i’m making a story, and i’ve read a few great stories such as psychotic lover which i’m inspired by, but i know that people can get offended by the topic of romanticizing a killer, should i revamp or continue with my idea? i feel scared to publish considering so much hate and backlash towards the story my psycho which violated the guidelines, i also enjoyed reading that story, but my story will not be as heavily mature, it will also not have graphic scenes, it just revolves around the same context and is fantasy related instead.
but to restate my question, should i revamp, or continue my story, my love interest is not innocent, i would hate to hurt others although i know it’s impossible to avoid, i would like to take my time to do at least a bit of research before publishing to make this story best as can be.
After reading all the comments below, i understand that this shouldn’t be done period. so i will revamp my whole story into something more appropriate. romanticizing a mental illness is not okay in the slightest. thank you for those who further educated me on that.
My personal issue with these stories is not that they make me offended, but that I don’t think they should even exist on an app for 13+ users. They send the wrong message, and as long as you think you are romanticizing a toxic relationship in any way, it doesn’t matter what context you put it in. And honestly, if the love interest comes across sweet and loyal after opening up, I kinda think it makes even more damage
It’s not impossible. I won’t say it’s easy, because you indeed have to take many things into consideration. But for starters, I would suggest you to write about healthy relationships.
But then again - every relationship isn’t healthy! I totally agree that a lot of stories aren’t suitable for 13+ users, but we also shouldn’t fill their heads with different messages - like every relationship is perfect!
The problem about my psycho was that she didn’t really know how to portray psychopathy, and she represented rape and other disgusting shit as something healthy. It was horrible, and it still makes me sick to know people supported it.
Psychopathy isn’t just ‘being crazy’ or killing people for fun, it’s an actual mental condition and it’s pretty complicated. I suggest you to read about it before you write, it’s actually pretty interesting. people sometimes mix sociopathy and psychopathy, and these are two different things, also- trigger warnings are a must when you’re playing around with stuff like this.
Killing enemies in a war or torturing someone for information/revenge idk is different than killing someone for your own joy.
Let me tell you something from my personal experience- the love interest in one of my stories is a lil bit crazy and does some messed up shit, like killing people and everything, at the beginning I didn’t feel uncomfortable writing it because it was supposed to be a romance story, but after I moved it to the thriller genre I felt more comfortable writing it, knowing that the main genre isn’t romance.
Personally I’d read a story with this type of love interest. I just feel like stories like ‘My Psycho’ gave this type of love interests a bad name, my main problem with this one is that she glorified rape and sexual assault. Which is a big no no. If it was just about killing your enemies idk I’d be fine with that.
I mean just take the characters in Game of Thrones for example Most of them do messed up shit, but because of the settings of the show it’s like… not problematic.
But I feel like such a story (hopefully having good research backing it up) shouldn’t be published on a 13+ app. It limits what you are able to show and how seriously your work would be taken
Definitely limits what you want to show when it comes to the guidelines, but it is possible to write. It’s just less ‘graphic’ than what you want it to be. As long as the guidelines allow it, and the author adds trigger warnings I don’t really see the problem
i will probably end up changing things to make it much more pg, a much more healthy relationship but something that still revolves around revenge towards enemies, i will still, add a trigger warning as i don’t want to completely change my characters personality but will make sure to read the guidelines and make things suitable for readers.
i understand especially since teenagers are on this app and some younger, but yeah maybe i will just tone it down especially since i haven’t completely researched the topic.
When I read a story on Episode, I like a LI who’s a little bit psycho. I prefer them over the “good guys.” But the difference between a 13-years old and me is that I know it’s fiction.
I like a psycho LI because they’re more interesting than a good guy, but I can separate the story with my real life. In real life, I don’t want to date murders and don’t think they’re sexy or something.
Maybe you can wait with this story and put it on IVY?
I live in a healthy relationship, but believe me, we argue over stupid things pretty often 
Most of them do messed up shit, but because of the settings of the show it’s like… not problematic.