This month’s optional question: In your writing, where do you draw the line, with either topics or language?
Sometimes, I imagine myself as a ninety-nine-year-old woman reading my writing of today. I suspect these earlier renditions of me may come across as simplistic, maybe even naïve. Perhaps I’ll chuckle at the dated nature of the content, but I know I won’t find anything controversial. For me, it’s easy to draw a line. Anything I write and publish today may last far beyond me and when I’m bearing down on 100, what will I have left if not a good reputation?
For the most part, I write what I like to read, which means no blood, gore or graphic sex. I can’t write horror because it scares me. Perhaps this inclination to keep things on the clean and neat side is because I read for pleasure, not angst, and wish to create that experience for others.
But maybe, it’s something more. My daughter rolls her eyes at how old fashioned I am, but I was a sensitive creature growing up and some lessons stuck. We were so drilled not to discuss those taboo topics of religion, money or politics in polite company, to the point that even at this late age I can’t find pleasure in writing about them. You can pretty much guarantee a happy ending in my fiction, or at least an ending in which happiness is imaginable. The suspense, or conflict comes from wondering how the characters will find their way around roadblocks to get there. As for non-fiction, well, what you see here is what you get. I pretty much write from the heart.
Of course, I’m nowhere near perfect. Words that would have had me locked in my room as a kid are sadly a part of my regular vocabulary. I can’t pretend not to have discussed (or railed about) politics lately, although only with people sympathetic to my way of thinking. But as much as I may slip in my personal life, you’re not going to find much evidence of it written down. With the exception of fiction where I have to create conflict, I have no interest in promoting anxiety, animosity, or discomfort. To my way of thinking, it’s a hard, and angry world out there. It’s no help to anyone if I contribute to it.
15 comments:
I'm with you there. I find it hard to read (or watch) anything with real suspense in it. I'm done with being scared. Although I discovered I do write mild horror, especially in flash fiction, with people getting their just desserts in a nicely horrible way :)
Happy IWSG day.
Jemima
I feel the same way! I don't write it but I do slip in my own life.
yep - you captured me, my life, my writing, etc. I remember my dad cursing once or twice and it was a big deal - and it always involved him with a hammer (he was not handy - ha!)
Anyway - I might say it now, but writing curse words feels forced.
And my writing just leans toward the humor side of things. I'll read and watch drama created by others.
I am glad you have the courage of your convictions, I don't mind suspense myself, but as I said in my own post am starting to only include 'other things' only if warranted or it's a natural progression. I do swear, but not the main ones. Glad I dropped by today.
You wrote: "I write what I like to read, which means no blood, gore or graphic sex. I can’t write horror because it scares me." Ditto. Guess we're both old-fashioned. I'm in good company. LOL
I do include a little blood because I'm writing a YA fantasy now, but no gore, graphic sex or horror like. Glad to know I'm not alone on this.
Hope you're doing well. I think of you often and hope you are navigating life okay.
I respect that you're Old Fashioned...nothing wrong with that. The world could use a WHOLE lot more of that.
My father was an artist and a writer. Often he wrote "Dada", and he went threw a surrealistic phase...so no fairy tales or cozy stories for me at bedtime...it was ghosts, and spirits, and other creatures that go bump in the night On my post today, you can see what my mother used to write. As an adult, I appreciate my diverse upbringing and I've sometimes pushed literary lines at times.
I see "old fashioned" as a good thing.
And I love that you write what you love to read. It truly is as simple as that.
I can't write about animals being hurt. Anything I write will not have animals hurt or die unless it's of natural causes. I can kill people easily in my books, but not animals.
We all have our own unique boundaries. As long as we respect those, each other, and our readers, we're good to go, imo.
Nothing wrong with being old fashioned. In my house it was a free-for-all, very different from how you were raised. I believe I would have liked that better. Screaming, cussing, and major drama were an every day event for me. Now, I strive for a quiet, drama-free life. I moved to the country to relax...well, sadly, the drama seems to follow me. So much for a quiet life in the country. But, since I have DECADES of experience, I have FINALLY learned to let it roll off my back when I can. I write in different genres and run from sweet and innocent to intense family drama and abuse. But, even then, I always leave a light at the end of the tunnel...
Hi Liza - great words and appropriate for so many of us - they are our words after all. Good luck with your writings - cheers Hilary
I'm with you on all of that. I like a good old fashioned HEA, although I am okay with a hope on the horizon ending, too. And conflict only needs to show up in the fiction I write. I don't like it otherwise.
I agree- why write things you wouldn't want to read yourself? It's a good philosophy!
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