Question: Handling complex, possibly overused tropes in fiction

[izi 出久]

TW: assault. No scenes or specifics. Just discussion about why / if I should write it.
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Starting to edit Book 1.

I've been doing some research on s. assault in fiction. The biggest question, I believe, is: Does it even belong? Is there ever a legitimate reason to include it?

I have s. assault in the first book, centered around a girl (later woman and "villain") Mikashi.

Why I included it:

• I'm writing what I know.
• Mika's driving motivation is power. She seeks power. She did before and after. She is painfully aware of how "worthless" she is as an abandoned child in the lowest class. The assault was a reminder to her of her powerlessness (in the beginning).
• The person who hurt her is liked by many of the main characters, including Pedra and Saku. So when Mika reveals who he is, Pedra refuses to torture and kill him as Mika demands, insisting instead he stand trial. This, to Mika (who, it should be noted, is a love interest of Pedra's), is betrayal. It is this betrayal that causes Mika to attempt to kill Pedra (near success) and the rest is history. All of this is important to me because it reflects reality most of the time. The majority of rapists are liked by quite a few people. Even Pedra likes him and, while she believes Mika, reacts insensitively. To summarize, it isn't the rape itself that affects Mika so deeply, but the regular dismissal of her wants and needs.

Trying to decide where to go with this. It's very close to me--Mika's story--and I feel that eliminating it entirely denies the fact that it happens. And Mika grows up in the slums of the city... If it helps discussion, one of the themes of the series is power and corruption--with the Viðkan (a thousand years before the series begins), the Minzuku people, and Mika. And Pedra, although hers is more physical (as she consumes more "flames", her body begins to deteriorate. Until she dies at the end).

It's an overused trope. I know. I want it in the story. Am I wrong?

Edit to add: Not talking about how explicit. This is about whether I should keep assault in Mika's backstory.

 

[Hannah F]

I don't think we should avoid issues that are important for the story and progress the story and are not gratuitous. The importance in a story, imo, is the emotional effect and post trauma. I would find an explicit scene very difficult and maybe impossible to read. I believe, in almost every case, that can happen off the page with the lead up and post trauma being what's on the page.

 

[Bloo]

Keep it, KEEP IT, KEEP IT.

All the reasons you give convince me you should keep it.

Mika's an evil character. Her full backstory shows the reader how she got there, and makes her more sympathetic. We see that the act of assault didn't have to change her. If only others had taken her seriously.

Once the bullet's passed through, it's the hole you gotta deal with.

Tropes become tropes because they work. If you're worried, write yours in a way that's fresh. I've read your writing, and am confident you can pull it off.

You have something to contribute. Don't let an inner censor stop you.

 

[Brayati]

I'm with the previous two comments - keep it, but also keep an eye on how it affects the pacing and purpose.

 

[Serra K]

Hey Stacey, I'd say keep it, but offscreen. Many a good story has been abandoned because of one gratuitous scene. The violence to the character becomes violence against the reader, but you'd know all that. I'm with you 100% that much of Mika's pain comes from the dismissal of those around her, and the perpetrator's favour amongst the people.

One thing I'm always wary of concerning SA in fiction is when it is somehow tied to how the character becomes strong. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds this sort of character development offensive, as most victims will agree that this kind of event is NOT empowering. I can see you're handling it in a different way, which is great, just something to bear in mind so that there are no accidental connections made. The character becomes strong despite the abuse, not as a result of it.

The tension between Mika and Pedra is too important to skip over this part of the backstory. Handle it with care, and remember that your readers will have feelings about it and you should do fine. Once you're finished, run it by a bunch of sensitivity readers and spend time with the feedback. I'm sure you'll do it justice, and maybe even help someone out there with their own struggles.

 

[Mel L]

Agree with the others. Don't deny yourself the satisfaction of including something that is essential to the story, however difficult.
This is why we write.

You can decide later whether it needs to be toned down. Personally I can read almost anything except torture or cruelty of any kind. But as a reader, I will keep going if the story is strong and just skip over sections that are too disturbing.

 

[RK Wallis]

TW: assault. No scenes or specifics. Just discussion about why / if I should write it.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Starting to edit Book 1.

I've been doing some research on s. assault in fiction. The biggest question, I believe, is: Does it even belong? Is there ever a legitimate reason to include it?

I have s. assault in the first book, centered around a girl (later woman and "villain") Mikashi.

Why I included it:

• I'm writing what I know.
• Mika's driving motivation is power. She seeks power. She did before and after. She is painfully aware of how "worthless" she is as an abandoned child in the lowest class. The assault was a reminder to her of her powerlessness (in the beginning).
• The person who hurt her is liked by many of the main characters, including Pedra and Saku. So when Mika reveals who he is, Pedra refuses to torture and kill him as Mika demands, insisting instead he stand trial. This, to Mika (who, it should be noted, is a love interest of Pedra's), is betrayal. It is this betrayal that causes Mika to attempt to kill Pedra (near success) and the rest is history. All of this is important to me because it reflects reality most of the time. The majority of rapists are liked by quite a few people. Even Pedra likes him and, while she believes Mika, reacts insensitively. To summarize, it isn't the rape itself that affects Mika so deeply, but the regular dismissal of her wants and needs.

Trying to decide where to go with this. It's very close to me--Mika's story--and I feel that eliminating it entirely denies the fact that it happens. And Mika grows up in the slums of the city... If it helps discussion, one of the themes of the series is power and corruption--with the Viðkan (a thousand years before the series begins), the Minzuku people, and Mika. And Pedra, although hers is more physical (as she consumes more "flames", her body begins to deteriorate. Until she dies at the end).

It's an overused trope. I know. I want it in the story. Am I wrong?

Edit to add: Not talking about how explicit. This is about whether I should keep assault in Mika's backstory.

Everyone has given great advice above, there's nothing to add. So, I'll recommend a read instead (spoiler). I know nothing of SA, but the book I Eat Men like Air handled it well, very much showed the fallout, and it may not be accurate, but the book had me. But you need to be prepared to enter a vapid world to enjoy it. The vapidness is grating.

 

[Pamela Jo]

TW: assault. No scenes or specifics. Just discussion about why / if I should write it.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Starting to edit Book 1.

I've been doing some research on s. assault in fiction. The biggest question, I believe, is: Does it even belong? Is there ever a legitimate reason to include it?

I have s. assault in the first book, centered around a girl (later woman and "villain") Mikashi.

Why I included it:

• I'm writing what I know.
• Mika's driving motivation is power. She seeks power. She did before and after. She is painfully aware of how "worthless" she is as an abandoned child in the lowest class. The assault was a reminder to her of her powerlessness (in the beginning).
• The person who hurt her is liked by many of the main characters, including Pedra and Saku. So when Mika reveals who he is, Pedra refuses to torture and kill him as Mika demands, insisting instead he stand trial. This, to Mika (who, it should be noted, is a love interest of Pedra's), is betrayal. It is this betrayal that causes Mika to attempt to kill Pedra (near success) and the rest is history. All of this is important to me because it reflects reality most of the time. The majority of rapists are liked by quite a few people. Even Pedra likes him and, while she believes Mika, reacts insensitively. To summarize, it isn't the rape itself that affects Mika so deeply, but the regular dismissal of her wants and needs.

Trying to decide where to go with this. It's very close to me--Mika's story--and I feel that eliminating it entirely denies the fact that it happens. And Mika grows up in the slums of the city... If it helps discussion, one of the themes of the series is power and corruption--with the Viðkan (a thousand years before the series begins), the Minzuku people, and Mika. And Pedra, although hers is more physical (as she consumes more "flames", her body begins to deteriorate. Until she dies at the end).

It's an overused trope. I know. I want it in the story. Am I wrong?

Edit to add: Not talking about how explicit. This is about whether I should keep assault in Mika's backstory.

There are many kinds of sexual assault. They aren't physical. To me violence is just the shortcut that cuts out that pesky need to make women complex characters. A next generation episode sticks in my mind because it was a new take. The empath has her mind invaded and manipulated. It feels like the r word to her and it is a crime in her culture that is treated the same. There is a book out in France now by the daughter of a prominent person. She was raised in a very liberal, hippy, dippy, Sat. night orgy social milieu. In that she was treated like a Lolita and her sexuality co-opted for the entertainment of adults. Yes at the time she was willing. it's only in seeing her own daughter reach that age did she realise she was groomed and her own sexuality stunted and never allowed to bloom. My take would be please don't make her the villain just because she was physically assaulted. That in and of itself sends a bad message to assault survivors. Most of us become heroines, not villains-angry as we might be. And OH MY is the world terrified of female anger. I'd rather read a villain that is just an arrogant selfish bitch than another oh she got assaulted and now wants revenge back story. See Umbrella Academy 2. The character that swallows her rival whole. I mean he's a goldfish, but...God that was a villainess.

 

[izi 出久]

The empath has her mind invaded and manipulated. It feels like the r word to her and it is a crime in her culture that is treated the same.

Something very similar happens to my MC.

My take would be please don't make her the villain just because she was physically assaulted.

Before she feels that Pedra betrayed her, she's Pedra's closest ally. The first of the Minzu people who Pedra trusts. And Mika is fearless in the best way. Pedra is everything Mika has wanted (love relationships are a bit odd in this world, and Pedra is 9 years older than Mika).

The betrayal really shakes Mika's perception. And it's not like "How dare you, Pedra, now you shall die." It's more like a festering wound in her mind that grows and when Pedra goes against the antihero (Kilatra) on a decision, Mika decides to solve it herself by killing Pedra. Does this make it different for you?

 

[Pamela Jo]

Something very similar happens to my MC.

Before she feels that Pedra betrayed her, she's Pedra's closest ally. The first of the Minzu people who Pedra trusts. And Mika is fearless in the best way. Pedra is everything Mika has wanted (love relationships are a bit odd in this world, and Pedra is 9 years older than Mika).

The betrayal really shakes Mika's perception. And it's not like "How dare you, Pedra, now you shall die." It's more like a festering wound in her mind that grows and when Pedra goes against the antihero (Kilatra) on a decision, Mika decides to solve it herself by killing Pedra. Does this make it different for you?

I think it is more sensitively done than what I object to. So many movies - just use vengeance as a motive. It's a ridiculously overused trope in fantasy no matter the gender. And for women the source is always sex. It's almost as if the titillation was the point... Men-they killed my mother and or father... ARGGGHHHHH! I think Martin is so popular just because he comes up with outside the trope characters and plots.
This film is devastating. Big Trigger warning, but I think gives the emotional impact of sexual assault. Two Women - Wikipedia. I think you need to kick your characterisation up a bit. It doesn't quite follow for me in what you showed me so far. We also need to always be thinking of ways to kick up the drama, too. I imagine some kind of explosion from the slow burn that comes unexpectedly to the reader, but makes sense for the character in retrospect? Rather than a plan. She kills her in a moment of passion, regrets it , but has to come to some kind of rationalisation to herself afterwards as to why she had to, or Pedra deserved it?
Speaking of GOT .... the Jason Momoa scene and then Dani falls madly in love with him?..... A constant trope of male fantasy and porn.. But I wonder if Dani going crazy at the end didn't begin there for the assholes who wrote that. You know 'bitches be crazy and this makes them crazier.' Martin didn't write it that way.. Since in a no. of countries the legal solution for SA is still for the victim to marry the perpetrator.... ACK
Bitch by Lucy Cooke review – a joyous debunking of gender stereotypes in nature Looking forward to getting my hands on this. I might give you some ideas, different perspectives in that you are also trying to write non-human characters.

 

[Pamela Jo]

There was also a number of martial arts for women through history. Bartitsu is described as the 'gentleman's' martial arts. It was however taught to ladies for who always had an umbrella or cane. Bartitsu: The Martial Art of Gentlemen.
Saw this and thought you guys might be interested
Self-defense glove for ladies (London, 1850).

 

[MattScho]

So, in urging us to understand that truth is beauty, and beauty is truth, and that's all ya need ta know, Keats also begins a bit of an ode to the joys of s assault
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?

Indeed, what struggle to escape, o merry month of May. So my initial thought was, it's your truth, never shy away from truth. The poem popped into my head, the last lines, at least, truth is beauty. that prompted me to reread Ode.
I am going to stick with the importance of your truth, but will add that it often isn't beauty. Fantasy and Sci-fi too often gloss over s assault. At times, they can be a bit Keatsian. As noted above, GoT gets a bit niche porn in it's takes.
So, to answer your OQ, why write it: Because you gut seems to be telling you to, and while it has often been written, it has not often been written, or ever written, with your perspective.
It has very often been writ, as Keats might say, with a great deal of whackassery.

 

[csrickard]

Hi Stacey,

Before I give my thoughts, please be aware that I've only been a member here for a few days, so I don't know you or your writing. You need to go with what you feel is best for your character and your book, which means completely ignore my comments if they don't apply.

I get frustrated most times I see SA in novel because it's usually an easy out. The author needs trauma and, since the character is female, obviously it should be rape. That's not to say that SA doesn't belong in books and shouldn't be used. Rather it tends to be the default, easy way to show trauma. Before going with SA as the experience, I like to look at the affects the trauma has had on my character. What things does she do/not do because of it. Are those traits only affects of SA? If you aren't sure, then imagine your character is male and he's showing those same traits. What caused them? Usually not SA. So, whatever caused those traits in him will most likely have the same affect on a woman. And anything that causes trauma like I believe you have in your book should be condemned equally, if not more, than SA in the society (assuming the society is heavily patriarchal and SA isn't seen as such a bad thing compared to other faults). If the society is matriarchal, then SA is probably a significant crime and readily punishable, but that doesn't sound like the case based on your description.

So my suggestion would be to look at incidents that would create the same trauma in a male and see if those incidents could/would work for your female character.

 

[izi 出久]

So, to answer your OQ, why write it: Because you gut seems to be telling you to, and while it has often been written, it has not often been written, or ever written, with your perspective.
It has very often been writ, as Keats might say, with a great deal of whackassery.

Wow, that poem gives me the creeps.

Before going with SA as the experience, I like to look at the affects the trauma has had on my character. What things does she do/not do because of it. Are those traits only affects of SA? If you aren't sure, then imagine your character is male and he's showing those same traits. What caused them?

These are points that led me to post this in the first place. There is a male in my story who grew up in the same situation as Mika. He is similar to Mika, although her trauma in the story is fresher than his. And she has more. Not more SA, but more betrayal. When she finally leaves the place where she works, she goes to the woman who she has been paying for 3+ years to watch her baby sister (who the woman never allows her to see) and discovers her sister died after the first week. That throws her into darkness for quite some time, because everything she did to pay for her sister's care loses all meaning. And she lost the last of her family.1

One society (prisoners) is almost utopian, the other is a rigidly patriarchal class system.

 

[izi 出久]

Since in a no. of countries the legal solution for SA is still for the victim to marry the perpetrator

Yep. China is like that. You can't give birth in a hospital unless the father is there.

 

[Hannah F]

Write 20 possibilities for your scene, one being SA. If you still think SA is the one your story needs, go with it.

 

[izi 出久]

You all are giving me a lot to think about. I have almost reached Mika's backstory. I appreciate your candid thoughts. I need to work on her portion quite a bit.