Violence

I get asked sometimes about the violence in my writing.  My mother came to terms long ago I think with the fact that although much of what she read was disturbing it didn’t seem to be some kind of early warning that one day she would open the newspaper to discover I had been found inside my home with a vast collection of human uvulas.  At least a couple of people who test read for me do look at me like they wonder sometimes though, and sometimes I catch them peeking into cupboards and whatnot looking, I think, for a stray uvula.  My wife in particular provides excellent feedback that is frankly on par with what I’ve in some cases paid for but I know parts of it rub her the wrong way.  She is dutifully reading through Apple even though I know it’s absolutely not her bag and It got me thinking about the nature of violence in writing and my writing in particular.

Some would say (and have) that it’s a cheap device but I disagree.  In my view a person’s actions really do speak louder than their words and their actions when thrust into a dangerous situation can say even more about them.  Stories thrive on conflict and there are all different kinds of conflict both internal and external, but at the end of the day there is none more fundamental than physical violence.

Do you use violence in your writing?  How do you use it?  Do guests poke around in your sock drawer, looking for human remains?