Kristen Gudsnuk

megan_rose
Probably because murder victims aren't around to see their ordeals portrayed so poorly all the time. Murder victims don't have PTSD. They won't read the story and experience their own murder a second time in their head.

Yeah, but people who have witnessed murder/had a family member murdered would have a likewise painful reaction to such a scene.

Exactly. Thank you.

Even with less extreme things, we just take their shallow portrayal for granted. Years ago, I had to give a statement to the cops after an armed robbery, and the poor girl who had been working the cash register was still crying hysterically hours later just because having a gun pointed at her scared her so much. To this day, I sometimes roll my eyes at the way movie characters react in the same situation. It scares the shit out of people when it really happens.

One of my "tentative future stories" for Bulletproof involves child abuse. I don't know if and when I'll ever get around to that one, but honestly, I'm not sure I would be able to pull it off right now if I tried. Me needs more writing experience to do this right.

I also have an unrevealed homosexual character, but I don't see that as a particularly controversial topic.

Yeah, death is worse. Realistically. Even most assault cases. ...if you can grade these things from better to worse.
But I mean I can't imagine some poor victim of a beating, permanently stuck in a wheelchair for life by their ordeal managing to gargle out past a their badly reconstructed jaw: "well, at least I wasn't raped".

How much of the fear, abhorrence, and shock at that subject is created by cultural artefacts, social construction, and taboos? Not to make light of or minimise the act or suffering involved, but perhaps those aspects of it need to be explored in a comic?

That said, I'm not about to do it. :)

My inability to treat murder lightly was my downfall as a writer. I love murder mysteries and I wanted to write them, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Once I developed some main characters and set about starting "mysteries," one of them was so profoundly affected by death (as people probably should be) that to keep her an objective "detective," I had to limit the mysteries to attempted homicide or crimes like theft or blackmail. The character witnesses the deaths of some seriously bad guys (who moments before were violently attacking her) and becomes inconsolable with grief and guilt.

Attempts by the main characters at preventing violence even against the meanest of villains has become an integral part of my story, but that's not the story I intended to write. I wanted to do murder mysteries. I love to read them, and I don't know why I can't write them. I created dozens of minor characters I intended to become victims of murder, but it never happened, and it resulted in a growing cast. People do die, but it is VERY infrequent and tends to reverberate throughout the story for a long time. It's never an event that is shrugged off or "gotten over." It kinda sucks that I write like that because I didn't want to. My main characters include assassins and serial killers. Frankly, I don't know how I get away with the low death rate, but if people died more often, the surviving characters would probably end up institutionalized from the grief and guilt. (Bunch of melo-dramatic wimps.)

usedbooks
My inability to treat murder lightly was my downfall as a writer. I love murder mysteries and I wanted to write them, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Once I developed some main characters and set about starting "mysteries," one of them was so profoundly affected by death (as people probably should be) that to keep her an objective "detective," I had to limit the mysteries to attempted homicide or crimes like theft or blackmail. The character witnesses the deaths of some seriously bad guys (who moments before were violently attacking her) and becomes inconsolable with grief and guilt.

Attempts by the main characters at preventing violence even against the meanest of villains has become an integral part of my story, but that's not the story I intended to write. I wanted to do murder mysteries. I love to read them, and I don't know why I can't write them. I created dozens of minor characters I intended to become victims of murder, but it never happened, and it resulted in a growing cast. People do die, but it is VERY infrequent and tends to reverberate throughout the story for a long time. It's never an event that is shrugged off or "gotten over." It kinda sucks that I write like that because I didn't want to. My main characters include assassins and serial killers. Frankly, I don't know how I get away with the low death rate, but if people died more often, the surviving characters would probably end up institutionalized from the grief and guilt. (Bunch of melo-dramatic wimps.)

I love murder mysteries as well; I'm always reading them and watching crime television, and now when ever I read/watch one I get a few ideas on how to kill someone off (which sounds cruel but...it is what it is). I think the key to dipicting a murder (at least for me) is knowing how much to show or whether to even show it at all (for example, I think it's okay to have someone get shot in the head, but do you *need* to show the bullet ripping through the brain tissues?! XD). Also, if I think the person who gets bumped off isn't even that important, I won't even show the murder at all. I've got tons of murders planned, but the importance of the character will determine how it's depicted.

And I don't think it's bad to not have someone die every few pages. I read a book that by the end, most of the cast was dead, and it just ripped away a lot of the charm the story could have potentially had. I mean, it *was* a work of fiction but so many people had died that it was ridiculous. XD

Nicotine
And I don't think it's bad to not have someone die every few pages. I read a book that by the end, most of the cast was dead, and it just ripped away a lot of the charm the story could have potentially had. I mean, it *was* a work of fiction but so many people had died that it was ridiculous. XD

Didn't you recently have to read my comic for the awards? I have to think it's related haha XD

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But I reverberate what others have said, whatever is needed for the story should occur as long as it's a NATURAL consequence. Death is only as potent as the lives left behind and the ties that remain. So if the characters that die have no strong characters to depict that loss then it loses emotion and is throw away fodder in the reader's minds.

Same with rape, it is only as strong as the reactions of the victim and family around them. Oh and of course the person(s) that set it in motion. Anything that can happen will happen at some point. So it's not impossible rape couldn't creep into my own comic. So far I don't intend to go that direction and the 1 time I thought I might I found a better way to portray what I wanted and the end results. It's not if you should or shouldn't put certain strong scenes in your comic. More like MUST you? If it is essential then do it.

Far far into the future I have one villain that will rape, but it won't be as taboo since this villain is female XD You have to love the irony. But it fits her character so well that I feel I MUST have her do this to show how off the norm she is. There are many other ways I show it, but her mentality about men is important to her future developments.

JustNoPoint

Nicotine
And I don't think it's bad to not have someone die every few pages. I read a book that by the end, most of the cast was dead, and it just ripped away a lot of the charm the story could have potentially had. I mean, it *was* a work of fiction but so many people had died that it was ridiculous. XD

Didn't you recently have to read my comic for the awards? I have to think it's related haha XD

lol, not at all; I quite liked your comic. I was talking about a horrid book I read a few years back. :D

usedbooks
My inability to treat murder lightly was my downfall as a writer. ... Once I developed some main characters and set about starting "mysteries," one of them was so profoundly affected by death (as people probably should be) that to keep her an objective "detective," I had to limit the mysteries to attempted homicide or crimes like theft or blackmail.

aww man, UB, that's not a DOWNFALL, that's a serious strength. To be able to handle complex thematic layers like guilt and the reality of death, while maintaining a mystery plotline, is an enviable skill. If you just had people dying, like, 'la di da' it wouldn't be adding much to the genre (since many mysteries handle death like that).

and Ozone, I agree about rape not being the worst thing that could happen to a person. I mean, it's terrible, but I think the stigmas and psychological effects are what make it so traumatic. I mean, it's scary because a. you might be pregnant (if you're a girl etc) and b. you'd most likely feel mistrustful of others for a long while, and are traumatized.
But victims of any sort of crime (like assault, abuse, etc) are likely to be traumatized.

SplicerParade
(And if the author does a story about how it's all the victim's fault because she wore a short skirt and had a few drinks with the rapist, I reserve the right to hunt said author down and beat 'em about the head with their own ignorant dickheadedness.)

I couldn’t agree more. I would never blame the victim. Having worked both in private security and on an African minibus taxi rank (a pretty hellish place) I've seen a number of horrific events. Sometimes the waste and darkness of it has made me want to cry or scream in frustration. In every situation when a person was sexually assaulted (whether the victim is male or female), their assailant is obviously to blame. Having come across so many of these scenes (and in some cases, being able to prevent them) has left me with an inability to sugar-coat things.

In Ministry 3, I wanted to show the reality of sexual assault, the dehumanizing horror of it (without sexualizing it or being explicit) and thus the scenes in which Chris is raped are contrasted with the scenes in which soldiers mutate painfully. It is pretty hardcore (the mutation) but than it’s aimed at a mature audience

Skullbie
So from skimming over it, you have a female soldier who's disguised herself as a boy being raped? I'd say that is a little touchy, even more so if she's the only female character in your comic.

Chris is one of the few female characters in Ministry, it's true. I worked in male -dominated field for years (in fact I was the only woman at the time to work on a taxi rank in the province) and I wanted a character that reflected that. Also, I hope people won't see Chris as a victim. I've come across that in some manga - the female warrior constantly being raped or abused for titillation. And the writer using the excuse that that would be realistic as she's the only female.

In a later issue, Chris is once again attacked by a would-be rapist but fights him off. This serves to show both her improvement at unarmed combat and development in character. She is one of my favorite characters because physically she is very much the under-dog (strength-wise, she can’t compete with the male soldiers and thus has to rely on her guts and brains) and she also overcomes many of her fears to emerge triumphant.


On a separate note, please forgive me if I haven’t put in the correct code to quote other and any codes come out looking a little strange. I’m still learning my way around the web site.

ministrybase
On a separate note, please forgive me if I haven’t put in the correct code to quote other and any codes come out looking a little strange. I’m still learning my way around the web site.

No worries, I fixed it. The only issues was that you had a bracket in the wrong place each time.

Click "quote" on the top right of someone's post and that will show you the way quotes are supposed to go :)

ozoneocean
No worries, I fixed it. The only issues was that you had a bracket in the wrong place each time.

Like this? Thanks for fixing it and helping me out. Much appreciated.

On a separtate note, here’s two pages from the controversial rape scene from Ministry #3. Keep in mind that these are only 2 pages so it’s not in the context of the entire story. Drunk Duckians, let me know what you think. I know I can trust you, even if you don’t like it, to be intelligent and polite. I do warn you that this is stuff for mature audiences only. If you’re over 18, click on the links and let me know what you think –

http://punisherfemme.deviantart.com/art/Controversial-Scene-part-1-137204457

http://punisherfemme.deviantart.com/art/Controversial-Scene-part-2-137204341