I am not sure if this will be a silly question, but a story I will be writing soon has a very abusive theme, which I obviously want to approach with some sensitivity, so I was wondering if anyone else has written physical, mental or sexual abuse in to their stories and how they went about it as I do not want to come across as insensitive :)
When I wrote an abusive scene into my latest story (a middle-ages-style torture scene), I found that researching it well beforehand helped tremendously. Gaining an understanding of what the devices did, how they worked, how they were used, etc, really helped to make the scene more realistic and easier to write without losing its punch. In my case, I was also able to read around the subject in history books to obtain the accounts of those who witnessed such acts, which also helped to write the scene.
I also used another technique that I usually only reserve for sex scenes in my stories, which is to write them out in their full, gory, no-holds-barred forms and then tone them down to a level that you and your readers will be more comfortable with afterwards. It's amazing what a good edit on this type of scene will produce.
Finally, I always find that if I am affected by a scene (scared, repulsed, really-don't-want-to-write-that-action), it has probably hit the mark quite accurately.
Do you think I would get that Online maybe? I will check ASAP :) TY Jane
There is an article in the US Poets & Writers magazine from May-June 2011 "The
Art of Writing Violence' if your library carries that mag.