Murder a dude, get made untouchable. God seems a little conflicted on this one.
Murder or attempted murder is a fucking awesome plot element.
Attempted murder can place a character in jeopardy where the readers’ care about what happens, without necessarily taking the character out of the story. It’s a threat with implications, but not as final as death itself. It forces the character into a life-or-death situation that tests their mettle.
Murder can have interesting knock-on effects on a character’s relationships and their relationships with each other. If a character murders how do the character’s friends and family react? Who do they confide in – if anyone? Can you use this as a springboard to explore legal procedure and policing in your setting? What if nobody cared about who was murdered? What if it’s a frame up?
If you lose someone close to you how hard is it for the character to endure that? What’s the effect of the act on the murderer, the relatives of the victim, the witnesses? Why did the murder happen? Can murder ever be legitimate? Can someone ever deserve it? Who decides that? Do the forces of law and order turn a blind eye?
How does the event change the people involved? Is the murderer remorseful? Does the victim become transformed by their death into a secular saint despite their character flaws? Is there an afterlife in the world of your book? Is the ghost vengeful? Can it do anything more than simply observe?
There’s not a great deal of media in which death doesn’t occur. A body presents an intriguing puzzle for a detective. A hero in an action franchise litters the ground behind him with corpses. Science Fiction and Fantasy often include wars, battles, fights because they’re exciting and get the blood pumping. Who hasn’t imagined having gun triggers on the steering wheel of their car?
There’s more, but I think that amply shows that it needn’t be lazy writing and as story material it goes right the way back to the oldest human myths. It’s a story-making tool that should be available to you as a storyteller, great or small. Whole genres of popular TV show and book hang upon murder. What about Cluedo as a game as well? What about Risk?
So, part two.
Does the existence of murder stories, even as a cheap jab to get someone’s emotions involved, somehow trivialise or normalise killing?
Hopefully by this point most of you are nodding along and going ‘I see what you did there…’ and let’s hope to fuck you actually do. If you reacted that badly to the previous article without thinking, just because it had a hot-button word for you then you’re really no different to someone who calls GTA a ”Murder simulator’.
Grow up.
This is a follow up article to THIS.
Grim's Tales 
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In Defence of Rape: 103 Responses
In Defence of Murder: 2 Responses
WELP
Your heart just wasn’t in this one. No “murder is a fucking killer plot element” hohoho pun.
Point made, nonetheless, I think.
I do think rape, murder, and attempted murder *can* be excellent plot points when used thoughtfully, and especially when exploring them in the ways you outline in both of these articles.
One use of murder as a plot point that many women (and I’m guessing plenty of men as well) find very irritating is the overuse of murder of the hero’s wife or girlfriend as his motivating force. This is another use of violence against women that is overdone and usually seems not very creative on the part of the author. However, I’m sure there are many instances where it IS done well, just as there are many where rape is depicted well and thoughtfully. Perhaps there is a bit more equality with this trope–I believe I recall more scenes of a male hero being motivated by the killing of a male buddy than of, say, the rape of a man being a motivating force in his becoming a hero.
I’m with the folks who would like to see somewhat fewer rape scenes in general, would like to advocate that authors put some good thought into them if they are not doing so already, and would like to see authors consider if rape is really the best and most creative way to achieve what they need to achieve (as well it might be), but who do think there are plenty of cases where rape is well done and important to the story.
You’re right. Often, when people write about murder, readers complain it’s “slasher fiction” meant to shock, but it’s not like people can be shocked so easily anymore so murder shows the vulnerabilities and moral capabilities of both the almost-murdered and murderer. It is an awesome plot device, despite being terrible in real life.
[…] I’ve tried and failed to find out what prompted James Desborough1 to write a blog post called “In Defence of Rape“. Given the timing I can only think it’s a response to the high profile Lara Croft controversy. But unfortunately he doesn’t preface his post with any reason – his diatribe appears to come from nowhere, and given that he’s the author of such misogynistic-sounding books as Sex, Dice and Gamer Chicks it’s hardly surprising that some people didn’t take the message quite as he intended it. […]