Nathan Bransford - The Forums

Hi Nathan...

Or whoever else feels the need to reply. :)

I'm wondering if I could get your views on something: violence. But not just any violence. I'm working on an adult piece (my first outside the YA genre) and it's going very well. Or, it was up until yesterday.

I've reached a scene that's going to be very questionable no matter what I do. My character has a little son, about five years old, and the little boy is going to die. (Brutal murder.)

Miniature background on the novel:

-It's dystopian fantasy.
-The world is full of violent acts (wife dead, girlfriend tortured, etc) but they're all directed at adults.
-It's pretty much like the dark ages, with swords and such.

So, what I originally wanted to do was have my MC and narrator watch the murder of his son. Either way, he's going to see the result, but, as an agent (or former agent???), is this type of graphic violence towards young children something you would turn down on principle? It's crucial to the story, it does have a purpose, and there's no way around it if I want my character to end up where I need him. I can tone down the actual act, though, if necessary. What are your thoughts?

There are quite a number of fantasy books that show violence towards children, so I'd say it won't be a dealbreaker.

My basic feeling is that it's about the execution and not the subject matter. It sounds pretty extreme, but there's a way to handle everything.