The limit of violent depiction in stories

[Pete69USE]

So i have been writing a story but i have some concerns about the amount of violence i can depict in it. the story starts as a revenge story but the MC does start to enjoy his sadistic side and begins to terrorize his enemies with some very graphic bit of torture though the characters are the scum rapists criminal types i would like to know the hard limit on violence if anyone can clarify if any author has the experience help would be appreciated.

 

[Bramblethorn]

There isn't a simple rule we can tell you. Some violence is accepted, some is not, the exact cutoff is subjective. Your best bet might be to PM Laurel, the site moderator, and run your concept by her to check whether it's likely to be accepted here.

 

[KeithD]

There is no hard limit to give, especially by other users of the site. There is one submissions editor. She determines on a given day faced with a specific story file what is acceptable and what isn't. Board discussions that have ensued on what's gotten accepted and what's gotten rejected pretty much show there's no hard limit to provide up front--especially by anyone but Laurel.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I wrote a revenge murder by evisceration that was pretty graphic but not gratuitous, it got through. Sexual content, nil.

Separate your death from your sex by several hundred words, and the only bad taste you get in your mouth is your own, thinking, "Am I a sick ticket, writing this shit?"

The answer, of course, is probably, especially if you go on too long with the detail .

 

[BiscuitHammer]

Some types are perfectly acceptable in the context of a story. My series The Great Khan features large battles with huge amounts of blood, gore, and violence, and I've described settlements getting pillaged and razed, the inhabitants slaughtered. I think chances are that the closer you get to the torture of an immobilized and helpless individual is where you're likely to see some pushback, since it COULD be construed as catering to the 'snuff' fetish that Lit proscribes.

Even then, things have gotten through, but the more graphic you get, the more intense the scrutiny. and even if it gets through, you might trigger some reader who decides to whine about it.

 

[Winter_Fare]

So i have been writing a story but i have some concerns about the amount of violence i can depict in it. the story starts as a revenge story but the MC does start to enjoy his sadistic side and begins to terrorize his enemies with some very graphic bit of torture though the characters are the scum rapists criminal types i would like to know the hard limit on violence if anyone can clarify if any author has the experience help would be appreciated.

The hard limit seems to be murder during the sex act, labeled in feedback as "snuff", and sex acts that end in severe injury or death. I've bumped into this limit unintentionally.
I had my kind of sweet little short story where on reflection, a terminally woman was fucked to death by fairies rejected, it needed a big edit before publication.
I minced a couple of baddies into pieces and resurrected them as bug creatures before they ate each other, passed with no changes needed.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The hard limit seems to be murder during the sex act, labeled in feedback as "snuff", and sex acts that end in severe injury or death. I've bumped into this limit unintentionally.

Though Erotic Horror is somewhat flexible on this.

 

[SimonDoom]

Though Erotic Horror is somewhat flexible on this.

This is my impression as well. I hope so, because I have a first draft done of an erotic horror story I plan to submit for the Halloween contest, and it culminates in a ritual murder scene with erotic elements. But I refrain from presenting the murder itself as something that is arousing or erotic, and I think it should fly on that ground. I'll try it.

 

[Winter_Fare]

You'd think so, but "Eulogy for an Eco Funeral", the one that got rejected first, is in "horror". "Feed me harder Ch. 6", the one that got through first time, is in "non human".

 

[PennameWombat]

I had terrorists murder a number of tourists at Stonehenge, it was described but from the POV of one of my MCs (Tracy) who witnessed it, who had no idea how they‘d done it (via nanomachines). There was no sex anywhere close to that. My other MC in that story, my ‘energy vampire’ Asha, did absorb the consciousness of a couple of those terrorists in that story and a gang leader in another story. It’s not sexual, it’s more vampiric, but she WILL seduce people and will take bits of their consciousness, but not drain them like these. In the cases of the terrorists and gangster, she left them in persistent vegetative states. These are (not surprisingly) in NonHuman.

Another story had attempted human sacrifice, the cult leader had his knife at the throat of his intended victim, before it was interrupted (which led to a church burning down, many deaths in the fire and collapse of the building, people being attacked with knives, clubbed, and electrocuted to death.) This was close to sex, the cult had a man and woman who had just fucked and the plan was to sacrifice them at the moment the man climaxed. But another couple who’d discovered the scene interrupted them.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Several acts of violence in my first story, including the purposeful blinding of enemy combatants and Russian mafia members.

A federal agent dies after a brutal rape, and several other violent acts are detailed in "Heavy Traffic"

In my story, "Searching", the actions that prevent a mass shooting are detailed, as well as other violent acts such as the forceful chemical castration of several men.

None of my violent scenes have ever been rejected, so I assume that the reviewer(s) take the context of the scenes relative to the entire story into consideration.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Unless the actor/killer enjoys or get sexual satisfaction from the act of killing someone, you and kill off every character if you want. They can all die violent, horrible deaths and no one will blink an eye. Well, there are the readers. At the end of one of mine, I kill off the two MCs via a rocket grenade by the sister of the drug king pin who the couple were instrumental in his being captured. The readers did not enjoy that part.

I have also killed thousands of people in a series I wrote, but it was an interstellar war.

 

[MrPixel]

Well, I've run into my own experience with the inconsistency of the "violence" standard. I had a story where the closing scene of an otherwise sweet and sexy story line was pillow talk between the protagonist and his wife where he was lovingly informed he was allowed to keep his jewels after she and her boyfriend were planning to... well... you know... during their routine BDSM CBT play. He was blasé about it.

No actual violence occurred, just the mention of it being averted. It was rejected.

 

[StrangeLife]

It may depend on category too.

For instance I assume that there is a higher tolerance for explicit violence in "Erotic Horror" compared to something like "Romance." Not just in the approval process, but also among the readers. In the latter example brutally massacring Prince Charming will likely not earn you a very high rating.

 

[dmallord]

It may depend on category too.

For instance I assume that there is a higher tolerance for explicit violence in "Erotic Horror" compared to something like "Romance." Not just in the approval process, but also among the readers. In the latter example brutally massacring Prince Charming will likely not earn you a very high rating.

Yep! I can attest to that. My noir story in incest and taboo had that happen. - spoiler alert - I killed off two main characters by the hand of their child, leaving him mentally disturbed and institutionalized. Readers really took that poorly and let me know via PM, comments, and scores!

 

[lovecraft68]

A federal agent dies after a brutal rape, and several other violent acts are detailed in "Heavy Traffic"

But...but....literotica doesn't allow rape! The victim has to enjoy it...did she enjoy her death?

Not picking on you, its your story, just mocking the site's fake rape rule.

Yep! I can attest to that. My noir story in incest and taboo had that happen. - spoiler alert - I killed off two main characters by the hand of their child, leaving him mentally disturbed and institutionalized. Readers really took that poorly and let me know via PM, comments, and scores!

Yeah, for what would be considered an extreme kink, the taboo crowd likes things light and fun. I caught shit for rough-but consensual-bdsm sex in my first taboo story here.

 

[lovecraft68]

It may depend on category too.

For instance I assume that there is a higher tolerance for explicit violence in "Erotic Horror" compared to something like "Romance." Not just in the approval process, but also among the readers. In the latter example brutally massacring Prince Charming will likely not earn you a very high rating.

I had two stories in EH, both pulled a few years ago to be added to and published for sale, and both were extremely violent, but there was no issue getting them through.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Well, I've run into my own experience with the inconsistency of the "violence" standard. I had a story where the closing scene of an otherwise sweet and sexy story line was pillow talk between the protagonist and his wife where he was lovingly informed he was allowed to keep his jewels after she and her boyfriend were planning to... well... you know... during their routine BDSM CBT play. He was blasé about it.

No actual violence occurred, just the mention of it being averted. It was rejected.

The mention was all it takes - the suggestion of extreme violence in a sexual context

 

[RejectReality]

Sexual violence has a completely different standard than other violence. Sexual violence is where most of these rejections come from. Sexual violence is going to include any act such as penetration, mutilation of the genitals, etc. It doesn't have to be violence during a sex scene. Violence simulating a sex act or directed at the breasts/genitals is going to be enough to put it in this category.

Beyond that, a story set in a real world setting will offer less leeway than one set in an obvious fantasy setting. The more you could imagine it showing up on the real evening news, the more difficult it will be to survive vetting. Getting your face ripped off by a werewolf vs. slashed by a nutjob with a machete. Getting your arm cut off by the flaming sword of Hamdinger the Barbarian vs. getting your arm shoved into machinery and ripped off.

As has been mentioned, there's a different bar for Erotic Horror as well. More is allowed there than even in other fantasy categories. There is a bar, however. For instance, a vampire could drain their victim of blood and kill them during a sex act. Slashing the breasts with claws to obtain that blood would likely end up in the rejection pile.

What I expect you might run afoul of is that revenge vs. rapists often purposely goes down the road of inflicting on them what they've inflicted on others in the most brutal, painful, and anguishing way possible. You might get away with cutting off fingers. Testicles, not so much. You might get away with stabbing them. Shoving an eight inch steel dildo up their ass, no so much.

The more real world and sexual it is, the less likely it will pass.

 

[Bramblethorn]

As has been mentioned, there's a different bar for Erotic Horror as well. More is allowed there than even in other fantasy categories. There is a bar, however. For instance, a vampire could drain their victim of blood and kill them during a sex act. Slashing the breasts with claws to obtain that blood would likely end up in the rejection pile.

I had one (Text with Audio, flagged as de facto Erotic Horror) where the victim was flayed alive during sex, and that went through. OTOH, it was one line rather than a graphic description, and presented tongue-in-cheek, which may have made a difference.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I’ve written violent, to-the-death brawls without sex and a rape victim crushing the rapist’s testicles in revenge (one quick phrase and in EH). I think the hard line is erotic death, death involving some form of eroticism.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

But...but....literotica doesn't allow rape! The victim has to enjoy it...did she enjoy her death?

Not picking on you, its your story, just mocking the site's fake rape rule.

Yeah, for what would be considered an extreme kink, the taboo crowd likes things light and fun. I caught shit for rough-but consensual-bdsm sex in my first taboo story here.

I don't want to bring more attention to it, but it was just a couple of paragraphs in a twenty chapter story. There were several brutal scenes, but no others involving sex.