I hope you found this series helpful, or perhaps interesting. It helped me, so at least I’ve satisfied my audience of one. Each week, examining the myriad facets of what I know made me feel more connected to my writing and more committed to putting as much of myself as needed into every story, to the best of my abilities. Each time I’ve concluded a post, I’ve walked away with something to consider for my work in progress.
Am I investing my writing with my observations, beliefs, and opinions, or am I walking through the story without leaving footprints?
Am I writing about what truly interests me? Am I being specific? Does my writing have my personality? Am I writing bravely or am I holding back?
Would readers feel they know me, if all they knew was my writing?
Consider the writers we love. I’ve named a few before: Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, James Baldwin. Your list may include Anne Rice, Chuck Tingle, Truman Capote, or Anne Tyler.
We don’t merely love these writers; we feel we know them. I can hear Kurt Vonnegut sharing avuncular advice on writing and life. I’ve imagined conversations with Margaret Atwood over tea and with James Baldwin over dinner at a French restaurant, before we retire to his apartment to listen to his record albums. I bet a lot of writers have similar fantasy conversations with the writers they love.
Heady company, I know, but all writers emulate, so you may as well choose the best. I may never write nearly as well as any of them, but if you read any of my work, I’d like you to know me.
I wish I had known this when I was a young writer, but I also suspect I would not have been ready for the lesson. Revealing too much of myself would have felt dangerous. I was also in the midst of rejecting my self – or reinventing myself, to put it more kindly for my younger version. He was trying. I was not inauthentic, but I was guarded.
And I had some heavy armor. It takes some chutzpah to emotionally dissociate from a repressive family and religious community and come out as something anathema. I had the wherewithal to defend one or two areas of my life, but I couldn’t take fire from all sides. I walled off a few areas. It would be a long time before I integrated the nerd stuff or – god forbid – the politically incorrect. I didn’t want the people who loved the new me to stop doing so.
But I wish better for you.
The people who love you won’t stop loving you because of your writing, so I hope you’ll be bold. I hope you write what you want, authentically, without market testing or focus groups, because someone in the world needs to hear what you have to say.
Your voice won’t develop in one day or one story. But when your writing begins with something inside you – a question, a belief, an observation, or even a joke – you will begin to emerge on the page, no matter your genre or topic. When you have something to say to your reader, you will approach your work with intention. You will write with more clarity and focus. You will choose your words carefully so that you don’t miscommunicate. You will tell your story in a way that guides the reader to the conclusion you want them to reach. You will master your craft. I also believe that writing with purpose is more motivating. When you know what you want to say, when your creative self-expression is on fire, you will find your way to your chair.
So, write without filters. Write about your weird hobbies and interests. Write what you feel. Write what you’ve witnessed. Write what you’ve done and what’s been done to you. Write what makes you angry and what makes you laugh. Tell us what you’ve learned and what you believe.
Write what you know.
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