Bisky's Twitterling's Scribbles! discussion

(I confess; I'm taking this from another discussion group.)

What do you consider off-limit. What do you avoid putting in your story: rape, religion, politics?

What do you hate to read in a story. What will put you off and want to put the book down?

I'm not sure anything is really off limits for me in terms of what I depict, as long as it's appropriate to the story itself. However, I am careful as far as how the book portrays some actions or words. For example, I may have a character use slurs, etc, but I'm going to make it clear that I am not glorifying it or giving it tacit approval. Other characters will react negatively to it. As far as actions like rape, I'm going to make sure in my depiction that this is seen as a terrible act, not something desirable. Bad things happen, and adult fiction shouldn't sugar coat that, IMO, but that being said we also don't want to overuse them or make it seem like we are portraying them for our own entertainment.

Good topic !

As my books are aimed at the teen market, I avoid sex in my stories. I have kids of my own in that age group, so I try to write keeping in mind what I'm comfortable as a parent in them reading.

I like this topic. GO STEAL MORE! :p

When it comes to books nothing really is off limits since I can skip it easier than I can a movie. But I can't stand drawn out sexual assault scenes. Sometimes you just don't want certain images of things in your head. But I detest corset rippers and rape heroes.

Other than sexual things, I'm pretty open to most topics. But I probably won't read a book that is based entirely around supporting a faith unless the imagery is amazing.

When it comes to my own writing I put everything in except drawn out sex scenes. My mum read Fury and commented that I skipped over it, considering the Urban Fantasy she reads is usually stuffed with it she thought it was a good idea. Or maybe it's just because she didn't really want to read that from me :P She can't hide her Christian-ness all the time lol

Also, there will never be injuries to domestic cats in my books. I don't have an idea why but I get very upset when seeing pictures or movies with injured cats in it, overly so. To the point where my boyfriend will pause a movie, send me out the room and skip through to navigate when to skip it, lol. Happens more than you think.

And it's relevent when you often write about Shape Shifters.

Nothing is off limits when I write, but I don't tend to write rape or incest or any sex scenes at all. I did write this one rape scene as part of a chain story with a friend. He goes on the internet looking up the nastiest things you can find, and even he was like 'Whoa!' I intend to write that story again. I will probably leave that scene out or at the very least tone it down quite a bit. A few of my story ideas deal with demonic possession, and nasty things tend to go along with that.

@J. I'm with you there. Nothing is really off limits for me as long as it's well done. Whatever bad thing your characters do is fine with me as long as you don't portrait it as the right thing to do. In other words, make sure your character supports the act, not you. :P

@Mark That's a good way to restrain yourself. I don't write for teens, but I sometimes ask my sister in law if she would let her 14 year old read this or that. It doesn't stop me from putting it in the book but it helps a little with the rating.

@Bisky I'll keep that in mind. :P I stole that one because every time I was reading replies I thought it was from this group until I realized it wasn't so I 'imported' it here. :P
I'm not too fond of drawn out sexual assault either for one main reason: the more you drag it, the more it feels as if the author is doing it, and that is one of my point I mentioned. Write about it if you must, but don't make it sound like you condone it. I have one in my sequel, it last a whole two or maybe three sentences at most and it's mostly just the outline.

When I was a kid, I used to cry when I was watching cowboy movies and the horse would die or get hurt. I couldn't care less that the rider had died too. :P However, I have to admit... I don't think I am as bad as you are when it comes to movies, although I will often leave the room in a hurry when the story gets too gory.
In books, I don't mind it too much although Terry Goodkind has some of the most graphic tortures I've seen done in a fantasy book. Fifteen years later I have the images still fresh in my mind. I could live without...

I agree - nothing should be off-limits if it's pertinent to the plot. However, I think it does depend on the genre/audience for which you're writing. You wouldn't expect a high level of violence in a love story or a fast-paced thriller to hang around while 2 of the characters suddenly fall in love.

I read lots of advice on writing sex scenes before I went ahead and did the deed. Personally, on a scale of Hemingway ('they made love') to Sylvia Day/E L James etc, I'm firmly with Hemingway as I have a good enough imagination to fill in the blanks. However, I realised that if I'm writing romance/chick lit a little more is expected these days, even though I find it incredibly hard. There's nothing worse than a badly written sex scene.

I decided that I'd aim to write something that I'd be happy for both my mother and teenage daughter to read. Thankfully I can touch type, so I wrote the 2 scenes something like this: Closes eyes. Types. Opens eyes to read screen. Winces. Hits delete. Closes eyes. And repeat...

@Louise I wished I had read your comment before I even started my first book. At that time, I was reading a lot of paranormal stories where the sex was explicit and a huge part of the book.

Since my story was a mix of scifi and paranormal I felt the need to add 'details'. However, after one sex scene, I just couldn't do it no more, so I kept trying to find ways so my two characters wouldn't have the chance to 'do it'. Until I told myself, 'ENOUGH' and just put that they were doing 'it'.

When my sister in law read my first draft with that famous sex scene, I could almost feel her embarrassment on the phone. She asked me if there was a way I could tone it down, which I did with pleasure. I left the new love scene there because it fits, but I'm not going to play with fire again. I'll leave that to others.

I love your way of doing it: typing with your eyes closed. I'd say I would try it but nope... no more sex scene for me! :P

I think for me there is only one thing off limits, and it's an old story telling rule and a good one: never kill the dog.

I think subjects like religion and politics are touchy, and can easily come off as the writer preaching their own beliefs rather than something integral to the story. Whenever I write anything touching on these subjects into a story, I always go back and question their purpose and necessity.

Also, graphic violence takes a lot of skill to pull off. I have read some very disturbing scenes by very good authors that didn't descend into mere sadistic voyeurism, but they're rare. Lucky my story lines don't tend to include such things, so I haven't had to test out my own skill.

When a writer creates in fact there are LOTS of things that are off limits if they admit it or not. One writes for ones audience so there are limits there and one writes with one's own set of prejudices. These days for instance no one will call black people niggers or tell us how women are totally stupid and bad drivers and this is good but it is a modern perhaps progressive off limits we all have a set of taboos.

I think it was all of those horrid movies where the kid finds a baby animal and then watches it die horribly while he learns about 'nature' that made us all hate animal deaths so much.

I like to think nothing is off-limits either in my reading or my writing. If violence or sex or whatever suits a purpose within the story, then I'll go with it. A little titillation either way doesn't hurt. It really just depends what suits the scene and the story as a whole.

With writing, I tend to see it as better that I have a go at writing things that I can then go back and trim or delete later than never try writing it at all...

Incest and rape, pretty much.

The only thing that bothers me to the point of being distrubed/can't get an image out of my head is detailed accounts of dismemberment. Any "body horror" pretty much grosses me out. I love horror, but I'm very wary of what I read because it disturbs me.

I used to read romance when I was younger. I gave it up for a long time and recently tried to get back into it. I stopped because I can't stand the way males and females are portrayed. I've never considered myself a militant feminist, but the stereotypes annoyed me. Every romance seems to have the male in a societal position of power over the female. It doesn't matter if it's paranormal romance or regular romance. The man is a vampire or a billionaire or a stock broker or a winged demi-god, and the woman is just a plucky gal who takes no sass from her man, but is poor/down-trodden/of the lesser race. Honestly, is that what women really want?

Yeah, I could go on for awhile about that, but I'll stop. Haha. :)