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04-22-2003, 09:29 PM | #1 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Valinor, right next to Telperion . . . what did you expect, Michigan?
Posts: 1,315
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Of the torture of innocents and the bumping off of characters
Well. This is calling all Mooters with twisted minds who torture/kill their characters. I don't beleive I can write fiction without killing at least one character, and the novel I'm trying to write is built on torturing the mind of my protagonist until she snaps (it's built on personal experience. . . bwahaha).
But I wondered how many other Moot writers do this. My friend says she has trouble torturing her characters. I torture mine for fun. Anybody else?
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04-22-2003, 09:55 PM | #2 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA
Posts: 10,820
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I don't really think I do...I kill a few characters, yes, but I cannae think of an instance where it is to further the story, usually with a theme of sacrifice. Though one of my characters basically ends up as a broken man old beyond his years...
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04-22-2003, 10:10 PM | #3 |
Fowl Administrator
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Calgary or Edmonton, Canada
Posts: 53,420
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As a reader: death is way, way overdone. It's good if it's done well, and sparingly.
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04-22-2003, 10:11 PM | #4 |
FloraAzul
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Anywhere as long as there is a library in a one mile radius of here
Posts: 751
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Hmm I like my characters to have at least a bit of a hard time and I have one fantasy where there's this girl who's made a slave. It ibvolves some torture type stuff. But not evil.
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04-22-2003, 11:02 PM | #5 | |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA
Posts: 10,820
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Quote:
EDIT: Posted too soon... See title for details. In the other, I can't think of any instances where a main character dies (though in a sort of pillage-sequence there will probably be a fairish number of deaths), though I intend the last book to involve a fairish number of people, and will probably have at least one or two deaths there.
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Crux fidelis, inter omnes arbor una nobilis. Nulla talem silva profert, fronde, flore, germine. Dulce lignum, dulce clavo, dulce pondus sustinens. 'With a melon?' - Eric Idle Last edited by Gwaimir Windgem : 04-22-2003 at 11:05 PM. |
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04-22-2003, 11:51 PM | #6 |
Deus Ex Machina
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Seattle
Posts: 1,951
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Yeah... I'm guilty of doing that. I've managed to suppress my evil twisted instincts enough so that it doesn't overwhelm the story now but in the beginning I do end up killing off nearly a whole generation of main characters. As for torture, I don't actually write graphic torture but there is plenty of implied mental torture, especially as my main villaness is something akin to a goddess of perverted emotions. Most of the stuff is absolutely nessecary to the plot though. If it didn't happen my characters would have no motivation, there would be no conflict and thus no story.
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"5. Plain Rings with RUNES on the inside. Avoid these like the PLAGUE.-Diana Wynne Jones Tough Guide To FantasyLand ...it's not much of a show if somebody doesn't suffer, and preferably at length. Suffering is beautiful in any case, and so is anguish; but as for loathing, and bitterness... I don't think they belong on the stage at all. - Isabella, I Gelosi |
04-23-2003, 12:23 AM | #7 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Slow down and I sail on the river, slow down and I walk to the hill
Posts: 2,389
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I save most of my torturous writing impulses to short story characters who aren't likely to show up again. In one of the stories I'm working on, several minor characters (some so minor all you know is their name and the fact that they knew one of the two protagonists) die of old age.
In my fantasy writing people were more likely to die, but it often had to do with the theme of the story, and it was set during a war. edit: I do tend to torture my characters with suicidal or mental illnesses. When I'm in a bad, dark mood this is usually how I vent out my feelings. I've even written a story (which I have lost and would not post here anyway) about a disturbing public suicide.
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“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.” –Bertrand Russell Last edited by Starr Polish : 04-23-2003 at 12:25 AM. |
04-23-2003, 05:40 PM | #8 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Fountain Valley, CA
Posts: 6,343
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My novel has both torture and some characters dying. No main characters die in Part 1 though; only in Part 2, so far. The torture and deaths are all very well placed though, in my opinion.
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04-23-2003, 06:24 PM | #9 |
The Buddy Rabbit
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Trapped in the headlights..
Posts: 3,372
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I've done so occasionally (in fact one of my comic book scripts centers around the idea of the main character losing somone close).........I suppose it all depends which directions you want the surviving characters to take.......torture and/or death will have a big effect on their personallity/actions.
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04-23-2003, 06:27 PM | #10 |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Fountain Valley, CA
Posts: 6,343
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Yes, that's definitely true.
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04-23-2003, 07:56 PM | #11 |
The Insufferable
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,333
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I prefer to torture /other/ people's characters, myself. ]: )
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04-23-2003, 08:04 PM | #12 | |
Elf Lord
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Fountain Valley, CA
Posts: 6,343
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Quote:
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04-24-2003, 10:10 PM | #13 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Here. For the time being.
Posts: 336
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Every story I write, someone dies at least once, because death is a part of life and I want my stories to be somewhat realistic.
I also mutilate my characters mercilessly and kill them off when I'm writing a vampire story... But that's vampire.
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XIAN- for hating Wiccans. MURDERER- for hating vegetarians. PREP- for hating Goths. These are a few of my favourite things, the hypocritical stylings of the most "liberal" groups. |
04-24-2003, 11:01 PM | #14 |
The Redneck Elf
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: In a house
Posts: 539
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Kill them all I say! No, not really.
I would never torture or kill my characters unless it had a significant impact on the development of the plot.
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04-25-2003, 04:47 AM | #15 | |
The Insufferable
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,333
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Quote:
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Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned |
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04-25-2003, 04:57 AM | #16 |
Legolas's beloved sister and Queen of the Wood Elves of Mirkwood
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Under the hill at Bag-end, Hobbiton the Shire Or Rivendell,I can't remember!!!!!!!!!!
Posts: 1,086
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Most of my characters, (Usually the "heroes" or "heroines") get brutally killed I admit..
I don't know why really, Its often as tragic as I can make it its just fun decribing blood and gory. |
04-25-2003, 07:21 AM | #17 | |
The Insufferable
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,333
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Quote:
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Disgraced he may be, yet is not dethroned, and keeps the rags of lordship once he owned |
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04-25-2003, 01:29 PM | #18 |
Empress of the Writewraiths
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Running around somewhere inside my head. So what are YOU doing here?!
Posts: 1,546
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I don't enjoy torturing or killing off my characters, but I'll do it if it's necessary to the plot.
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04-25-2003, 01:53 PM | #19 |
Elven Warrior
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: a castle made of clouds
Posts: 459
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I'll admit that I like watching my characters squirm. Angst is fun. but I don't really see the point of writing graphic torture scenes and such unless it's absolutely necessary to get an emotional reaction out of the audience. I'm much more interested in showing the psychological side of things to bring out character development.
To be honest, however, it's often more interesting when a character's bad luck is his/her own fault. A poor, helpless hero(ine) gets boring. Occasionally, when I write for myself (i.e. when I'm in a dark mood), I'll write about my character's warped emotional states endlessly and then psychoanalyze said stories in order to figure out my own problems. It's good therapy.
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04-25-2003, 07:13 PM | #20 |
Hobbit
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: England
Posts: 28
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Ooohh...I've been known to be a little sadistic where my poor 'ickle inocent characters are concerened. Thing is, i always have to calculate how many get drowned/shot/strangled/eaten by killer cheesecake from mars/beaten to death by big bully elves/bitten by vampires, or otherwise bumped off so i have at least one hero/heroine left at the end....or otherwise i can give them a nice, drawn out life of mental torture before bringing them to a sticky end....
Moi? Sadistic? Never....
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Happy, Clappy, and annoying beyond belief ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Her Lips were red, Her looks were free, Her locks as yellow as gold, Her skin was as white as leprosy, The nightmare life-in-death was she, Who thicks man's blood with cold -Intrveiw with the vampire- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'I can resist everything exept temptation'- Oscar Wilde |