How to Be Brave in Your Writing
A blog I and many writers read regularly, Men with Pens, had an interesting article up recently about bravery in writing. It asked readers how brave they were as writers, and equated many writing projects with climbing mountains (and being willing to descend into valleys too). This is stuff they don’t really teach in an online school, I bet. (A note from a friend of the blog.) The team at Men with Pens makes a good point, but I’d like to expand the idea a little and also disagree in places.
The article makes it clear that writing benefits from steady, concerted effort. Climbing a mountain or heading down into a valley takes effort and confidence — you’ve got to have endurance to keep plugging away, taking it a step at a time. This is all true and important in writing. What I think takes more bravery in writing, however, is the courage to transgress.
Most people can agree that climbing steadily the way the turtle wins the race is valuable. What many people might not understand, however, is when a writer writes about the darker, more private aspects of life, or dares to say the things people think but never dare to say. What makes biting, memorable writing, however, is exactly these transgressive moments. Lorrie Moore said (I’m paraphrasing) that what should go into your writing is the stuff you’d be embarrassed to show your parents. The stuff that takes real courage in writing, therefore, isn’t the honest slog, but the daring to write what you are afraid to admit even to yourself.
Agent X at Men with Pens does make the great point that what is so scary about writing is how solitary the journey has to be. You’re climbing that mountain all by yourself. What is even more isolating about it, though, is when you do take the plunge and write those things no one wants to see in print. Friends and family, in particular, might be pretty peeved about what you’re writing. They might want to shape your ideas and tell you what you should write. That’s where it takes real courage to be a writer, and to write what you know should go into your story, regardless of the personal risks. If your family truly understands what it takes to be a writer, then they won’t mind those transgressive steps you must take.
Blair–do you have any comment on the recent news that the originator of “Men with Pens” is a woman who wrote under a man’s name for years because it was the only way her work got published?
Wild, no? She said that as long as she submitted work with her female name, nothing sold. She changed to a man’s name and bingo–her/’his’ career took off like a rocket.
She continued as a male blogger on Men with Pens, and found herself nominated as the best writing blogger. After that, she “came out” as a woman.
As she noted, “I had to make a living for my two kids,” and that was her only reason for changing her name. Once her career–and the blog, especially–took off, she had to keep it up.
I don’t blame her at all. I even wonder if “Men with Pens” as a website name isn’t “tongue in cheek” in this day and age. What real male would pick such a non-PC title for a blog?
Anyway, thought you’d have a thought or two about this, since you ARE a woman with a pen and all…L&K, MaryB