Violence Quotes

“When I tell someone that the most important thing a young woman can do to avoid being raped is to avoid places with lots of young men (and if you absolutely have to go to those place, don't drink) the dumb responses range from: 'Girls have a right to have fun' to 'You're just blaming the victim' all the way up to the ludicrous, 'A woman should be able to walk naked into a biker bar and not be bothered.' These are political ideals. They might even be the way the world should work. They are not the way the world actually works. The responsibility for self-protection has to rest with the potential victim because the potential rapist has no interest whatsoever in her safety or rights. The potential victim is the one who cares.”
― Rory Miller, Violence: A Writer's Guide

“Violence never solved anything.” This platitude is so patently and obviously false that it takes some pretty special mental gymnastics to say it, much less believe it. The fact is that some things, especially dangerous things happening very fast, can ONLY be solved by violence. This adage frequently infuriates professionals because sometimes the problem they have solved with violence was their own survival or the survival of someone they loved. Survival is pretty hard to devalue.”
― Rory Miller, Violence: A Writer's Guide

“If part of the other guy’s definition of a win is to enjoy you broken and begging, there is no win-win.  You must understand that not only are there people who enjoy debasing others, they have been very common throughout history and they are still the norm in certain cultures.”
― Rory Miller, Violence: A Writer's Guide

“In essence, each person must Observe what is happening; Orient to the observations- basically interpret the sensory input; Decide what to do about it; and Act.”
― Rory Miller, Violence: A Writer's Guide

“You need to know that just the right bit of lore dropped into just the right spot will do wonders for believability.”
― Rory Miller, Violence: A Writer's Guide

“writing, as in life, you don’t have to follow the rules all the time, but it really helps if you know what they are, and, when you break them, that it is intentional and not by accident.”
― Rory Miller, Violence: A Writer's Guide

“The needs of fiction writers follow the classic dictum: Truth alone is no defense. A thing may be absolutely true, but useless in a story for a couple of reasons: 1) Even though it is true, it is boring, and 2) even though it is true, readers still won’t believe it.”
― Rory Miller, Violence: A Writer's Guide

“A lot of readers have great built-in bullshit detectors, and when it goes off, they stop reading.”
― Rory Miller, Violence: A Writer's Guide