Prize Launched for Thrillers That Don't Involve Violence Against Women

[The Bluestocking]

I know most of us write SFF but I'm sure some Chronners also write Thrillers or SFF/Thriller mash-ups.

So the Staunch book prize might be of interest:

Founded by the author and screenwriter Bridget Lawless, the Staunch book prize will open to entries next month, with the winner to be announced on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Lawless, who is funding the £2,000 prize pot herself, will be joined on the judging panel by the actor and writer Doon Mackichan, who wrote and presented a BBC Radio 4 documentary about the increase of violence against women on television, Body Count Rising.

“As violence against women in fiction reaches a ridiculous high, the Staunch book prize invites thriller writers to keep us on the edge of our seats without resorting to the same old cliches—particularly female characters who are sexually assaulted (however ‘necessary to the plot’), or done away with (however ingeniously).” wrote Lawless on the website for the inaugural Staunch prize.

CC. @Brian G Turner

 

[Stephen Palmer]

Recent Keira Knightley interview:

"With the rise of Netflix and Amazon we’re seeing some strong female characters and female stories on streaming services. I don’t know about films as much. I don’t really do films set in the modern day because the female characters nearly always get raped. I always find something distasteful in the way women are portrayed, whereas I’ve always found very inspiring characters offered to me in historical pieces. There’s been some improvement. I’m suddenly being sent scripts with present-day women who aren’t raped in the first five pages and aren’t simply there to be the loving girlfriend or wife."

 

[Sir Vivor]

What a world.. instead of our youth receiving an education that stamps out the archaic, offensive concept that men are allowed to rule over women, we need to have prizes for people who depict some kind of hard-to-reach ideal. :-S

 

[MWagner]

What the people promoting this prize aren't acknowledging is why increasingly violent content of all types has become so common in fiction. Writers, more than anyone, should recognize that a story is only as strong as its villain. When it comes to popular fiction, the more horrible the villain, the more emotionally engaged the reader. And as we become more and more jaded with drama of all types, creators keep pushing the boundaries to engage an audience. You're not going to get that with a thriller about a parson bashing a widow on the head with a vase to get at her inheritance. Today, it's takes a serial killer, a child molester, a rapist to charge up the fear and loathing of readers. Or in fantasy terms, a Joffrey Baratheon, Ramsay Bolton, or Cersei Lannister, not a Saruman, Sauron, or Grima Wormtongue.

Crime fiction is read primarily by women, to the extent that male authors are using female pen names to sell thrillers. Women hate and fear rape. So in a genre that relies on generating feelings of vulnerability, disgust, and dread, rapists (along with serial killers, etc) make powerful villains. I don't see that changing anytime soon.

 

[Parson]

You're not going to get that with a thriller about a parson bashing a widow on the head with a vase to get at her inheritance.

I didn't do it!

I guess a better response is "Why not?" If we can understand what would bring a parson to such a state and how he might try to cover the crime and the internal chaos his action is giving him it might be very good indeed.

 

[MWagner]

I guess a better response is "Why not?" If we can understand what would bring a parson to such a state and how he might try to cover the crime and the internal chaos his action is giving him it might be very good indeed.

Look at the content of bestselling thrillers. Some stuff sells better than others. It's not as though there's a ban on thoughtful, mild mysteries and thrillers. They just don't have as much popular appeal as the grotesque and lurid ones.

 

[Cathbad]

They just don't have as much popular appeal as the grotesque and lurid ones.

Which I find quite sad.

 

[tinkerdan]

I'm looking for a thriller that has no violence against anyone or for that matter any living thing.
I don't read many thrillers.

 

[Cathbad]

I'm looking for a thriller that has no violence against anyone or for that matter any living thing.
I don't read many thrillers.

No, you wouldn't, would you?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Wonder if mine counts - it explores a male domestic abuse victim.

 

[S Blake-Smy]

Wonder if mine counts - it explores a male domestic abuse victim.

This is something that demands more discussion and awareness (although it obviously wouldn't be covered by the prize in question).

 

[AnyaKimlin]

This is something that demands more discussion and awareness (although it obviously wouldn't be covered by the prize in question).

Although the woman is doing the harming rather being harmed.

 

[S Blake-Smy]

Although the woman is doing the harming rather being harmed.

Yes, my mistake. I shouldn't have made the edit to add the Bit in brackets - my mind went off on a tangent and then I confused the context. Your book would be perfectly fitting

 

[BAYLOR]

Will readers read sanitized Thrillers ?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Will readers read sanitized Thrillers ?

Does a book that doesn't make women the butt of the violence have to be sanitised?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Will readers read sanitized Thrillers ?

I struggle to recall a thriller I've read that centered on any kind of sexual threat against a woman character: I've just read JB Turner, am currently reading Frederick Forsyth, and next up will probably be a Lee Child. I struggle to imagine the word "sanitized" applied to them.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Will readers read sanitized Thrillers ?

Not having violence against women (especially the ubiquitous rape trope) in a Thriller doesn't mean that it's sanitised. There are plenty of other horrific crimes that can be used to drive the story.

Violence against women has been used as a convenient go-to by many authors for a very long time. Maybe this will spur some Crime/Thriller authors to stop falling back on that trope* and looking at other types of crimes around which to build their stories.

@Brian G Turner The Jack Reacher books do deal with violence against women. Some of them have it as a central plot. However, Lee Child has never treated it as a plot widget and the female victim as disposable - that's the difference.

* Which is usually trotted out as a lazy shortcut that treats women as disposable lamp posts conveniently there for fridging and facilitating Man Pain.

 

[2DaveWixon]

Wonder if mine counts - it explores a male domestic abuse victim.

Having read the description of the prize, I think you're out of the running...
I had myself been about to ask whether there was a prize for books with violence BY women...

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Having read the description of the prize, I think you're out of the running...
I had myself been about to ask whether there was a prize for books with violence BY women...

There is no woman raped, beaten, stalked or abused in the story. At least I thought when I asked the question. I had forgotten an incident with a minor character later in the story.

 

[Onyx]

Aside from the obvious horror we hold for women violated, the flip side is the relative comfort we have with men receiving violence. Our male action characters are expected to be torn up and scarred in the normal course of things, and we express the hope that violent felons are themselves raped. Empathy is rather low for men when it comes to violence.

If thriller writer's really wanted to horrify readers, all the victims would be puppies. Most of us have virtually no tolerance for that.