Hello. Recently writing a scene where the story choices pick between a the protagonists powers having fatal consequences or not and got to wondering where the line is drawn for this particular rule. I'm pretty sure the scene I'm writing doesn't fall into this category (A character gets irreversibly transformed into a clutch of eggs mostly off-screen) but it'd be nice to know in the future. So the examples provided (splatter/gore) are obviously a no, but what about just cuts and bruising in general? Chopping off limbs? Internal tearing from having too big of an insertion? TLDR: Is there a metric that separates what violence is and is not allowed in stories, or is it a more grey area case by case basis sort of deal?
From my understanding, the rule generally refers to excessive violence during sex or sexualizing violence. There's stories out there that involve murder, rape, rape and murder, murder after sex, murder during sex through asphyxiation, and probably some murder before sex somewhere. I myself have written a few chapters involving such things. I've written a chapter where the protagonist was murdered after sex. I've also written a chapter where the protagonist was beheaded. However, there has always been a line between the sex and violence. For your examples, cuts and bruises are probably okay, internal tearing is a little squick for myself, but probably fine, chopping off limbs during sex probably crosses that line. Some roughness and violence during sex is fine, but if you start drawing and quartering people in the middle of coitus*, then you might have some problems with the site rules. *That is a thing that i've seen people write/draw about in this wonderful place known as the internet and it is super squicky weird.
Well, I think it's hard to give a full-fledged definition of it. I think an important thing is how it is stated... Like... "She was bent over the block, pity in her eyes... seconds seemed like minutes... her lips mouthed "I'm sorry"... I pressed my lips together, clenched my fists... I couldn't bear it... but I forced me to watch... I was here to support her in the worst seconds of her life... in her last seconds... I nodded and mouthed back, "Not your fault..." ... my love smiled... the last smile of her life... the last smile before the ax swished down and beheaded her. Her head dropped into the mud... her eyes wide open... my heart felt like an anvil..." or... "She was bent over the block, pity in her eyes... swish... slash... her head dropping down into the mud. Blood squirting out of her neck, showering the chopped off body part. Her gullet pushing out a last breath of air... [and so on]" Excessive violence.
So, going by replies so far, there isn't any hard metric, use common sense and don't have any violence above cutting and bruising described in great detail?
I'd just avoid any violence that doesn't add to the story, or any sane person would agree goes too far. There's not going to be any hard metric because there's a nearly infinite spectrum of violent acts. If someone needs to die or be hurt in the story outside of sexual scenes, I just wouldn't go into too much graphic detail. Probably if it can be shown on American TV, it's okay. Any more, you're probably pushing it. Context and intent matter with the rules a lot.
All the people saying there is no way to have a hard metric are full of it. This site can absolutely outline what goes too far and what doesn't. As much as I hate certain sites for their hypocrisy and enforcing rules they don't have and not enforcing rules they do have, they did have a bullet point of exactly what is or isn't on the table. Is sex with an amputee fair? Is showing how she became an amputee fair? If she fell in love and didn't know which boyfriend to choose, but afterba car crash takes her legs she figures it out, because one takes care of her and spends more time with her, somehow allowed when a story of malice where someone just slices her legs off with a katana not allowed? What if she is kidnapped by a squad who take turns raping her and setting her on fire? How is that different from all the everything everywhere else? Is it just not every part of that is allowed in the same story? Because it seems like everything actually is on the table so long as it's not all at the same time. What gives?
What's wrong the the Rule's bullet points? Is that in any way violent? It depends. Both cases can be fine or not, depending on the depiction. I think there are only very few cases where the intention of the character matters. Depends on how it is depicted. In most cases, that doesn't matter.
On what? Why? There are stories with rape, and stories with punching, but not stories with rape and punching, is what I'm getting from this. I just want to believe it's actually sensible and consistent.
I mean, do you want an exhaustive list of every single phrase? Here's what the rules say, it seems clear enough to me what is and isn't allowed. 3. No Excessive Violence It is not allowed to depict excessive violence. It is not allowed to write scenes where a character dies during sexual situations (e.g. by asphyxiation during sex) where a character dies while being the object of sexual desire which feature the cutting of genitals in a gory manner in a way that glorifies violence which feature an excessive amount of violence which wouldn't be necessary to tell the story Power plays, reluctance fantasies, and a reasonable amount of violence are fine
It depends on how it is depicted. A story could have a scene where a character dies due to a headshot. Is it fine if that happens during a sexual situation – no. Is it fine if you describe what shapes the victim's brain would create on the wall – no. Is it fine if you describe how it felt and that everyone should try it – no.
I mean, no, not really if I understand what you're getting at. There's aspects that are flat-out denied, like any sort of excessive violence as detailed in that rule is disallowed whether it's sexual in nature or not so that part of the piece isn't allowed under any circumstances. You can't publish a story that's just excessively violent in other words, and it's only that violence side where this rule applies.
Enforcement is also pretty lax. I've written a chapter that theoretically breaks the rule of no death during sex- the main character was getting raped by a woman until he turns the tables and kills her with magic. However, it was done in a not too graphic manner, as it was one of those videogame-ey settings, so I think nobody felt it was "excessive" violence.
I mean, a while ago I reported a post where a guy wrote that a girl "had both her arms and both her legs broken and was then almost suffocated on some guy's dick", but just all simple like that instead of going into gory detail, and I was told that it wasn't enough of a problem to delete, so I don't know where the hell the line's being drawn.
Please don't encourage other users to risk violating the CHYOA Rules. If you are unsure whether a specific scene might violate the Rules, you can send me the questionable part and/or outline in a private conversation.
