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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/39952
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I am writing an **action/thriller** light novel for YA audience.

The story involves characters "playing" in a war-simulation game in an extremely realistic and full immersive Virtual Reality. By "full immersive" I mean that the person who plays this simulation feels like they are experiencing it. **Note that this includes themes like death, fatal wounds, pain and such.**

My concept may be seen as similar to Sword Art Online ([SAO-Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_Art_Online)), where the protagonist gets drawn into a virtual reality, immersive fantasy rpg. In my case, I need it to be a bit more... adult and graphic. It would be a first-person shooter VR war game (see, for reference, [Escape from Tarkov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_Tarkov)).

Now, because I'm aiming for an older teen audience (16+), **how much detail (both gore and psychological impact) can I put into this light novel before it crosses the line between thriller and horror?**

[This](http://writing.stackexchange.com/q/9594/14704) question is similar, but it deals with how much a young audience can handle _at all_, whereas I'm trying to find the line between thriller and horror.

Original score: 0