I read a blog the other day by Charlee Vale over at From the Write Angle in which she discusses the power of words.
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| You aren’t going to publish that, are you? photo by underwhelmer via flickr |
Charlee recalls being scolded by a friend long ago and how that affected her life profoundly. She then cautions writers to be aware of the power of their words and to, “Choose carefully, and choose bravely.”
This blog and its sentiments are, in my opinion, dangerous to writers.
To choose your words carefully with the world on your shoulder, aware of how your novel and its premise might affect readers (offend them, hurt them, or incite them, perhaps) is one way to write poor novels. How can you open yourself up to create if you first stifle yourself by putting a sign on your desk that reads: don’t offend anyone?
You can’t.
I read another blog long ago, so long that I wouldn’t be able to find it now to link to it. Its gist was that writers owe the world a social conscience and must write to better said world. Bullshit.
Write the stories that are in your head. You can’t let your reader in. You can’t think about what your family and friends will think. You can’t write to save the world, or lecture bullies, or right wrongs. You have to just write…from the heart and from the gut.
I think what Vale misunderstood was that what her friend said to her so long ago wasn’t what affected her and changed her. It was how she allowed it to fester in her that did it. And that wasn’t her friend’s fault. It wasn’t her friend’s duty to withhold her opinion; it was Vale’s to dismiss it.
To write bravely is to examine the realities of this world, ugly and pure, and write stories that exemplify them. You can not be held responsible for uplifting a reader; you can’t write about the tragedies of the world with that in mind. Life isn’t always about fairness and happy endings and to write only about them leaves us with half truths, if not outright lies.
The bully isn’t always defeated; and sometimes his words are true. The killer isn’t always caught. The liar sometimes is rewarded. That’s life. Tell it.
Write real and true and shut out the world. And when you’re done, bravely stand by it. You don’t owe anything to the world but honesty, in my opinion. And honesty goes a long, long way.