Last week when I was at the beach, I worked on reading (aloud) the proof copy of Cat Winter, one of my latest WIPs and the 2nd book of the Cat Seasons Tetralogy. The manuscript has been through several edits, a beta reader, and a trip to my editor, so I went into it thinking, with a few tweaks here and there, the book would be ready to publish. The first pages came off without a hitch; then the red lines began. The way I proof is to mark directly in the proof book with a red pen—soon there were more pages with red lines, circles, and arrows that not.
Okay, that's pretty normal—for both Cat Café and Cosmic Cat, I slogged through two full proofs before I was happy. But then I ran into a bigger conundrum: you see, Cat Winter, like all the Cat Seasons Tetralogy, is in two parts. The first part is relatively tame violence-wise, but part two, when my heroes travel back in time to antediluvian South America, things begin to get ugly. I suppose like many of us, I had been traumatized at a young age by stories of atrocities committed by people of that era. I'm not sure if it was a catharsis to write about such horrors, but none the less, I got down and dirty. That would be fine since this isn’t by any means a “cozy” story, except that part 1 of the book flows in a completely different vein. The ultra-violence doesn’t fit. I need to tone it down. This means a huge rewrite. Not what I had planned.
How much violence do you tolerate in your fiction? How much do you enjoy? Where does violence fit into your taste in books?
With the pandemic, as well as the Black Lives Matter protests, our penchant for reading violent stories is changing. We no longer want to hear about the rogue cop who does it all his way, no matter what laws he breaks or who gets hurt. But we don’t want a tiptoe through the tulips either.
Cat Winter, being a sci-fantasy about cats saving the world, doesn’t have any cops, but it’s not all tulips either. Rewriting is hard, sometimes harder than the original draft; still, it’s the right thing to do. Be warned, however, I won’t be throwing out all the carnage. It’s way too much fun!
Note: Cat Summer, the first book in the Cat Seasons Tetralogy, published by Fire Star Press last year, just won the Cat Writers’ Association Muse Medallion for best sci-fi/fantasy book 2019! This prestigious award is an exciting badge of honor for my debut sci-fantasy.
About the most violent mysteries I ever got into reading were the Lew Archer series by Ross McDonald. Sue Grafton's alphabet series isn't gruesome or violent comparatively either. But my e-reader is loaded with "cozies" - most featuring cats or other animals among the characters. I long ago read all of Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes and enjoy many of the Sherlock Holmes pastiches.
ReplyDeleteI stopped reading other stories where I knew the animal died, too. When my cousin and I discussed Never Cry Wolf she said "Well, that's life." and I said "Yeh, but I've lost enough real animals I don't want to read about more.
I agree. Just because it's "life" doesn't mean I want it in my face. As you said, we have had enough personal experience with that, and we don't need it in our fiction. There is a line I won't cross, and that is to have an animal die in my cozy series. Since my hero has a clowder of senior cats, there will be some loss, but it will be gentle and off the page.
ReplyDeleteI find the first draft the hardest. That's when I usually decide to give up (but don't.) Rewrites? Well...it all depends on who is asking for them. Can we totally agree with an editor? I've had some major disagreements with one or two. As for violence, I can't stand it. Yes, I do read Jonathan Kellerman's books, and the deaths there are violent, but somehow he doesn't dwell on it, and the characters as well as the psychology make up for the spilt blood. I also have no tolerance for police chases, shoot outs, and serial killers. Violence against animals or animals dying in a story? No way. I'll heave the offending book across the room, go stomp on it, then chuck it into the fire. Congratulations on the award. Well done!
ReplyDeleteI like your point about an author not "dwelling" on the violence. That makes a big difference. And yes, it's all about the characters. Are they compelling enough to out weigh the distasteful parts?
DeleteIn Cat Summer, there are few characters who are not cats, so in the great battle, some cat lives were lost. There is a happy ending however, with a few reincarnations, as can happen in fantasy.