Should I write the actual death scene?
I am writing a novel, and in one part, a boy falls off the building. I feel like it would be very gory. Most people said to write in great detail, but then some people say to write what I know. I feel that if I write a gory scene it would turn out plain.
My question is, should I describe what happens to her when she falls to the bottom, or should I just leave it saying what went through her, and her friend's, mind? If you could, I would like some examples.
Edit: And should I let him die? He is a character close to the main character, but I feel it is unrealistic to write a story where everything turns out perfectly fine
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In addition to all the other excellent advice that was already given, I would like to point out that in our society (Western culture) violence towards children is a very strong taboo, so much so that in some countries it is even forbidden by law for parents to physically punish their children.
While children do become the victims of all kinds of violence in real life, from child abuse to accidents, and of course that part of reality is a valid topic for fiction, the actual depiction of that violence leaves readers or viewers usually with a strong sense of unease or even outrage.
While it is considered acceptable to show the results of violence on the adult human body in all its gory detail, the majority of the population probably are offended by depictions of the mutilated bodies of children. There was an example a few years ago, where an author wrote a short story about a pervert who ate children, which caused quite a stir in the media. The author is almost completely forgotten today, I would say in part due to his breaking a taboo for no reason except to shock. My impression is that people avoided that author afterwards.
While the advice to add only those details that are actually necessary for your story should get you on the right track by themselves, I would, for the reasons mentioned above, strongly advise you to consider the social norms that regulate the relationship between adults and children. While your characters are fictional, as an author you are (considered) an adult and most readers expect you to treat the fictional children in your novels as well as you would treat real children. If you don't you need to have a good reason not to do so.
Children die, and you can write about that, but do so with the same sensitivity that you would handle the subject of a real child's death.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/18863. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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We can't tell you what should happen in your story. (In fact, questions asking what to write are off-topic here.) But perhaps you can ask yourself a few questions:
If the scene is described graphically, in gory detail, what effect will that have on the reader? Will it help to further the story, or will it cause the reader to put the book down in disgust? (Identifying your audience will help you puzzle out that last point.)
If the boy dies, what effect will that have on the other characters, and the rest of the book? (If you don't know what's going to happen, you could always spend a little time planning the story. If that's not your style, perhaps you're a seat-of-the-pants writer and need to embrace that.)
In either case, I suggest you just write. Write it all now, and fix the problems later. Your questions will also become easier to answer when they're attached to a finished draft.
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