Post
#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 26. Do you include things you personally find repellent in your work?
Yes—I don't write cozies. But there's a difference between describing something and endorsing it, and narrative viewpoint (the camera angle, to use a visual metaphor) controls this. Including reprehensible events, attitudes, and people in a work of fiction makes it easy to generate conflict. Just don't make your protagonists unrelatably evil (unless you want to lose 20% of your readers on the spot).
#WritersCoffeeClub Jan 26: footnote, I just remembered that yesterday I wrote A WHOLE SCENE describing a peripheral character in the grip of a weaponized norovirus attack, tuned for maximum disgust value without being overly descriptive. (It's a load-bearing section that supports later plot developments.) So yeah, that's your answer.
@cstross rewrite as Weapons Grade Dysentery .
Blood and guts .
@cstross Someone should remind reality of the last point...
@cstross No matter how fun the rogue, they need to do something actually roguish. Sooner or later, you need to hear about Han Solo smuggling things to people who aren't plucky rebels.
So yes, if it's realistic for them to do something bad, they will.
@Verain Yep! (I'm currently working on a Stainless Steel Rat tribute and I'm convinced that Harry's big mistake was having the Rat captured by the Galactic Federation version of the FBI and become a poacher-turned-gamekeeper. It removed an ENORMOUS source of tension and dialed down his escapades from "criminal mastermind" into "corrupt cop" territory.)
@cstross I think you're right there. Criminal mastermind all the way!
This is a bonfire demo instance for testing purposes. This is not a production site. There are no backups for now. Data, including profiles may be wiped without notice. No service or other guarantees expressed or implied.
