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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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How do you handle writing subject matter that is controversial? Does it make you cringe when you know you have to do it, or your story dictates it? I'm talking about anything society finds hard to deal with...taboo subjects...the things you aren't supposed to talk about in your real life.
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Joined: 3/16/2011
Posts: 279
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I dream of getting on the banned books list. Nothing boosts sales like people burning your book, writing scathing articles in newspapers and preaching about how nobody on earth should read it.
If it's a subject that really pushes the envelope I'll have a couple friends scan it first and they'll tell me if it's too much.
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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Ha! Some would probably like to burn one of mine, I'm sure. I'm always fine while writing it. In fact, I find it can sometimes be a real great way to get out tension, but inevitably, when it's done, and I'm thinking about others seeing it...in the back of my brain I think...Uh, oh, what is Aunt so and so going to say? Or...crap, the neighbor lady is going to think I'm talking about her. I cringe a little, but I have to say, it doesn't prevent me from saying what the muse says I should.
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Joined: 5/2/2011
Posts: 59
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My protagonist is polyamorous. So no, not really.
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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Alex...I think being able to write what you want and not having the worries that sometimes plague me is a very good thing! I think that is what can make someone great...when they are able to open up and let out whatever they dream up. I struggle.
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Joined: 5/8/2011
Posts: 52
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I can understand completely. I have one project that I wrote 75% of and never finished because the content is too much.
I'm not so worried what my family or neighbors will think, but basically what anyone will think. I have some of the book online on another site, and I've taken down and left out the chapters that would probably get the book deleted from the site. And I put a warning on the book that says: If it is possible for you to ever be offended, then this book will offend youo.
The people who have read it love it, but I know that no publisher in their right mind would dare put their name behind it.
As for writing it, the best way is to just write it honestly. Tell as much as you need to tell and no more. Know when to "pull back" and leave the rest to the reader's imagination.
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Joined: 3/11/2011
Posts: 156
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What genre am I working in and who is my audience?
Since bookcountry is a site for genre writers, I suspect that most writers on the site have publication in mind. That often means not just researching the subject matter but what is expected and acceptable to the genre you're aiming for. While you can always push on that boundary, you don't want to just blow it away. At least not without some serious thought on the matter.
I write both gay erotic romance and cozy mystery. There are ideas that I can only gently present in the cozy mystery aspect that I can fully explore in the gay erotica. It's just a matter of presenting the right story for the audience.
I haven't bothered with literary writing since leaving grad school and becoming a working writer, but with literary writers no subject is too taboo. it's the place to explore anything to the extreme. It's just that you can't really expect much in the way of selling the work.
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Joined: 5/8/2011
Posts: 30
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You should finish it, Becca. And self-publish.
Use a pseudonym 
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Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 102
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I won't read your book if there's detailed baby/child or animal abuse/torture in it. Show me the aftermath instead. I think that's how I (as a reader) prefer to digest my controversy - through the aftermath, the thoughts, attitudes, actions, reactions, and gossip of the people who weren't personally involved.
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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That brings up a very good point, Marcie. The reason I was thinking about this topic was because I was reading a biography of Nabokov. He was a famous author who spent some time in America, but was from Russia originally. He wrote a lot of things, but what he is most known for is 'Lolita.' It was banned in some countries when it first came out, but was then hailed as his greatest work. However, he did take some fallout for it. Me, personally, I don't think I could ever write anything like that. I'll admit, I've never read it. And, I don't know that I ever will. It made me wonder what goes through a writer's mind when they address subjects that can be uncomfortable. And, that can mean anything from a Dan Brown book to Lolita and beyond.
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Joined: 3/12/2011
Posts: 376
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I've written a few scenes that might be considered controversial, and I've written about some controversial subjects.
In a broader sense, I try to avoid writing controversy to be controversial. It's... bad art? Yeah, as much as I hate putting it that way, it makes for a weaker story. It reminds me of 'Native Son', which always struck me as an *incredible* book with an *awful* pamphlet tacked on the end.
In a narrower sense, the scenes are always tough for me to write, for a number of reasons. From least to most; I worry that I'm including the scene to shock people, which again makes for a weaker story. i worry that people will be *so* shocked by the scene that they'll lose the thread of the story. Finally, and most importantly, I am usually appalled at what's going on in the headspace I've set aside for the narrative to play itself out.
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Joined: 5/10/2011
Posts: 88
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You should read Lolita. I had to read it University and I've never regretted it.
My first "finished" manuscript (that has not and will never be published) is essentially filled with taboo subjects.. I wrote it over 5 years and was most inspired when I was upset or frustrated or depressed. (this was during University, so I was all of those things quite often!) It helped me centre myself, which may sound odd, and acted as a "it could be worse" clause... writing the terrible stuff made me realize that I'm stronger than I think I am, largely because I was basing my MC's reactions to everything that happened on how I would like to think I would react.
I guess, maybe, I'm suggesting that writers who create taboo text do so as a way to analyse them self, the world or something... to insight questions and see how people will respond. Does that make sense? (It's Friday, my brain is kind of fried...)
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 52
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It absolutely makes sense. The biography I just finished about Nabokov said over and over again about how he based his characters on the people he knew and, although he would never admit it, even though there was a lot to support this thought, that his works came right out of his own life and experiences. Not to say that he had a Lolita during his marriage, but, well, he had some dalliances.
I can see where it would be cathartic to let loose, especially if it is for your eyes only. Just the feeling of getting some peaceful time to write always feels like magic, so I definitely see what you're saying.
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