Vengeance (Pt. 6)

Vengeance (Pt. 6)

The mountain peaks passed below them like a sea of white-tipped waves, the wind roaring in Renee’s ears. Vengeance had not spoken since they had retrieved Octavius’ fury. She had swum to the surface of the sea, and rather than then heading towards land, had continued her upward trajectory, carrying them into the night sky. Once she had pierced the clouds, she had changed course, sailing over them in the bright moonlight.

Suddenly, Vengeance’s voice entered Renee’s mind.

See that away to our right?

She moved Renee’s hand, pointing at a mountain with split peaks.

“I do,” said Renee.

That is Drake’Shar. They say that is where the Elven Empire fell, and where the gods gave rise to their greatest servants.

“Is it true?”

Does it matter? Stories have more power than you would believe. Even should those things have not happened truly, it is that people believe the stories that makes them real. They also say that it is on Drake’Shar that the walls between the worlds of the living and the dead are weakest.

“Is that also just a story?”

Vengeance was silent for quite a while. Renee gazed down through the clouds, watching the mountains shrink into foothills, then into plains that stretched out like a great green and brown blanket across the world. Finally, Vengeance spoke again.

How do you think I came into the world?

Renee felt a chill. It made sense that Vengeance had crossed to here from somewhere else. She had heard plenty of stories of demons and spirits as a child, and they had always been said to have come from some other world. Perhaps Vengeance was like them. Perhaps she was a…

I am no demon. Demons are foul creatures that take hold of your soul, corrupting it and turning you in to something as vile as them. I have not changed you, nor touched your soul. Your soul called out to me, touched me, and brought me to you in my hour of need.

Renee hissed, “But I do not want you here.”

Your soul called to me, and your heart sealed the bargain. I gave you your greatest desire, and now I may use you as a vessel to attain what I desire most.

“Which is?”

Drake’Shar was vanishing over the horizon, shrinking away into the faint glow of the rising sun. With that light, Renee was able to get her bearings, and realised that they were travelling north, making the mountains below the Shadowspines, and the gap in them Manoran’s Pass.

Renee could feel that Vengeance would not answer her question, so she changed tack.

“Where are we going?”

To one of the oldest places in the world. A place of magic, of jealousy, and of treachery.

“I do not know of this place.”

You wouldn’t, small-minded creature that you are. You were content in your little world by the sea, trapped in the monotony of life. You might have wondered about distant horizons as a child, but soon you suffocated that dream by living as others wished you to. You were told that girls grew into wives and mothers, not women, and you believed what you were told. I gave you your heart’s desire, but now you realise that what you desired was a cage, a promise of monotony, labour, and pain.

Renee’s stomach twisted. Something in Vengeance’s words rang true at a deep level. A forgotten memory stirred; dreams of travelling, of seeing all the wonders of the world.

I am right, and you cannot deny can you, child? You know that you once dreamed, and that you let that dream die. It is why you fell in love with a sailor, a man who was away, travelling the world as often as he was home. Your dream could at least have a ghost through him, while you sat in your tiny room, thinking of him; where he was, what he was doing, what he was seeing.

Renee’s heart sank as a new realisation dawned. Vengeance seemed to sense that, and latched on to it.

You do not love him, Renee. You love what he represents: a dream you have lost, and a life you cannot have. His life is what you love, not him. Tell me, what about him do you love?

“He is kind.”

You can find a kind man anywhere.

“He is gentle.”

Hardly a rarity.

“He loves me.”

Many men would love a woman like you, or at the least profess to. You are gifted with everything a man will desire.

“Doran loves me for more than that. If you think so little of love, then clearly you have never felt it.”

Oh, but I have child, I know how love feels, and how it burns and crushes you. I know how all love ends.

For a moment Renee was taken aback, and she almost felt sympathetic towards Vengeance. Then she hissed, “So the love you felt wasn’t true, wasn’t pure, and so you hate all love because you did not have the truest love.”

You know nothing of me.

“You have said enough for me to know that you are jaded, and have been jilted before. Is that why you now are fuelled only by hate, and rage?”

Vengeance was silent. Renee’s mind drifted, thinking about all that Vengeance had said. Her stomach churned, and she felt lost. Part of her felt that Vengeance spoke true, but much of her still longed to be in Doran’s arms again, to hear his deep voice again, even to see him sail into port again.

Something sparkled on the horizon, like a star resting upon the world. As they approached it resolved itself into a cluster of shining lights, reflected by the dark waters around them.

“What is that?” asked Renee.

Illeth Moran.

Violence in the Narrative

Fiction, and particularly fantasy, is host to plenty of violence within its narrative. While working on my most recent project (coming soon), I wrote a scene that I found rather confronting. I regularly write violent scenes, so I am not a sensitive soul when it comes to that sort of thing, but this particular scene was actually a tad nauseating. This inspired me to think a little bit more deeply about how we, as writers, treat violence in our works. This is not going to be a 'this is right and that is wrong' discussion, but just a case of identifying some of the different forms that violence takes in writing, and why I think that certain types have the effects that they do. In short, today I will discuss various depictions of violence, and how they can impact upon the audience.

Combat

In my opinion the most common depiction of violence within fantasy novel is combat. Whether it involves fists, swords, guns, or improvised weapons, combat scenes are extremely prevalent. To be crystal clear, when I refer to 'combat' I am specifically talking about any scene involving two or more characters who are knowingly engaged in performing violent acts upon one another. In my experience, it is rare for the sorts of scene to be overly confronting or distressing in and of themselves. I have a number of thoughts on why this might be.

Fair: Combat has an air of fairness. Two armed combatants facing off against each other will almost inevitably lead to injury, and as such the reader anticipates the conclusion. Whether they are correct in their assumptions is irrelevant to a degree: They knew there would be bodily harm, and have (consciously or subconsciously) prepared themselves for that. 

Familiar: As I stated above, combat is frequent within fictional narratives, whether the narrative be written, acted on screen, or encountered in some form of interactive media. As such, the audience is likely to be both familiar with these types of scenes, and somewhat desensitized to them.

Entertaining: Well written/scripted/acted combat can be very entertaining. As such, the reader can be caught up with excitement, going along for the ride. Many combat scenes follow a predictable arc, and therefore bring the reader down with their conclusion. When engaged in this way, the reader flows with the narrative, and enjoys the highs and lows.

Not always graphic: While some narratives are famed for their gory and brutal combat scenes, I would argue that a larger number are almost sanitary in their nature. This 'clean' combat means there is little in way of horror for the reader, and so combat is not too confronting to read.

I will note here that combat can be loaded with graphic violence, but I will discuss that later.
As a whole, combat is fairly 'safe' for the reader, with low likelihood of shocks or disgust.

Beatings, Abuse, DV, Executions, and Self-harm

These sorts of scenes are confronting for a very, very obvious reason. These scenes are depicted in a variety of ways, for a variety of reasons. One author may make them very graphic in order to appal their audience, while another may leave many things tacit in a hope to allow the emotional degrees of the acts to sink in.

This form of violence is one that should always be treated with an immense level of sensitivity. For a broad swathe of reasons all the topics in this category can be extremely harmful emotionally to a reader, and as such should be treated carefully. I will not go into to much detail here, as I would hope that as educated individuals, my readers would be able to join the dots for themselves. I will, however, voice my opinions on these sorts of depictions. An author who uses these types of violence in their work purely as an emotional sledgehammer, with little attention to the sensitivity of the subject, should re-evaluate their approach to writing. There are far better ways to achieve emotional impact than flagrantly playing the rape card. I personally feel that when writing scenes that include this sort of violence, there should be a clear undertone that marks this form of violence out as horrific,  and would also encourage there to be an indication from the characters involved that they understand the level of horror that is going on. I would strongly discourage any writer who hides behind the excuse of 'it happens in real life' without offering solutions to these acts within their narrative, from doing so.
I am not saying that this sort of violence should be outright banned from narratives, I simply believe that it should be treated with a great deal of sensitivity.

It was, in fact, a scene of this nature that inspired this discussion. I was writing an execution scene (a hanging) witnessed by a child and her guardian. While it was not particularly graphic, both myself and my proofreader found the scene extremely confronting on an emotional level. Perhaps it was as confronting as it was due to the silences in the text. Never underestimate the power of suggestion. 

Graphic Violence

Some of you may cringe at that heading, and I apologise. Detailed violence has been something of a discussion point in recent years, particularly when it comes to visual mediums, and evenly more specifically when it come to video games. I have no problem with graphic violence, as an adult I can (usually) deal with it. There are some exceptions - teeth, I just cannot deal with someone's teeth being smashed out - but as a whole, the graphic depiction of violence doesn't faze me overly. 

I am sure that most of you think immediately of Game of Thrones when you read the term 'Graphic Violence', and that is fair enough. Off the top of my head I cannot think of anything more graphic in nature. Graphic violence is certainly not exclusive to that series, but Game of Thrones is (in)famous for its graphic depictions of all forms of violence.

Graphic violence requires itself to be depicted in great detail. Hearts flying one way, eyeballs the other, and viscera spilling onto the ground kind of thing. When used cleverly, graphic violence can be extremely powerful - even to the point of making the reader/viewer feel ill. When done less well, it can be detrimental to the narrative, annoying the reader, or even making a serious scene come off as 'cheesy'. Plenty of 'B' films are testaments to that. Books are protected from the dangers of low budgets, but can still suffer from this. I am sure a number of you can think of times you have read a graphic scene and skimmed over it because it was dull, or failed to hold the suspension of disbelief.

The Drama of Violence

While planning this little discussion, I started doodling with a little phrase, as is my wont. I have already covered in the above sections the drama of violence, but I will wrap up the discussion with this.

"Even in war, one should have a sense of dramr. That is why it is called the Theatre of War."

For another week, that is all. I have a rather exciting little piece in the works, and the first full draft of my next book is done, and is being edited.

Salve,

N N B Clarke

Language in Literature (Part 2 of 2)

The use of language in writing goes beyond the words we use, further than what language(s) we employ. The words we put into the mouths of our characters are just as vital to the narrative as the words words we use to describe the pot plant on the window sill.
Amongst the myriad things that will be discussed today are the use of slang, the alteration of speech, and the use of catch-words and -phrases.
Hold onto your horses, trim your (metaphorical) sails, and brace for impact.

What is in a word?

Letter, undoubtedly letters.

You may have heard the turn of phrase, 'a picture is worth a thousand words.' I would make the case here that the careful choice of a word or key phrase is at least worth a few hundred.

Take a moment to think about it. A character might use a certain, uncommon word (e.g. voluptuous instead of shapely) which informs the reader about the character in a clever way. Here is a character who has a specific way of perceiving and and describing appearances. It encourages the reader to think a little more deeply about just who this character is, and why the see the world the way they do. Further, this single use of a word can, when employed skilfully, depict the character more succinctly that an entire page of dry descriptions.

Perhaps a character greets people with 'wotcher' rather than the conventional 'hello.' What does that tell the reader about the character? Does a particular image come to mind of the type of character who might use such word?

For an example that is close to my heart, if someone came up to you in the street, and greeted you with "G'day", what would you immediately assume about them?

The important point here is that how someone speaks is intimately bound to who, and what, they are. Someone who takes part in academic discussion on a regular basis might seem to speak in a normal manner in the opinion of their peers. Ask a builder though, and he might suggest that the individual in question is 'pretentious.' Or, more to the point, he wouldn't. Instead, he might use the phrase "stuck up little ****."

Vocabulary

Thus we plough on into the diverse and wondrous world of vocabulary. That is "what words we know, or don't." A fun little activity before we plunge on into the abyss is always a good idea. Go to www.dictionary.reference.com and punch in some words that you use on a regular basis whether verbally, or in your written work. The website has a wonderful little slider that will tell you how commonly known and used each word is. You might surprise yourself.

The point is that for a writer vocabulary is terrifically important. Unless all your characters are scholars, I would suggest that they should not all speak and write at your level. If you a writing (for example) a dialogue between a prince and a night soil remover, should they speak on the same 'level'? While it is possible to create a scenario that allows them to have matching vocabularies, it is much more likely that they would be talking on different levels.

For every character, the writer should consider their background, education, and environment. The character's voice is one of the most important parts of shaping who they are, and their vocabulary (or lack thereof) should reflect that. A former drill sergeant would certainly use different words to express himself than would an economist, even if they were talking about the same thing.

Let us have a play with the idea. Here is a very plain sentence:

"The police officer walked down the street."

A pickpocketing street urchin might rephrase that as:

"The pig waltzed down the track as though he owned the joint."

Whereas a magistrate might tackle it as follows:

"The senior constable proceeded at a pace along the avenue, carrying out his duties as a law keeper."

In both cases the reader both receives further information about the police officer, and come to understand the speaker better, while still receiving the original message that "the police officer walked down the street."

While the original sentence is perfectly functional, delivering the information in a clear manner, the other versions make for a more interesting, and informative, read.

Slang

Another neat little segue. Slang is an excellent way to define a character's speech. However, for it to do so, it needs to both feel natural, and be understood. If it is complete gibberish (even well written gibberish), it will achieve little in regards to deepening a character. The writer doesn't need to provide a dictionary definition of the slang, or a discourse on the nuances of its use, but the slang should make sense to the reader.

At the same time, slang needs to preserve its sense of mystery. Slang is often restricted in its use. To go back to the Prince and night soil collector, it is quite possible that due to his class, occupation, and social circles, that the night soilman uses slang that the Prince doesn't use or comprehend. In this situation the slang serves not only to flesh out the characters, but to reaffirm the social structure (particular in relation to class divide), in which the Prince is superior. However, because of this class superiority, the Prince is excluded from certain parts of society, not just by rank, but by language. Here, despite their speaking the same language, these two characters are impeded by a language barrier.

The power of language, particularly of slang, should never be underestimated. It can often make the characters, or the entire narrative, seem disingenuous if characters are using language that cannot be logically ascribed to them by the reader. To call up from the distant past my discussion about Credibility, you can extrapolate the importance of appropriate use of language.

In Summary

As I have (hopefully) illuminated here, the words and language used by characters within the narrative plays a huge role in how the reader interprets them. They are shaped by their words, not just their actions, and as such their language should accurately, and consistently reflect who they are.

As always, it feels as though I have barely scratched the surface of the week's topic, but I sincerely hope that it has been of help. I also hope that it has encouraged you to think a little more deeply about how we, as writers, use speech to shape out characters and our narratives.

Until next week!

NNBC