Monday, April 19, 2010

Editing adventures and a question of GORE-not that one




Tonight, I spent three hours reading and line-editing the first five pages of a friend's scifi novel. This guy's got skills, so it was a pleasure...except for the part that gore-d me out. At least this morbidity drove the storyline and had a point.

After all the Bones, CSI's, and even medical dramas like House, I'm getting wary of the "gritty realism" that gives me nightmares and/or alternately keeps me up for many sleepless hours. Is it necessary? Huh? Dan Brown, I'm talking to you.

When is gore necessary to fiction? When is it gratuitous? Can writers tell the difference? Can readers?

I'm interested in your point of view. Do you think GORE has its place in literature? Or do you believe--as I lean--that sex and violence are the tools of poor salesmen? Ha! Incited yet? Answer in the comments section.

1 comment:

  1. Gore, sex and violence can indeed be used in place of good story telling, but at the same time so can religious dogma, vampires and relationships. Your target audience is what matters. A gory morbid sci-fi book may hit its audience right on the nose but a gory morbid child's story is not they goal.

    It all is a matter of appropriateness. Yes gore has its place in literature, but that is just is, its place.

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