Drag Your Readers Into The Slime. They'll Thank You Later

I'm working on my new book for 2014. In the process I talked to a young writer asking about the boundaries of description and the risk you might offend the reader by being too vivid or gory. I'm not a fan of gory. I love vividness, however. It comes down to knowing your audience. Most readers are searching for an escape from their boring, humdrum, methodical, politically correct world. They want reality without blinders, but (and this is critical) not to the extent that reality triumphs fairness and good.

So I say to new writers, break out of the box, walk the tight rope, drag your readers into the slime. Show the hurt and despair and tragedy in life. Present an uncut reality. They'll thank you later.

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EXCERPTS FROM THE NEW BOOK ... Let's just call it "Pinky" for now.

Over in Brazoria, a third patrol car pulled up in Jason MacDonald’s front yard and parked behind the ambulance. All of the blinking red light had coalesced into a battery of cannons, strafing the countryside with flashes of impending doom. Vehicles had already started to line up along the side of the highway. Neighbors with expressions of curiosity and dread streamed down the long driveway, speculating in whispers about what had gone wrong.

As the fire truck’s hydraulic lift hoisted Jason MacDonald’s bloated body to the surface, the whispers dissolved into hysterical screams. His wife, Jean, fell to the ground in a trembling knot, coughing up brown slime all over her blue flowered dress.