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No-no or taboo themes

M

malena2006

New Member
Are there still topics one shouldn’t attempt in fiction? Perhaps in certain genres? In a book I am reading, Writing Romance, the author asks a question: Can a successful romance deal with controversial issues? In theory, the answer is “Yes”, but she points out that some category publishers will not be friendly toward sensitive issues. What are those issues? Reviewing my plot I seem to tackle a couple of might-be-polemical subjects.
 
Just don't use the category publishers. I don't think anything is taboo anymore. Stil, you might get a bunch of hardcore nutters burning your nation's flag if your novel is called Muhammad In Love and put a great big picture of him on the cover.
 
I'm not sure what a successful love story shouldn't include, but I know there are examples of those with themes that might seem controversial, like abuse, suicide or even incest, and are successful.

The Pact, by Jodi Picoult, deals with depression and suicide, and even touches on child abuse, and does it successfully, I thought.

EDIT: Oh, how could I forget Lolita?
 
malena2006 said:
Are there still topics one shouldn’t attempt in fiction? Perhaps in certain genres? In a book I am reading, Writing Romance, the author asks a question: Can a successful romance deal with controversial issues? In theory, the answer is “Yes”, but she points out that some category publishers will not be friendly toward sensitive issues. What are those issues? Reviewing my plot I seem to tackle a couple of might-be-polemical subjects.
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I suppose it depends on the publisher but romance seems to have loosened up a lot in the last 20 years, what with the popularity of "I'm a single mom and he's a hunky cowboy' storylines. You probably are going to have problems if your heroine had an abortion or beats her cat, but otherwise, I doubt there's all that much that's forbidden these days.
 
henrietta said:
I suppose it depends on the publisher but romance seems to have loosened up a lot in the last 20 years, what with the popularity of "I'm a single mom and he's a hunky cowboy' storylines. You probably are going to have problems if your heroine had an abortion or beats her cat, but otherwise, I doubt there's all that much that's forbidden these days.
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I wouldn't say that artificial termination of pregnancy necessarily would ruin a story. Obviously, there are some Pro-Life activists who would disagree, but generally, I think it would be acceptable.
 
I'm sure there is no taboo against writing and publishing any kind of book you like, but there is always the potential to offend someone.

A "fiction"' about kids building bombs for installation in school lockers might be a good start.

Or you could rewrite the Christian story . . . Mary wasn't a virgin, Jesus had a brother, the Church covered up a load of inconvenient facts. You'd have, of course, The Da Vinci Code. Taboo? No. Are some people offended? You betcha.

What possible taboo can there be, given that Story of O was assigned reading in one of my college classes and a well-reviewed big seller last year was a memoir of a dancer's intriguing enjoyment of backdoor sex. Salman Rushdie's already gone down the offending-Islam road. Primary Colors was a thinly veiled fiction about a President with bastard babies by children. American Psycho is, what, a satirical look at violence against women? I can't think of any storyline that's taboo, but I'm offended by American Psycho.
 
steffee said:
I wouldn't say that artificial termination of pregnancy necessarily would ruin a story. Obviously, there are some Pro-Life activists who would disagree, but generally, I think it would be acceptable.
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Just in case there's a mistake here, I think abortion is a positive good. But I can't help thinking that it's going to be a stumbling block in the typical romance, which often ends these days with the heroine embracing her guy, who's having to be a bit careful about the hug since she's 8-1/2 months pregnant with some other guy's baby. I suppose it could fly, since there are several subgenres of romance, and they aren't all like this.
 
novella said:
American Psycho is, what, a satirical look at violence against women?
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No. A satirical look at a disturbed mind so exaggeratedly a product of 'the me decade' that he fantasises all sorts of perverted gratification - sartorial, sexual/violent, MOR music-oriented - rather than face up to his own slow death of the soul.
 
novella said:
... you could rewrite the Christian story...Jesus had a brother
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That's already in the bible, so Dan Brown can't really be credited for rewriting that one.

malena2006, if you are fairly certain that you will submit your book to a category publisher, would their guidelines address your concerns?
 
No taboo topics, only taboo writing...

I remember reading some interview with GP Taylor when he criticised Philip Pullman for his anti-religious themes, and implied that PP's books were thus somehow harmful.

Talk about a person throwing stones while living in a glass house. GP Taylor has to be one of the worst prose stylists and generally all-round abysmal writers of fiction I've ever come across. But he seems to think he is excused this woeful shortcoming because he writes about Christian themes.

Maybe the devil does have all the best tunes - and writers too.

Apologies to all fans of GP Taylor, by the way. But he is an awful user of English, notwithstanding.
 
I think there's always someone who will publish something, no matter how controversial. In fact, the more controversial, the better in some cases...look at The Jungle by Upton Sinclair! I'm sure that was controversial.
I know that if you write what some people call chick-lit, you won't be taken seriously by other writers all the time, but aside from that, I can't think of anything...
 
No, I am not writing category, but I thought...

Occlith said:
That's already in the bible, so Dan Brown can't really be credited for rewriting that one.

malena2006, if you are fairly certain that you will submit your book to a category publisher, would their guidelines address your concerns?
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If they had qualms about certain subjects, other publishers would do to.:eek:
 
Ooops! One of my themes could be considered incest

steffee said:
I'm not sure what a successful love story shouldn't include, but I know there are examples of those with themes that might seem controversial, like abuse, suicide or even incest, and are successful.

The Pact, by Jodi Picoult, deals with depression and suicide, and even touches on child abuse, and does it successfully, I thought.

EDIT: Oh, how could I forget Lolita?
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In certain countries/cultures uncle-niece marriage was/is permitted. In my novel, the protagonist marries her mother´s brother
 
Good luck with it Malena. It's usually the case where there is some element of controversy in the story, the book will be more successful. Who wants to read about a straightforward boy meets girl, boy marries girl, boy and girl have children etc ?
 
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