: Re: How do I write a gory scene? I'm trying to write some gory scenes. I'm having a few problems, though. I asked around online and determined that I need to really highlight the senses when

@Heady158

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Doesn't all of this depend on what you are trying to achieve with your guts and gore? You might be trying to:

Convince readers that a murderous character (or group) is sadistic, evil, callous, etc. (perhaps so that they want to see that character brought to justice)

For example, if you are writing a story about a psychopath, your description of the corpse may be more technical, to suggest the dehumanization of the psychopaths's approach. You will probably also come up with repellent things that the psychopath has done to the body (however, if you get too disgusting and disturbing, you run the risk that the reader will withdraw emotionally from the scene).
If you are trying to build horrified sympathy for the victim, the key may not be word-choice so much as detail choice. Focus on some small, human, relatable detail. Talk about how the young victim's hand, sticking out of the shallow grave, displayed freshly painted nails because she had been having a manicure with her mother. Have your character notice and react to these things. The reader can already identify with the details, and therefore can doubly identify with the character's reaction to them.

Demonstrate that some activity is dangerous (perhaps to build suspense or to highlight the protagonist's courage in continuing to pursue it)

You may want to emphasize that this death came without warning in circumstances that would normally feel safe (the whole, "I should feel safe there," is surely part of the effectiveness of the famed Psycho shower scene). Kill someone the reader would never have expected to die (for instance, the person who appeared to be shaping up as the love interest)

Provide a kind of titillation for readers (either by scaring them, shocking them, or just grossing them out)

This probably goes with more "pulpy" writing, and it sounds like you are trying to avoid cliches.

Communicate something about your protagonist's personality
-Is there something that your character particularly fears? Perhaps someone else was killed that way.

Again, I think that you need to think about the purpose of your gory scene, and go from there. Hope this helps!

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