x_haphazard_x
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- Posted: Mon, 05 Mar 2007 23:23:10 +0000
Hello you all. I'm in a particularly ranty mood, so I'm going to go and rant about shock value.
Why Not To Use It
1. Believability
Ah, the ever-important believeability. Yes, your readers can only hold their suspension of disbelief for so long, and this goes doubly for any piece that's supposed to take place in the real world.
Yes, greusome things happen in the real world, we all know that, at least those of us who watch the news. But the reason why it makes the news is because it doesn't happen that often.
On things that aren't necessarily violent and are just shocking, keep track of your character's, well, character. Not everybody's going to say dramatically, "I AM your father!", in fact, most people won't, except depending on your characters and circumstances. If you look at what normal people would do in the circumstances and what actors will do in these circumstances, a lot of the time, they'll be markedly different.
When you write something believeable by omitting useless shock-value material, writing hits closer to home.
2. Eeriness
Again, you can write something that hits close to home, but that doesn't mean that it can't be ******** scary. Leaving things that would be 'shocking' understated or only implied can make a story eerie and send a chill up the reader's spine, rather than just mediocre writing with buckets of gore piled on top. It gives them a sense that 'this could happen' or 'this is actually how it would be if this happened', which is infinitely scarier than the gory stuffs of B-rate horror movies.
3. Normalcy
Most people have a sense of normalcy and are disturbed when this is interrupted. Of course, there are varying degress on how bothered someone will be, but we're not here to discuss that.
The point is, if you're writing from the perspective of a fireman, he's not going to be absolutely shocked every time there's a fire (at least I hope not). Even in difficult and dangerous professions, there's proceedure.
Now, there's another thing to deal with, and that would be you're writing somethign that would normally be considered disgusting or reprehensible to your particular culture but it's supposed to be commonplace in another culture, whether this be real life or fantasy. If it's supposed to be commonplace, then why are you describing it in a shocking way, dearest author? In these cases, it's culture shock, not shock value, and you, author, are introducing us to the culture, so it shouldn't sound shocking through your words.
4. Necessity
Is it really necessary for that wizard to be turned inside out with all of his organs gushing across the floor in your story? What does it add to your story? If it barely makes sense in the circumstances and there's no reason for it to happen other than you want to gross the readers out, don't do it. A lot of readers just can't be grossed out, and they will be laughing.
Another case is the pointless melodrama. If the character wouldn't act melodramatic, it just destroys their characterization and makes us giggle.
5. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid
You don't have to describe everything to us, and a lot of times a reader's mind will fill in the blanks with an image much more horrific than you could get across on paper. Use that to your advantage.
But you've read through all of this, and you want to make something shocking. Here's how to do it.
1. Pick what you want to make shocking.
Seriously, pick. If every other event in your narrative is going to be shocking, please douse yourself with gasoline and set yourself on fire. After a few, we're going to be jaded to your 'horrific' or 'dramatic' scenes, and we'll stop caring. We can only be shocked so much until we're numb. Limiting what you want to make shocking is the first step to making it actually shocking and less like any given episode of a soap opera.
2. Make sure it fits.
I can't stress how important this is. If it doesn't fit in any way, such as characterization, description by POV, setting, magic system, technology level, etc, scrap it now. You don't want the part of the narrative that's supposed to shock us to stick out like a sore thumb because we won't be going "HOMG," we'll be going "WHUH?"
3. Make appropriate preparations
If your character is going to be angry and go berzerk, please don't make it a little thing that sets them off, or at least make it understood that that last thing is the straw that broke the camel's back. If character A needs to be in place B but is really at house C the last time you saw them, make sure their transition to place B is smooth and doesn't leave your readers going "WTF" when the character is there. Don't make a machine that was working perfectly fine forever before suddenly break down just so that the characters can be witness to SHOCKING! event.
4. Avoid trappings
As in your floating skulls, big threatening medical machines which would make noise over the dramatic music that would be there, and whatnot, unless you have a good reason to have them.
5. When in doubt, understate...
Are you sure you can't do this with understatement? Seriously, understatement is good. As stated above, it can be even scarier than gore, gore, and more gore. Sometimes you can get your shocking moment across with minimum work.
6. But don't blow it!
If this event is supposed to haunt the character for a long time to come, you have to make it believeable. If you've been winding up for a character revealing something, goddamnit, don't blow it and make it actually worth the wait! This is another thing I can't stress enough. If you're going to make something shocking, actually make it shocking, not only for the readers, but make it plausable that it would be shocking for the characters, too. This all comes from the narrative -- if you character is horribly claustrophobic and gets locked in a little box, MAKE it traumatizing! Winding up for a pitch and making the pitch not even reach the batter is a very sad thing for an author to do with something that's supposed to be shocking, but it happens all too often.
Well, thank you for listening. *bows* This was mostly written in a fit of frustration, so I don't think it's complete. Your comments and suggestions of what to add are most helpful. biggrin
Why Not To Use It
1. Believability
Ah, the ever-important believeability. Yes, your readers can only hold their suspension of disbelief for so long, and this goes doubly for any piece that's supposed to take place in the real world.
Yes, greusome things happen in the real world, we all know that, at least those of us who watch the news. But the reason why it makes the news is because it doesn't happen that often.
On things that aren't necessarily violent and are just shocking, keep track of your character's, well, character. Not everybody's going to say dramatically, "I AM your father!", in fact, most people won't, except depending on your characters and circumstances. If you look at what normal people would do in the circumstances and what actors will do in these circumstances, a lot of the time, they'll be markedly different.
When you write something believeable by omitting useless shock-value material, writing hits closer to home.
2. Eeriness
Again, you can write something that hits close to home, but that doesn't mean that it can't be ******** scary. Leaving things that would be 'shocking' understated or only implied can make a story eerie and send a chill up the reader's spine, rather than just mediocre writing with buckets of gore piled on top. It gives them a sense that 'this could happen' or 'this is actually how it would be if this happened', which is infinitely scarier than the gory stuffs of B-rate horror movies.
3. Normalcy
Most people have a sense of normalcy and are disturbed when this is interrupted. Of course, there are varying degress on how bothered someone will be, but we're not here to discuss that.
The point is, if you're writing from the perspective of a fireman, he's not going to be absolutely shocked every time there's a fire (at least I hope not). Even in difficult and dangerous professions, there's proceedure.
Now, there's another thing to deal with, and that would be you're writing somethign that would normally be considered disgusting or reprehensible to your particular culture but it's supposed to be commonplace in another culture, whether this be real life or fantasy. If it's supposed to be commonplace, then why are you describing it in a shocking way, dearest author? In these cases, it's culture shock, not shock value, and you, author, are introducing us to the culture, so it shouldn't sound shocking through your words.
4. Necessity
Is it really necessary for that wizard to be turned inside out with all of his organs gushing across the floor in your story? What does it add to your story? If it barely makes sense in the circumstances and there's no reason for it to happen other than you want to gross the readers out, don't do it. A lot of readers just can't be grossed out, and they will be laughing.
Another case is the pointless melodrama. If the character wouldn't act melodramatic, it just destroys their characterization and makes us giggle.
5. Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid
You don't have to describe everything to us, and a lot of times a reader's mind will fill in the blanks with an image much more horrific than you could get across on paper. Use that to your advantage.
But you've read through all of this, and you want to make something shocking. Here's how to do it.
1. Pick what you want to make shocking.
Seriously, pick. If every other event in your narrative is going to be shocking, please douse yourself with gasoline and set yourself on fire. After a few, we're going to be jaded to your 'horrific' or 'dramatic' scenes, and we'll stop caring. We can only be shocked so much until we're numb. Limiting what you want to make shocking is the first step to making it actually shocking and less like any given episode of a soap opera.
2. Make sure it fits.
I can't stress how important this is. If it doesn't fit in any way, such as characterization, description by POV, setting, magic system, technology level, etc, scrap it now. You don't want the part of the narrative that's supposed to shock us to stick out like a sore thumb because we won't be going "HOMG," we'll be going "WHUH?"
3. Make appropriate preparations
If your character is going to be angry and go berzerk, please don't make it a little thing that sets them off, or at least make it understood that that last thing is the straw that broke the camel's back. If character A needs to be in place B but is really at house C the last time you saw them, make sure their transition to place B is smooth and doesn't leave your readers going "WTF" when the character is there. Don't make a machine that was working perfectly fine forever before suddenly break down just so that the characters can be witness to SHOCKING! event.
4. Avoid trappings
As in your floating skulls, big threatening medical machines which would make noise over the dramatic music that would be there, and whatnot, unless you have a good reason to have them.
5. When in doubt, understate...
Are you sure you can't do this with understatement? Seriously, understatement is good. As stated above, it can be even scarier than gore, gore, and more gore. Sometimes you can get your shocking moment across with minimum work.
6. But don't blow it!
If this event is supposed to haunt the character for a long time to come, you have to make it believeable. If you've been winding up for a character revealing something, goddamnit, don't blow it and make it actually worth the wait! This is another thing I can't stress enough. If you're going to make something shocking, actually make it shocking, not only for the readers, but make it plausable that it would be shocking for the characters, too. This all comes from the narrative -- if you character is horribly claustrophobic and gets locked in a little box, MAKE it traumatizing! Winding up for a pitch and making the pitch not even reach the batter is a very sad thing for an author to do with something that's supposed to be shocking, but it happens all too often.
Well, thank you for listening. *bows* This was mostly written in a fit of frustration, so I don't think it's complete. Your comments and suggestions of what to add are most helpful. biggrin
