I want to write an assassin story without any gory details. No description of how he goes about killing his victims. It would have all the details of him planning everything out and hopefully tension as he moves in for the kill but nothing that would describe any gory details. Now what I want to know is: Does that sound interesting? Would you want to read something like that? Has this been done before? If so, what books? I would like to read something like this myself. Thanks
I, for one, don't enjoy reading gory details, except maybe when Piggy's brains splattered out on the rock. That gore was a critical point in the book. It had a purpose. If there is no specific purpose to the gore, I see no reason it is required.
I find gore lazy. I hate the way the horror genre (I know this isn't it) relies upon gore and jump scares rather than building tension these days. I would welcome an absence of gory details.
I think you can pull this off. Gory details are like porn. You can accomplish just as much by setting up the reader's imagination. And if you cant't pull it off, its still worth a try.
To what extent to do you want to avoid the gore? Are you intending on simply implying the kills? Or do you mean you simply don't want to go into graphic details about how much blood there is, what sounds his victims make when cuts their throats etc. If it's the second option, then I can understand that. While not being the least bit squeamish, I still see the reason why wasting an entire paragraph describing how a person's entrails plopped onto the floor can be undesirable. But if you're wanting to avoid even basic descriptions of the violence, then I have to wonder why you would be writing a story about an assassin. Surely the violence inherent in the job and the character would be a theme to explore, rather than sanitise.
I tend to like to go against the grain. It just came to me tonight. I like the excitement and tension of the sneaking around. Staying quiet... cat and mouse. That's it! Personally I don't like the gore but I like the thrilling cat and mouse action. Then I thought hey, I wonder if I could try this. Like a thriller without the gory bits I always skip anyway. I haven't got it figured out but maybe this guy likes to keep score some way. I'm not sure how I'd write the actual kills but this is interesting enough to try. I might write it in scenarios. I could test out the assassin on one 'job' and see how he does.
But still, how much gore is too much? Because what is and isn't considered "gory details" varies from person to person. Would something as simple as "He plunged the dagger into the man's throat" or "The bullet pierced him right between the eyes, killing him instantly" be too much for this story? Also, what is the story primarily about, and what role do the assassinations play in it? Is it primarily a story about assassinations? Are the assassinations simply a job, and most of the plot involves the events outside of them? Before you decide if it's appropriate, you need to ask yourself what the major themes are, what kind of tone your setting, and how this plays into the over all story and characters.
It's like monster movies where the monster is scarier when you never get to see it. I like the idea of showing the prep and the aftermath, sans the middle. I would even leave it unknown if the assassination was successful, revealing it just a tad after the fact.
I think it's an intriguing idea, and I'm in agreement with @GingerCoffee —sometimes a story is more effective if more is left to the imagination. By this, I'm not condoning 'coy' writing, such as 'always shut the door on sex scenes.' The trick is to force the reader TO imagine a scene, not to avoid imagining it (as in the aforementioned sex scene.) But by all means, a scary story is scarier when the bad stuff is left to the imagination. I didn't see the movie, but I understand that's how The Blair Witch Project was presented. However, like any other kind of story, you won't know if it works well until you write it and get others to read it. So have a go. If it doesn't work, you can always go back and add scenes during the edit.
So like a heavy romance novel but without the sex details? You know how many scenes just end like, "and the door closed while they made out"? A lot. You don't have to have the details but you do have to reference it. Write what you know, you know? If you don't know how to write the gory details then just leave that part to the reader and they can interpret it the way they want; you do have to give them some platform though to start. I don't really know what you're asking but if it's assurance that yeah this could work, then yeah why not?
Have you read Day of the Jackal by Fredrick Forsyth? There is very little violence in it at all, most of the novel being taken up by the assassin's preparations and planning. It was made into an Oscar nominated film.
No gory details is fine. Because it'll be about the character. George Clooney's THE AMERICAN comes to mind
