Leaderboard

Many good reply's here, so i don't wanna repeat the same thing as the other ppl but i guess i can just add a few of my thoughts Saying that writing about rape is lazy writing is dumb and hypocritical. It’s only lazy if ur being lazy about it, just like with any fucking topic Now I do encounter a lot of stories that have very disgusting implications about rape. They excuse the act, blame the victim, pretend like some of the most brutal, disgusting torture could be forgiven, glorify it etc. I think this is bad writing and immoral. I do make make distinctions tho between the narrative saying awful things about rape and characters doing it. It depends on the context. And I’m also more lenient on purely pornographic works since they usually tend to be someone’s fantasy. But when u put ur fantasy in a more serious work with plot and characters ur fantasy can’t remain unchanged. I think that then you have to make sure that the narration isn’t excusing the rape or blaming the victim.

I’ve got too much in my universe to even begin to contemplate that. If I need a new plot, I start a new story. As it is, I don’t think I’ll finish my universe in my lifetime, so I have to focus on the important things.

<3 Essentially yes. When you got long lived races with millenia+ lifespans in a world with peoples with normal life spans It might seem insane but a little war here and there is just good neighborly manners.

If a story becomes a series without plans to continue on, it can stagnate rather easily. I don’t think that the creator of Batman thought the series would still be in ‘original publication’ almost eighty years after the first issue hit the news-stands. Cubby Broccoli’s daughter had to reboot James Bond because people were no longer willing to suspend their disbelief of an early-Cold-War licensed assassin continuing to work when the daughter of the King who first commissioned him was a white-haired grandmother and the sons of the Prime Ministers who had that duty had died of old age. Whether by accident or design, the Star Trek and Star Wars universes were open-ended and broad enough to allow for countless stories and adventures.

No, no... Murder is warping the minds of the innocent to become mass murders... Or do I have that wrong? Maybe I have it wrong...

Oh, certainly, on both counts. Deny or shooting down the idea of writing rape definitely downplays or dismisses the reality of it. As you've both said, it happens. Humanity is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination; it's ugly and disgusting and, at its worst, can be downright appalling. One only needs to look at the treatment of POWs in war, the homeless veterans, and, indeed, the treatment of everyone in between to see that. We are a hostile, disturbing race. If one cannot express that nature, in any form it takes, then what is the point of it all? Well, there goes my defense... Honestly, officer, the books told me it was okay! Purely pornographic depictions of rape, without offence intended, GG, to me, fall under a different category all the same. But no, even there, I wouldn't call it lazy or otherwise. One has to formulate and write it in a way that is just enough to draw the readers in, but not enough to turn them away. I haven't done purely porn, so I only have my experiences to fall back on here (feel free to throw tomatoes)... It's been hard for me, probably because I don't write it, to craft a convincing scene while keeping it just disturbing enough without overdoing it. (I think I had you read it, CR, as Beta...but I could be mistaken...)... And I'm still worried I'm pushing too far... (but that's what A/Ns are for, right? And tags...) "Oh, YEAH!" the Koolaid man cried, smashing through the wall. "Now suck on me straw!" And to end… Certainly, there's no laziness in it. While I would say advancing character or plot (or romance) is something it should do, having the gratuitous rape scene to remind the reader of the world, to shock them, or even remind them of the characters in this world, is just as valid. Am I rambling again?

Oh god… Yeah, I’ve read articles like that too (possibly the same ones you found). It generally annoys me when people call anything in writing ‘lazy writing’ unless they’re talking about netspeak and lack of research in subjects where research is sorely needed. Rape is such a sensitive subject, and there’s a lot of people who justifiably avoid reading things with rape in it. No one should have to read shit that makes them uncomfortable or triggers anxiety/panic attacks. That being said, it’s not lazy writing. Neither is writing anything that might shock your reader, in my opinion. When I read a story, I like if it shocks me. I like if it makes me feel gross sometimes or sick sometimes and reminds me how damned ugly people can be sometimes. Rape happens. It seems insulting to me to deem a horrifying act that happens way too damn often and with so much history and weight on it ‘lazy’ or just ‘shock value’. Like it feels like it dismisses it to me, you know?