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I am considering writing a novel in which society has fallen into a perverse pit of debauchery. This is necessary to the novel, but it also presents some problems. I want the reader to know just ho...
#4: Attribution notice removed
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#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/19554 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
I am considering writing a novel in which society has fallen into a perverse pit of debauchery. This is necessary to the novel, but it also presents some problems. I want the reader to know just how bad things are, but at the same time, I want to avoid writing about them. I don't want to simply say, "things are bad," and leave it at that. I need to _show_ just how bad things are, so that the reader will understand the true state of society. I also do not want to describe how bad things are, because 1) I simply don't want to write about such things, and 2) I don't want my novel to be adult-only. I want everyone to read this. **How can I describe how terrible things are, and yet not actually describe it?**