With every crime novel that I write I have to decide how far I want to go with violence, to what extent horrible acts are inflicted upon the victim or victims. Usually I find it better to leave it to the imagination of the reader what exactly has happened than to delve into blood-curdling details.
One reader wrote to me on Instagram where I raised the question: “Both! Non-gory murder mysteries seem to me more emotionally intelligent in regards to the characters and their growth through the story line. And then I love gory books because they can be pretty spooky and I love giving myself a little fright now and then.”
This pretty much sums it up, don`t you think? In the manuscript that I have finished, I wanted to show more clearly and descriptive the consequences of violence for innocent people because this happens in real life way too often. I did not describe the murder itself but its marks and imprints at the crime scene. I did not want to or could not bear to be there while it happened in real time.
One of the downsides of gory is that you cannot ramp it up indefinitely. Like a person who is shouting all the time. One gets used to it and it doesn`t have the desired effect anymore.
What do you think about gory or non-gory?
