Too Graphic

Depends on the target audience.

Then it's up to you. Any adult reader should be able to read anything (s)he likes. Readers will decide if they wish to read your writing.

But of course a publisher can think differently and not wish to publish you. That's their prerogative.

Again - depends.

I love hard-boiled crime fiction. Graphic elements are more than expected there. But if you are writing a cozy mystery, there is a line where things should be stopped. And almost any genre has its own boundaries. And as much as I like books pushing at these boundaries, I also expect the books to stay at the level that I expect.

And there is the small matter of what your publisher tries to target - even if you are thinking adults, they might want to target it to YA audience.

What genre are we talking about here?

What does controversial topic have to do with graphic violence and/or language? There is nothing that is too graphic in Romeo and Juliet - regardless of what time you live into.

If you are asking if controversial topics are ok in a novel - yes of course. If someone cannot digest such scenes, they might need to do their research on their books before starting to read them.

If we still are talking about graphical explanations in books targeted at adults - nothing bad about them.

Cannot really say for romance novels though - I almost never read them. But I believe graphical sex is expected there. As for anything else (gruesome murder or something along these lines) - I would not expect them there. But again - no specialist on romances.

And if a book can make me feel what happens, it just means that the author did their work.

>7 AnnieMod:: Not necessarily. But sometimes great literature goes against good taste. I wouldn't put in such things just to shock, but in the right context... Isn't it all about measured effects?

>8 Nicole_VanK:
The last sentence above is more a generic thing for me than for books that are too graphic. You can make your audience feel something even with very subtle hints in the right places. Too graphic stuff almost never works for me - it feels like someone trying too hard. The almost being for the few books where the context just flows through these parts and they complement the whole story and feeling of the book. And then in some books just a few small hints make me shiver... or worse. :)

What do you mean by "graphic"?

It is important to note that there is a difference between violence/hard content that contributes to a story and that which does not, hence, being gratuitous.

It seems more and more these days books include sex scenes and violent descriptions that really don't add to a book. Movies do the same thing. I have no trouble reading sex scenes including rape and other violent scenarios but I get annoyed when it's included just for that sake of trying to get something out of the reader.

Now, books like Blindness by Jose Saramago, for example, has some violent scenes that definitely add to the tone of the book. Those scenes enrage you and really make you think.

But going against good taste does not always make great literature. :) In most cases it makes crappy stuff.

True. But the point I try to make is that when someone tries too hard to go against the good taste, it shows and it is not a pleasant thing to read. :) If it just happens that your story needs to brea a norm or two? Go ahead and do it. But not the opposite - the story should be the leading, not the breaking of the norms and/or good taste.

Just out of curiosity did you start this whole discussion thread just to advertise your book again? You started another thread directly pushing it as well...

Read post 20

Emidawg - he did!
Slipped it in at post 20...*sigh*

add: interesting discussion otherwise.

If I remember correctly the Iliad and the Odyssey both had some graphic violence yet they are considered great literature. Kurt Vonnegut deals with bestiality in Slaughterhouse Five. The same can be said about parts on My Secret Garden. Portnoys Complaint, well, I think we can agree that itcan be considered graphic.

Which do people find more objectionable graphic violence or graphic sex?

To follow up on TLCrawford's point, on a car trip I had to stop playing an Odyssey cd because my young son was turning green over a scene involving the slaughter of an ox.

To me graphic sex in a book for adults is usually silly and not a problem, although it may detract from the enjoyment of the book. Graphic violence can be quite disturbing, especially if it involves the young or defenseless.

Exceptions exist all over the place. The in-the-car sex scene in The World According to Garp was an important part of the story, for example, and also could be considered violent. And my father found Bernard Cornwell's Richard Sharpe series way too violent, while it didn't strike me that way at all - and the violence there is a natural part of the stories about the Napoleonic wars.

>20 IXISSIMUS:

I really hoped you won't do this. *sigh*

Whitty?

After Matt warned you in the other thread so you cannot say you have no idea that's a bit against the rules? Yep, I really hoped so. If someone was interested, they would have checked your library and profile. And people here would have checked after you mentioned you are an author - there was no need to plug the book. :)