The Difficulty of Writing Difficult Scenes

Nine tips from professional editors and bestselling writers to tackle scenes with sensitive material.

- TONJA MATNEY REYNOLDS

Writing a novel is hard, but some scenes are far more difficult than others. The chapters that give me the most pause feature scenes that are likely to be triggering for readers, moments where a beloved character dies or is injured or has a mental break, when a child or animal is harmed, intentionally or not, or any kind of sexual assault. The list goes on. For me, the most challenging scenes to write involve a combination of physical violence and emotional trauma.

Thinking back to my favorite novels, the scenes I remember most vividly are the difficult ones. They hold the weight of the story. They are often pivotal to the plot and represent a climax or turning point. When done well, they resonate, speak a hard truth, and hold me captive despite the subject matter being outside my personal experience. The emotion I feel alongside the characters in these difficult scenes makes the book worth reading. Done poorly, though, and I'm certain to put the book down and never finish it.

The work involved in writing and revising these scenes is arduous, and the stakes are high. I tend to save these tough scenes for last, but the book isn't going to be finished until these scenes are written and polished and fit in with the rest of the novel in a way that is palatable for the reader.

As I approach revision of a particularly difficult scene in my novel-in-progress, I've been thinking about advice I received from Greg Michalson, an experienced editor I have had the opportunity to work with, and three writers I've workshopped with over the years: David Joy, Nancy Zafris, and Crystal Wilkinson. They each speak to different ways writers can effectively render violence and amped-up emotion on the page, and their work is instructive of how writers can deliver these critical scenes and also build up to them.

Increase the Narrative Distance