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So, a few months ago, while I was looking to write a realistic, yet also respectful, rape scene for one of the stories I’m working on, I did research (...as any normal person would have ‘rape’ in their search files... I swear, Officer, I’m not trying to find ways to not get caught... Okay, you don’t have to taze me-)... Anyway, while doing so, I came across a number (a fairly large portion of the search results, actually) on how rape in literature was merely a lazy man’s tool. Most of them stated that, using rape in literature was a sure sign that the writer in question was lazy and relying on the ‘shock’ value of the rape to keep people interested in the novel. (As a disclaimer, many of them seemed to use Game of Thrones as their example of why and how this is,,, I understand the reasoning behind this, but, seriously, if you’re just using GoT, I’m not sure how valid the argument can be made...) Obviously, rape is not something to condone or glorify, but that hardly disqualifies it as a ‘lazy writer’s tool’, in my opinion. There are many ways that rape can be used (excuse how this will come out) to great extent in advancing a character, characterization, or even the scenario without the gratuitous amounts of consistent and, my opinion, eventually boring scenes... Thus, my question is, what are your thoughts on rape in stories and, indeed, in what you read?

Unfortunately, didn’t get #8 finished tonight… maybe this week. If not, next weekend (which might also be a 3-day weekend, crossing my fingers).

Spinoff standalones are good fodder for halloween/holiday stories. Origin stories do let me explore elements in my universe that would otherwise be untouched. (And it’s really good for comprehensive understanding, even for the author.)

Wow, this is a neat thread! Well worth the grave digging you did to pull it back up. Too much backstory is one of the major reasons I’ll stop reading a fic, and definitely one of the first things to go when I get cut-happy in the editing process of my own stories. (Though I’ve been criticized for not having enough, so I may not be an authority on the subject.) For me, it has to be relevant to the moment in the story as well as interesting. Not just one or the other. Otherwise it feels forced or boring to me. But I’ve come to learn that there are people out there who don’t groan and skip over backstory and exposition dumps like I do. If you zone out while reading your own writing, that’s a pretty good indication there’s a problem. If not, but you’re still unsure, ask someone for help. (Just to be clear, the ‘you’ I’m referring to in the second paragraph, is anyone reading this who may be unsure. I’m fairly certain you already trust your instincts, @Desiderius Price)