Question: acceptable plot point

[Writer61]

I am in the early stages of plotting a fantasy story.

The overall plot depends on a young woman seeking revenge for a wrong done to her family. One possibility is that, as a girl, she saw her father killed and her mother raped by a nobleman and a group of his soldiers.

As I understand it, the death is acceptable, but what about the rape? The latter is not sexualised; does it fall foul of Lit's rules?

 

[ChuckWolf]

I am in the early stages of plotting a fantasy story.

The overall plot depends on a young woman seeking revenge for a wrong done to her family. One possibility is that, as a girl, she saw her father killed and her mother raped by a nobleman and a group of his soldiers.

As I understand it, the death is acceptable, but what about the rape? The latter is not sexualised; does it fall foul of Lit's rules?

You could always leave it vague.

After the unspeakable cruelties that Count Ivanov had visited upon her parents, she knew she'd never rest until she had her revenge.

 

[IWroteThis]

I am in the early stages of plotting a fantasy story.

The overall plot depends on a young woman seeking revenge for a wrong done to her family. One possibility is that, as a girl, she saw her father killed and her mother raped by a nobleman and a group of his soldiers.

As I understand it, the death is acceptable, but what about the rape? The latter is not sexualised; does it fall foul of Lit's rules?

Tell, don't show, and you should be good.

I wrote a story where a major plot point was one of the characters having been raped in college by somebody posing as maintenance. I didn't include the rape itself in the story, just the fact it had happened. It was approved with no issues.

 

[MelissaBaby]

If the rape is not described graphically, you will be fine. It seems to me that you would primarily want to describe the daughters emotions while watching, rather than what she is seeing, and that would fit well within the Lit rules.

 

[TheLobster]

You could limit your description to her mother's screams and pleas for the men to stop, without necessarily making it explicit that she was raped. The girl would know that an atrocity was committed, and the readers would pretty easily puzzle out what it was.

Considering this is all quite horrible events, I think you might get away (for narrative purposes) with simply telling what happened, which would let you get away with it in regards to Lit publishing rules as well.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I am in the early stages of plotting a fantasy story.

The overall plot depends on a young woman seeking revenge for a wrong done to her family. One possibility is that, as a girl, she saw her father killed and her mother raped by a nobleman and a group of his soldiers.

As I understand it, the death is acceptable, but what about the rape? The latter is not sexualised; does it fall foul of Lit's rules?

Building on @MelissaBaby ’s response. I had a female protagonist, a Deputy Marshal and the daughter of a State Marshal, kidnapped and repeatedly raped on video to send a message to her father. I obviously only ever referred to events in later conversations between my FMC and her father, and in her experiencing traumatic (and not described) flashbacks. Things didn’t end so well for the rapists or the cartel leader who ordered the rapes.

It probably goes without saying that this was a neo noir police procedural (a modern take on elements of L.A. Confidential and Chinatown). Rape - like murder - is sadly a fact of life and has been a subject of literature for millennia. Literotica allows it.

Rape written for the titillation of others…? Well my views on that are well-known.

 

[FrancesScott]

I am in the early stages of plotting a fantasy story.

The overall plot depends on a young woman seeking revenge for a wrong done to her family. One possibility is that, as a girl, she saw her father killed and her mother raped by a nobleman and a group of his soldiers.

As I understand it, the death is acceptable, but what about the rape? The latter is not sexualised; does it fall foul of Lit's rules?

This is the second time I have shared part of the preamble of a recently published work in this very same context:

Please note that this story contains references to both the historical rape of a minor and previous parental sexual abuse. While obviously neither is depicted, people who might find such references upsetting should read with caution.

 

[Dodola]

Is this a kink?
Several months ago, you posted a thread asking opinions on depicting nude children in the yard of a nudist community.
More recently, you posted asking for opinions on depicting a child witnessing swinger parties/ or nude adults,
and now you're seeking advice on how to depict a child witnessing a rape.

I'm not accusing you of anything except making me feel like I need a shower.

 

[CalBishForNow]

I'm not accusing you of anything except making me feel like I need a shower.

On the one hand, Writer61 is an established presence with on the site and in the AH, not a troll or a crazy person who's clearly going to crash out.

On the other hand, that is a pattern when you put it like that.

So rather than accuse them of anything, I'm inclined to wonder if they're going through something...