There's a lot to do in re-writes. There are a lot of ugly things to write out of the story.
Sometimes you need a few for contrast, though. That's especially true in the crime and mystery genre.
I normally gloss over the ugly bits of a crime. I show reaction more than the "murder porn" which has a sizable following of its own.
I'm struggling a little with the tone of my current work. I've got a bad man character and I need to show him doing bad things. I can show the other characters being afraid - but I need the reader to be a little afraid as well.
The best killer I've seen looked like a general practitioner. He wore a tie, smiled just a little, was polite and courteous to his victims. He could have been a United States Senator, for that matter.
Those are some scary people, too.
I'll have to think about this. I might leave a couple warts on this toad.
How about you? How do you handle the ugly character?
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