KN Magazine: Articles
Are We Desensitizing People to Evil? / Steven James
Humanity has contended with evil since the beginning of time. Violence serves as its proof. Look at the Bible, it is filled with heinous acts from Cain’s killing of Abel to the crucifixion of Jesus, and still we are fascinated and even drawn to these manifestations. In this week’s guest blog, author Steven James explores whether we as writers desensitize readers to evil, or are we in fact sensitizing them? It’s an incredible perspective and one I haven’t thought about before. You decide.
Until next time, read like someone is burning the books!
Clay Stafford,
Founder Killer Nashville,
Publisher Killer Nashville Magazine
Are We Desensitizing People to Evil?
By Steven James
Some people have asked if my novels, which most certainly contain violence, aren’t exacerbating the problem of evil in the world. In other words, am I desensitizing people even more to violence and perhaps even inciting it as people imitate what I write about?
I’ve thought about this a lot over the years as I’ve written my last ten suspense, crime and mystery novels.
First of all, I should say that I agree that our world is desensitized to violence. I believe this happens when evil is muted and sanitized (TV shows where people get shot, fall over, there’s no blood, no grief, no mourning), glamorized, or ignored.
So first, muting evil. Some books and television shows do this by diminishing the value of human life. A person will be killed and no one grieves. Cut to commercial. Come back and solve the crime. This isn’t real life. Death hurts because we are people of dignity and worth. Death matters because life matters.
But it isn’t just fiction that mutes or sanitizes evil. It also frequently happens in the media. Think of a news program: “A suicide bomber killed 62 in Iraq,” the television announcer rattles off as objectively as possible, and then moves on to the sports scores for the day.
When we hear that, do we weep? Do we mourn? No, because the horror of what’s happened is sanitized. Only when we see the screaming three-year-old children with shrapnel in their faces, the desperate widows, and the bodies in the street do we feel, do we recognize the impact of the violent, evil act.
Besides muting evil, some films, books and video games glamorize it. Think of a slasher movie: the most interesting person is the guy wielding the axe, slaughtering the teenagers on the campout. This desensitizes people to violence. And since we tend to emulate those we admire, I believe movies or books that glamorize or celebrate violence draw people toward it.
When I was writing my first thriller, The Pawn, I had a subplot that dealt with the Jonestown massacre in 1978 when Jim Jones and more than nine hundred of his followers killed themselves and each other.
While doing research I was able to talk with one of the three people still alive who had walked out of the compound that day and survived. He told me what it was like to have Jim Jones turn to him and say, “Would you do your son first?”
The man I was interviewing had a two-year-old boy there that day. That boy and his mother were both killed in the massacre.
And here’s what struck me: those men and women were no different from you or me—mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who wanted to create a better life for themselves who came to the point of believing that the most loving thing they could do was to squirt cyanide down the throats of their babies.
Even today as I think about that conversation, a chill runs down my spine.
So the driving question for me as I wrote the book became, “What makes me different from those who do the unthinkable?” It’s not an easy question, and there isn’t a wide margin that separates our hearts from theirs.
In my books I want people to look with both eyes open at what our world is like, both the good and the evil. The violence in my books isn’t senseless; people’s lives are treated as precious. I want my readers to hurt when an innocent life is taken. The only way to do that is to let them see it on the page and then reflect on its meaning.
I think that an effective way of dissuading someone from doing something is to make them see it as deeply disturbing. And the only way to make people disturbed by evil is to show it to them for what it really is.
That’s what well-written fiction can do.
We become more sensitized to violence when it’s portrayed with honesty.
And one of the best places to do that is in crime fiction.
Steven James is the bestselling author of nine novels that have received wide critical acclaim from Publishers Weekly, New York Journal of Books, RT Book Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal and many others. He has won three Christy Awards for best suspense and was a finalist for an International Thriller Award for best original paperback. His psychological thriller The Bishop was named Suspense Magazine’s book of the year. He is also a contributing editor for Writer’s Digest and has taught writing and storytelling principles around the world. Publishers Weekly calls James “[A] master storyteller at the peak of his game.” Visit his website at stevenjames.net
Submit to our blog! (Have an idea for our blog? Then share it with our Killer Nashville family. With over 24,000 visits monthly to the Killer Nashville website, over 300,000 reached through social media, and a potential outreach of over 22 million per press release, Killer Nashville provides another way for you to reach more people with your message. Send a query to contact@killernashville.com or call us at 615-599-4032. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Maria Giordano, Will Chessor and author Tom Wood for his volunteer assistance in coordinating our weekly blogs. For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com or www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com)
Are We Desensitizing People to Evil? / Steven James
Humanity has contended with evil since the beginning of time. Violence serves as its proof. Look at the Bible, it is filled with heinous acts from Cain’s killing of Abel to the crucifixion of Jesus, and still we are fascinated and even drawn to these manifestations. In this week’s guest blog, author Steven James explores whether we as writers desensitize readers to evil, or are we in fact sensitizing them? It’s an incredible perspective and one I haven’t thought about before. You decide.Until next time, read like someone is burning the books!
Clay Stafford,Founder Killer Nashville,Publisher Killer Nashville Magazine
Are We Desensitizing People to Evil?By Steven JamesSome people have asked if my novels, which most certainly contain violence, aren’t exacerbating the problem of evil in the world. In other words, am I desensitizing people even more to violence and perhaps even inciting it as people imitate what I write about?I’ve thought about this a lot over the years as I’ve written my last ten suspense, crime and mystery novels.First of all, I should say that I agree that our world is desensitized to violence. I believe this happens when evil is muted and sanitized (TV shows where people get shot, fall over, there’s no blood, no grief, no mourning), glamorized, or ignored.So first, muting evil. Some books and television shows do this by diminishing the value of human life. A person will be killed and no one grieves. Cut to commercial. Come back and solve the crime. This isn’t real life. Death hurts because we are people of dignity and worth. Death matters because life matters.But it isn’t just fiction that mutes or sanitizes evil. It also frequently happens in the media. Think of a news program: “A suicide bomber killed 62 in Iraq,” the television announcer rattles off as objectively as possible, and then moves on to the sports scores for the day.When we hear that, do we weep? Do we mourn? No, because the horror of what’s happened is sanitized. Only when we see the screaming three-year-old children with shrapnel in their faces, the desperate widows, and the bodies in the street do we feel, do we recognize the impact of the violent, evil act.Besides muting evil, some films, books and video games glamorize it. Think of a slasher movie: the most interesting person is the guy wielding the axe, slaughtering the teenagers on the campout. This desensitizes people to violence. And since we tend to emulate those we admire, I believe movies or books that glamorize or celebrate violence draw people toward it.When I was writing my first thriller, The Pawn, I had a subplot that dealt with the Jonestown massacre in 1978 when Jim Jones and more than nine hundred of his followers killed themselves and each other.While doing research I was able to talk with one of the three people still alive who had walked out of the compound that day and survived. He told me what it was like to have Jim Jones turn to him and say, “Would you do your son first?”The man I was interviewing had a two-year-old boy there that day. That boy and his mother were both killed in the massacre.And here’s what struck me: those men and women were no different from you or me—mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who wanted to create a better life for themselves who came to the point of believing that the most loving thing they could do was to squirt cyanide down the throats of their babies.
Even today as I think about that conversation, a chill runs down my spine.So the driving question for me as I wrote the book became, “What makes me different from those who do the unthinkable?” It’s not an easy question, and there isn’t a wide margin that separates our hearts from theirs.In my books I want people to look with both eyes open at what our world is like, both the good and the evil. The violence in my books isn’t senseless; people’s lives are treated as precious. I want my readers to hurt when an innocent life is taken. The only way to do that is to let them see it on the page and then reflect on its meaning.I think that an effective way of dissuading someone from doing something is to make them see it as deeply disturbing. And the only way to make people disturbed by evil is to show it to them for what it really is.That’s what well-written fiction can do.We become more sensitized to violence when it’s portrayed with honesty.And one of the best places to do that is in crime fiction.
Steven James is the bestselling author of nine novels that have received wide critical acclaim from Publishers Weekly, New York Journal of Books, RT Book Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal and many others. He has won three Christy Awards for best suspense and was a finalist for an International Thriller Award for best original paperback. His psychological thriller The Bishop was named Suspense Magazine’s book of the year. He is also a contributing editor for Writer's Digest and has taught writing and storytelling principles around the world. Publishers Weekly calls James “[A] master storyteller at the peak of his game.” Visit his website at stevenjames.net
Submit to our blog! (Have an idea for our blog? Then share it with our Killer Nashville family. With over 24,000 visits monthly to the Killer Nashville website, over 300,000 reached through social media, and a potential outreach of over 22 million per press release, Killer Nashville provides another way for you to reach more people with your message. Send a query to contact@killernashville.com or call us at 615-599-4032. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Maria Giordano, Will Chessor and author Tom Wood for his volunteer assistance in coordinating our weekly blogs. For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com or www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com)
Are We Desensitizing People to Evil? / Steven James
Humanity has contended with evil since the beginning of time. Violence serves as its proof. Look at the Bible, it is filled with heinous acts from Cain’s killing of Abel to the crucifixion of Jesus, and still we are fascinated and even drawn to these manifestations. In this week’s guest blog, author Steven James explores whether we as writers desensitize readers to evil, or are we in fact sensitizing them? It’s an incredible perspective and one I haven’t thought about before. You decide.Until next time, read like someone is burning the books!
Clay Stafford,Founder Killer Nashville,Publisher Killer Nashville Magazine
Are We Desensitizing People to Evil?By Steven JamesSome people have asked if my novels, which most certainly contain violence, aren’t exacerbating the problem of evil in the world. In other words, am I desensitizing people even more to violence and perhaps even inciting it as people imitate what I write about?I’ve thought about this a lot over the years as I’ve written my last ten suspense, crime and mystery novels.First of all, I should say that I agree that our world is desensitized to violence. I believe this happens when evil is muted and sanitized (TV shows where people get shot, fall over, there’s no blood, no grief, no mourning), glamorized, or ignored.So first, muting evil. Some books and television shows do this by diminishing the value of human life. A person will be killed and no one grieves. Cut to commercial. Come back and solve the crime. This isn’t real life. Death hurts because we are people of dignity and worth. Death matters because life matters.But it isn’t just fiction that mutes or sanitizes evil. It also frequently happens in the media. Think of a news program: “A suicide bomber killed 62 in Iraq,” the television announcer rattles off as objectively as possible, and then moves on to the sports scores for the day.When we hear that, do we weep? Do we mourn? No, because the horror of what’s happened is sanitized. Only when we see the screaming three-year-old children with shrapnel in their faces, the desperate widows, and the bodies in the street do we feel, do we recognize the impact of the violent, evil act.Besides muting evil, some films, books and video games glamorize it. Think of a slasher movie: the most interesting person is the guy wielding the axe, slaughtering the teenagers on the campout. This desensitizes people to violence. And since we tend to emulate those we admire, I believe movies or books that glamorize or celebrate violence draw people toward it.When I was writing my first thriller, The Pawn, I had a subplot that dealt with the Jonestown massacre in 1978 when Jim Jones and more than nine hundred of his followers killed themselves and each other.While doing research I was able to talk with one of the three people still alive who had walked out of the compound that day and survived. He told me what it was like to have Jim Jones turn to him and say, “Would you do your son first?”The man I was interviewing had a two-year-old boy there that day. That boy and his mother were both killed in the massacre.And here’s what struck me: those men and women were no different from you or me—mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters who wanted to create a better life for themselves who came to the point of believing that the most loving thing they could do was to squirt cyanide down the throats of their babies.
Even today as I think about that conversation, a chill runs down my spine.So the driving question for me as I wrote the book became, “What makes me different from those who do the unthinkable?” It’s not an easy question, and there isn’t a wide margin that separates our hearts from theirs.In my books I want people to look with both eyes open at what our world is like, both the good and the evil. The violence in my books isn’t senseless; people’s lives are treated as precious. I want my readers to hurt when an innocent life is taken. The only way to do that is to let them see it on the page and then reflect on its meaning.I think that an effective way of dissuading someone from doing something is to make them see it as deeply disturbing. And the only way to make people disturbed by evil is to show it to them for what it really is.That’s what well-written fiction can do.We become more sensitized to violence when it’s portrayed with honesty.And one of the best places to do that is in crime fiction.
Steven James is the bestselling author of nine novels that have received wide critical acclaim from Publishers Weekly, New York Journal of Books, RT Book Reviews, Booklist, Library Journal and many others. He has won three Christy Awards for best suspense and was a finalist for an International Thriller Award for best original paperback. His psychological thriller The Bishop was named Suspense Magazine’s book of the year. He is also a contributing editor for Writer's Digest and has taught writing and storytelling principles around the world. Publishers Weekly calls James “[A] master storyteller at the peak of his game.” Visit his website at stevenjames.net
Submit to our blog! (Have an idea for our blog? Then share it with our Killer Nashville family. With over 24,000 visits monthly to the Killer Nashville website, over 300,000 reached through social media, and a potential outreach of over 22 million per press release, Killer Nashville provides another way for you to reach more people with your message. Send a query to contact@killernashville.com or call us at 615-599-4032. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Maria Giordano, Will Chessor and author Tom Wood for his volunteer assistance in coordinating our weekly blogs. For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com or www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com)
Writing a Cozy? Follow the Rules … And Mind Your Language / Author Penny Clover Petersen
Nancy Drew never cursed. She was always under duress in one manner or another, but she never let, even the occasional expletive, spill from her titian-colored head. In this week’s guest blog, author Penny Clover Petersen discusses what makes a cozy mystery, and the ongoing debate about the use of bad words.
Read like they are burning books!
Clay Stafford,
Founder Killer Nashville,
Publisher Killer Nashville Magazine
Writing a Cozy? Follow the Rules … And Mind Your Language
By Penny Clover Petersen
I began my first novel when I was fifty-nine. Being an avid mystery lover, I had spent most of those fifty-nine years inventing puzzling scenarios for the most trivial occurrences and envisioning dark motives behind the most benign actions. Cookies for a teacher? They are no doubt laced with something in order to avoid the afternoon’s math test. A package delivered late? You know the mailman is up to something, but what?
Poison pen letters, tripping over bodies lying by the side of the road, murder, mayhem, blackmail, all of these fascinating ideas rolling around in my head had me wondering if I were to write a mystery, what would I write?
When the mood finally moved me to get to work I took to heart the adage “write what you know” and figured that I know family, cats and dogs, suburban living, and cozy mysteries. So I determined that a cozy mystery involving two sisters, a goofy mother, and a hormonally challenged dog was something I could achieve.
Now, writing cozies is a bit tricky. The rules are pretty well defined. The first two are actually almost carved in stone and I think that we must adhere to them if we want to call a mystery a cozy.
Number one is all violence will be off-stage. Cozy writers do not depict grizzly murders. Autopsies are avoided. We don’t have psychotic killers torturing hapless victims in gruesome detail. As with many cozy writers, my victims tend to be obnoxious people that no one much likes who are conked on the head and found by the side of the road.
Number two is, of course, sex. That, too, must be off-stage. There are no steamy love scenes, no kinky aberrations. If sex enters into the plot, it generally is glossed over with only the incidental reference to “incredibly tall, slim men with well-cut graying hair and eyes the color of smoky quartz under wire-rimmed glasses.” Perhaps adding “kind of bookish and sexy — quite the studly muffin.” If the studly muffin and the leading lady ever do get together, it is definitely behind closed doors!
Number three concerns foul language. Agatha Christie, the mother of the cozy, did not use any off-color language in her books. But neither did anyone else writing at that time. It wasn’t a part of the culture.
Today, I think this is one rule that can be tinkered with. I have spoken with a number of cozy writers and this is a stumbling block for many of us. We want our characters to be somewhat real and the use of “language” in society has certainly become looser. For instance, my own everyday speech is not chockfull of colorful invective, but I do occasionally throw out a word or two my mother would not approve.
So what is acceptable in a cozy written in 2015? Of the writers to whom I have spoken, many have main characters that use the S-word. Many feel a leading lady is allowed to say, “Oh Christ!” or the like. Damn, hell, and variations seem to be acceptable these days.
But what of, as they say, the F-bomb? Now I don’t advocate throwing it around like confetti, but I do feel there are appropriate times that it might be used. As my children could tell you, if they heard me scream f….., they would most certainly know that I am really, really mad or have gone completely around the bend. And I feel the same holds true in a cozy. A crazed killer saying, “Oh gosh, I think I have to kill you now,” does not have the dramatic effect as something much more strongly worded.
A friend and fellow author, Austin Camacho, suggests leaving the cursing to the peripheral characters — the crazies, the villains — and keeping the leading ladies ‘cozy’. I tend to agree with this point of view. But I think purists probably wouldn’t. And so the question is, just how much is too much — and is it still a cozy?
If you would like to read more about Penny Clover Petersen’s books please click here.
Penny Clover Petersen’s first Daisy&Rose mystery, Roses and Daisies and Death, Oh My was released in December 2013 by Intrigue Publishing. In addition to writing, Penny enjoys spending time with her family, refurbishing old furniture, collecting stories and recipes for the ‘family cookbook’, and savoring new cocktail recipes. She loves historic homes and is a docent at Riversdale Mansion in Riverdale, MD. Her second novel, Roses Are Dead, My Love, will be released April 2015. Penny is currently at work on her third Daisy&Rose mystery. Visit her website at http://pennypetersen.com/
(Have an idea for our blog? Then share it with our Killer Nashville family. With over 24,000 visits monthly to the Killer Nashville website, over 300,000 reached through social media, and a potential outreach of over 22 million per press release, Killer Nashville provides another way for you to reach more people with your message. Send a query to contact@killernashville.com or call us at 615-599-4032. We’d love to hear from you. Thanks to Maria Giordano, Will Chessor and author Tom Wood for his volunteer assistance in coordinating our weekly blogs. For more writer resources, visit us at www.KillerNashville.com or www.KillerNashvilleMagazine.com)
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