Violence in medieval fantasy

[VISION]

Hi there,

This is a general question regarding writing about violence. I just read the rules about violence, but I’m still not clear if what I’m planning to do in a story I’m currently outlining would fall into the forbidden category.
I’m currently sketching out a medieval fantasy story and I’m planning to include lots of fighting, character deaths and themes of war.
What would go over the line of what’s allowed and what isn’t?

Thanks in advance,
Vic

 

[Regin34]

I think as long you seperate violence of war with sexual theme it should be fine. Like necrophilia, cutting off limbs to have sex with criple or something like that.

 

[majus]

You will find the answer in the guide:

GUIDE LINK

Under the 3-rd point.

Spoiler: 3. No Excessive Violence

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

 

[VISION]

You will find the answer in the guide:

GUIDE LINK

Under the 3-rd point.

Spoiler: 3. No Excessive Violence

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

Like I said, I already read the guide but I’m still not quite clear on how those rules would affect my plans…

 

[majus]

Like I said, I already read the guide but I’m still not quite clear on how those rules would affect my plans…

There should be no problem with killing on the battlefield, poisoning in schemes, etc - as long as you don't go into gory/graphic descriptions.

If you have doubts about the scene, ask admin or moderator. They are quite friendly and will help you out.

 

[VISION]

There should be no problem with killing on the battlefield, poisoning in schemes, etc - as long as you don't go into gory/graphic descriptions.

If you have doubts about the scene, ask admin or moderator. They are quite friendly and will help you out.

Thank you
I just wonder if there is any sort of line when it comes to gore. If I write that a character gets stabbed through the neck and chokes to death on his own blood, is that already too far? I’d love it if there was a way to write know where exactly that line is…and I really don’t want to annoy the mods with pesky questions since I know what an annoying and tricky subject violence is on this site.

 

[majus]

From my perspective, as you wrote:

character gets stabbed through the neck and chokes to death on his own blood

is not a problem.

But, you probably will develop this into something more descriptive, just to produce better writing, won't you?

I really don’t want to annoy the mods with pesky questions since I know what an annoying and tricky subject violence is on this site

Ah, that's very considerate! I had the same approach.

I would suggest the following: Write a sample scene/scenes you have doubts about and contact mod/admin about them.
If they greenlight you, great! No problems and you will have less on your head to worry about.
If they redlight you, you get to fix the chapter at the start, avoid future edits, banned chapters and headaches. They might also give you some advice on how to proceed.

Contacting them might end up saving both you and them from avoidable work.

 

[VISION]

From my perspective, as you wrote:



is not a problem.

But, you probably will develop this into something more descriptive, just to produce better writing, won't you?

Yeah definitely. Do you think describing something like that in more vivid detail, like for example:

“Character X was lying in the mud. Blood was gushing out of the slit in his helmet and the place where his gorget met his breastplate. After Character Z removed his helmet and saw something resembling his friends face, albeit bloodier and swollen all over the right side. There was fear in his eyes as he seemed to struggle for air. The cold morning air was filled with sounds of gurgling and gasping. Blood spilled out of the corners of Character X’s mouth and he clawed wildly at his neck, doing his best to reach the place where the blade had torn it apart. After what felt like barely a minute of struggle, his eyes stopped moving and his arms fell limp to his side.”

(just an example)

 

[Regin34]

I think there shouldn’t be any problem with such sample. George R.R. Martin in game of thrones used similar description and worse. Many authors use such things in publishing books

 

[majus]

Ah, I see where you would have doubt.

I don't think you are breaking the rules here (but truthfully, I am a little screwed in that department, so take my opinion with a pinch of salt).
I think so, because in my opinion, you are not describing violence here, but going for feelings - and with context, it might have quite an impact.
Allegedly

If you still have doubts, you can either talk with the admin or do a little trick in writing the scene.
The trick is - don't write the violence - cut right before it, then resume right after it. Describe the feelings/situation/scene after the fact. It's one of the ways some writers avoid the entire problem with violence.

 

[TheLowKing]

George R.R. Martin in game of thrones used similar description and worse. Many authors use such things in publishing books

None of that is relevant to whether something is allowed on CHYOA or not. In some jurisdictions, you're allowed write about things that would get you an instant ban on CHYOA. And in others you risk being put to death for saying things that won't even make CHYOA blink. Only CHYOA's rules matter.

 

[Xenolan]

There's gratuitous violence, and there's violence which serves the story.

I think the best way to go about it is to consider the intention of the rule, which is to prevent the site from becoming a repository of snuff fantasy and vicious rape porn. Separating the violence from the sex is a good rule of thumb.

I have written a story with a medieval setting (It's Good to Be the King), though it takes place in the "real world" and is not a sword & sorcery fantasy. There is swordplay and other forms of violence, some of which results in death. But, the sex and the violence are completely separate, and descriptions of the violent scenes are sufficient to show what is happening and no more. If one were to cut out the sex parts, none of the violent scenes would earn it more than a PG-13 rating at the box office.

If the violence in your story is on the same level as the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings movies, then you're fine. If you're at Deadpool levels, you might want to tone it back a notch.

 

[raziel83]

It is a bit annoying that some of the story ideas I have had, I can't put on CHYOA just because I would have to basically skip the action scenes due to the violence restriction. But I haven't found a site that would fill the niche that CHYOA does, so I'll just focus on other concepts.