You are almost as bad as Lori. Lemme tell you kids something. (Please pardon my insensitivity if you have experienced sexual assault.) Rape is a big deal. A huge deal. For the love of everything that you hold sacred do not use sexual assault as a plot device for a tragic backstory. Please just don’t. Unless you have had the misfortune to have any experience in the matter you do not understand the impact. I realize that in this culture we can use death as just another tool in our belt to produce our craft. I also realize that we sometimes have to dig deeper to find good horror and tragedy. But please. Do not have such disregard for something as hideous as rape to easily use it as a plot device.
Listen, I know this topic is a big deal and I wouldn't have included it into my novel if I didn't understand what it meant to be in that type of situation like other topics I talk about in my entire novel. And you don't have to pardon yourself for being sensitive about something like this, like a normal human being should be. To add to this, I don't add this stuff to my novel for "shock factor" or "for angst" or just to make a good tragedy, no, I do it to make people understand the effects of this, how it effects
a survivor (no, not victim but a survivor) and it's not just this but for racism, sexism, peer pressure, substance abuse, homophobia, colorism and I do understand your sensitivity because there are people out there who romanticize this shit when they shouldn't.
Preach it, @Bananapudding which by the way is an amazing username, I'll just say
Speaking of the initial topic of this thread….
Onyx and Lucian are both biologically male (Onyx is genderfluid though) so they can't have kids. Onyx and Lucian both wanted a child, however,as Lucian, being the foolish human boi in the scenario, dabbled in dark magic to make them a son. However, dark magic is obviously a bad thing and despite the fact that they had a son, he was also destined to kill both his parents on his nineteenth birthday. Onyx disapproved of Lucian's methods but, not knowing about the prophecy, came to care for their son very deeply and emotionally, but Lucian was filled with unease. Onyx came home the night before their son's nineteenth birthday to find Lucian holding their son's still-beating heart in his hands and covered in blood. Lucian ripped his son's heart out of his chest just to save Onyx because he couldn't bear to think of a world without his partner, and now their son is dead and Onyx hates Lucian forever. They both end up committing suicide.
If that's too goddamn sensitive for you guys, deal with it okay? I'm a salty bitch. But while I haven't experienced homicide myself (thank god, I don't really have interest in murder but it's still a good thing) I have experienced death of someone very close to me, broken relationships, and suicidal ideations so fear not, I do know what the fuck I'm talking about!
Maia was lured into a faery circle and mind controlled into marrying Oleander and was his wife for several years where she was conscious but couldn't break free of the spell. When his ex-wife found out what happened and freed her, he took away her voice to prevent her from telling everyone what he had done.
Draco was drafted into the Auriyan army to protect the Empire's walls from collapsing, however, after a few incidents took place, he ended up becoming trapped in the underworld and by the time he comes up (maybe in my future books) and out of there everyone he's ever known is already dead (since time works differently down there)
Sorin, Veronica's guardian angel, has always had a one-sided love for her, despite witnessing what she has become.
Nimue was disowned by her family because her skin wasn't as light as theirs
Amelia had killed her older brothers and father in order to make space for the right general of her empire. She became the first woman in history to ever have a part in the Auriyan army.
In 2019, Vicente's mother and sisters fled after seeing a hoard of vampires coming after Vicente. He was eaten alive but not to the point where he couldn't re-spawn as a vampire.
My mc, Elise, had to watch her youngest sister sacrifice herself (in order to save her).
Syrune's wife was killed in front of her
Veleda's sister imploded-
Raunaeril was pushed off of a cliff by his wife (it's funny, he survives, she doesn't)
Kyoko isn't even Keris's legitimate child. He died not knowing that she wasn't his.
Imploded? How?
Well, people always craved their species (mostly for science) so they kidnapped her sister and basically made her a lab rat. And during one of their experiments, something went to shit and she imploded
I'm guilty of putting characters through some tough times, and maybe one of the worst ones that I felt a little bad about after writing it in was isolating my 16 year old protag in a supermax jail for half of her lifetime. :(
It had to be done. Sorry Harlow
Louis Rennerman is among the oldest humans to have survived the faery raids with a clear memory of them, and he's only 16 during them. That memory is basically him trying to escape with his girlfriend and her toddler brother by hiding in a cellar. They're about to go in when his girlfriend, Cecily, realizes that someone needs to lock the door, so she sacrifices herself to keep her brother safe. Rennerman breaks his ankle in the fall down and has to wait in there for 2 days, not knowing if Cecily (or really any humans) survived. Since his ankle didn't set right, he was barred from joining the royal military. Prince Gabriel, who he believes is the crown prince, mocks him about it, and Rennerman makes the mistake of giving the equivilant of a middle finger to him, which leads to a fistfight and some broken bones (for both parties, but mainly Rennerman). He ends up settling in Bassen and opening a tavern, which he co-owns with Trinity, and tries his best to raise Cecily's younger brother. Then the fae/human conflicts start up again, and he's drawn into what's essentially his worst nightmare and has to work with Prince Gabriel.
Uh… my main character is mind controlled into killing the person he's in love with.
Y'know, not that he didn't already have depression and PTSD. But I figured I'd give him some extra bonus trauma.
And, uh… before all that he was tortured. For most of his life.
Yeah… I like to torture Zenith.
Marya was manipulated and mind controlled by Oleander for the duration of their marriage, which ended with her being forced to kill one of his advisers and then herself via mind-control.
Scave was in the actual story for only a few minutes before dying because Nils Aaby decided to crunch his skull with his hands
I gave Scave a whole backstory and such, but he was only there for a while in the actual story before dying. Dying by shattered skull from an alien-robot-human thing.
That’s probably a bad thing I’ve done in one of my stories. Imagine dying to a weird humanoid you found in a bunker
To be fair though Scave was kinda asking for it, fella kept taunting Nils so Nils literally had to take matters into his own hands. Though Nils is partially at fault here as well to be fair.
But still, Scave died by shattered skull and it sure as hell wasnt a fast death either.
I'm guilty of putting characters through some tough times, and maybe one of the worst ones that I felt a little bad about after writing it in was isolating my 16 year old protag in a supermax jail for half of her lifetime. :(
It had to be done. Sorry Harlow
Don't you dare feel guilt. We're writers. We feel no shame. We put the characters we've poured our hearts into in the most perilous of situations, for the sake of CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
@Ash Willow True lol, it needed to be done
Unfortunately it spoils the story itself, but this is by far the worst thing I've done to my characters -
My OC is part of a rebellion. His love interest is at first, but her views change. My OC is so angry with his love interest that he descends down a path of darkness and becomes… evil. In fact, my OC is so fueled by rage that he lets nothing stand in the way of his victory. He kills his love interest. Then he realizes that he was dead wrong about his beliefs, and throws himself off a balcony in grief.
@AcadianBrilliance Beautiful.
I gave my character everything that he has ever wanted but never had, ( a family, a chance to be himself, access to the outdoors, potential for love etc) and guilt tripped him into giving it all up and going back to a place where he was hated, disrespected, and where his voice didn't mater.
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