If you’ve been active in a writing group lately, you’ve likely seen this question come up: “Should I include potentially offensive content in my story?” And if your book tackles sensitive topics, you may have found yourself asking this question too.

What Is the Purpose of Fiction?

We’ll dive into the nitty gritty of answering the question, but first, let’s take a step back and view fiction for what it truly is—an opportunity to experience the world through someone else’s unique perspective. This perspective could be interpreted as good, bad, or somewhere in between by the reader. That doesn’t really matter. The point is that it’s different from their own. This gives the reader an opportunity to broaden their understanding of people and the world. That’s a beautiful thing.

Now, let’s imagine that, out of fear of offending someone, you chose to soften or even remove remove the darker truths about human nature. Are you doing your reader a service or a disservice? If the point of reading is to broaden their understanding by experiencing the world through another unique perspective, do you rob the reader by watering down the character’s experience or, more accurately, their perception of the experience?

I would argue that you do.

Fiction is meant to explore difficult topics. It’s a safe space because it isn’t real. You can play with ideas and pose questions that stay long after they’ve finished the story.

How to Decide if the Potentially Offensive Content is Worth Keeping

Maybe you agree with me. Maybe you don’t. Or maybe you’re still on the fence.

So how do you decide if you should leave something that is potentially offensive in your book?

First, I would start by examining why you believe it might offend. Is it there simply to shock or hurt? If it’s just mean-spirited with no greater purpose, it may be best to cut it. If removing this content doesn’t harm the story, and it feels like it’s there just to be ugly, that might be a sign it’s unnecessary.

On the other hand, I likely wouldn’t consider cutting a scene if its darkness adds to the plot or character development in a meaningful way.

Explore the Ripple Effect of the Event

Once you’ve decided to keep the potentially offensive content, consider how the actions in that scene will ripple out to affect each character directly and indirectly. Then, think about how to best portray those impacts. You don’t have to portray them all. You can choose the most impactful if that would benefit your story. If you find the ripple affect isn’t what you thought it would be, you may need to adjust the event.

Fiction is a place for exploring tough issues, so keep in mind that horrible actions don’t necessarily need to have immediate, negative consequences. For example, say you’re writing about a morally gray character—a hitman who feels no remorse for his actions. He could be totally justified in his own mind, never seeing his work as evil, until he’s forced to confront it when his actions hurt someone he loves or respects.

Or perhaps you’re telling the story of an unlikable character with complex layers who never quite redeems themselves. It’s a tragic story. But sometimes it’s it’s powerful to understand why people are the way they are, even if they never change in the way we hope they do. There’s a lesson in that too.

Conclusion (TL;DR)

Ultimately, it comes down to your story’s goal and how the potentially offensive content serves it. Will it offend some readers? Probably. But that’s okay—they’re not your audience. You’re crafting a story with a meaningful takeaway, and you only do a disservice to your true readers when you dilute that message.

So, take this as a nudge to be bold in your storytelling.