One of the most common and interesting phenomena in fanfiction is the great quantity of DarkerAndEdgier (henceforth DE) works that can be seen. Stories involving [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy Ed, Edd and Eddy]] [[ClusterFBomb dropping f-bombs]], [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pokémon]] killing themselves in an over-the-top fashion, or ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'' characters being racist and actively trying to murder people may interest readers, at least out of [[BileFascination morbid curiosity]]. In fact, [[RulesOfTheInternet Rule 43 of the internet]] says that "The more beautiful and pure a thing is, the more satisfying it is to corrupt it." Of course, this is not something seen only in fanfiction, as it is also prevalent in original works. However, the use of this trope is more noticeable in fanfiction because the contrast is much more evident. It is an experiment that allows putting the same characters in scenarios that they would not normally be in, at least in theory. There is a reason why tropes like TrueArtIsAngsty belong to the DE family, as analyzed below.

Authors tend to write DE fiction because of the increased probability of those works being successful. The success of a work is determined by how popular it becomes, and there appears to be a correlation between the work's success and the number of tropes it uses. For example, on the JustForFun/TropeOverdosed page, it's virtually impossible to not find a work that is popular in that list.

However, popularity does not equal quality. Just because a work is popular does not mean that it is automatically good, which seems to be the usual opinion of stories such as ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga''. However, high quality can be a factor in popularity--people who like to read a book or watch a movie for its excellence will tell others about it.

What makes a story good? Due to the fact that everyone has varying tastes, there might be no objective answer. Still, the answer to the question "What makes a story popular?" might be relatively easier to find. There seem to be factors that popular fiction often share. These factors involve the way the writer builds the universe, including its setting and its characters in a way that attracts the attention of the spectator, and making something "popular" earns much more attention than just making something "good." Tropes play an important role because they help build the story.

The main feature of DE is that it allows the use of tropes to explore issues like drama, violence, cynicism vs. idealism, racism, trauma, and other real-world issues. Common tropes and clichés may also be deconstructed. The outcomes and consequences tend to be more realistic than in more light-hearted works. In a series that becomes DE, the themes are allowed to get more mature as the fanbase matures.

DE is a tool that has a lot of subtropes, and the problem of using it is that the wielder has to have some ability to use it properly. If it is used poorly, then the quality of the work will suffer. Writers often are too lazy to make proper use of it and end up needlessly "spicing up" works with gratuitous gore, cursing, and sex. An inexperienced author using this delicate device also tends to produce poor results, and fanfiction has varying degrees of quality. One of the points of fanfiction is to be the gateway for inexperienced writers, but while this can lead to those writers gaining more experience, it also ends up leading to fanfiction of subpar quality just as often, therefore making DE stories look like they were written in bad taste. The most likely reason is that the writers [[HanlonsRazor don't have any idea]] of what they're doing and get too carried away with being edgy. Mature and delicate subjects must be dealt with in a mature manner. Putting rape in a story should not be something to be glorified or thrown in for the sake of being edgy; it must be a very dark moment for the story and portray the resulting aftermath. [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7643557/4/How_not_to_write_an_Evangelion_Romance_fanfic This essay discusses the depiction of rape in greater detail]]. Concerning poor implementations of DE, this quote from Creator/CSLewis applies:

->"Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty, I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up."

Another quote that addresses this, by George Griffin, says:

->"There's something that's called 'adult animation' and it usually means it appeals to adolescent, teenage boys and that's not really adult in my view."

In summary, it must be remembered that DE is a tool that enables the use of a lot of other tools that may help boost the popularity and quality of a story. The trope TrueArtIsAngsty exists because great writers tend to use the related tropes to explore the dilemmas of human existence. Bad situations are the ones that test the character of people, fictional or not. Some people will miss the point and think that DE automatically makes a story better-- it doesn't. There is no magic formula to produce a Nobel Prize-worthy book or an Oscar-winning film. Put all effort on it and beyond, or just have the right friends in the right places.

Tropes are also cyclical; if too many series get DE, DE turns into a cliché, leading to lighter fiction becoming more popular again.
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