Board Thread:Writing Center/@comment-28143278-20160406160452

I'm currently writing a story entitled STAR WARS: My Enemy is My Friend. As far as content goes, I've played it pretty safe. Definitely nothing that would be R-rated if it were a movie. Nonetheless, I am aware of several instances which could potentially be in violation of this wikia's policies, and am wondering whether I should keep them, change them, or remove them altogether.

1) Violence: Simply for getting in his way, a brutish Jedi hunter destroys an Imperial droid (indicated to be non-sentient) by punching it in the back of the head, shattering its photoreceptors. As the droid staggers blindly, he collapses its head in with his hands, then flings it aside. The intent is to show that he would do such a thing to an organic, sentient being beyond any doubt, without having to actually portray something so gruesome. I am unsure, however, whether this still goes too far. The rest of the story is fairly non-violent by Star Wars standards, with the protagonists using non-lethal force or words when they can, and when they are forced to kill, it is portrayed as a grim and solemn task.

2) Racism: A black female human Imperial ensign complains that despite her loyalty and years of exemplary service, she has never been considered for promotion, and wonders whether the admiral under whom she serves might be racist, sexist, or both. This is not a major theme, and is mentioned only in passing, but helps to show the admiral's poor leadership style and the lack of a sense of trust or equality he creates among his officers. This could be interpreted as racism based on the planet and culture she is from, rather than skin colour, and I could explicitly state this if necessary. Besides, the Imperials do seem like a pretty uniform bunch, with some exceptions.

3) Vulgarity: There are a couple of uses of "damn." I don't personally think that counts as severe, but opinions might differ. When the heroes talk to the Imperials via a viewscreen, one of the heroes makes "an obscene gesture," inspiring another to attempt a mind trick. Given the setting, the gesture is presumably not the middle finger, but the meaning in context is clearly the same, and by extension, the F-word is implied. There is also a minor character who uses (mostly in a jocular way) a LOT of profanities. All fictional ones, mind, i.e. "kriffing," "karking," etc., and usually in bizarre turns of phrase that don't make sense even to the other characters, so it's difficult to make any direct connections to real obscene words or phrases, but he just does it so much, being largely characterized by it, in fact, that I wonder whether there's a limit.

4) Sexuality: The main protagonist has had much of the left side of his body, including his left arm and most of his leg, part of his torso, some unspecified internal organs, and part of his skull, replaced with cybernetics of a plainly mechanical nature due to the need for them to be easily removable in the event of a medical emergency. A character he knew in his childhood, but has not seen for some time, indirectly and uneasily indicates that they have always wondered how much he's missing, implying that they are wondering whether he still has genitalia. He responds indignantly that he does, once again avoiding being direct. This is in the midst of a light-hearted and humorous conversation, and is a bit of a joke acknowledging that the readers themselves have probably been wondering the same thing. This could easily be changed to be referencing his buttocks if it is too vulgar. The minor character noted for his unusual expressions and heavy swearing sometimes uses what might be interpreted as sexual innuendo, e.g. "I see less than a blind Bith up the business end of a -" before being cut off, intentionally leaving it possible that the next word would have made it a sexual reference, while also leaving it possibly fairly innocent if the next word would have been something like "blaster" or "booster rocket."

5) Crossovers: There is reference made to a planet called Nar-Kadath, the denizens of which are indicated to be highly Lovecraftian in nature, suggesting a link to the Cthulhu mythos. Neither the planet nor its inhabitants directly appear, leaving only the suggestion, which is something I do in most of my stories, and is not unheard of in even very well-known works of professional fiction. The world of Westeros (A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones), for example, has several possible and notable connections to the Cthulhu mythos. 