Hi all. Been working on a horror (for lack of a better "genre") story. In the story I'm laying some background info on one of the main characters, a miner in the 1860's. While on one of his infrequent visits to town, he makes a visit to the saloon and pays for some time with his favorite girl. The background I'm trying to lay is his cruelty, selfishness and coldness while in the private room with her. I wrote the scene and quite honestly it left me quite frazzled and I've had a hard time trying to edit that portion without getting a queasy feeling in my stomach. My question is this, when writing a violent scene, what is the best way to remove any personal feelings and keep everything subjective as you write?
They say you can get used to a hangman's noose if you do it long enough. You've made it through the first draft. Take a break before editing it, and let the emotions subside. Chances are, you'll have more than one editing pass through your manuscript anyway, but each pass will be a bit easier. Also, allow yourself a treat after each difficult session.
Thanks. I usually try to do a little editing before I move on in the story. This part of the background will have to wait on editing, perhaps much later.
I am not necessarily sure you want to be "subjective." I mean, you don't want to let personal feelings keep you from doing what's required of the story, but at the same time, I can't help but feel that if you aren't emotionally invested in the story, you cannot expect your readers to be. I think the queasy feeling could be a good thing. I've had similar experiences in some of my stories. I think distance can help if you are TOO close that it's hindering you writing it. But I also think it's good to be affected by what you write as well. So yes, get some distance for a bit and have another go at it. It might take a few tries to complete it. But I don't think personal feelings about a story are something you wanna squash completely.
