“Where is the one who killed me? I want my revenge!”
This evening after Thanksgiving dinner, some of my family and I settled down to watch The Hunger Games movie (which is kind of ironic, and not just because there’s a big metal structure in the arena called “the cornucopia”). All those in the room under the age of twenty had already seen the movie, while the adults–my dad and his wife, my uncle Tom and my aunt Tiina (and the “uncle” and “aunt” part is lowercase because I don’t call them “Aunt” or “Uncle” and they’re fine with that, for those of you wondering. And no, that’s not their real names)–had never seen this movie or read the books (except my dad’s wife Michelle, but she hasn’t read the second book yet). The younger generation loved the movie of course, and most of them screamed during the scary parts, even if they’d already seen the movie. The older generation though…they didn’t get the film. Tina and Tom asked several times, “What’s the point of this movie? Why do teens find it so appealing?”
Well, if you don’t get dystopia’s appeal to teens and young adults, then there’s just no reason to explain it to you. But I’m digressing from what I really wanted to talk about in this post, and that’s indicated by the title of it.
During the course of the movie, some people like myself could handle the blood, gore and violence, while others who will go nameless were screaming or covering their eyes everytime someone died. What does this say? Obviously, that some people are okay with the macabre and terrifying, while others do fine without it. And it’s important to know that sometimes, but not because you should tailor your writing to suit their tastes. Heavens no!
What it teaches us is that, with those close to us, we should know whether or not they like something or not before we recommend it to them. I know some people, people close to you, will buy or read your work because they love you and they want to make you happy, but if you know someone’s not a fan of this or that and you put it in your work, you should give them fair warning before they read it. Safe to say, I think when Reborn City comes out, I’ll recommend it to everyone above the age of 15 who reads fantastic fiction, while I’ll tell everyone to be prepared for nightmares and terror when Snake comes out. Only fair, right?
Speacking of which, how do you guys deal with fear and terror? Do you really go for it, or not so much?
Rami Ungar The Writer 