a sword raised high. Instead, there are scoundrels who couldn’t care less about honor, looting the knight’s body.

Forget the hero’s journey. Welcome the anti-hero’s downward spiral, where the character grows progressively more despicable.

Clear lines between good and evil, with good always triumphing? Not here. No side is purely good or evil, and everyone has blood on their hands. Who you’re rooting for and why may make you uncomfortable.

(If you fancy such a delightfully positive read, by far the best grimdark author is Joe Abercrombie, particularly with his brilliant First Law series.)

Why Do People Love Grimdark?

Grimdark has exploded in popularity in recent years. Game of Thrones has played a role, as have other TV series that portray anti-heroes such as Breaking Bad, its spin-off Better Call Saul, Westworld, or Fallout.

Readers and viewers have begun to crave realism over idealism. They want shades of gray instead of pure black/white choices. They want to explore hard questions about power, morality, and survival instead of watching perfectly noble people doing perfectly noble things no matter the cost.

In a world where people feel disillusioned by politics, media, and institutions, grimdark feels honest and human. It shows the world as messy, unfair, morally gray, and occasionally stinky.

Our beautiful blue planet isn’t populated by benevolent kings with kind voices and noble knights in sparkling white armor. Even good people make bad decisions, power corrupts, and moral dilemmas don’t have clear-cut solutions.

Grimdark also allows readers to safely process negative emotions like rage, hopelessness, grief, fear, or distrust. It provides a cathartic experience, akin to watching horror or reading true crime.

Paradoxically, grimdark may also let readers feel positive emotions more strongly. In bleak, cruel grimdark worlds, any act of mercy, compassion, redemption, or kindness becomes monumental.

All these features of grimdark are deeply human, yet you’re unlikely to encounter creators tapping into that opportunity.

AI tiptoes around darkness for safety, while generic human creators avoid it out of fear of seeming “negative.”

And that presents a wide-open opportunity for brave souls (like you) who want to experiment with something different and connect deeper with their subscribers.

5 Ways to Embrace the Dark Side

Whether you’re a coach, content creator, or consultant, your work doesn’t have to live in the land of LinkedIn motivational platitudes and Instagram feel-good affirmations. There’s power in showing the world’s ugliness.

Embrace your dark side. But not for the shock value or being dark for the sake of it. It’s a strategic use of negative emotions to teach, inspire, empathize, or connect. Every now and then send emails that:

1. Discuss the dark side of your industry

Expose the rot beneath the surface in your niche.

What’s ugly, morally questionable, or otherwise undesirable? How can your fans navigate it, avoid it, or use it to their advantage in an ethical way?

Uncovering ugly secrets positions you as a trusted voice instead of a gatekeeper of your world.

This works even in a positive niche like wellness (if not especially in such a niche). Exposing these darker aspects adds depth to your content, leading to more trust.

Stay tactful, though. Choose the level of darkness your audience can handle. And there’s no need to name names or attack everyone left and right. It’s not about making enemies but about helping your subscribers (ultimately it all comes back to serving them).

2. Tell grimdark stories from your own life

Perhaps you failed at something and there’s no neat lesson to learn from it. Perhaps someone hurt you and got away with it. Perhaps you witnessed an unethical behavior that was rewarded.

While bleak, these stories will help create a stronger bond between you and your readers.

Why? Because your subscribers won’t feel as alone with their struggles, failures, and the unfairness of the world.

No need to send a long sob story. Just weave these stories into your emails occasionally to show that you occupy the same universe where not everything is always beautiful.

3. Recount a dark time and celebrate a bright moment

Grim worlds make golden moments shine more brightly.

Share a painful, hopeless story where everything goes wrong. Make it so ugly that you can’t help but feel the ick just writing about it. And then mention that one small act of kindness or a lucky coincidence that changed it all.

That one moment of light in a bleak situation will shine much more brightly. It will have a deeper emotional impact, inspiring your fans more than a feel-good success story.

Your story doesn’t need to be tragic. The goal is to share a genuine struggle of yours to connect on a deeper level. It can be a failed project or a string of bad luck, not necessarily a heart-wrenching catastrophe.

4. Admit to self-sabotage and inner conflict

Grimdark characters are complex because they aren’t driven by a clear set of noble values.

Just like regular humans.

We’re conflicted all the time. Even when we know what’s good for us, it doesn’t mean that we’ll do the right thing.

By admitting to your own self-sabotage and inner conflict, you become one of us (flawed humans) instead of one of them (infallible gurus).

Can this harm your image as an expert? If you want to be absolutely perfectly professional all the time, then yes.

But if you want to be relatable to inspire your fans to take action (and not just treat you as a flawless, divine being), exposing your flaws helps.

5. Write about pure survival, not esoteric ideals

In the rose-colored world of fake social media, many creators and coaches appeal to higher needs.

Buy my nutrition program to finally become the best version of you!

Start a side hustle to follow your passion!

Have a paid marketing consultation with me to change the world!

What if your potential customer wants your nutrition program because he takes three, stomach-churning, painful dumps a day and can’t take it anymore?

What if your potential customer desperately needs extra money because she’s about to get evicted?

What if your potential customer is one month away from firing every single employee and they desperately need a strategy to help them stay afloat while they make cost optimizations?

These are ugly yet real survival scenarios that happen to people every day.

Don’t forget about the most desperate of your customers. They need your help the most, and yet they may feel alienated if you’re aspirational all the time and never touch on these darker subjects.

The dark side isn’t the enemy. Don’t be afraid to draw a little inspiration from grimdark to connect more deeply with your fans.

Until next time,

Martin

P.S. If your brand is known for positivity, don’t randomly throw darkness at people. But if you’re known for keeping it real, a little dose of some grimdark will make your content even stronger.