1. TheSerpantofNar

    TheSerpantofNar Active Member

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    Consequences of violence

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by TheSerpantofNar, Oct 17, 2012.

    How to make violence have realistic consequences? opinions?
     
  2. Mr Mr

    Mr Mr Active Member

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    Did you leave out the question? This is just a statement.
     
  3. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Research.
     
  4. maidahl

    maidahl Banned

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    Thoroughly.


    Make it an iMovie. Lighting can be altered. There are other cool effects.

    Then post it. Here first. I'll catch it before they delete it.


    Research movies? Interview methods? Stories? Personal experience? Imagination can build from what you know you can feel.

    Endure the violence. Trust me. The effort will pay off if you are good at writing about stuff and making the story sound cooler than it is. And hopefully people turn your violent sobstory into a major motion picture? Yeah?

    Consistent storyline= cause and effect, and if anything is detrimental to your health, research mental health a lot!!!!
     
  5. Still Life

    Still Life Active Member

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    Depends on what kind of "violence" we're talking about here. We don't have much to go on at this point.
     
  6. Thromnambular

    Thromnambular New Member

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    Legally, consequences for an act of violence will vary depending on what the act was and the circumstances surrounding it.

    For example, as far as the law is concerned, you are more responsible for something you do in a cold, calculated manner than for something you do spontaneously in a fit of rage.

    Something you do while you are insane (and supposedly have little control over your actions) can be seen as something that you didn't choose to do.

    I hope it should go without saying (though I guess I'll say it anyway) that slapping someone will lead to very different consequences than killing someone would.

    Personal consequences are way too complicated to just explain.
     
  7. TheSerpantofNar

    TheSerpantofNar Active Member

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    Good points i'll take that into account.
     
  8. James Berkley

    James Berkley Banned

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    what exactly are you asking
    are we talking physicly?
    their is a lot of research and literature on affects of on a body. gunshots in particular their is a lot of evidence tossed around in the never ending debate on what is the best thing to deliver to a target.
    Legally?
    lots of laws and legal opinions. looking up some case law and statutes on the book will help. remember laws very by state ie Castle laws, duty to retreat or stand your ground laws all come into play hear.
    Psychological?
    their is some research on that. might want to look at stuff dealing with returning soldiers, and stuff on or by survivors of defensive shootings. remember this can very by person a lot. some people kill someone and never have and issue with it. others struggle with it the rest of their lives. i hope to never find out where i fall in the spectrum.

    non lethal low traumatic levels of violence ( in my experience) will leave someone shaken up and a little extra paranoid for a few hours or days.
     
  9. TheSerpantofNar

    TheSerpantofNar Active Member

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    Man this became a whole lot more complicated then I wanted lol
     
  10. captain kate

    captain kate Senior Member

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    If you're talking physical injuries, then the best thing is to bone up on some, and it doesn't have to be anything more then rudimentary, aka here's the heart, lungs, ribs, etc, the main parts of the human body. Each location has different times of death, or consequences. Shoot someone in the heart, they'll die quickly, but they'll be a short period where the still feel the pain before dying because the brain doesn't immediately shut down. Shoot them in the head, depending on caliber and location, it can kill some automatically or make them a vegetable, or cripple them like Gabby Giffords. A 9mm, hitting just right, will pass right through the skull and back out without killing a person. More then likely, it's a fatal shot. Something small like a .22 has enough power to penetrate a human skull but not come back out, so it'll rattle around into the skull. A person shot at the base of the skull with a .38, fairly close to the skin, can end up with the bullet up in the right or left cheek...

    So you can see there's plenty of different results, depending on injuries. A gut shot will kill a person, not just from blood loss, but from the bacteria released into the body cavity from the small and large intestines and the fecal matter within. So, those are different.

    If you're talking about emotional issues, then a lot of people will be in shock if they have to kill someone. It's an experience that one can try to prepare themselves for all they want, but it'll still be worse then they can imagine. That person will probably see the other person's face for the rest of their life. Not trying to stir anything up or anything, but if a officer has to discharge his/her service weapon and kill someone, they're sent to the company psychologist or psychiatrist, because of that reaction.

    It's a similar reaction that locomotive engineers have when they strike a car and kill the occupant when they try to run the gates. If you want to get a good gut reaction to how something like this works, go to youtube and type in "amtrak kills five in michigan" and look around for the cab video (from the engine's onboard camera), it's there, and see how, not accusing anyone guys, you'd react when a car suddenly races in front of you with no chance to react.

    So, there's plenty of effects of violence on the human body, Lord, I've seen too many to be honest (I think I'd rather just work on cars at this point), and the emotional effects from violent events. Witnessed a train vs car 3-4 yrs ago in person when a drunk tried to make a road crossing where they wasn't, and got his parents brand new Toyota Tundra stuck on the tracks. Suffice to say, they were out a truck.

    Research, use google and youtube as sources too.
     
  11. Fivvle

    Fivvle Member

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    Haha, well you did ask an incredibly open question about an incredibly complicated matter.


    Edit: what the hell... I guess I forgot to quote Serpentofnar on his last post. Hahaha
     
  12. TheSerpantofNar

    TheSerpantofNar Active Member

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    So do I need all this when writing a brutally violent dark fantasy/horror short series??
     
  13. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    You asked a very vague question. How much you need from the responses given depends on exactly what your real question is.
     
  14. TheSerpantofNar

    TheSerpantofNar Active Member

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    Ok how do I make the violence have impact and consequences I mean on other people not involved it. Sad familys ect.
     
  15. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Well, that's like asking how to write the story. It all depends on how the characters would care or react about the situation. What were their emotional connections. Did they love or hate the person. Are they feeling loss, or are they glad. Did the violence cause them to feel fear of their community. Do they feel hatred and the need to take revenge?

    It also depends on the violence. Was the violence a revenge attack? A random robbery? An enforcer looking for payment? A car accident? Domestic abuse? Sexual abuse? War?

    Who was the victim? Who was the attacker? The effect could be as much about the people who know the victim as much as the person that caused the violence. Perhaps they were never known to be violent and the family treats them differently. Perhaps they were both responsible. What is the cause of the violence. Is the victim even innocent?

    Endless questions means endless means of dealing with it.

    The answers to these questions and more will help form the guidelines on how to show the impact of the violence within the context of the story being told.
     
  16. Thumpalumpacus

    Thumpalumpacus Alive in the Superunknown

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    The ripple effects of a death in the family rely upon the relationships within the family. As a writer, you should have a good idea about how each character would feel about a given event in their world. If you don't, you might need to get a better grip on your characters.

    The character's response will depend on how close they are to the decedent, whether their closeness was of a positive or negative nature, the surviving character's state of mind (are they capable of normal emotions? drunk? sociopathic? behind the murder plot and happy it succeeded?), and numerous other factors. The history between the relevant characters matters, too.

    In short, get to know your characters. They'll tell you how they feel about a course of events.
     
  17. TheSerpantofNar

    TheSerpantofNar Active Member

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    Thanks for the advice :) I'll take it I think I know what do now :)
     
  18. Snyder80

    Snyder80 Member

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    I think that it's always interesting to focus on the impact of violence on the people who surround a victim. Whether it be the investigating detective, the spouse or the mail lady. Someone dying of old age is a world apart from someone being murdered. The emotional impact it has on people, sometimes even people who didn't know the person at all, can be quite profound.

    Research domestic violence cases in small rural communities. It's like an earthquake with no physical presence.
     
  19. Selbbin

    Selbbin The Moderating Cat Staff Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    For a twist though, imagine the impact on the people who surround the attacker. That's rarely been done and would be a fascinating angle to explore.
     
  20. Flashfire07

    Flashfire07 Active Member

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    If I were you I'd research grief and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Read up on how people handle violence as well. You really do need to state the factors mind you, a gunfight will have very different effects on the psyche of the victims families than a rabid stabbing or an accidental hit and run with a vehicle. Also the nature of the attack and the relationship with the victim and attacker will also play a role. The family of a policeman stabbed by his ex-wife will have a very different set of reactions to the family of a drug addict killed in a deal gone wrong. Given that you're writing a dark fantasy/horror story it's likely the death will be messy and brutal, agian this will prompt different reactions than a clean and peaceful death.
     
  21. Fife

    Fife New Member

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    You don't need realistic consequences unless the consequence of the fight is consequential to the story. For example, if two friends are fighting over a girl, how they get hurt (assumably) has no consequence to the story unless the story is about the injury or medical condition that comes from the fight--usually, that's not the case.

    I'm a big fan of the TV Program - The Walking Dead. I had a discussion with a friend once about how difficult it would be to pierce a zombie in the skull, decapitate a zombie, or dismember limbs like arms/legs--TV always makes it seem easy. And that's the thing: most people don't really care how microscopically real it is, as long as the story carries on in a reasonable manner. In my personal opinion, there are only 4 ways to get physically injured (from violence) in a fictional story: [1] minor bruises and scratches, [2] mortally wounded, [3] incapacitated, or [4] dead. And if the story isn't about the injury, then the injury is really only a temporary (or perhaps permanent) attribute of the character in the context of the bigger issue in the story.
     

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