Including a traumatic backstory.

[NoviceAspen]

Hello, I am working on the next installment of my series called The Fortress. One character is opening up about her history. For the purposes of this story it is important that in her family there was a lot of trauma, things happened that would definitely be against community guidelines if I were to write them as erotica, but this chapter isn’t erotic, she isn’t giving explicit details or descriptions of what happened. The fact that she opens up about it leads to new emotional connections with other characters and explains a lot of her behavior so far, but I don’t want to be pushing the limits of the content guidelines here. Does anyone else who is doing novels/novellas have any tips for how to include this part appropriately? Should I keep all erotic content separate and tag this chapter as non-erotic? Include a content warning at the beginning of the chapter?

I’m being intentionally vague because i’m worried about this post crossing boundaries too, but some of it involves a religious fanatic relative killing /maiming other relatives because of supposed sins.

 

[joy_of_cooking]

I have a story with graphic descriptions of some people getting broken in the wheel (well, a ladder) and being left to die of exposure over the course of days. It's fine as long as the violence isn't done in a sexualized manner.

Vampires Don't Wait Tables
He's a cryptid-obsessed cook. She's just a waiter. Right?

Starts on page five with

"Bad dreams?" she asks.

 

[NotWise]

You can push the limits that way.

Make sure the descriptions are in no way erotic. Make them short and to the point without the details. I wouldn't bother with warning the readers about the content, but you might want to put a note to the editor about it.

I pushed that limit in a Romance story ("Breaking with Tradition"). Laurel initially rejected the story then accepted it after I high lighted the very brief reference in a note.

Edit: For "Novels and Novellas" Hannah's story in "Love is Enough" is about childhood abuse. It was tragic and essential to the story. The description (especially the scars) made the event evident, but there was no explicit description.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

I have a story dealing with physical childhood abuse. Just don't write it in a titillating way and you're good.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Hello, I am working on the next installment of my series called The Fortress. One character is opening up about her history. For the purposes of this story it is important that in her family there was a lot of trauma, things happened that would definitely be against community guidelines if I were to write them as erotica, but this chapter isn’t erotic, she isn’t giving explicit details or descriptions of what happened. The fact that she opens up about it leads to new emotional connections with other characters and explains a lot of her behavior so far, but I don’t want to be pushing the limits of the content guidelines here. Does anyone else who is doing novels/novellas have any tips for how to include this part appropriately? Should I keep all erotic content separate and tag this chapter as non-erotic? Include a content warning at the beginning of the chapter?

I’m being intentionally vague because i’m worried about this post crossing boundaries too, but some of it involves a religious fanatic relative killing /maiming other relatives because of supposed sins.

I’ve written stories where people were the subject of prior abuse - rape, implied child abuse, and so on…

The thing is, you can write about anything, what you can’t do is explicitly describe it and certainly you can’t fetishize it.

Saying an FMC was raped by her father when she was 16 is allowed. Writing a scene in which it happens is not. Saying that she was turned on by the memory later in life (like that would would happen, but people here can be weird) is not.

Make sense?

Emily

 

[StillStunned]

I have a story with graphic descriptions of some people getting broken in the wheel (well, a ladder) and being left to die of exposure over the course of days. It's fine as long as the violence isn't done in a sexualized manner.

I have an orgy that end in death and mayhem. It's even called "Orgy of Death". But it's not written as sexy. I can't even imagine how I'd go about that.

 

[lustychimera]

I have an orgy that end in death and mayhem. It's even called "Orgy of Death". But it's not written as sexy. I can't even imagine how I'd go about that.

Let me introduce you to the wide world of vore...

 

[KeithD]

Deal with it, of course, unless it's underage in sexual situations, but try to do it in flashback sections rather than have an entire entry dominated by trauma without any erotica.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

This has been discussed here several times. It's always about the context of the scene and seldom about the content itself.

Rape, underage sexual abuse, gruesome torture or violence, and much more can and does exist in stories here so long as the context of these items is acceptable. That typically implies that the scenes are not written to arouse, titillate, or inspire any type or form of sexual interest and presents relative value to the work as a whole.

That last part is where submitting your story chapter-by-chapter can come back to bite you in the ass. Laurel will be reviewing the content of your submission outside the context of your complete story and making judgements about the relevant value based only on that one submission. Be prepared to address this with her.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I’m being intentionally vague because i’m worried about this post crossing boundaries too, but some of it involves a religious fanatic relative killing /maiming other relatives because of supposed sins.

Don't sexualise it, and don't make it gratuitous, and include a Note to the Editor saying the content is there. You want to get human eyes on it, rather than get a bot rejection.

 

[THBGato]

There's a whole sub-category of the Lesbian Sex genre which involves women recovering from rape/domestic violence and falling for the police officer/their therapist.

Here's an example (which deals with the violence and trauma in the opening 3 paragraphs): https://www.literotica.com/s/a-broken-woman-can-still-heal

Might give you an idea of what you can get away with (and still get positive responses).

 

[orangecurious]

my latest (And what a time it was) has references to abuse - i put a warning at the start, just in case. The subject was important to a character. I had her recount bits of it in the story, trying to keep it raw and not thrilling.

I did wonder about cutting it, but it was pretty vital to the character and it passed ok.

 

[EmilyMiller]

There's a whole sub-category of the Lesbian Sex genre which involves women recovering from rape/domestic violence and falling for the police officer/their therapist.

Here's an example (which deals with the violence and trauma in the opening 3 paragraphs): https://www.literotica.com/s/a-broken-woman-can-still-heal

Might give you an idea of what you can get away with (and still get positive responses).

@NoviceAspen - I seldom advertise this work because of its content, but see also: A Good Woman.

Emily

 

[tenyari]

I love highly flawed protagonists who get in their own way. And past trauma is an obvious reason why someone might do so.

I like to vaguely sprinkle in pieces of the character's trauma here and there. Rather than detail it directly, have the character recall some tidbit when changing their course of action as a result.

I never cover the trauma directly, I might not even name it fully. I just hint at it enough that an astute reader can fill in the blanks. But like anything in a story, I use it to illuminate why a character does what they do, feels how they feel, etc.

"Ever since that day, I always ..."
"A bus stop, like the one all those years ago. I reacted on instinct, shoving him and running away before I realized he was just a random bloke asking for directions."
"When I heard sobbing coming from one of the stalls, I grabbed my knife and glanced around. This was where it had happened to me after all."
"When somebody stabbed Frank at the movie theater, everyone thought it had to be me given our past, but I'd been ..."

etc.

These become moments where my protagonist "interrupts the flow of the story" to step in a different than expected direction.

 

[NoviceAspen]

Thanks everyone for the tips, the chapter had been published! And chapter 9 is pending. https://www.literotica.com/s/the-fortress-ch-08