The Trials Of A Crime Writer: Learning Your Limits

THE TRIALS OF A CRIME WRITER: LEARNING YOUR LIMITS

I've always been someone who knows my own limits. It's helped me write stories, it's helped me keep up with publishing, and it's helped me work out new ideas, and make them work for me. In all the time I've been writing, I've never once tried to push myself past those limits when it comes to stories, plot, or the grisly details of a crime.

I wanted to talk today about learning those limits, because I feel like as someone who reads, and writes, crime a lot, it's good to know where you draw the line. For some writers and readers, they want to know everything. They want details of the blood, the gore, and everything in between. I know that as a reader I can read most things, but when it comes to do much violence, especially when it feels unnecessary, I will be pulled out of the story and not find myself enjoying it.

When I first started writing, I didn't like writing fight scenes. I didn't really know much about fighting, being in a wheelchair and not the most athletic person, and I didn't have a pool of knowledge to pull from. So I mostly shied away from them. It was only later when I started branching out into dystopian and urban fantasy that I realised there would be a need for a lot more action and detail. I even did that in some of my later crime novels, where I had to really find a way to work in the action and have it flow nicely.

It was something I learned with a lot of reading, and a lot of input from editors. Some of mine weren't okay with too much violence, others preferred that graphic scenes were toned down, and each and every time, they usually had a point. I truly feel that some scenes hit harder, and impact the story, and reader, more, when they're not too drawn out and detailed. Others need to be pushed to the limit, mine or the readers, to draw out the feelings and impact you want.

But how do you know which is which? How do you work out where that limit is? I'm gonna give you some of my tips that I've learned over the years.

#1 VIOLENCE FOR THE SAKE OF IT USUALLY ISN'T NEEDED
I found this working with my editor on one of the Dying Thoughts books. She felt like there was too much detail in certain scenes and that because of the subject matter, they would turn readers off, and also draw attention away from the impact. If you're feeling like you need to go into extreme details about wounds, about scenes of assault, then ask yourself is that detail needed, or are you just trying to shock your reader. If it's the former okay, but if it's the latter, you will probably end up upsetting people and losing readers in the process.

#2 SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE
Have you ever read a scene in a crime novel and realised that the terror and uncertainty is impacted more because you're given such little detail? I have, and I've found it works well for certain scenes. If you don't give the reader every single detail, their imagination can probably fill in the blanks, and might end up with something that pulls them into the story even more so.

#3 EMOTIONAL IMPACT CAN BE BETTER THAN PHYSICAL
I've written some scenes that just work better with the focus on the emotional impact of the character. Whether that be not including details of the wounds, or the fight, but rather the pain, the terror, the fear, the loss. All of that can drive your reader to relating to the character and feeling those wounds emotionally themselves. It can be so much more impactful and works really well to draw the reader in.

So there we go, finding out what works for you limit wise is a good thing, but also it can be the difference in a reader's experience with your work.

Any questions? Lemme know in the comments! 

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