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This is regarding the same story as the one I talk about in the thread about the deaths of secondary characters; to summarise, the MC wakes up in a hospital with severe burns and new, supernatural abilities awakening within him, only now he's a target of dark, otherworldly forces who hunt him and a band of survivors through the locked-down hospital.
My question this time is, is there a limit to how gory and gruesome YA can be? I remember reading Darren Shan's The Demonata which had more than its fair share of gore, but it was his second series and he already had the popularity of Cirque Du Freak behind him to possibly give him more control... would such gory horror be acceptable in a debut novel?
For a contextual example, I intend to do a scene that involves Puppeteers, malevolent spirits that possess the living by hovering unseen above their victims and manipulating their actions through ethereal 'strings'. In this case, they've taken control of surgeons halfway through an operation, and the MC and his group witness them butchering a patient on the operating table before turning their focus on the survivors. Would that be too much? Would it be seen as gore for gore's sake? It wouldn't just be a throwaway scene for the sake of conflict and action, but a macabre introduction to beings that would frequently appear in the series I'm ultimately planning (with one perhaps even having secretly possessed a member of the group, biding its time to strike at the MC when he's least expecting it, for example).
Again, any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Dave
My question this time is, is there a limit to how gory and gruesome YA can be? I remember reading Darren Shan's The Demonata which had more than its fair share of gore, but it was his second series and he already had the popularity of Cirque Du Freak behind him to possibly give him more control... would such gory horror be acceptable in a debut novel?
For a contextual example, I intend to do a scene that involves Puppeteers, malevolent spirits that possess the living by hovering unseen above their victims and manipulating their actions through ethereal 'strings'. In this case, they've taken control of surgeons halfway through an operation, and the MC and his group witness them butchering a patient on the operating table before turning their focus on the survivors. Would that be too much? Would it be seen as gore for gore's sake? It wouldn't just be a throwaway scene for the sake of conflict and action, but a macabre introduction to beings that would frequently appear in the series I'm ultimately planning (with one perhaps even having secretly possessed a member of the group, biding its time to strike at the MC when he's least expecting it, for example).
Again, any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated
Dave
