Just the other day I encountered a dilemma entirely new to me: I wrote a scene that was just. Too. Sad.
I’ve written sad scenes before. When telling a story, not every part of it is going to be happy, or easy, or comfortable. But generally I’ve enjoyed exploring the not so shiny parts of a tale. Saturday, however, I crossed the line.
I’m not going to get into the details of what I wrote about, as I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to do with it. On the one hand, I entirely respect authenticity in writing and not shying away from things that might be unpleasant. Sometimes sad scenes make my insides twist in an absolutely delightful way (think Les Miserables), but sometimes they leave me feeling cold and unsatisfied. I read stories to go on a journey. I don’t read books to feel sick.
Now, I find myself in a difficult situation: what do I do with this scene? I don’t want to be thin-skinned and lose some serious character development because I can’t handle what my character went through, but neither do I want to create a story that I wouldn’t want to read. Yes, authenticity is about portraying real and sometimes unedited versions of life, but I believe it is also about your own values. If I wouldn’t like to read it, why would I put someone else through that? I’m certain that this isn’t going to be the last time I run into this question, and I suspect each time I’m going to come up with a slightly different answer. Maybe I’ll keep it in, maybe I’ll leave it out, maybe I’ll change it around and make the thing a bit more palatable.
I appreciate creators who unapologetically explore worst-case scenarios, but I don’t believe that every story of value needs to have the cheer factor of Great Russian Literature. I want to get out of my comfort zone more and more as I continue to write so I can explore the boundaries of my own authenticity. I’m not sure yet if this scene in within those borders. What I do know, though, is that for now I have to leave the tragic smudge where it is, and not do a single thing to it until I’m sweeping back through on my second go-round. Otherwise, I’m not going to get anything done.
Let me know your thoughts on the matter. Is it inauthentic to write something that you wouldn’t want to read? Have you had any experience with that? What was it, and what did you do? Let’s figure out our breaking points together.
Amy
I’ll save the editing for later…
Hi Amy –
I totally sympathise with your dilemma. When I’m reading, I usually skip those scenes and hope that I haven’t missed anything important. Now that I think about it, my subconscious attitude is usually that the author is playing up the violence/sex/whatever in order to sell more copies. Of course, I know this isn’t necessarily true but that’s the message my instinct delivers to me.
Remember that Maharishi says, “Speak the sweet truth.” And also, when we were in India in 1980/81, he gave an incredible lecture, and the main message I remember from it is: “There is nothing on earth worth accomplishing if it harms the fine level of feeling.”
So I think my suggestion would be to re-write the scene so that the unbearable parts are off-stage, as it were: you can give a glimpse of what happened but not go in to all the gory details. If this is done right – it takes a lot of writing skill, which I feel sure you’ve got – it can be even more effective: really chill the reader to the bone but without doing violence to that fine feeling level. It’s more subtle and we know that more subtle levels are more powerful.
Remember, Hemingway re-wrote the last page of For Whom the Bell Tolls 17 times (by his own count). So you can write this scene a dozen different ways and see which one you like. Or maybe you’ll decide to leave it out because you find another way to send your story forward.
I think that if you can figure this one out, it will take your writing to a whole new level of maturity and effectiveness. Brava to you for working so hard and taking your responsibility as a writer so seriously.
love, Nita
PS See you soon!!!!!
I think it depends wholly on your genre and your target audience. I enjoy reading murder mysteries, which often delve into painful scenes (some have even forced me to put the book down and catch my breath!) But that’s no surprise… I know that going in, so it’s not a shock. Unless you want to go all George R. R. Martin on your fans, I’d say it’s fair to draw the line somewhere. What impression do you want to leave?
You bring up a very good point, one that is increasingly explored with tell-all styles such as George R. R. Martin’s. I think the important thing to realize is that, while you are the creator, the world isn’t solely yours. It is your characters’ world.
If you write with your character’s voice (either true first person or a close third person) you have to determine if he or she would tell the readers the dark parts. If you write from a more omniscient POV it may be trickier.
Certain scenes — violent, heartbreaking, gruesome, and even sexual (though it’s sad that this last gets lumped in with negatives) — come in all shades of detail. There are graphic details and the blurred outlines. Choosing to include a difficult part of your character’s story does not have to be all or nothing. Perhaps it is mentioned in passing, or seen through a memory, or recounted to a friend. Perhaps we see all the details and live it with them.
As creators (I use this term because this indecision arises with visual art as well as written) we worry about your audience’s reaction, and justly, but I think we need to lay that aside. Our stories are our characters, and as long as the event in question fits with the piece we tell, I think it should be included on whatever level. Personality-forming events are especially important. If our character makes a rash or extreme choice, the reader’s need to understand the depth of their reasoning for it to feel authentic.
We all have different tastes as audience members. I may not mind a few details to get me to empathize with the character, but not like graphic explanations. I think as readers it is a risk we take each time we open a book. We enter a world based on our best judgement whether that includes extensive research or simply whether we like the cover art. Publishers will tailor the book to the readers that may like it, but I think that is as much paring down as should be done. The reader will either stay or not.
After all, we can’t edit our own hardships, but still plenty of people stay with us for our whole journey. Trust your characters to be strong enough to earn the same.
I find that writing a scene then rewriting it until it feels right is helpful in this situation, which has happened to me as well. I find in Kings of Riverboro there are at least half a dozen scenes that make me a little squeamish, but the book demands they be there.