I highly recommend this essay by Jim C. Hines, just published over at Apex, about the perils and pitfalls writers may encounter if they choose to write about rape and other sexual violence in their fiction. It’s a thoughtful piece (not surprising given his experience as a rape counselor) and he dismantles a lot of tired old tropes, clichés, and myths about rape along the way.
He isn’t the first person to point this out–see also Karen Healey’s posts on her blog, Girls Read Comics and They’re Pissed, for a similar discussion about comics. I think his essay makes a useful contribution because it offers writers some ideas about how to write about sexual violence in a way that does not diminish, belittle, or sensationalize the experiences of those who have been through it. He also advises writers to stop and think about whether they are using rape as a shorthand plot device, to show how evil an antagonist is, or as a one-note motivation for a character (rape victim turns vigilante, for example).
You can find out more about Hines and his work here: www.jimchines.com
[...] commented on Jim C. Hines’ excellent essay about writing about rape in fiction (particularly speculative fiction) a couple of weeks ago. He impressed me then, but now [...]