I've had this discussion a thousand times. Anybody that ever grabbed a hold of a pen, a typewriter or a computer keyboard must've come around this too, sooner or later. I don't know about you, but I can't write fiction without hurting people. Gun fights, sword fights, explosions, grenade and my favorite fighting device, the improvised weapon. Nail guns, base-ball bats, hammers, kitchen knives, shoelaces...any everyday life object that can change your best friend into a stone cold killer. Have you - like me - came across the good thinking majority who looked down on you and said : "Well, I think there's so much violence going on in the world right now, I don't think we should encourage it by watching it on television or by writing about it in books".
Have you ever watched a movie called The Stepford Wives? Without spoiling anything about the story, it illustrates the point I want to make about the "good-thinking" censorhsip. There's an inherent violence to the rigid search for peace. Have you ever sat outside on a summer night and looked at the stars? It's a peaceful sight, isn't it? The quiet harmony of celestial bodies is one romantic sight. Well, nothing gives me creeps like the summer sky at night. It's peaceful sure, but there's nothing in there. Rocks and dead space. That's the ultimate peace right there.
Wherever there are humans, there is conflict. And wherever there is conflict, there's a story to tell. A straightforward road to success can be resumed in a few short paragraphs. Whenever someone has been cheated on, threatened and beaten down on his road to glory, now there's some stock for things to tell.
When you pick up a novel? What are you looking for in a character? Strenght? Smarts? Tough decision making? It's all depending on an inner-conflict that has to be triggered by something. Something explicitly or implicitly violent. It's not because it ain't bleeding that it's not violent. Words, actions, looks, there are many ways you can hurt someone.
