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How to write a torture scene



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Sat Dec 02, 2017 6:47 pm
DauntlessDagger says...



Soo….I've never done a torture scene before, but now that I'm older and have chosen a main villain who is super sadistic I decide to put one or two in.

It's a harry potter fanfic, so there is no blood or gore at all. (Although a few slaps and the character's shoulder is already wounded.) The villain uses curses to give the MC pain. The villain also happens to be the MC's long lost mother, if that helps.

Basically, I don't need ideas on how to do the actual torture or the villains reactions, I just need to know how the MC would react. How does it feel to actually get tortured? How do you describe pain? (I have a hard time describing any pain at all) How should the MC deal with it? What are her emotions? The emotions of those watching her get hurt? Should I focus on the physical things (her pain, her surroundings, ect.) or emotional things? (her emotional pain at being tortured by her own mother, her fear, her thoughts, act)

Like I said, I've never done this before and really don't want it to get too dark. I don't want to focus on the horrors of torture, but on the reason the MC is getting tortured in the first place. And I want it to be a test for my MC, showing who she really is, her true strength, the final ordeal sort of thing.

Sorry if this is really confusing, but you get what I trying to say. Just give me a few tips.
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Fri Dec 08, 2017 2:31 pm
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Lightsong says...



The general feedback of what kind of emotion/reaction tortured people have would be a mix of fear and sadness. And these two aspects can be exaggerated since the concept of being tortured seems to be beyond the MC's expectation.

That being said, the most important thing other than that is to actually know your MC. She might be scared, she might be sad, but it depends on her mental strength and willpower. If she thinks showing sadness and fear makes her more vulnerable, she might resist to said torture. If this is her first time being tortured, and more so if she's not built for this kind of thing, then she's going to be broken. Whatever it is, her reaction would be negative to said torture.

As for showing physical/emotional reaction, I think a balance should be made. Give too many showing (physical clues) and the narrative relies on reader's interpretation to what the MC is feeling. Give too many telling (emotional clues) and they end up being unsatisfied with the lack of visual reactions from the MC. A fair amount of both telling and showing is crucial to really deliver deep impact to the readers.

And that is all I can say! Good luck!
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Fri Dec 08, 2017 6:10 pm
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Tenyo says...



I'd recommend watching some of the later episodes of SAS: Who Dares Wins. It's a Tv program where they put a group of men through SAS training, and in the later episodes they simulate a capture and torture scenario. I'm not sure what the age rating is, but from what I've seen there's no actual injury or psychological damage occurring from it.

It's useful because it shows the way various people cope in that scenario and the interviews afterwards go quite in depth into their mindset at the time and how they managed to hold together. One of the trainers also talks briefly about his time being captive as a prisoner of war and what it was like fearing for his life.
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 3:11 pm
DauntlessDagger says...



Thanks lightsong, I’ll try to follow you’re advice. Thanks also, Tenyo, but I think I’ll skip the episodes. I a little squeamish...which is why I doing with in a Harry Potter world. Crucio is pretty clean. ;)
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Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:34 pm
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Tenyo says...



That's fair enough. Lightsong's advice is pretty sound.

If you're aiming to keep it light and focus on the MC's strengths then I would say the Harry Potter universe is a perfect place to set it. One of my favourite things about JKRowling is that the world she created was almost tailored for courage to shine against the odds.

The main scenes that come to mind for me are the images of Sirius in the newspapers as he's being captured, and the scene where Harry is attacked by Dementors by the lake before he sees his own Patronus. The first, because even though Sirius was tortured for years, the rage you can see on his face as he's going in shows that his loyalty and desperation to protect his friends would keep him sane. It was a negative emotion, but noble none the less. The latter because Harry found hope in whatever he could, even if what he thought he saw wasn't quite what was actually there. I like it because it kind of shows that the cause of hope doesn't even have to be real, it just has to carry the character to the end point.

Just a few extra thoughts, I don't know if they help at all. Give me a prod if you end up posting this work, I'd love to see how you make it work =]
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Fri Jan 19, 2018 10:55 am
Radrook says...



What I would be concerned about is how my readers would react to my description of a torture scene.
“Defamation; is an act of impiety.”
― Kristian Goldmund Aumann, The Seven Deadly Sins
  





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Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:04 am
DauntlessDagger says...



That’s a good idea Radrook, but I’d prefer to only think of the character, especially as the story is in diary for.
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Fri Jan 19, 2018 11:48 am
Radrook says...



That does make a world of a difference.
“Defamation; is an act of impiety.”
― Kristian Goldmund Aumann, The Seven Deadly Sins
  








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