Answering uncomfortable questions?

[BeigePalladin]

why is rape appearing more and more often now? because people are noticing it more, and are finnally pulling their heads out of the sand about the existance of this horrific act (rather than just saying "she was asking for it" or ignoring it). Statistically, it's just as common as murder, and also has a deep, lasting impact upon the character due to the extreme dehumanizing nature of the act, meaning it can be used to put the character through hell believably

though it is becoming so wide spread that you can no longer use a woman alone in a tense scene with an unknown agressor without being accused of using rape for cheap shocks despite the fact the concept was never mnetioned or implied during the sequence ¬,¬

 

[Kit]

But, I am not sure how to deal with this girl psychologically. She is very intelligent and savvy for her age, but her father was also executed, so she has literally lost everything. She will hide out for a while in an attic until things calm down, and I hope to bring her to a point mentally where she can plot revenge. But what kinds of emotions and thoughts is she going to have to overcome and accept before she can move on to the "revenge" part? I'm a 34 year old man... I have no idea what would really go through this girl's mind. Any insight would be much appreciated!

Everyone reacts differently. It would be reasonable to depict a gauntlet of wildly shifting emotions (devastation, rage, depression, denial) before settling into a cold "revenge" mindset.


There's rape in my WIP, but I am not at this time planning to show it in detail, just the aftermath.

 

[Shockley]

I had someone question whether or not an early view-point character was having intercourse with another character, who happened to be his cousin.

Not catching that myself but realizing that others could interpret it that way, I rolled with it.

 

[JonSnow]

for those of us who are the darker type fantasy writers (with authentic medieval inspiration for our backdrops), topics like rape and incest are not at all uncommon... in fact cousins were rarely off-limits in the middle ages. For some people it is shocking to read, but these events do add to the reality of the harshness, cruelty, and unforgiving nature of the world. Pure royal bloodlines required incest (though pure blood wasn't always a requirement for title inheritance, and often allowed for inter-family marriage\political arrangements). Common women were often treated not much better than cattle, leading to them being treated in all sorts of horrible ways by people who simply didn't see them as human.

I haven't tried to include my wife in the review/opinion process in my book, thus far. But I was going to let her read the first few chapters when they were ready. Once she found out that one of my main characters was the victim of rape, she no longer wanted to read it. It kind of made me sad. But then again, she likes bubbly gum stuff like Twilight, so I shouldn't have been surprised. And afterall, I am not writing to please her. I am writing what I want to...I couldn't live with myself if I put that fluffy sewage on paper, simply for wider appeal.