Welcome to October! I'm looking forward to cooler weather suitable for partaking of scones and tea, but we're not quite there yet. Hopefully you're enjoying your fall no matter what the weather is like in your area.
Our hosts this month are Jemima Pett, J Lenni Dorner, Cathrina Constantine, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, and Mary Aalgaard.
Here's our question for October: In your writing, where do you draw the line, with either topics or language?
The line varies depending on what I'm writing. I have characters in my science fiction that swear frequently. There's not much sex in my stories, but I would include it if the story requires it. (Spoiler: a sex scene may show up in the next Season Avatars story collection--if I ever finish it.) I'm not interested in writing steamy reverse harem stories no matter how popular they are, so the sex scenes would focus more on emotions than body parts. Cozy mysteries, on the other hand, tend to be "clean." There's no swearing or sex, and even though they're about solving murders, there's relatively little violence or gore.
No matter how you feel about writing sex, violence, or controversial topics, there's bound to be a reader who wants to read what you wrote. The key is matching the topic and language to the genre so the reader knows what to expect as they start the story.
Do you avoid writing stories with sex, violence, or strong language, or are you comfortable with it? Feel free to discuss in the comments.
4 comments:
I've read plenty that have violence and swearing in them, and some sex. I don't write it though.
I don't read (or write) about violence. There's enough of that on the news. I want to escape reality when I read. That's what I give my readers.
I think you're correct in that it's all about which genre you're in, and where the characters lead you. :-)
I do write sex scenes, but as one of my readers put it, I "slowly dim the lights and shut the door."
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