Scenes of Brutality: What Are We Thinking?

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art of writing, brutality, craft of writing, creative writing, Game of Thrones, graphic content, graphic scenes, Outlander, sadism, sadistic, writing a book, writing a story, writing fiction

Before I get started, I know I mentioned that I would be writing my weekly posts on Mondays. However, it looks like Tuesdays work better for my schedule. So for now on, expect posts from me on Tuesdays.

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

So, I am currently watching the Starz series Outlander on Amazon. For those who do not know, it is about a 1940s Englishwoman, Claire Beauchamp, who is transported back two hundreds in 18th century Scotland. Since this is the 1740s, there’s a lot of brutality going on, especially with a captain of the English army in Scotland, “Black Jack” Randall, who tortures the Scottish people left and right. There’s even a scene where Claire’s husband, Jamie Fraser, is tortured and then raped by Randall.

Now, I didn’t read the books that this series is based on, but I understand that the show is closely based on the books written by Diana Gabaldon. If so, it makes me wonder why she would put in a scene where a man graphically rapes another man. Yes, there are a lot of male-on-female rapes, floggings and beatings in Outlander, but it is easy to brush them off as that was the time period back then. But that scene has been haunting me. I guess it is because I’m one of those who has grown attached to Claire and Jamie, and couldn’t tolerate Jamie being tortured that way. Yes, Claire was raped or almost raped herself, but the show didn’t graphically display that as much as Jamie.

It also haunts me because last week, I was working on my WIP, which picks up where Claire McCormick and Daniel Poncher are in the trilogy. I was writing feverishly and in a stream-of-consciousness way. As a result, I ended up writing a part where Daniel graphically rapes Claire. Yeah, I did that. I went there.

Now, there are other scenes when Daniel does that, but it is not as brutal and more of a coerced sex way. But when I wrote that part, I was so bothered and disturbed that I had done that, and I ended up deleting it. Watching that scene on Outlander helped me do so.

Which has me thinking about why we writers write such graphic scenes, and just what the hell are we thinking? When I wrote that scene in my WIP, I was rattled and wondered if I have a sadistic side of me somewhere deep in my sub-conscious. I have to admit part of me felt truly satisfied with that scene, and was disappointed when I deleted it. I am now considering adding it back in.

Is there something wrong with me? Do I love torturing my characters? Am I sadistic somehow?

Heck, it makes you wonder if someone like George R. R. Martin, the author of the books that would inspire the HBO series, Game of Thrones, is sadistic. I mean, all of his characters go through hell, and some get brutally raped or brutally murdered. It is enough to leave readers and viewers shaken.

So, what are we writers thinking? Are we cruel? Or just going along with the muses in our heads?

I think the bottom line is whether these brutal scenes are worth it for the entire story. If it does not add something to the whole story, however violent it is, then it is pointless – and even sadistic. Perhaps what should be more disturbing is how violent human nature is, and we writers are just representing and expressing that in our work. If human nature were not so cruel and barbaric itself, then maybe we would not write such things.

But what of the satisfaction that comes with writing those parts? I think the reason why part of me was satisfied with the now-deleted scene where Daniel rapes Claire is because it flowed so well, from one action to another and another. The part before Daniel attacks Claire had me excited because there was so much emotion and action going on. But once I wrote the rape part, I was like, ‘what have I done?”

Is it worth having in the story? I don’t know yet, I’m still debating. But one thing I’ve been learning while watching Outlander, and even other shows, is that writers aren’t really sadists. Human nature is, and so are our muses. We’re just writing what works for the story and the characters, and what is streaming out of our consciousness.

But it is also vital for us to wonder whether all the violence is gratuitous and even worth portraying at all.

 

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As Stephen King Said, The First Draft is Yours…

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audiences, authors, craft of writing, editing, how to write, readers, rewriting, writers, writing, writing a book, writing a story, writing advice

When you write a story, you’re telling yourself the story. When you rewrite, your main job is taking out all the things that are not the story.

Wise words from the Master himself.

As a writer, I’ve noticed there is a balance between writing for yourself and writing for your audience. It seems like it is a delicate balance because a writer wants to please his/herself but at the same time, the audience must be kept in mind. We all write for someone when we write, and that someone isn’t always ourselves.

Image by Sideways Sarah via Flickr

Who do we write for? Is there a specific person in mind? Is it a specific demographic? Group of people? When I wrote The Dark Proposal, it was for people who wanted vampires to be evil again. The abusive relationship part was for me, I admit. But I did have an audience in mind when I wrote my first book, and have one in mind for its follow-up, which I’ll get to in a future post.

But I agree with Stephen King that when we first write a novel, it is to be for ourselves. Or else, it wouldn’t be fun. Writing to please someone the first time around is exhausting and takes to fun out, I think. It is when the actual work of a story, the editing part, is when it is time to get serious about the story.

I believe editing is where we all get serious about our writing work. We become aware of the mistakes and the things that don’t make sense. We become aware of what our audience really thinks, or at least, what we think they think. We become aware that our work is going to be read by hundreds or thousands of people. We realize this is serious business here. Enough of fun stuff, let’s get serious here.

That doesn’t mean rewriting and editing can’t be fun. You may be relieved to get rid of a couple of sentences or a whole scene that doesn’t fit in with the rest of the story, once you read everything over again. And let’s face it, if we didn’t love writing, we wouldn’t mind the rewriting and editing parts. It’s part of the job, so to speak. And don’t we want our work to be as polished as possible?

Come to think of it, the first draft of a story is more than just for you. It’s a gift you give yourself. The final draft of the story is a gift to your readers.

Onward…

Writing and Editing at the Same Time

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authors, craft of writing, edit, editing, editor, edits, novelists, the writing process, writers, writing, writing a book, writing a novel, Writing tips

Some say when you write a novel, you should write first and save the editing for later. After all, if you do both, you’ll become distracted from the real goal of finishing the story’s first draft.

Well, I happen to be one of those people who edits as she writes. Meaning, I don’t save the editing for after I am through with the first draft; it is my priority alongside my writing.

Image by Nic McPhee via Flickr

Usually what I do before I write is that I read over the previous scene or two. Often I do this in order to get a feel for what is going on, so I could get into the ‘mode’, if you will. As I read over the scene, or scenes, I notice grammar or spelling errors. I also notice wordy paragraphs, redundant sentences, and things not well explained. So I edit these parts instead of saving them for later. I believe it is best to polish your work while you are creating it.

To best illustrate this, think of a sculptor. As the sculptor chips or carves away, some leftover pieces of the clay or stone remain on the artwork. This could be dust or pieces not yet brushed away. A sculptor has to brush away those pieces in order to continue with its work.

In other words, when I write, I edit in order to move on. The previous step – in this case, a previous scene – needs to be sharpened as much as possible before I move on. Of course, the actual sharpening comes much later, but I am all for sharpening all the way. It is a way of perfecting your work, and possibly making the editing easier in the end. It is also a good warm-up for the writing you are about to do.

How about you? What is your take on editing as a novelist writes? Do you support it or believe it hinders a writer rather than helps? What is your method of writing and editing?

Fire away!

Writing the Theme of Your Story

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art of writing, authors, character arc, character development, craft of writing, creative writing, story arc, story development, story theme, theme, themes, writers, writing, writing a book, writing a novel, writing a story

Themes are a big part of a story, any story – especially the good ones. They’re as important as, say, character arcs, plot development and so on. They’re the heart and soul of the story.

As author K.M. Weiland explained on her website:

Why are you writing this story? Why are you writing about these characters? What is it about their journey that has drawn your heart? What is the core of the tale? Justice, mercy, love, revenge, self-discovery? Whatever it is that’s moving the characters is what’s also moving your story. That’s your theme.

Supposedly, theme cannot be planned or forced, but instead come naturally. Theme appears in the story as you write your arcs and developments. It blossoms on its own, an echo of your subconscious. It is the fuel for your story. It is the reason why a writer writes in the first place.

Anne Rice wrote Interview with the Vampire to explore death, mortality and losing God. The Kite Runner is look at the complicated relationship between fathers and sons. Love in the Time of Cholera‘s theme is love in all its variations.

So, why did I write The Dark Proposal? And why am I writing its sequel?

The reason why I wrote my first book is because I wanted to explore abusive relationships. Having been in difficult ones – though no where near as Claire did with Daniel – I felt like I needed a release. I also wanted to write a vampire story where the vampires were once again evil and deadly – the exact opposite of what was popular four years ago.

But did I succeed with theme? What was the theme of my story?

Chuck Wendig describes theme on his blog as:

Every story’s trying to say something. It’s trying to beam an idea, a message, into the minds of the readers. In this way, every story is an argument. It’s the writer making a case. It’s the writer saying, “All of life is suffering.” Or, “Man will be undone by his prideful reach.” Or “Love blows.” Or, “If you dance with the Devil Wombat, you get cornholed by the Devil Wombat.” This argument is the story’s theme.

A friend of mine says the central idea of The Dark Proposal was “be careful what you wish for”. He explains that Claire so wanted to have a rich lifestyle, that she was blind to Daniel’s abusive ways, and then later, used it as escapism for the vampire life she was about to enter. That’s one way to look at the argument.

Image via Pixabay

I have grown so much as a writer during the four years since I wrote my first book. Today, I am focused on going deep with my stories and being more honest with myself when I write. I don’t think I was very honest as a writer when I wrote The Dark Proposal. Part of me cringes when I admit that. But as one musician friend told me, if you do that, then it means you are growing as an artist.

Writing from the heart is not easy. You are literally exposing yourself as a human to hundreds, thousands and maybe even more to judge and tear apart. It is scary enough to produce a book that you poured your heart and soul into. And by that, I don’t mean every part of your mind. The best artworks come from the very essence of the person, their heart.

So as I seek to be more honest as a writer, what theme do I hope will come out of The Dark Proposal’s sequel? I know I cannot force it, but I really hope redemption and healing would be one or both. Actually, I hope it will be the theme for the whole trilogy (yes, my book was meant to be the first of three). I also like the whole “be careful what you wish for” theme will come into play. I’m sure there’s always more than one theme in a story, or different ways to figure out the theme.

Or rather, what kind of redemption and healing do my characters need in order to fuel that theme?

Claire needs to heal and be redeemed from her mistakes and naivete. Daniel needs to be redeemed from being so evil. There is room for redemption and healing for Hilde, the Five Brothers and even The Black Roses. Even Samantha and Monica need to heal. There’s a lot of pain in The Dark Proposal, and everyone has a lot of coming to terms to do.

Which raises another question: what kind of writer do I intend to be? Sure, I want to be one that goes deep with questions and the human experience. But will be the regular theme in my stories? Will there always be a re-occurring one? Who knows? But since themes come from the heart of the writer, maybe the themes of my stories will be similar, just written differently. Or not. It also depends on the perspective of the reader.

The key here is to keep on writing, and get more to the heart of what I’m trying to say, or express. But I obviously cannot force myself to expose my heart in a story, just like a theme cannot be forced.

I’ll let Chuck Wendig finish off the meaning of theme:

A writer can engineer the theme — building it into the work. Or a writer can unearth it — discovering its tendrils after the work is written.

 

Book Review: “On Writing” by Stephen King

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books, craft of writing, fiction, fiction writing, how to write a novel, Stephen King, writing, writing a novel

At long last, I finally read and completed Stephen King’s “On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft”, his part autobiography, part how-to-write book which has been widely received. I had heard many great things about this book, and earlier this year, felt it was time for me to finally learn from The Master.

Click here to check out the book on Amazon!

This is a great book, even though many have said so. But I want to re-echo it, this is a great book if you want to learn the craft of writing. Here are a few things that stood out for me:

“You must not come lightly to the blank page”:
I like how Stephen King talks about we writers must approach the blank page like we’re “ready to kick ass and take down names”. Or even, “with nervousness, excitement, hopeful, or even despair”. He’s, of course, very passionate about writing, and he’s the kind of writer who was born to write. People like that would see flakey writers as insulting to the craft of writing. That is why he says, “its writing, damn it, not washing the car or putting on eyeliner.” True, very true.

Reading King’s tough words made me wonder how exactly do I approach the blank page. I certainly do not take lightly. But I am one of those who does with the “nervousness, excitement, hopeful, or even despair”. I am not the kind looking to kick ass, though I could imagine it would be fun to do so!

“The best form of dialogue attribution is said”:
Yeah, I’m one of those writers who feels – and even likes – to use attributions like asked, shouted, whispered, etc. I just feel like it gets rid of the repetitiveness of said. Sure, it might be OK to do that, but I also get what King means. We as writers are supposed to allow our readers to decide for themselves what is going on. In this case, our readers are to figure out what tone or level of voice characters are speaking in. Using other attributions would be like holding a reader’s hand, or rather, telling rather than showing. We all know the main rule for writing fiction: show, don’t tell.

“I don’t believe any novelist…has too many thematic concerns”:
This is interesting because for anyone who’s ever sat in an English Lit class, themes are one of the biggest topics when discussing a novel. King brings this up, but makes it clear that it not important, or as he puts it: “no big deal”. The themes in his novels are simply “interests which have grown out of my life and thought, out of my experience” as a human being. He also adds that “good fiction always begins with story and progresses into a theme”, and not vice versa. I found this to be a relief because whenever I write, I worry about themes. I remember that issue being drilled into my head in high school and college, and at one point, it scared me away from any fiction writing.

Its unfortunate that many English teachers are forgetting the important thing about fiction: it is sometimes just a story.

But only sometimes. Even King, when he ends off this part, says, “once your basic story is on paper, you need to think about what it means”. Themes are inevitable, but they are not the point of writing a story.

“Paragraph, not the sentence, is the basic unit of writing”:
I like this because this is something I’ve noticed when I write. I put a lot of thought into where a paragraph starts and where it ends. Sentences, particularly their content and length, don’t worry me as much. Paragraphs on the other hand, kind of stress me out in a way! I always worry if they’re too short or too long, or if one short paragraph should really be on its own or be part of a larger one. I even worry if I have too many short paragraphs going on.

But I worry because I realize how important a paragraph is. As King puts it, “it is a marvellous and flexible instrument…you have to learn the beat”. Yep, paragraphs are the rhythm to a novel.

Anyway, I highly recommend Stephen King’s classic book on the craft of writing. Please do read this you haven’t already. You’ll learn a lot and you’ll be relieved a lot. Either way, it is the book all writers need to have on their shelves, with many pages dog-earred.

 

 

 

Why Do I Write?

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art of writing, authors, books, craft of writing, inspiration, writers

Sometimes I ask myself this question: why do I write? Why do I feel the need to get out a paper and pen, or sit in front of my Mac, writing out whatever comes to mind? Why do I feel the need to create people, places, events and moments in the lives in the people who only exist in my mind? Why must I tell stories?

Is it because I haven’t outgrown a childhood stage where one lives in an imaginary world? Is it because I am addicted to daydreaming?

Or is it because I’m looking for an identity in this world? As in: I write, therefore I am.

Is it because elementary school teachers encouraged me to write, create my little worlds and tell stories about them? Did that praise at such an early age stay with me as I navigated through the hellish world of adolescence, where the need for self-esteem is so desperate? I mean, did I cling to my writing ability because it was the one identity that I had while growing up?

Perhaps yes, perhaps not. Now that I am (almost) 30 years old, I’m no longer a child who has a need to play make believe because its fun. I also am happier with my life now, and happier with myself than I was as a teenager (can you believe it was almost half a lifetime ago?) that I don’t need to call myself a writer for the sake of my self-esteem. I have other qualities that matter, thankfully.

But yet, I still feel the need to escape into a fantasy world and wonder what would it be like if XYZ happened. I also still feel the need to use words and play with them in order to communicate. I have no other way to express myself but through words. I can’t dance very well, I have a lousy singing voice, and I am not a natural painter. So writing is it for me.

Maybe its because my brain can only function with words. I mean, ever since elementary school, I was horrible at math – just plain horrible! I flunked every math test I ever took, and only passed math class out the mercy of my teachers. You should’ve seen my SAT scores in that subject; I think 90 percent of American high school juniors in 1999 did better than me.

So, maybe because my brain could not figure out numbers at all, it made up for that poor ability with language arts. In other words, with math out of the way, I had more space in my head to write and create worlds.

That’s a theory, in the biological sense. Maybe there are other biological reasons as to why I get a high when I am working on a story that had finally come together, or feel so happy just by writing alone. Even blogging as I am now, I feel so at home and can’t imagine doing anything else.

Maybe that’s the answer to the question: I can’t imagine doing anything else. Really, for whatever reason, I can’t stop writing and don’t want to.

Some writers like to answer “Why do I write?” by simply saying: “Because I can’t NOT write.”

Yeah, that just about sums it up for me. 🙂