I haven’t found much violence in my own writing. I mean, I had a torture scene in my second novel, but that got deleted because of certain plot reasons. But the violence was kept down to a minimum.

I am a very clean writer overall. I don’t like the fountains-of-blood writing. Just stuff like “The sword was embedded in him to the hilt, protruding from his back. He fell with a sigh.”

That’s as far as I go. No gore.

As always, thanks for the great discussions, but I really have to disagree with The Matrix example. The thing that has always stood out to me about this scene is its uniqueness.

The trope of the good guys being remorseful for killing, while necessary, is obviously used a LOT. I found it a nice change of pace that the writers were able to use the story as a way to logically subvert the trope in this scene.

Given that the fanfic is a crossover between Bleach and Fate/Stay Night, it’s bound to have a fair bit of non-sexual violence, as well, partially as a consequence to the aforementioned rape.

I understand – but it’s nice to know that the scene is – er – authentic

Alas, there’s another aspect of the battles in LOTR that Jackson really did muff. But I’m not going to spoil the battles for those who don’t know. Nevertheless, it blows the effect.

I’ve been wondering about authors who have seen war first hand – like J R R Tolkien, C S Lewis, Lloyd Alexander, Robert Jordan and David Drake for instance – and how their treatment of violence/consequence might have been affected by their experiences. How is their writing affected by it? How might their treatment of the subject differ from those who have no such experiences? It was something David Drake wrote (I think in one of his newsletters, but I might misremember) that started me thinking about it. Are there apparent differences – may there be something lacking when the author has no own knowledge of violence? And if so – how may it appear?

I’ve read descriptions that seem – awkward. As if the author was describing – too much. (This is more a feeling than a conviction arrived at by reasoning, by the way.) And I don’t mean it was graphic. (Although I don’t mind confessing I’m squeemish.) Rather it lacked – flow. It was clunky.

And I don’t mean the lack of – technical knowledge either. Although one of my favourite anecdotes from the extended LOTR-dvds was from the Saruman death-scene. Peter Jackson was describing how he saw the scene to Christopher Lee, who interrupted him to ask if he actually knew how it sounded when you stabbed someone in the back. Peter Jackson said that he did not. “I do” said Christopher Lee, and it wasn’t like that… (Some WWII experience, I understand – but it’s nice to know that the scene is – er – authentic…)