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I've recieved an interesting crit, something I did not know, which further exposes my ignorance.
I'll quote: --------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a pretty good story – it was well told and had a lot of interesting elements to it. Science Fiction is not my usual cup of tea (usually horror or fantasy) but I enjoyed it.
...many magazines/collections/etc will not take any work that deals in any way with child abuse. I am not sure why – probably because it has been written about so much and is a very easy way to establish who is the hero/villain in a work. Now, if you don’t care about being published and are writing for the shear fun and art of it no problem. Just be aware that it will be harder to market. ---------------------------------------------------------------------
This is in reference to a soft SF story. We meet the viewpoint character as a bum in an alley, and then due to some speculative circumstances, the character travels back in time in order to kill his own father.
First, the character pops in before his wife left him, at the exact moment his former self throws a shoe at his son. Thus his abusive past is revealed.
Then further on, he arrives at his destination, age 9, where we meet his father, who proceeds to slam him against the wall, thrash him with a belt, and gives him a parting kick, all over some minor trivality.
That night, when he gets to his father's bedside with a hefty knife, he finds a reason not to do it, and an alternative to deal with it.
Then again, a few weeks ago I was reading Maps In the Mirror, and the very first short story dealt with a father taking advantage of his teenage daughter. I would think that a bit more taboo...
posted
I've read a lot of guidelines which actually specify something along the lines of "no child abuse stories."
Posts: 1750 | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
One of the things that publishers have to consider is whether the topic of the story will actually sell or not. Child abuse is an icky topic. While stories about crazed mercenaries stealing atomic weapons and threatening to blow up the universe are exciting to many people, stories of children being beaten and molested create an entirely different reaction within the reader. Most people wouldn't want to read about it. I know I wouldn't.
As an addendum, the topic of molesting children would go a step further, and even if you justify it with an interesting story, it becomes child pornography. Now THAT is a topic that could possibly bring you to the attention of the FBI. I wouldn't touch that topic with a ten-foot pole.
Something I might add: I've heard that editors really don't want stories that look like self-therapy. A lot of people use writing to help them work out their issues. I suspect you would have more success if you infer the child abuse as a background cause, rather than include details about it.
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited August 16, 2005).]
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I can see where the publishers are coming from. It isn't even so much that child abuse is cliche as that it's easy. It's almost a cheap way to get an emotional reaction.
Of course, I've done it. I'd be surprised if just about every author hasn't done it at one point or another.
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I used it a little bit in my first novel, however, my POV character is a neanderthal in modern times. The scene, briefly, is with the boy neanderthal in a dark alley with a drunk who has the boy digging for aluminum cans in dumpsters. At one point, the boy decides to make a break for it but trips over a speed bump in the darkness. The bum starts cursing and kicking the boy. When the bum leans over to pick the boy up, a bottle of whiskey falls from his pocket. The boy grabs it and backhands the bum across the face, breaking the bottle and cutting the bum up. So, he took care of himself, but a five year old neanderthal would probably have the strength of a fifteen year old human. (He gets to really kick some butt when he gets older).
Posts: 2 | Registered: Aug 2010
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Obviously, insest and sexual abuse are topics to steer clear of. And I have no inclination to attempt to write about them.
But then, for instance, Orson Scott Card's "Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory" was first published in 1979. The precipitating cause of the viewpoint character's being harassed by the babylike monters with tentacles was what he did to his daughter. Truly a creepy story.
And then I read another story in Maps In a Mirror, where the character goes back in time, kind of leaping in his own body at age 20, and takes advantage of a minor he had a fancy for. But it turned out the woman had gone back in time and done the same thing, so while her body was a minor, her mind was that of an old woman. Still, I was rather shocked by it.
Again, my story is not like that. And the excuse can't be, he can do it because he is OSC. At that time, OSC was not OSC. Well, he was, but you know what I mean...
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It isn't a problem of being too edgy, it's because most readers have already seen it too many times. Just as your critiquer said.
This is probably a temporary problem. There was a real glut of child abuse stories in every field of literature starting a bit over a decade ago (or longer, depending on how you define "glut"). That's died down quite a bit, and while it isn't to the point that publishers are buying them again, I don't think that they'll be opposed to ever buying them again.
Card's Eumenides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory is worth reading to see one way to treat the subject of child abuse which won't bore readers. Clap Hands and Sing may not be as good an example, it's a well written story but not very deep in any particular direction, the most interesting aspect (to me) is the fact of the AI's power and decision to manipulate the life of it's creator/owner "for his own good". And the thing that makes this aspect interesting is how it is simply accepted.
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I will have to assume that what editors get in the slush pile is different from what I read in print or in critique groups. For example, I rarely run across Adam & Eve in a spaceship (fortunately!).
I hope child abuse related stories don't become unpublishable, because I get a lot of my juice out of writing about it and its aftereffects. I am sure it can be done in a shallow way, though.
This leads me to look back over what I've written. I guess I don't do it much. A novel that hinted at it (and even then, it wasn't physical abuse), and a story that was about an intervention. Still . . . Huckleberry Finn's chapter with Pa was, whoa, really great (and disturbing) writing.
quote:Again, my story is not like that. And the excuse can't be, he can do it because he is OSC. At that time, OSC was not OSC. Well, he was, but you know what I mean...
Chris, if you ever find a way to say that that doesn't need an explanation, tell me! I often want to say exactly that!
Posts: 2830 | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
Is it over-use or the sensitive nature of the subject matter that makes editors shy away? I guess I've never seen the "no child abuse" in the submission guidlines for any magazines. I think it's as valid a thing to write about as anything else. Though I do agree that it can be...underdone? Overdone? I hate it in novels when people throw in child abuse or any kind of serious abuse, just to up the level of emotion. Of course placing child abuse or sexual assaults in a piece of fiction will get an emotional response out of the reader...but that always feels cheap to me, unless all of that is an integral part of the story. It feels lazy. I had a similar problem in a major scene of my WIP: I was scared to death to write it, and I wanted it to be really emotional, so I just inserted a lot of foul insults -- hoping the reader would gasp at what was being shouted at my protagonist. This scene sucked (and it's my scene, so I can say that without offending anyone. ). It wasn't realilistic. It had foul words for the sake of foul words, because I hoped that would bring emotion to the scene. Well...I went back, and started over. I re-wrote it without any of the name-calling, and the scene is now very strong, and I'm proud of it.
That is, to say, my opinion on the matter is this: If child abuse is a central part of the story, keep it. I liked the sound of the summary, and it seems to me that child abuse is definetly what this story is about. Maybe a publishing house will reject it because they, in general, don't like child abuse stories. But is that any different than getting your evil robot monkey story rejected because that particular editor has a strange aversion to evil robot monkies? There's always a chance that the editor just won't like what your story is based on, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't send it out.
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I think physical child abuse is more prominent than usual. It used to be unnecessary and taboo to talk about being molested by a priest or being hit by your father. However, now all these people are coming out about it, so there are a lot of these situations on the market. I think the problem a writer might face is the whole insensitivity thing. In most cases where there is a child abuse scene in a book, it will almost always receive the same reaction. The abuser is a horrible man and the child is a pitied victim, even if the child is a psychotic killer and the abuser is a kind, gentle man who lost his temper. The reason for this is because this is the only way editors and publishers will allow the story to go through. They won't allow their names to be associated with child abuse as being something good. I think it would be impossible to get a story published about a child deserving to be beaten.
Posts: 162 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
I don't think incest and sexual abuse are taboo subjects for fiction writers; everything is the proper stuff of fiction.
However, they are subjects that do need to be handled very carefully. I remember recommending that one story that was submitted to a magazine I worked for be rejected, because in my opinion it (unintentionally) eroticised the sexual abuse of the child victim.
Magazines often do lay down the law about what they will and won't accept, and I have seen "no UFO stories" more frequently than "no child abuse". And yes, Adam and Eve onna spaceship appears far more often in slush than in print . I have however noted in recent years a glut of Alzheimer's stories--one Best Of SF collection had TWO. I expect they could start being refused pretty soon.
A good story should never be unsaleable, imo, even if it does deal with a difficult or over-used concept. And remember--EMI told The Beatles that guitar bands were on the way out .
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). It wasn't realilistic. It had foul words for the sake of foul words, because I hoped that would bring emotion to the scene. Well...I went back, and started over. I re-wrote it without any of the name-calling, and the scene is now very strong, and I'm proud of it.
. I have however noted in recent years a glut of Alzheimer's stories--one Best Of SF collection had TWO. I expect they could start being refused pretty soon.
