z

Young Writers Society


How to describe Gore?



Random avatar


Gender: None specified
Points: 300
Reviews: 0
Fri Mar 06, 2015 6:20 am
rpphoto says...



So I have a question, obviously lol.

I am writing a story in the form of First-Person Serial Killer, and running into a wall.

My character has just captured and is beginning to slowly torture and kill his victim. My question is how into detail go to describe kill/torture?

also one other question....

I went into depth a little bit explaining the killers ritual before he got to this point of his first kill, would it be wise to restate that every kill or only if something changes in his ritual (which happens on his last kill getting him caught, where the story begins).
“I don't fail. I succeed at finding what doesn't work.”
―Christopher Titus

"You see something, then it clicks with something else, and it will make a story. But you never know when it's going to happen."
-Stephen King
  





User avatar
65 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 5752
Reviews: 65
Fri Mar 06, 2015 3:26 pm
AttackOfTheFlash says...



Hello! I don't write gore but I'll try to help you the best I can.

My suggestion is: do your research about the human body. Let's say your killer is going to murder someone by stabbing them through the heart. (Kind of cliche I know but let's use that as an example.) Do research about the heart. Where would the killer have to stab through? How long would it take the victim to die? You get what I mean.

So just do research (and maybe even look at some images of organs/blood/whatever) to make your gore feel raw and alive. A suggestion I have is to not rush your description. That takes away details.

I don't have an answer for your other question, sorry. But I hope my advice helped some. :)
Are you living or simply existing?
  





User avatar
170 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 0
Reviews: 170
Fri Mar 06, 2015 8:04 pm
deleted5 says...



I've done a lot of research doing my novel, mostly with gunshot and bladed weapon wounds. My main piece of advice would to research like crazy to know what the characters can and can't take injury wise.
Things like diagrams and stories on injuries can be very helpful. For example when I was researching my story I had to look up how much damage and bullet wound would do to a character in certain locations. I found diagrams of the weapon, stories on the damage they do to people, facts and diagrams on the bodies anatomy such as this diagram:
Image
Image
Image
can be very helpful.
This diagram shows the bodies various points that are most susceptible to pain:
Image
One thing to remember about gore is that you must think about how much damage injuries would actually do to a person and the resulting... discharge to a person. Too much and it seems unrealistic and cheap. Too little and there is no tension! Remember any damage to major arteries like a cut will result in a large amount of blood and will have a large chance of bleeding out. Again, don't believe the movies, the human body has a lot of blood in it. And of course breaking of bones will cause excruciating pain and may pierce skin or impale organs.
Gore is not, from what I heard, what it looks like in movies and you have to remember what they can and cannot take. My advice to you is to keep it as a realistic and gritty as possible. The average reader probably has not experienced anything like torture before so keep it realistic while still maintaining the shock factor. Focus on the pain to the person more than the gore itself, it has more of a deep effect on a person. Try not to go overboard and do your research!
I AM YOUR GOD. -AlexSushiDog
Checkmate Atheists.
  





User avatar
346 Reviews

Supporter


Gender: None specified
Points: 37216
Reviews: 346
Fri Mar 06, 2015 8:30 pm
Pretzelstick says...



rpphoto wrote:also one other question....

I went into depth a little bit explaining the killers ritual before he got to this point of his first kill, would it be wise to restate that every kill or only if something changes in his ritual (which happens on his last kill getting him caught, where the story begins).


I will try not to repeat anyone else and answer this question.

No, I don't think that you should keep on repeating/restate how the ritual is performed every time that someone is killed, because it gets boring and monotonous and I hate repetition. I would just write out the description, and then when a change to the ritual occurs, I would just note that to the reader.
What I mean by repetition of instructions are, for example:
I am showing you have to peel a banana(very simplistic example) and here is what I say:

"(If the banana is still connected to the other ones you look for the most ripe one and rip it off.) You take the banana stem and peel it first in parts, and then down as much as you want. Then eat the banana, and remember to cut of the last brown part. Throw the remains in the garbage can."

So that is my instruction of now to peel a banana(I know that it's not very good-it was just an example) and I want to pretend that my character loves to eat bananas. That is their favorite fruit. So now every time that he/she eats the banana I will insert that text ^^ in that place, maybe wording it differently or modifying it a little bit.

Now you are the reader of my story, and you keep on seeing this. How would you feel about my story? You would get bored, right?
This same thing applies to your story, don't repeat the process over and over again. Now in my example notice the words in parenthesis. That is optional, and so I would just add that on if it applies.Do you understand and see what I mean?
__________________________________________________________________________

This is on a totally different note, but I really advise you that, if you choose to publish this work on YWS rate it correctly. Warning: not all people like to read gory, horror details/stories/novels. I personally would not read it, just because I dislike it.Please read this link:

Content Ratings Guidelines
And I would also include in the author's note that this includes gory details.

I have no expierience on writing gory scenes, but I do agree with the others to research a lot. That's what google is for, right? :)

Image
Last edited by Pretzelstick on Mon Mar 09, 2015 6:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads only lives once
~George R. Martin

Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about recreating yourself. ~George B. Shaw

got yws?
  





User avatar
170 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 0
Reviews: 170
Fri Mar 06, 2015 8:50 pm
deleted5 says...



pretzelsing wrote:
Now you are the reader of my story, and you keep on seeing this. How would you feel about my story? You would get bored, right?
This same thing applies to your story, don't repeat the process over and over again. Now in my example notice the words in parenthesis. That is optional, and so I would just add that on if it applies.Do you understand and see what I mean?
__________________________________________________________________________

This is on a totally different note, but I really advise you that, if you choose to publish this work on YWS rate it correctly. Warning: not all people like to read gory, horror details/stories/novels. I personally would not read it, just because I dislike it.Please read this link:

Content Ratings Guidelines
And I would also include in the author's note that this includes gory details.

I have no expierience on writing gory scenes, but I do agree with the others to research a lot. That's what google is for, right? :)

-Hope this helps
pretzelsing

I think he could pull off the repetition, as long as it isn't copy and pasted. In some cases it adds to the effect as it shows how crazy and unchangeable the character is. I was recently in the play Sweeny Todd where Sweeney killed his victims the same way everytime. It really unhinged me how he followed this crazy pattern every time just so he could "savour" the revenge "properly" like it was a game. So you can pull it off.

Good call on the age ratings. Just remember that technically speaking you don't HAVE to add an age rating unless it is over 18.
I AM YOUR GOD. -AlexSushiDog
Checkmate Atheists.
  





User avatar
110 Reviews



Gender: Male
Points: 546
Reviews: 110
Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:17 pm
Zolen says...



a common concept is the rule of three's. The logic that 3 times will get the point across for the reader without making this boring, and then just mention it afterwards when things go wrong or change, with the reader now versed in how it usually goes, and how important it is to him in his madness that it goes right each times. If this is going to be going on over and over again with very little change, and its going to happen a lot, you need SOME repeat.
Self quoting is the key to sounding wise and all knowing.
  





Random avatar


Gender: None specified
Points: 300
Reviews: 0
Fri Mar 06, 2015 11:55 pm
rpphoto says...



thanks for the advice guys...
“I don't fail. I succeed at finding what doesn't work.”
―Christopher Titus

"You see something, then it clicks with something else, and it will make a story. But you never know when it's going to happen."
-Stephen King
  





User avatar
131 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 8053
Reviews: 131
Fri Mar 13, 2015 9:18 pm
godlypopo says...



Sorry but this is a bit late but I have a little thing to add to the killing. From what I have learnt from writing horror, there is a few things that really enhance the scene. When describing the kill, be sure to include the victim's expressions and slow the time down. Describe the victims eyes, do they try to choke out final words-make the reader fall into the black hole you have for them. If you need anything else, just pm me x
Our mind is a network of doorways, each one leading to a different room of thoughts and imagined ideas. Every time we read or learn about something new, a new network of doorways is born

Smile
  





User avatar
1220 Reviews



Gender: None specified
Points: 72525
Reviews: 1220
Sat Mar 21, 2015 4:50 am
View Likes
Kale says...



So, I happen to have a lot of firsthand experience dealing with gory situations. Hands-on getting covered in blood, guts, organs, bone, stuff like that.

Some things you should consider are incorporating a lot in the areas of touch and smell. Gore, depending on where in the body it originated from, has very different textures and smells. If you're dealing with intestines and the digestive system, you've got bile, stomach acid, and fecal matter, for starters, and each of those has very distinct scents, appearances, and characteristic textures. Also, not all blood is the same. Arterial blood has a very different texture and color compared to venous blood, and depending on where the arterial blood is coming out, it can range in color from a very thick, dark red to a frothy pink.

You might want to look up the various descriptions for all the bodily fluids and viscera. They usually list the characteristic traits, especially when it comes to color, visible texture, actual texture, and smells.

If you can, I'd highly recommend finding a biologist and shadowing them during dissections. Road kill dissections are the best when it comes to experiencing the full sensory gamut of gore. :D

I'd strongly advise against eating before you shadow the dissection, though. Unless you also want to observe the characteristics of vomit, which is something you could incorporate into your writing because people do have a tendency to vomit when under extreme stresses, like torture.

Dissections are super stinky, in any case. Even the ones with preserved specimens.
Secretly a Kyllorac, sometimes a Murtle.
There are no chickens in Hyrule.
Princessence: A LMS Project
WRFF | KotGR
  





User avatar



Gender: Male
Points: 240
Reviews: 0
Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:24 am
Vikingr says...



I think that like it was said above you could pull off some repetition with the ritual if it is not copypasta from earlier in the story. For instance in a story of mine, though not with ritual killing, a character is awoken on 3 consecutive nights with this dream, however each time the dream gets more vivid/extensive, and his reaction in the morning is similar yet coincides with the development of each dream.
"A foolish man thinks he knows everything if placed in unexpected difficulty; but he knows not what to answer, if to the test he is put."

--The Hávamál
  








Make your dreams come true. Don't wish for them, work for them.
— Lilly Singh