War Crimes In Web Novels

SerikoLee

Chaos Realm Creator/ Chaos God
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
136
Points
43
I have went and read a lot of a stories but none have ww2 type of war crime done by both sides.
Not event a bit of redo of healer bad happening during invasion committed by a few of the troops and other geocidal factions causing wars.
If no one has the balls to do this by act 2 of what am doing , I will.
 

FallingLeaf

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2019
Messages
27
Points
53
Oh, plenty of web novels have what we would consider war crimes going on (and even would be considered war crimes if people in the story weren’t too afraid of the Mc or sucking up to them and saying it’s fine since the MC did it). Look for Chinese novels with “ruthless”(read-sociopath and/or psychopath) main characters and see how quickly they commit war crimes and are praised for it, even if they’re hypocrites and get mad at their enemies for doing what the MC themself is doing
 

SailusGebel

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 7, 2020
Messages
8,654
Points
233
Cause people would whine about war crimes. They will say that you are justifying them, you are a psycho, this is just a fiction, there is no need to have so much gore and atrocities, etc.
 

SerikoLee

Chaos Realm Creator/ Chaos God
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
136
Points
43
True , very true it was hell on earth
That is because world war 2 war crimes were boring, world war 1 is where it was at. Fire weapons, poison gas, shotguns, they did everything they could to get out of those damn trenches...
Man , Am growing sick of family friendly stuff.
So am asking for dark and glitchy kind of action.
 
Last edited:

SailusGebel

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 7, 2020
Messages
8,654
Points
233
That is because world war 2 war crimes were boring, world war 1 is where it was at. Fire weapons, poison gas, shotguns, they did everything they could to get out of those damn trenches...
WW2 war crimes may be more boring in terms of diversity(doubt), but in terms of quantity, WW2 wins.
 

xluferx

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 2, 2019
Messages
136
Points
83
Sometimes is lack of creativity and others are just so common that are only war crimes on paper but people don't consider it as such, for example bombing historical places. Or fighting with civilians presents which obviously cause civilians to die.
 

SakeVision

Sama/kisama
Joined
Jul 30, 2021
Messages
1,013
Points
128
I have went and read a lot of a stories but none have ww2 type of war crime done by both sides.
Not event a bit of redo of healer bad happening during invasion committed by a few of the troops and other geocidal factions causing wars.
If no one has the balls to do this by act 2 of what am doing , I will.

ww2? pff weak
Allow me to introduce you to....

Also my novel will have this shit, but like in the future, it's a slow burner
 

LilTV1155

Well-known member
Joined
May 8, 2021
Messages
905
Points
133
War crimes? Are you talking about the inhumane games Soldiers of war used to play for fun?

Like throwing babies of the locals into the air and treating them as bayonet targets?
 

SerikoLee

Chaos Realm Creator/ Chaos God
Joined
Apr 20, 2021
Messages
136
Points
43
Yea and far worse like redo and other messed up pacing
 
Last edited:

LostLibrarian

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
709
Points
133
War crimes and the alike are a more common thing in traditional publishing. Of course, especially historic fiction.

The simple reason is: the majority of readers don't want to read about war crimes. That stuff is horrific to no end and simply doesn't fit the mood of most webnovels which are geared a lot more towards "brain off and enjoy". And what would you use war crimes for? For a cheap shock in 2 chapters? To show, how comically evil your villain is? Or to make a gray world where there is no good?

The simple answer is, war crimes are way above that level and it'll make that stuff so over the top bad, people won't take it serious if you just throw it in. War crimes are such, that a lot of people can't even imagine the actual extent that happened during WW2. Some people don't even know how to write/read the numbers/chemicals/procedures associated with those crimes. So, if you don't be really careful and build it up through your entire book and set the atmosphere right beforehand, it is just a cheap turn-off for most readers.



War crimes are a bit like rape in fiction. 99.9% of the depictions are shit. Most hobby authors don't even understand what such stuff will do to people who do it, who experience it, or who simply watch it. Most authors don't understand the reasons behind acting in certain ways or why certain behavior is harder than others. Instead, it goes like "I have a bad guy who is really, really bad... so let's make him do the worst thing I can imagine! War crimes!".

So yeah, the majority of authors - and I include myself in that - have never done the research to write such things in a way that is both respectful, realistic, and to some degree still entertaining to read. Which is the reason, most authors simply don't do it... they know, they would just fuck up their own novel.


If you want to try it: Good luck with that.
But be aware, that there is a lot of work to be done besides "I want cool dark stuff in my novel!"
 
Last edited:

Assurbanipal_II

Empress of the Four Corners of the World
Joined
Jul 27, 2019
Messages
1,921
Points
153
That is because world war 2 war crimes were boring, world war 1 is where it was at. Fire weapons, poison gas, shotguns, they did everything they could to get out of those damn trenches...
What did you smoke? Serious question.
 

LostLibrarian

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
709
Points
133
Only reason why people don't add war crimes in there. Cause it's confidential since related to gov or militia.
There is a ton of factual stuff about war crimes from all sides. It's not that it isn't written, people simply don't want to read it. And why would you? People rather go to an amusement park for a date compared to a concentration camp. And the majority of readers (even more so, as the majority are female) don't enjoy ending their hard work day with a good read about how people got tortured and killed for the obscurest of reasons.

Such stuff is often geared toward fans of history, towards actual historians, or towards journalism. But it won't be a new york bestseller, so most people/authors don't bother with such topics...
 

LilTV1155

Well-known member
Joined
May 8, 2021
Messages
905
Points
133
So the question is: Is the kind of crimes you know from paper or the ones that public don't know about?
 

LostLibrarian

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
709
Points
133
So the question is: Is the kind of crimes you know from paper or the ones that public don't know about?
If you know about any actual war crimes that the public doesn't know about (or rather, that isn't available to the public), you wouldn't write a fiction on SH, but articles for amnesty international or different leak sites...

And for the fiction that is written here: what's the difference if your Orc Race A does a war crime that the US might or might not have done already?
 

tridetect

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 7, 2020
Messages
58
Points
58
People are put on trial for war crimes after the war not during. And there has to be pre-established treaties of what you can and can not do in war between nations. Most stories on here don't go into depth about their world's international politics or any politics at all so mass killings and wars aren't portrayed as a morally grey thing, instead it's portrayed as a good thing since it's the good guys doing it and the bad guys are cartoonishly evil.
 

LilTV1155

Well-known member
Joined
May 8, 2021
Messages
905
Points
133
If you know about any actual war crimes that the public doesn't know about (or rather, that isn't available to the public), you wouldn't write a fiction on SH, but articles for amnesty international or different leak sites...

And for the fiction that is written here: what's the difference if your Orc Race A does a war crime that the US might or might not have done already?
That would be conspiracy fictions. As for US. That's not the only country who participate in atrocity against others.
What's the difference?
Gory Lv + Immorality Lv + Motive + Atrocity Lv
 

SailusGebel

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 7, 2020
Messages
8,654
Points
233
Gory Lv + Immorality Lv + Motive + Atrocity Lv
 

Reisinling

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 5, 2021
Messages
357
Points
63
If you know about any actual war crimes that the public doesn't know about (or rather, that isn't available to the public), you wouldn't write a fiction on SH, but articles for amnesty international or different leak sites...

And for the fiction that is written here: what's the difference if your Orc Race A does a war crime that the US might or might not have done already?
There is also the simple fact that war crimes are a cultural thing. And a fiction. Killing people running away was how most of deaths on medieval battlefields happened (I read about it before but here 3rd answer also talks about this https://history.stackexchange.com/q...re-the-casualties-in-ancient-medieval-battles )

Then, aren't things like "treating captured soldiers badly" war crimes? I'm pretty sure no one cared before WWII, and even then...

Finally, most of us are sufficiently separated from any actual armed conflicts, that all these cimes happening are, to us, just words on paper.
 
Top