 |
| Photo credit: lucianotb (stock.xchng) |
If you write about taboo, difficult,
or controversial subjects, you will encounter people who will try to make you
feel ashamed of your words:
You have a filthy mind.
Why do your characters have to cuss so much? You have more imagination than
that.
Violence is cheap conflict.
That is racist/sexist/homophobic language, and it will cause unnecessary
pain.
Statements like these are not about
the writer. They are about the critic and his/her personal dislikes, which are
as individual and as idiosyncratic as a fingerprint.
You can’t pull back your words
because someone, somewhere, will dislike them. Because that is a guarantee, no
matter what you write. You can write the mildest “inspirational” (i.e.,
conservative Christian) romance possible, and someone will still hate it.
Sex is a part of life. So is
violence. Anger. Strong language. Bigotry. Thoughts that are not nice, polite,
or civilized.
They are all things that happen in
life.
Is it wrong to speak about things
that happen in life?
We writers must write the scenes and
use the words that our story demands.
Not edit them based on fear of a real or imaginary critic.
I used to be ashamed of my
controversial writing. No more. I have too many words left in me to waste time
on shame.
And so do you.
No comments:
Post a Comment