While cruising through the huge variety of stories online, chances are that you will inevitably come across some that deal with a subject matter that is, to put it lightly....'disturbing'.

It's not meant to be a horror movie, or something just done for 'shock value'...it's someone's expression. Either from personal experience, or based on a situation that they feel needs to be talked about. So it can be a hard story to write, and a hard story to read. It can be a difficult balance to keep, trying to take something so terrible and make it so someone will want to read through it, hoping for a better outcome. These issues can range from heartbreak, rejection, public humiliation, and depression...to themes like rape, abuse, death of a parent or loved one, and suicide. It's not a path that can be navigated easily.

This week's question is...how does an author find a way to meet the challenge of dealing with difficult subjects? You don't want to turn a
reader off, or make the story so dismal that it becomes unenjoyable, but you do want to present it with a certain level of realism, right? So where is that balance? How do you keep the story going when the issues involved are so incredibly miserable?

Also, have you read any stories that you think might have gotten the balance wrong? Where it was so depressing that you just didn't want to read any further? No need to name the story, just tell us what made you back away from it altogether. What was it that caused you to throw up your hands and say, "Ok! That's enough! I'm done torturing myself with this story"? Let us know!

There are, to me, two factors in this topic: the reader's reaction and the writer's reaction.

As a writer, I try to avoid these types of situations as much as I can. I will either write about them obliquely (eg. Secrets is about a suicide, but it is completely after the event -- the suicide itself is only ever referred to historically) or I will include a warning to the reader about the topic appearing in the story. One of my fears as an author would be to write a story about a suicide, and then have someone try to implement what I wrote....

Just like with sex scenes, it is possible to set up a situation and cut it short -- leaving it to the reader's imagination to complete the picture. That is the way I would address those situations where being too descriptive is undesirable. The other thing is to make sure the 'disturbing' content is resolved one way or another. Even if it is not resolved positively, I would try to leave some positive notes.

Having said that, I don't always follow my own advice. Bad news is not a great example, but it doesn't end in any positives. In my defence, though, that story was written to try to make the reader think about a situation that they may not have thought of before.

As a reader, I've started reading some tough stories. What I find 'disturbing' is a personal thing -- I don't find disturbing some things that others do, and vice versa. In one memorable case, I read the first chapter of a story that appeared to be about pedophilia... and stopped. I knew the author and I knew how good they are. The first chapter, which was only introducing the situation, disturbed me enough -- I couldn't bring myself to read past that point. I stopped on another story on child abuse because it was serialised -- I wanted a happy ending, but I didn't know when that was going to happen (if it happened at all), and I couldn't torture myself indefinitely.

Without the difficult subjects what are we left with? Dishwater? Cottage cheese? Tofu? <feel free to insert the bland and the tasteless here>

The blood drawn from the jagged edges of those difficult subjects is the very engine that drives drama and dramatic situations. Without drama and conflict, how can our heroes be heroic? How can our passion be passionate?

For generations the shaman/minstrel/bard/storyteller have been telling tales and sagas of heroism. Who would Beowulf be without Grendel? Would we remember Sherlock Holmes were it not for his nemesis Dr. Morority? Wouldn't The Heart of Darkness just another long boat ride without the mind-numbing monotony of that slow running river in the jungle?

Those difficult subjects merely define the stakes of the game and give the reader an emotional investment in the plot- one which the reader may or may NOT be willing to ante up for.