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So i couldn’t find a topic on this; so i decided to start one;)
At what point to ya’ll consider it “enough” when a character is being interrogated/experimented on/ (*wince*) tortured? Like, at what point would you just leave the rest to the reader’s imagination and come back later when the character is recovering from whatever happened?Igh… tricky question. For me, I usually don’t have the stomach to go any further than the beginning of the scene before I cut and pick up after it’s done. I’m not setting that up as a standard— by no means! But that’s about all I as a writer can take. 😛
But I would say if you’re going to take us through the whole scene (I did that once, though I’m not sure it would really qualify as a ‘torture’ scene) you can show us the beginning of the torturing part, then cut to the dialogue, or the emotions, or someone’s thoughts or something. You don’t have to give all the details of what’s happening in regards to the interrogation. Implication, I guess is the word. Is that any help?I think it can also depend on the audience that you’re aiming for. I once read a book about Ash Wednesday which was an extremely (not exaggerating) bad fire that swept through South Australia. It had a lot of horrible detail for the afterwards (you know, burnt houses, animals, people) But it is a book I would read again, because I know it is a fact of life. My family experience the 2009 Black Saturday bush fire (really bad too) Thankfully our house survived, but other houses where lost. People died. If what is happening to your character is a real torture, (such as what they might have used in the olden days) I don’t think it is too bad. I think @kate-flournoy is right though in the fact that you could cut to their thoughts, emotions etc. I hope this was helpful. I’ve never really thought about writing about torture. I think this is the closest that I’ve come.
Three months ago a neighbouring smith had been robbed; a silver brooch inlaid with gold had been stolen. No one knew who had taken it – most people had thought that a runaway thrall had stolen it and fled the town on a leaving ship, bribing his way on board. But then a whisper from one thrall to another had started a rumour… soon every thrall in town thought he knew that Miksa, the thrall to Lang the bone-carver’s son, had been seen sneaking away from the smith’s shop the afternoon the brooch was stolen. Other evidence had been swiftly fabricated, and the rumour had spread among the Vikings and become fact. Miksa had attended the Thing – an open-air, Viking court – and had been tried by ordeal. The hot coals had seared his hand and made it useless, and though it had healed well and he had been acquitted, Miksa would always bear the mark of a thief.
It is tricky. Normally I stick with general description mixed with emotions, thoughts, and a general haze of pain. During one scene where a character is beaten, I mention the first few blows and then there is just a few lines about a haze of pain and blows on every side…well, it’s easier to just copy it (this is part of the reason Cyth isn’t speaking to you @Kate-Flournoy)
I ducked, but his hand still slammed against the side of my face, sending me reeling. A kick to the back of my legs sent me to my knees and another boot in my gut knocked the breath from my lungs and sent a wave of nauseousness though my stomach.
The rest was a blur of boots and fists as I was beaten to the ground. I shielded my face with my arms as best I could but once, though the blows and legs of the Maligents I thought I caught sight of a familiar figure watching from the far door. Draygan’s eyes flashed red and his lip curled. Or maybe it was just in my mind, because after Magbar finally called for a halt and I was pulled to my feet, bleeding from a dozen places and as battered as a freshly cleaned carpet, he was gone.
Dimly I registered several final blows and then Magbar dragging me back to my cell. The door clanged shut and I was left alone, crumpled on the dark cold ground.
INTJ - Inhumane. No-feelings. Terrible. Judgment and doom on everyone.
Yikes— I don’t blame him so much anymore, @hope! 😛
But you’re right— that scene is very well handled. Another good way to do it. Just go quickly— you don’t have to linger over it. Of course, if it was an interrogation it would have to be broken up with dialogue and so would take a little longer, but you can still go fairly quickly over the torture parts.Oh, and by the way @hope— nauseousness would actually be nausea… 😉
Perhaps the largest factor is what is the purpose of the torture scene. If it is for historical purposes or if it is the culmination of all the struggles your protagonist has been facing, I would say go into more of the details. If it is for setting the character of the villain or keeping your protagonist from reaching his immediate goal, I would go with fewer details.
The one thing you must do with a torture scene is put a little bit of the pain into the page. @hope, that was a good example. Ooh, umph, aaahhhhhhhh, stooppppp! The level of how much pain you will put into the page depends on your audience, the purpose of the scene, and your personal discretion. If you try to make it unvisual at all, though, you are going to end up with a disconnect and hence a bored reader.
Now if your target audience is very young, you might feel like this would turn them away. Now I suppose your target audience is not that young, but if it was, then the best thing to do would just be to take out the torture scene and write a scene you can feel good about visualizing.
Actually, why do we call it visualizing? It should be sensualizing. With no objections, I will make a switch to that more accurate term.
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Exactly what I was saying @Daeus. It all depends on the targeted audience. 😀
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