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The Craft of Writing > Character Development

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Boundaries: what line won't you cross with your characters?

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Posted on 9/26/2011
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(Warning: Some responses to the conversation below may contain possible triggers for some of you.)

In a much of genre fiction, the main characters are subject to quite a lot of abuse over the course of the novel. I recently read Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy and my heart was breaking at several points at the torments that Fitz experiences over the course of the three books. Likewise, in many of the crime fiction novels I read, the main character is abused, shot, stab, raped, etc. There was one particular Val McDermid novel I actually had to stop reading for a while because of this.

It got me to thinking: what line won't you cross with your characters, either main characters or side characters, when it comes to telling your story? What is completely off the table?
Showing 1 to 10 of 39 comments
1 year, 8 months, 24 days ago

Great discussion topic!

I know which Val McDermid book you're referring to and it gave me a few bad moments while reading it.

There aren't a lot of lines I'm willing to draw and say I will never do, but child abuse in any form is one of them.
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1 year, 8 months, 24 days ago

Sex. Language. Only because I don't feel like I need that in my head. (And I don't swear in real life so it feels weird writing it.)

If I'm not comfortable reading it I'm not comfortable writing it. I tend to gloss over actual descriptions of any character getting hurt and just go with the aftermath. Like if someone's being whipped nearby you hear the scream and see the blood on their shirt back afterward.

There's one other but it's not a can of worms I'm willing to open here.
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1 year, 8 months, 24 days ago

Ooh tough question! I've read books that cross every kind of boundary--murder, rape, emotional/physical abuse--the list goes on. But I don't think it's necessarily about taking certain topics off the table--if they exist in the real world, they should be able to exist in the written world. The "line" is in the telling. Whether or not it's "acceptable" is how these horrific things are portrayed, what implications are attached, what tone they're given. That's the real issue, I think--how (and why) the disturbing scene is being written.
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1 year, 8 months, 24 days ago

I have to agree with Danielle. The line is definitely in the telling. I think writing a scene where something absolutely terrible happens to the main character must be one of the most difficult things to do for an author. I think the trick is in getting across the emotion and sense of the thing without going into so much detail that it becomes prurient. This is especially the case when dealing with such sensitive and volatile events as rape and child abuse. As it happens, both of those things (and much more) happened to one of the characters in my WIP, but it all happened 'off-screen,' so to speak, before the main events of the novel. That's one way to deal with it. Just don't describe it at all. Describe only the aftermath, although I understand this approach might not work in all--or even most--cases.

I have to say that sometimes, however, I get so personally attached to my characters that I just don't want bad things to happen to them and I start to shy away from torturing them. Then I have to sit down and ask myself, is it really necessary for the plot for me to ______ to them or can I get away with not having ______ happen. And that's the real crux of the issue. Is it necessary for the plot and the character?

So, yes, the line is in the telling. But it's also in the plotting and sometimes it's just necessary to beat the characters up a bit. Otherwise, we face the ridiculousness of having characters walk through a war-zone and come out the other end with nothing but a stubbed toe and a three-day growth of beard.
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1 year, 8 months, 23 days ago

Meanest thing I ever did to a character was have someone she was falling in love with die in a terrible, senseless accident. Sorry, my dear, the plot demanded it. But if I do a sequel, I promise, you'll find somebody new. If not, you'll just pine away forever and ever.

Seriously, if plot demanded a violent disembowelment, I'm pretty sure I could write it. A graphic rape? Probably not. Like LR said, off screen. I may be a little squeamish but I frequently run into unexpected scenes in movies that I wish had happened off screen.
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1 year, 8 months, 23 days ago

Interesting thread!

For me it is all about what the point of the upsetting subject matter is and how it is handled. Joyce Carol Oates and Margaret Atwood are two of my favorite authors and they frequently write about dark and disturbing topics but do it extremely well and it never seems to be just for its own sake- it is crucial to the plot or theme or to drive home a point. I normally have a very hard time reading about child abuse and this is a frequent topic in JCO's short stories and it doesn't bother me- I mean it bothers me in that it makes me think after but not bothers me as in it really disturbs me.

I really didn't like the Steig Larrson novels because I felt like a lot of the stuff was just there to be shocking- all the rape and torture scenes. I understand that they made Lisbeth who she was and some parts were part of the plot but overall I found it gave me the creeps and not in a good way.

I realize I have gone off tangent and am talking more about what I read than what I write. Right now my WIP is directed at YA/MG so it will be pretty light(although there will definitely be a few deaths) but past projects have gotten pretty dark. For writing I stand by with how I feel about what I read- if it has a purpose and is handled with care anything can be written about. I personally would really struggle with writing about child abuse/molestation.

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1 year, 8 months, 23 days ago

For me the line is this: any extended sadistic, graphic, gut-wrenching scene of cruelty and violence that serves no other purpose than shock-for-shock's sake—or what is worse: demented violent vignettes that communicate to the reader the writer’s secret joy and perverse glee in crafting such psychologically-devastating scenes. Such writing becomes a kind of death-porn, an amoral sledge-hammering of the reader’s sensibilities simply because the writer CAN.

I have written many a violent, graphic scene but each and every one served an important purpose: to advance the plot and concretize and make real to the reader the stakes the characters are battling for/against. I hope that my readers appreciate the artistry with which these scenes are constructed and described, as I appreciate the work of Stephen King and Robert E. Howard and Thomas Harris and so many others. (Not that I’m comparing my midnight scritch-scribblings to theirs, you understand!)

This is a key, critical point with me: You (the writer) are an artist; so for god’s sakes show some ARTISTRY in your staging and exposition of violent scenes. Any fool can shock: just write with unflinching graphicness about chainsaws sundering skulls, razors ripping flesh, forks plunging into eyeballs, etc. The thematic elements and emotional coloring and just, judicious arrangement of evocative sensory details creatively invoked should, however—if executed with any degree of authorial skill—help to transmute the raw savagery of the violence into something the reader can appreciate and applaud on a “consummate craftsman” level, i.e.; kinetic ballet or “Grand Guignol” theatrical staging, etc. It is the artist’s artistry in describing scenes of torture, assorted mayhem and violent death that will make the book palatable, endurable and—dare I say it?—enjoyable to the reader—or not.

Two final thoughts:

(1) What comes before and after scenes of violence are more important than the scenes of violence themselves. That is to say—we, the reader, will judge the humanity, decency, empathy and moral intelligence of the writer by the stance (often communicated to the reader via subtext) they take toward their own material.

(2) I am going to single out one particular writer and one particular book here because it serves as the exemplum of where I draw the line when submitting my psyche to authorial-administered shocks in the service of art appreciation. The writer is Bret Easton Ellis; the book: AMERICAN PSYCHO. I opened the novel one day in a bookstore (having pulled the book off the shelf at random) and happened upon the scene in which the protagonist entertains himself with a nude woman, a length of hamster Habit Trail tubing, battery acid and a starved rat. That bit was enough for me; I forever cured myself of any future interest in the works of Mr. Ellis. I don’t condemn the man for writing it; I don’t think the less of his many fans or adoring critics who applaud the genius of his writing; I’m simply stating here and now that I find it hard to continue reading when my gut has congealed into balled ice and sweat is running down my face and I find that I am fighting to keep the gorge from rising in my mouth.

In conclusion: What line won’t I cross with my characters? The line clearly marked: Death-torture Porn.
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1 year, 8 months, 21 days ago

I hesitate to say there's a specific thing I won't write, but there are certain tropes I watch out for. In the fiction of this culture, certain types of people seem to be fodder for violence and abuse over and over and I get tired of that. I get tired of the death of a woman (usually post-rape) which then inspires the hero to vengeance. I get tired of Black women and children being disposable, or symbolic of a social ill (or seven) rather than actual, real people with depth of character.

One reason I don't read mysteries is because so often, when I've picked one up, the opening is the violent death of a stereotypically attractive woman. Sometimes it's a child. Sometimes it's a series of killings of such women or children.

Using the same types of people over and over as victims just underscores assumptions in our society that make us shrug our shoulders in real life when bad things happen to certain kinds of people. We assume they are the victim class. I'm not interested in contributing to that.
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1 year, 8 months, 7 days ago

I don't have a specific line. However, there are things I will only _gloss over_ or _mention_, but not describe in detail. Example, sex + children. In a culture in my book, it is perfectly acceptable for men to take wives around age 12 and older. People just don't live as long in the culture. They marry early, they die early. Now, there is one character that takes it further beyond what even the society thinks is acceptable... and I kill him off in a rather satisfying fashion.

I crossed that line, but it is ALL about the presentation. You can make it very clear something is going on, and frankly, the reader's imagination can dream up things far, far worse than my own. I prefer to let people create their own worst scenario and hint at what _might_ have been. All without explicitly detailing it. You don't have to ram it in a reader's face for people to get it.

I avoid foul language in my books -- if I use it, it is mild.I don't want parents ashamed of their child finding a book I wrote on the floor. Sex... it happens, but I gloss. I'm not writing an erotica, so it doesn't need to be in there. Adult situations will come up, but I try to avoid the explicit line. That said, I'm not shy about chopping a dude's head off, tossing it in a bag and flinging it around. That's just how i...er.. roll.
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1 year, 8 months, 6 days ago

I've lost a couple proof readers because of some things that I write. I've gotten this twice by co-workers "What the **** is wrong with you" and "Your sick"

It's a horrible thing to hear actually.

But I think that there are no boundaries. I don't want to just gloss over a scene because it's a touchy subject. It just doesn't have the same effect that way.

For example: Rape. I read a book and fell in love with the main character. I didn't want anything bad to happen to him, he got raped by another man and the author wrote it with detail (Not smutty detail or anything) and the whole time I was worried about the character while reading. I wanted him to escape. Wanted it to be a dream. SOMETHING! Anyways, point is that it brought out more emotion from me when I was reading it. He could have just glossed over the scene but it wouldn't have stuck with me like it had. I almost felt like I got raped.

Nothing is out of the question when it comes to my writing. I just have to accept that my audience will be smaller.
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