Regarding Bodily Harm

[BewareTheChain]

I have a question regarding the depiction of violence or bodily harm within pieces published on Literotica, and I was wondering how other writers handle it in their respective works. Specifically, I am writing a scene in which a character ends up losing their hand, and I wasn't sure whether that's permitted by the site or not.

Now, I've read the rules and have extrapolated that a certain degree of violence is permitted, so long as it isn't excessively gory nor written in a matter that is supposed to be titillating to the reader. The scene in which this character loses the hand doesn't have him look at the injury and purposefully avoids looking at it until a fade-to-black scene transition, wherein he has his injuries tended to and bandaged up. No blood, no gore; just general descriptions of pain.

By avoiding graphic description of both the injury and the removal of the hand, I think I'm adhereing to Literotica's guidelines, but I'm still somewhat uncertain, which brings me to my question; are non-graphic depictions of serious bodily harm permitted so long as they serve the plot, and if so, how have other writers handled such subjects in their works? Thank you in advance for your time.

 

[anthrodisiac]

That sounds fine the way you have it currently. In my first story, I have literal torture play (guy gets chewed on by some sexy monsters), and some of the pain elements were meant to serve more erotic purposes, but it wasn't permanent damage, which seems to be kinda the line, erotically, where you can't inflict serious or lasting injury in a manner that is sexual titilating. I know others who've gone further than that still, and still were publishable. If you do try to publish and get rejected, I think adding a message just like you have here would be good, since it might be an automated checker that catches the mention of amputation/limb loss, which means a manual review could help sort out that it's meant to be for the purposes of the story and not as sexualizing maiming or amputation.

 

[ElectricBlue]

By avoiding graphic description of both the injury and the removal of the hand, I think I'm adhereing to Literotica's guidelines, but I'm still somewhat uncertain, which brings me to my question; are non-graphic depictions of serious bodily harm permitted so long as they serve the plot, and if so, how have other writers handled such subjects in their works? Thank you in advance for your time.

Provided you're not sexualising the violence in any way, you're fine.

I've written a drug overdose by injection, a death by an arrow in the back with blood spilled over white snow, and an evisceration where the victim's guts spill into water, published without a problem. You can write violence, just how gratuitous is up to your own good taste - what you've described would be okay. If you went on for several hundred words, readers might look sideways eventually and ask, is there a point to all this, or are you just getting your jollies?

 

[EmilyMiller]

One of my FMCs ripped out a guy’s heart. Admittedly she’s a demon and he was a vampire who thought she was human. Another vampire self-dusted by feeding on an angel who he thought was a demon.

I’ve had my FMCs suffer GSWs. I had one FMC die impaled on spikes (it was a Tomb Raider homage). One poor woman was the subject of an occult dissection spell (off-screen).

The men don’t fare much better. One was transfixed through the skull by a laser baton. One is - as far as I know - still being tortured in one of Lucy Morningstar’s deepest pits. Two have also had GSWs, one fatal. A few unfortunate Greek police had grisly endings.

As for beasts, one basilisk had a she-demon fly through its body brandishing a knife. Another was ripped in two psychically by an angel. Two Nephilim were unmanned during fellatio. This paragraph is all one story so far. Various mermen got fried. A Minotaur was electrocuted.

Not had any works rejected for violence as yet.

 

[RejectReality]

There's no fine line for non-sexual violence, and that line gets even broader in some categories like Sci-Fi&Fantasy, NonHuman, and particularly Erotic Horror.

As long as you're not getting overly gory and it's in no way sexual, most violence that serves the story is going to sail through.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have a question regarding the depiction of violence or bodily harm within pieces published on Literotica, and I was wondering how other writers handle it in their respective works. Specifically, I am writing a scene in which a character ends up losing their hand, and I wasn't sure whether that's permitted by the site or not.

Now, I've read the rules and have extrapolated that a certain degree of violence is permitted, so long as it isn't excessively gory nor written in a matter that is supposed to be titillating to the reader. The scene in which this character loses the hand doesn't have him look at the injury and purposefully avoids looking at it until a fade-to-black scene transition, wherein he has his injuries tended to and bandaged up. No blood, no gore; just general descriptions of pain.

By avoiding graphic description of both the injury and the removal of the hand, I think I'm adhereing to Literotica's guidelines, but I'm still somewhat uncertain, which brings me to my question; are non-graphic depictions of serious bodily harm permitted so long as they serve the plot, and if so, how have other writers handled such subjects in their works? Thank you in advance for your time.

As you have already mentioned, the context in which the violence is depicted makes the difference. I have several brutally violent scenes in stories on Lit, but here is a excerpt closest to what you alluded to your story including:

“Thud”

The sound reminded Hector Munoz of the fireworks exploding off in the distant sky over the Killington ski resort.

A gag shoved into his mouth and secured with a strap of some sort around his head muted the scream from Jordan Covault. The sound reminded him of that made when the ax hit the end of a log that had been placed onto the tree stump to be chopped. The ax was currently in the shed. He and Vince had finished chopping all the wood that they would need during the warmer summer months at their remote vacation retreat. Their rustic A-frame house was in a secluded forested area just south of Killington Peak.

Tears ran down his cheeks as Jordan’s eyes met those of his life partner and lover, Vince Covault. There was pain and fear in Vince’s eyes, but they held no recrimination toward Jason for the torture Vince was enduring. Breaking eye contact, Jason glanced to the ground at the still twitching left hand that had just been severed at the wrist by a machete. Tears and sweat glistened on Vince’s face, pooling in sections where they met the strap securing the gag in his mouth.

While the man holding the machete, blood dripping from the blade, stepped back from the stump, another man repositioned Vince’s kneeling body so that his right hand could be placed onto the tree stump. Hector leaned down to speak into Jason’s ear...

The victim subsequently loses another hand and eventually, his head. The story: