Chances are, I'm worrying too much yet again, but then there's a chance that this might be a legitimate worry.
I've got a couple of trickster pirates: a young, unwise trickster and a wise old trickster. They're both jerks. The young trickster wants to drop a pregnant cat on someone's head as revenge for a slight. The old trickster thinks this a bad idea, especially after what happened to the other cat. What happened to the other cat? Well, the young trickster slipped some rum into kitty's water dish for the heck of it. The cat was a mean drunk and started assaulting the crew, one of which killed the cat to make it stop. Several crewmen are still mad at him.
It was supposed to be dark humor, plus it would establish that the youngster doesn't generally think things through. Fun for me and the reader, right?
Then I saw the thread about the cat abuser who put the cat-beatting video on YouTube. The funny go bye-bye for me.
Pirates are not nice people, but mine are supposed to be minor jerks. I didn't want them to be monsters! I might still be able to use the pregnant cat, since they come up with a plan that's a lot gentler to her, but the death of the other cat...
Advice, please? Thanks.
I've got a couple of trickster pirates: a young, unwise trickster and a wise old trickster. They're both jerks. The young trickster wants to drop a pregnant cat on someone's head as revenge for a slight. The old trickster thinks this a bad idea, especially after what happened to the other cat. What happened to the other cat? Well, the young trickster slipped some rum into kitty's water dish for the heck of it. The cat was a mean drunk and started assaulting the crew, one of which killed the cat to make it stop. Several crewmen are still mad at him.
It was supposed to be dark humor, plus it would establish that the youngster doesn't generally think things through. Fun for me and the reader, right?
Then I saw the thread about the cat abuser who put the cat-beatting video on YouTube. The funny go bye-bye for me.
Pirates are not nice people, but mine are supposed to be minor jerks. I didn't want them to be monsters! I might still be able to use the pregnant cat, since they come up with a plan that's a lot gentler to her, but the death of the other cat...
Advice, please? Thanks.