Violence in Books

Someone asked me why my books carry an edge of violence. I’m a mild-mannered person, to put it lightly. I’m the type that will carry a spider outside so I don’t have to kill it (unless of course it’s in my kids’ room, then it’s dead as an example to other spiders who might have it in their mind to invade). I have never gone hunting, nor have I ever killed an animal on purpose (I used to cut hay on the farm. Who knows how many animals succumbed to the swather’s blades. Poor creatures! I try not to think about that….)

But the violence in my books comes from reality. The world is not always as safe and secure as we would like to believe. If you doubt me, watch the news (which I avoid in order to sleep at night). Life as a werewolf, a gladiator, a shifter, a Duskie, or the other characters that inhabit my books would be as violent, if not more violent, than our own lives. Wolves defend their loved ones and territories with tooth and claw, putting their own lives at risk to protect their pack. Gladiators are raised in a life of violence, fighting from their first step. I feel that violence gives us a sharp contrast to the security and comfort we usually enjoy when we are reading. I relate to violence, not in that my own life is violent (which it is most definitely not- except toward those trespassing spiders), but in being secure, I can appreciate the insecurity and risk of a life lived without the safety of a family or of being hunted.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Hunter Games, and hope that others can see the violence in my books not as offensive, but as a necessary step in my characters’ development. Through facing violence and their reaction to it, the characters are able to respond in their own unique ways to each situation. We can grow with them and cheer or fear for them as they survive situations we are grateful not to face in our own lives. If we do face violence in our lives (I pray not), perhaps we can take courage and direction from others, fictional or otherwise, who have overcome the odds and come out stronger because of it.