I just finished the first draft of a torture scene in the novel I’m working on, Innogen.
I want to vomit.
It’s graphic. And it’s necessary for the book, which is told from the standpoint of the person being tortured.
It’s 1606, and they did that kind of thing. A lot.
Maybe in revision I’ll cut it out, but right now it feels to me like it must be shown in some detail. Not like Un Chien Andalou, nothing like that, but I’m not sure I’d want to see this scene on a screen, however tame it might be compared to what does make the cut these days.
An X rating for showing actual sex, an R for simulated sex, but blood and pain and gore? PG-13.
Just like the news.
And there’s a scene with the rack yet to be written.
Did I mention there’s a lot of humor? Not so much in the torture scene, though.
