Episode 54: Writing Suspense and Violence

Notes:

Fable referenced a quote by Richard Price about approaching writing in a war context. Here is that full quote:

- “You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying in the road.”

The Verbivore references a scene from the animated Disney movie Mulan where a doll stands in for the loss of an innocent child in the war with the Huns. Here is a link to the scene which introduces that story element:

- Mulan - The Huns (Shang Yu is approaching) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqP95URub_o

The Verbivore mentions the aspect of human psychology that it is easier to relate and empathize with an individual than with a large group of people. The example used was that you can feel sorry for one dog that has had it’s tail stepped on, but what if you are told that thousands of dogs have had their tails stepped on. This is known as Psychic numbing. Here is an article if you are interesting in researching into this further:

- "If I look at the mass I will never act": Psychic numbing and genocide http://journal.sjdm.org/7303a/jdm7303a.htm

The Verbivore references the idea of ensign redshirts in Star Trek, which in the fandom refers to characters who are expendable and are killed off to up the tension and stakes in a given storyline.

The Verbivore brings up a quote from the disorienting opening of the novel The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Here is that full quote:

- “The knife had done almost everything it was brought to that house to do, and both the blade and the handle were wet.”

We used many different resources to prepare for this episode including our own experience. Here are a few resources we found useful:

- Ted ED - How to make your writing suspenseful - Victoria Smith - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjKruwAfZWk

- Make Violent Scenes Matter: 5 Tips for Writing Violence That Doesn't Turn Readers Off - https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/make-violent-scenes-matter-5-tips-for-writing-violence-that-doesnt-turn-readers-off

- HOW TO WRITE BELIEVABLE, REALISTIC, AND RESPONSIBLE VIOLENCE - https://crimereads.com/how-to-write-believable-realistic-and-responsible-violence/

- How to Write a Horror Story: 7 Tips for Writing Horror - https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-write-a-horror-story/

- Two ways to write about physical violence in crime fiction and thrillers - https://www.louiseharnbyproofreader.com/blog/two-ways-to-write-about-physical-violence-in-crime-fiction-and-thrillers

- How Shane Black Uses Awkward Violence to Tell Great Stories - https://nofilmschool.com/2016/08/how-shane-black-uses-awkward-violence-tell-stories

- Awkward violence - Movie Violence Done Right by Nerdwriter1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKiQs1dE0Tc

The Verbivore brings up the idea of awkward violence and mistakenly references the movie Inside Man, the movie was actually The Nice Guys - which was written and directed by Shane Black.

Books Mentioned:

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

A Gathering of Shadows: A Novel by V. E. Schwab

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

The Tell-Tale Heart & Other Tales by Edgar Allen Poe

Movies Mentioned

Disney's Mulan (1998)

First Man (2018)

The Nice Guys (2016)

Music from: https://filmmusic.io
’Friendly day’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
Licence: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)