Sensitive Depictions of Abuse in Fantasy

JohnLine

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I’ve been working on a fantasy novel, and one of the core motivations for one of the MCs is that he is an abused child. I don’t want to trivialize it, so I don’t want to pull punches, but I don’t want to traumatize the audience or focus on the abuse itself either.

It’s a third person book, split between two MCs. MC one is a witch, and MC two is her new apprentice, a boy who’s being threatened by his father to steal from the witch (and beaten when he doesn’t). So, if I make the abuse too weak, it won’t justify his stealing, but I don’t want it to be so bad as to make it a downer of a book either.

I’ve been writing it so that during the witch’s POV she observes bruises and other injuries on the boy. And one scene during the boy’s POV where his father menaces him. But I refuse to include any graphic depictions of physical abuse.

Does this sound like I’ve drawn the right line? Would this turn you off as a reader? Can you think of examples where this has been done tastefully or distastefully? Is this too heavy a subject for the genre?

I’m about 2 weeks and 21,000 words into it, and I’m trying to figure out whether or not to continue.
 
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BillL

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Well, if you don't want to pull any punches, there are plenty of "non-violent" ways to depict evidence of physical or psychological abuse. It sounds like you've got a handle on how to indicate physical abuse without detailing the act itself--and maybe leaving certain things to the reader's imagination will make the content even more horrifying.

As for "menacing" someone, I encountered a situation in one book I'm writing where one character experiences rapid changes in lifestyle, from abuse to escape, and from poverty to relative security. I felt exploring the latter change was more interesting from the former, especially since that approach let me address both dimensions at once. The poverty mindset is something many people struggle to escape even after they achieve financial security and the small amount of research I've done on the subject has fascinated me. In a way, economic struggles can feel like abuse to the victims. Fear, unpredictability, and scarcity can persist after moving to a more stable economic state. A person might feverishly spend their first legitimate paycheck because they know from experience it's only a matter of time until their savings get stolen, even if they are constantly assured they have nothing to worry about anymore. They may retreat to old behavioral habits even though they finally achieved a way to escape them because that's all they know. Or, of course, total unfamiliarity with effective money management may lead them straight back into poverty.

I simply replaced "money" with some form of relationship stability or emotional capital in those examples and started developing a character from there. I'm satisfied with the results. I hope what I learned proves useful for you!
 

The Circle

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This is a really good question to think about.

Some of the characters in my book have suffered abuse. I didn't particularly think about the mechanics or a description of it. For some unknown reason, I chose to focus on how it made the victim feel, what they did afterwards, how those around them responded in light of discovering it had occurred, how current situations triggered memories and emotional responses.

I haven't read it myself but I'd imagine "The Handmaid's Tale" would provide varying examples of how to treat it.
 

Kat M

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You don't mention the intended age of the reader.

Any age can be triggered, but the older your reader, the more leeway you have with depiction and the more sophisticated you can make your hints.

For YA/adult, I think the line you've drawn is fine. You can also milk aftermath or anticipation so we know abuse has happened and how it makes the character feel, but we don't see the actual abuse happen.

For upper MG you'd want to be a little more circumspect and tell a bit more than you show.
 

benbenberi

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I've read many examples in SFF in which depictions of physical and/or psychological abuse suffered by a MC range from ambiguous veiled allusion to extended in-your-face graphic detail. The genre is equally open to both extremes & anything in between. There is really no right or wrong way to do it, only effective or poor execution.

So to your question I have to say, write it in whatever way you think will support the story you want to tell. The limits you set for yourself sound perfectly fine. It's up to you to make it work for your readers.
 

Brightdreamer

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I've read many examples in SFF in which depictions of physical and/or psychological abuse suffered by a MC range from ambiguous veiled allusion to extended in-your-face graphic detail. The genre is equally open to both extremes & anything in between. There is really no right or wrong way to do it, only effective or poor execution.

So to your question I have to say, write it in whatever way you think will support the story you want to tell. The limits you set for yourself sound perfectly fine. It's up to you to make it work for your readers.

+1

Also, psychological abuse can be at least as effective, and at least as traumatic, as physical abuse.
 

JohnLine

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You don't mention the intended age of the reader.

It's written for YA (No strong swear words or explicit sex, and only fantasy violence), but all of my experience is in adult fiction, so I'm trying something new.

The character ages are 30-45 for the witch and 12 for the boy.
 

Brightdreamer

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It's written for YA (No strong swear words or explicit sex, and only fantasy violence), but all of my experience is in adult fiction, so I'm trying something new.

The character ages are 30-45 for the witch and 12 for the boy.

Unless the boy ages up in the book, 12 strikes me as upper MG.

I suggest reading some books in your intended age target, to get a feel for what you're going for. YA can go very dark and detailed... but MG also doesn't completely shy away from darkness (even if it's less graphic - sometimes the dark stuff is more effective when implied and alluded to than when spelled out in grisly detail, actually.)
 

Kat M

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(even if it's less graphic - sometimes the dark stuff is more effective when implied and alluded to than when spelled out in grisly detail, actually.)

Quoted for emphasis. I recently reread a favorite upper MG book from my childhood . . . and I was shocked at the darkness that lurked just beneath the surface. As an adult it really made me think; as a child I just enjoyed a good story.
 

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It's written for YA (No strong swear words or explicit sex, and only fantasy violence).

There's plenty of all of that in YA now.

I think you write abuse in a tasteful way by focusing on the consequences of it - the physical, relational, functional, and emotional scars. You could explain a lot by showing odd/abnormal/coping behavior as a result of the pain inflicted.
 

Azdaphel

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The subject felt interesting. Depictions of abuse is not something I would be comfortable with as a reader but it is still a problem in actual society and must not be a taboo. Also, I may a book that could interest you: Vipère au poing by Hervé Bazin. The boy in the book is around the same age of your MC.
 

mccardey

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Tasteful depictions of abuse is a concept that bothers me every time I see the header....
 

JohnLine

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Tasteful depictions of abuse is a concept that bothers me every time I see the header....

Yeah me too, it was one of those things where I kept editing the title, and it never came out right. Does "Sensitive Depictions of Abuse" work any better for you?

On the plus side, I've written far enough so that the abuse has stopped, so that's been nice.
 

mccardey

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Yeah me too, it was one of those things where I kept editing the title, and it never came out right. Does "Sensitive Depictions of Abuse" work any better for you?
.

Oh, it's just me, being me ;)

PS: I'm glad the abuse has stopped. :Sun:
 

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To OP: One thing I love about Fiction is exactly that it isn't real. If say Godzilla was real, and he really destroyed all those buildings and all those people died - it would be pretty inappropriate to watch him while eating popcorn. If Endgame was real and half the people in the universe died, well I wouldn't be watching it on Netflix. People like to say "It isn't real" as if that decreases the value of fiction - when in reality it is precisely because it is NOT real that I am able to enjoy it and be inspired, or frightened, or excited about it. I don't want any of it to be real, or at least none of the bad parts of it, which is always present in most sci-fi/fantasy/horror fiction.

For me, as long as it isn't real, I don't see any reason for any official restrictions at all. People should know the difference between reality and fiction by a certain age. If they lack this much existential intelligence, just about anything will set them off eventually. You can't censor the whole world because somebody, somewhere, might do something stupid like watch Superman fly and try to jump off a sky-scraper with a cape. Or well, you could, but I wouldn't want to live in a world like that.

As for not depicting the abuse explicitly - that is your choice as a writer. If you don't want to show it - then don't. Everyone has their own style, and that is what makes writing interesting. I firmly believe anyone can be an artist or a writer, not that everyone must, but if that is what you really want, you can do it and you can do it your own way. We must appreciate what freedom technology, progress and our political achievements have given us today because they might not always be around. One day a disaster could happen, and we may lose our technology and freedom, and then people will wish for a time where they could write freely as we do today.

It is easy to forget just how far we have come from days when Inquisitors would censor you for the slightest bit of fiction, or where resources were so scarce and technology was so undeveloped that only a few elite could pursue the arts funded by various slaves or serfs.


Well, if you don't want to pull any punches, there are plenty of "non-violent" ways to depict evidence of physical or psychological abuse. It sounds like you've got a handle on how to indicate physical abuse without detailing the act itself--and maybe leaving certain things to the reader's imagination will make the content even more horrifying.

As for "menacing" someone, I encountered a situation in one book I'm writing where one character experiences rapid changes in lifestyle, from abuse to escape, and from poverty to relative security. I felt exploring the latter change was more interesting from the former, especially since that approach let me address both dimensions at once. The poverty mindset is something many people struggle to escape even after they achieve financial security and the small amount of research I've done on the subject has fascinated me. In a way, economic struggles can feel like abuse to the victims. Fear, unpredictability, and scarcity can persist after moving to a more stable economic state. A person might feverishly spend their first legitimate paycheck because they know from experience it's only a matter of time until their savings get stolen, even if they are constantly assured they have nothing to worry about anymore. They may retreat to old behavioral habits even though they finally achieved a way to escape them because that's all they know. Or, of course, total unfamiliarity with effective money management may lead them straight back into poverty.

I simply replaced "money" with some form of relationship stability or emotional capital in those examples and started developing a character from there. I'm satisfied with the results. I hope what I learned proves useful for you!

I see economic poverty, especially in a wealthy country with more then enough, as a form of abuse. Sometimes a severe form, just as bad or worse then physical. It is Cruel and Unusual.
 
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kranix1

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I think you went about it the right way, showing the result of the abuse and not the incident itself. The other way to sell it is how the character deals with the abuse which you've probably done to some degree. The thing that always stands out to me in situations like the one in your book is how sometimes the victim lacks the perspective to understand just how bad the abuse they suffered was. If it's all they've known, they take it for granted and it's even more heartbreaking because they don't realize just how badly they've been hurt.