So, it’s finally gone : read all about it.

Good riddance most will say. What happened with the phone hacking scandal has left most decent human beings cold. Unforgivable.

But let’s not pretend here. We all know that the NOTW will re-appear within a matter of weeks. Whether it be under the guise of The Sun extended to weekend editions or re-branded under another name, you can bet your last quid that it will re-emerge like the proverbial bad penny.

And after a few months, despite all the promises, people will buy it again. Fact.

Why are we so fickle?

What makes us fall under the hypnotic spell the media casts?

We believe everything we read right? We must do.

Do you know how many comments in reviews and negative emails we have had about Sugar & Spice?

A lot.

Let me just set the record straight here guys:

It is a work of fiction.

No, not all coppers are bent and most social workers are hard-working, decent people who truly have their charges’ welfare at heart. I get it.

It wouldn’t have made for a very interesting story though would it?

Oh and there was Baby P and 25 other children, failed by the system.

Not to mention those that ‘failed to spot’ Ian Huntley as a risk to children.

I could go on.

So, where do you draw the line with regards to writing fiction? Some people have suggested that we are actually asking readers to feel sorry for paedophiles. One reader (who’s review was subsequently removed by Amazon) even went as far as to say that we were condoning it!

I talk to other writers all the time and I often see them questioning themselves and their characters or actions.

Is there too much swearing in my book?

Should I tone the scene where my bad guy disembowels his mother with a garden trowel?

Is that rape scene too much?

I got news for you folks: life ain’t nice. People ain’t nice.

Good people have bad things happen to them. Bad people have good things happen to them.

Don’t shoot the messenger.

It’s a bit like the ability to turn off a programme you don’t like or hit the red ‘standby’ button on your remote if you’re disgusted at a show.

You can always choose not to read the book.

But if you do, before you rush to power up your PC and send a ‘strongly worded letter of complaint’ or write a scathing review about how disturbed you were at a book, just remember: you have the choice.

That’s the beauty of the world we live in, even if sometimes, it isn’t a nice place.

Saffi (not a monster, just a writer)

Related articles

• John Yates: I failed victims of News of the World phone hacking (telegraph.co.uk)
• The Death Of The News (of the World) (lezgetreal.com)