 Drama: February 08, 2012 Issue [#4859] |
  Drama
This week: Writing the Disturbing Scenes Edited by: Joy  
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"In writing ... remember that the biggest stories are not written about wars, or about politics, or even murders. The biggest stories are written about the things which draw human beings closer together."
Susan Glaspell -- from Little Masks
"Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it's the only way you can do anything really good."
William Faulkner
"If any man wishes to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul."
Goethe
"I suspect that one of the reasons we create fiction is to make sex exciting."
Gore Vidal
"My task...is, by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel - it is, before all, to make you see. That - and no more - and it is everything."
Joseph Conrad
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. Our discussion in this issue is about writing the scenes with detailed sex, violence, horror, or other disturbing acts, which may be difficult for some of us.
Note: In the editorial, I refer to third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender, because I don't like to use they or he/she.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Each one of us, even a noted writer with the mightiest pen, has a problem writing a scene that is out of his comfort zone. Although this comfort zone differs from writer to writer, in general, the most difficult scenes to describe can be acts of sex, horror, or violence taken to the extreme.
Talking for me, I hesitate writing all of the above; yet, I have written them when the story needed it. If I write such scenes, I try not to be overly sentimental, tasteless, or too detailed.
Although, no wrong reasons exist for writing anything, some of the mistaken reasons to write distubing scenes-should the writer want literary respect-are:
 To titillate or shock
To imitate or rival another writer
To show to the readers and oneself how courageous one can be
To live through such scenes because the action may give the writer a psychological outlet
On the other hand, perfectly legitimate reasons exist for writing that difficult scene, such as advancing the plot, helping the character development, or building the entire story around one terrible or shocking act. In short, the trick is all in the drama of the act and how it relates to the main story.
One way to build up the writing muscles in this area is to read or watch how other successful novel or screenwriters have treated it.
As an example, I watch Boardwalk Empire on HBO, which the violence in it is totally against my liking, but I think what is shown is necessary for that type of a TV series.
In Haunted, a short story by Chuck Palahniuk, the character loses some of his organs, through a truly disturbing and gruesome act; yet, it is relevant to the plot.
Note, also, how the violent scenes in the Gladiator starring Russell Crowe, the gory spectacle of dripping blood in Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds, and the Rambo movies attest to the skill of the producers and the writers.
Stephen King's, Dean Koontz's works for handling violent and disquieting scenes and Nora Roberts's writing of the sex scenes can be quite informative, too.
A few tips for writing extreme violence, sex, and other disturbing scenes are:
Show first what happens before the exact scene or start with the aftermath of it, so it will be easier to reveal the disturbing act. In other words, build up to the scene.
Select the proper point of view. The view of the observer, especially in violent scenes, works better than the victim's or the perpetrator's, unless you have the victim or the villain describe the act later to someone else. When writing the sex scene, describe how the couple perceive each other or how one partner perceives the other one, in the light of what is taking place.
Be realistic. Do the proper research. For example, when a skull is hit with a blunt instrument, it doesn't explode; it caves in. The same type of research goes for the sex scenes, too. Research before you write, unless you have experienced what you are writing about, first hand.
While writing the said scene, shift focus from the main action. Have the observer, the victim, or the villain see and sense the place they are in or have them think thoughts unrelated to the act. Don't only persist on the action because the repetition of it and its constant description dulls its impact.
Always watch for balance, plot-wise and character-wise.
In short, the difficult scenes need to be there for a good reason whether they are about horror, sex, or violence.
A few links on the web you might like to take a look at:
http://barbaradelinsky.com/2012/01/2971/
http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/out_there/documents/02844055.h...
http://night-bazaar.com/mangled-bodies-war-brides-and-writing-about-violence.htm...
http://www.crimetime.co.uk/features/nickrennison.html
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/columns-and-blogs/soapbox/article/45...
Violence: A Writer's Guide by Rory Miller An E-Book for $4.99 at Amazon
Criminal profiling from crime scene analysis
http://www.ravenndragon.net/montgomery/crimprofiling.pdf
I wish you a very happy Valentine's Day... 
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