Quote:
Originally Posted by Nabeel
[...] It's hard to know what to do, because on a case-by-case basis, authors can always justify such scenes. It becomes a problem when you consider them collectively. [...]
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I agree. And not just collectively, but contextually. Sometimes violence truly is part of the story, and the story would miss something if it didn't include it. But the reverse is also true, sometimes explicit violence is simply out of place - and that in itself will make it stand out as more explicit or wrong to the reader.
The difficulty, for the writer, is that different people will react in different ways to the same scene. What seems mild to some will seem unnecessarily explicit to others. What seems horrifying to some may barely raise an eyebrow with others. (One of my still unpublished short stories I find truly horrifying in a way that has nothing to do with the violence in the story, the violence in this case was more about elucidating the horror rather than creating it.)
I have found, too, that a fantasy element to the violence often seems to make a scene seem less violent/extreme/explicit to many readers. It seems to me there are two things going on here. One is that the fantasy element often needs more explanation, so being more explicit is sometimes necessary. The second is that readers tend to remain aloof where the violence involves non-human characters. (Which isn't to say the writer has carte blanche even in fantasy, only that it can change what is acceptable or necessary.)
* Speaking things distressing to (apparently) just some readers. Was I the only one distressed that the "good" vampires in the Twilight series took out their frustrations on bears and mountain lions and the like? I mean, really, think about the environment people! Go pick on drug dealers and murderers or something.