Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A How to be mindful of the reader when handling disturbing/distressing subjects?

I think you should hold nothing back. I believe there's a quote about how softening and sanitizing your style to appeal to a larger group is the recipe for mediocrity, but I can't find it. Do you ...

posted 6y ago by elrobis‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:11:38Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/30945
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar elrobis‭ · 2019-12-08T07:11:38Z (over 4 years ago)
I think you should hold nothing back. I believe there's a quote about how softening and sanitizing your style to appeal to a larger group is the recipe for mediocrity, but I can't find it.

Do you want to trigger the gripping, riveting empathy you are imagining, or not?

Anecdotal aside: When I was a kid I read Treasure Island, and the scene where blind Pew sneaks into the Admiral Benbow and grapples Jim, seemingly from out of nowhere, scared me so bad I put down the book for quite some time. Weeks, I think. But I eventually finished it.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-10-20T17:13:40Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 3