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Hullo!! So I wasn’t entirely sure what to call this forum or where to post it lol, but I’ve been wanting to make it, because it seems that there are some of us writers who do have characters that deal with quite a bit of Abuse in their lives, most of which comes from family.
That being said, this forum is to share tips, articles, etc on how to correctly portray and write these sensitive subjects and situations in our books!
Im not entirely sure who to tag in this so I’m only going to tag 2 people rn that Ik might be interested in this forum.
Also, if you’re uncomfortable with this topic please don’t feel the need to read this, and also…
I would ask, that for overtly sensitive readers, because yes some might write this subject but still want to steer clear of some aspects of it, if you’re going to have anything that might bother someone in your post, please add a Warning to the top.
Thanks!
@freedomwriter76 @elishavet-pidyon (was thinking about Alwin maybe? Because this also falls under Toxic parents/people and family)
annnnd idk who else to tag XD
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
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Warning for sensitive people who have a single parent or who have gone through emotional trauma at school or other places.
Hey, so my character falls under this category. After her parents made some mistakes in high school, her dad raised my MC (you should hopefully understand what happened, it won’t be explained in detail but I will recommend that people be over the age of 12 if they read it and I will have warnings). Her mom later kidnapps her and makes her and other teen girls work as slaves.
I guess I’d say don’t go into great detail because that can get nasty. Is there anything specific you want to know? Certain situations? I need a little more detail if you can. Don’t worry too much about me. I haven’t been through any really bad situations so I’m not highly sensitive. 😉
- Rank: Knight in Shining Armor
- Total Posts: 692
Oh, forgot to say: she’s a loner and constantly gets bullied at school.
@sarafini awww ur poor Charrie!!
yea me and @freedomwriter76 also have charries who go thru some abuse at the hands of their families. We’re pretty good on how to handle it rn, but I made this in case we have any questions down the road, or tips for how to write it without being offensive to those who have actually gone through it, and how to make it really come across and be relatable (and not glorified like a lot of stuff is)
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb@godlyfantasy @sarafini
I don’t know what kind of warning to give for this, maybe just that it concerns orphans and some violence?
This is really interesting because I was thinking about this myself. My MC Elinor (and Aedan) were abused by their guardians the Dickinsons, who they lived with between the ages of 5 and 14. I show only a few scenes before t, and nothing physical happens, just verbal, though I hint at it. I don’t really mention it throughout the rest of the story. If I write a sequel I might mention more. I have some questions I’ll ask later!
Be brave. Be strong. Be bold.
-Christopher Blakewell@godlyfantasy12, @sarafini @arien
As I’m writing a grimdark (if you don’t know what that is google defines it as “a genre of fiction, especially fantasy fiction, characterized by disturbing, violent, or bleak subject matter and a dystopian setting” (google) in simpler terms or as one Redditor put it “A story were “‘victory'” for the characters is ‘Our existence slides closer to [oblivion] slightly slower than anyone else’s, especially our enemies'” (A person on Reddit)) Due to the nature of the story there is a lot of abuse.
There are a lot of characters that are abused in one way or another especially considering there is a group of people (who are a large part of one of the plots) who are basically a bunch of serfs) three specific characters who are abused the most and that I can think of off the top of my head are:
*warning mentions of abuse, slaver, slight mention of drugs
The Opian Cerffs – So one of my narrators (that is what I call my basically MCs (of which there are 9)) Tieren, his Grandfather used to run basically an opium farm (this is a fantasy so the drug is not opium but you get what I mean) Tieren (through a complex series of events) inherits his Grandfathers farm (which he didn’t even know existed as his mother really despises Tierens Grandfather and tries to stay away from him) and is forced to attempt to run the farm to prevent getting kicked out of the nobility. (much more happens but I’m not giving away any spoilers at the moment) Anyway, Tierens Grandfather is a terrible person and horribly abused all of the Cerffs (last names are used to denote what class you belong two in the country of Karpenta, and Cerff basically means your a slave) Some of what he did is pretty horrible and I can talk more about some of that if you would like me to get into more detail (some of it could be potentially triggering or make people feel uncomfortable)
Timurlyn – Timurly (a very important character but not a Narrator although he might get a few chapters) is mute. This leads to his intelligence being discredited by a lot of other characters when in fact this is not the case (more would be a big spoiler which I have been told not to reveal).
Kithi – Kithi was sentenced to death by the Anim (for reasons I’m not going to explain at the moment) Soren-Saren prevented Kithi from being killed but now Kithi feels indebted to Saren. Saren exploits this to use Kithi as an assassin to further Saren’s political goals.
@folith-feolin aww ur poor charries!! While I don’t have a mute Charrie (yet 😉) I do have 2 charries with stutters!
one is very mild, he stutters just slightly when nervous, maybe fumbling words just a bit or stuttering the first word.
But the other, a little boy, has a more extreme stutter that he was born with and became worse over time due to abuse. It gets better as the years go by and he’s given a loving home/family.
I do however have a selectively mute character in the FAR future (I say future because I’m crazy and I already have my characters children planned out lol, and one of the kids of my MCs is selective mute. Her name is Hadassah.)
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSeb(Not sure who to tag)
So I haven’t had really any trauma or abuse in my life as far as I know, but, as a reader, I do have one tip for writing emotional stuff well, I think.
I’ve noticed that a lot of people tend to use flashbacks a lot to explain their character’s trauma. There’s nothing wrong with this, but I kinda found myself skimming the words whenever a flashback showed in the character castle. (Obviously the CC is not an example of anyone’s best writing.) I think that flashbacks are a very powerful tool but can get repetitive or boring pretty quickly. The best stories that I’ve read have had little to no flashbacks but instead alluded to their character’s trauma constantly with little odd behaviors or throw-away lines. I somehow found these little effects of the trauma more emotional than the actual traumatic event because I realized that almost every little part of the character’s life is damaged by this trauma.
I think flashbacks can still be powerful, especially at the climax, I just think that they can be overused. I also want to say I love all your guys’ writing and I don’t mean to discourage anyone with this.
“Nothing says autumn like slurpin’ apples.” -my uncle
This also might just be a style preference thing, idk
“Nothing says autumn like slurpin’ apples.” -my uncle
@loopylin totally understand, and backslashes can definitely be overused!! I tend to enjoy using them in the castle as ways to show/write scenes that might appear in my actual books but in the actual books themselves, I agree, but they can be powerful when used in the right way.
Love what you said about the quirks and showing the abuse and pain through that and other behaviors!
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
#ProtectSebThanks! I still appreciated the flashback scenes, I just had to force myself to focus a little more.
“Nothing says autumn like slurpin’ apples.” -my uncle
@loopylin yea, there will be quite a couple dream scenes in my series due to the fact that Ara has an ability relating to dreams/visions
#IfMarcelDiesIRiot
#ProtectMarcel
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*swings through the door, slams my notebook on the table, and clears throat*
I have experience!!
Now, I will say this, I do not have a ton of experience but I do have a gentle idea of the topic of abuse. My aunt and uncle were foster parents for a long time, as much to over the years have 30 kids. All with trauma and some of it was really hard to go through. I know what it’s like to meet kids with thunder storm trauma, fire breakout, physical abuse, mental abuse, and etc. And let me tell you, it isn’t pretty. My heart aches for children, it’s why I write the things I do, it’s why I minister to children. Anyway, on the topic of abuse: I follow this rule- stay true to truth.
These things happen.
But that doesn’t make them okay.
When I write abuse I always inquire about the concept of hope. Everybody has a sense of it in them. No matter how far gone they’ve gotten.
Everyone!
Second tip I have: research. Always have a base knowledge of body emotions, facial expressions, backstory, facts, random quirks in your back pocket for your character.
And yeah…remember every life is precious. And is chosen and made by God! He wants them to work through their pain for a purpose. The words you write can speak life or death; I encourage everyone when writing on the sensitive topic of abuse to write life. We see so much mental death out there today…try and change that!There’s my two cents.
Take it or leave it.*swings out the door*
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