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I’m definitely into the “revision” portion of the story, ep 17 and 18 are ready for posting, so that’s why I went ahead and posted #14 earlier today.

A forensic psychologist once told me about a psychopath (back when psychologists still used that term) he interviewed who was imprisoned for life after having been a hit man for the mob. The prisoner had no remorse about any of the murders he had committed, but he also argued that everyone he killed was someone the world was better off without (because they were all criminals from rival organizations). So even a person with no conscience may feel the need to justify their actions.

And with as complex as the human mind, we can make our psychopath as deranged as we want!

Not at all. I'm happy to get any length of review from you, at any time. Oh, no, I've accidentally written a "journey of self-discovery" story, just like I inadvertently wrote a "coming of age" story with "Quiet." I might as well just move to Europe and make indie movies. Once you read chapter 10, I'll be interested to find out what twist you might have been expecting. Thank you, and you too!

Move along, nun-thing to see here ….

Yep, sometimes it’s a clean electrocution, other times, we’re tossing the nun into the woodchipper.

That’s fair. It's all what works in the context needed.

Yep, I’ve plenty of stories about instant BBQd squirrel bits. So high voltage can most definitely do interesting things. In my story case, I simply needed a murder, and the killer knew what he was doing, so it was relatively clean, so to speak.

Not necessarily. An accident in a substation, or from a transformer (the electrical devices, not the robots in disguise), can cause from very very serious wounds. However, I don’t know all the specific details of your particular case. I just wanted to state that electricity, even by accident, or perhaps especially when it’s an accident due to the massive amounts of power that’s in certain devices, can make messes.

They can, from what I’ve learned from my father who works as an underground electrician. Not only can burns be nasty, but he’s had groundhogs get decapitated when they get into substations. Electricity moving through the body can cause both entry and exit wounds, and those wounds can go quite deep. While not always visible on the surface, it certainly can be.

A good example of that happening is Light Yagami of Death Note. He reaaaaaaally lost it. It looked like he was slipping at first, then he went from gradually slipping to just jumping off that ledge into I Am God! territory.

My train of thought went to Jack Spicer of Xiaolin Showdown. He does take a Level In Badass every now and then, but he’s mostly just trying his damnest to be the most By the Book of Card Carrying Villains throughout most of the show. I love him; he’s hilarious and such an awesome dork.

Googled it up, there’s no DSM for psychopath, instead, the psychiatrists would label an individual as having “Antisocial personality disorder”, rather vague, though a psychopath, “A "psychopath" is someone whose hurtful actions toward others tend to reflect calculation, manipulation and cunning; they also tend not to feel emotion and mimic (rather than experience) empathy for others.” An example, a psychopath CEO has no issues with doing layoffs, as they can’t empathize with the employees being laid off, however, what they’re doing, reducing overhead, is in the better interest of the shareholders. So, I’m guessing there’s a degree to the psychopath. Some are more goal orientation, don’t care about busting rules/hurting to make the goals. And some went further, enjoyed the busting/hurt, and therefore enjoy the means as well as the goals. Not absolutely certain without becoming a psychopath myself.

The grisliest in my stories has to be the woodchipper. (If you google right, you can get the coroner’s report to a real one.) Though I’ve used trains, chainsaws, and, of course, bullets. Electrocutions, unfortunately, leave no mess (which was good at the time, I didn’t want to get blood into the furniture beneath the victim, gotta save that!)

Absolutely. I think it depends on the story and the impact I’m going for too. I just touched on messy in response to the comment before mine. I like quick and clean just as much as messy; it always depends on what’s right for the particular story. Though I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy writing the messy ones best.

Wouldn’t someone who feels they are doing the right thing, and agree with what is happening even is it gets a bit “messy” actually be the people who believe the ends justify the means? Someone who’s more along the psychopath route, it almost feels like the means are the goal, and less about an end state.

Spent 45 minutes hanging out under a bridge today. Note to self: Check the friggin’ forecast before you decide to take your bike to work.

Editing/betaing is a topic I could discuss for hours. I won’t, though, because I don’t want to hijack the thread. I’m happy you enjoy it. Like ridiculously happy. My favourite people to beta for are the ones who are eager to learn whether or not they take my suggestions. Giving feedback is an art form too, and helpful critiques are not always appropriate. I very rarely give critiques, even sugar coated ones, to people who didn’t ask for it. Like when I review random chapters on AFF, I usually bite my tongue and only put the positive things. Sometimes the best way you can help a struggling writer getting little-to-no attention is to give their ego a boost, and theeeen you can worry about helping them with their issues (if you want to take that on). Let them feel some love and positivity. Let them feel like writing is worth the deafening silences and that someone out there is listening. That will help their passion grow, and when people are passionate about something, they evolve. Some very well-meaning critical feedback can be crushing to someone whose confidence is already shaken and can do more damage than good. I’ve had arguments about this with other betas, but I’m the Queen Beta, so listen to me, not them. But if you’re reviewing someone like @Desiderius Price who has explicitly stated they welcome critical feedback, the gloves very nicely come off. I think it’s still important to not be a dick about it.