Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Unwritten Rules

There's been a bit of chatter on the 'net today about certain unwritten rules of writing. One young lady wanted to know what the rules were as she didn't know. Huh? I thought everyone knew that killing animals and children in a story was taboo. Not because it doesn't happen in real life, but because it makes readers uncomfortable. It makes writers uncomfortable, too, but sometimes a story requires that we squirm in our seats. The problem lies in the fact that the harder we squirm the more unlikely the story is to find a good home. So we have to choose between selling our story and telling the truth.

For those who don't know the unwritten rule: It's okay to kill, rape, and maim twenty or thirty women in a novel, but don't hurt the dog or the kids. After all, women are a disposable commodity.

And yes, I'm tired and a bit cranky and will probably regret that last sentence in the morning. But for tonight, that's what I'm thinking.

8 comments:

Katherine Tomlinson said...

The very first week of the very last "real" job I had (a development executive for a WELL-known producer) I was confronted by an avalanche of scripts in which casual sexism and racism was blatant and unapologetic. In many cases, the woman was just in the script to be killed (after having sex with the hero) and in many cases, the only job the writer could think of for the woman was prostitute. (Some day I'll publish the spreadsheet I started keeping on script elements.) I was so disheartened, I almost quit.
I'm not quite as disheartened by crime fiction, perhaps because there are so many kick-ass women writers out there representing. No doubt there could be more. And no doubt there could be more appreciation but I have to believe that there is a tide that's turning, especially with indie publishing giving more women a voice that they were denied by traditional publishers.
Write on my sister...you are not alone.

G. B. Miller said...

Interesting.

Apparently I have the reverse in a good chunk of my stories.

The man becomes a disposable commodity.

Ron Scheer said...

No argument from me. I find it *really* tiresome.

sandra seamans said...

Yes, I do think it's changing, Katherine. But even the women tend to view women as the best victims. It's a mind set that women are weaker which makes them the perfect victim.

Good for you, G. Everyone has the potential to be a victim in some way.

Yes it is, Ron. I always have to laugh at film Westerns where the women are forever fainting, and men feel the need to protect them. Especially when you consider that they walked right beside that wagon on the way West and probably had a kid along the way. :) Western women should be tougher than cow hide.

Thomas Pluck said...

I'm a mama's boy. I'm sure if I scoured, I could find a disposable woman in one of my stories, but I take it out on the men, usually.
Let's not sugar coat it, women are certainly killed and abused in reality- but so are men. And kids. And animals.
I get tired of the cliche as well. It's "When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand," NOT "when in doubt find a bloody woman's corpse under a sheet behind a dumpster..."

sandra seamans said...

"When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand." This is a better approach, Thomas, but I've had to rethink this one also.

When I start to bring in a man to save my heroine, I have to stop and ask myself, "How can this woman save herself?" And if you think about it, you can find a way.

It's not about being saved by a Prince Charming, but being strong enough to save herself. Though having a good man to watch her back doesn't hurt. :)

Fred Zackel said...

For every woman I kill in a story, I make sure in my next story I kill a man. Yes, I strive to be political correct. (Wha?) Joking aside ... In truth, I agonized over that issue for much of the last five, six months, while writing an odd novella. He is a serial killer and she is a fallen angel. Yes, a real fallen angel with her own "theology." He kills her ... and pissed off, she comes back and really kills the crap out of him. At one point I gnawed over making the fallen angel a gay angel, but then the message I was sending wasn't the message I wanted to send. And everyone I asked gave me completely different opinions. So, finally, I said the hell with it. She dies ... and then she kills the crap out of him. Writers just have to bite the bullet and write what drives them.

sandra seamans said...

Everything boils down to what best serves the story you want to tell, Fred. If you write very much fiction there comes a point when, yes, you'll be killing off a woman or two. But the killing of a woman in a story shouldn't be any less painful to read than killing a man, a dog, or a child. Of course we all rejoice when the bad "guy" gets it! :)