"KNOCK IT OUT THE BOX!"

     

                                    WRITING OUTSIDE OF YOUR SAFETY ZONE

     I WANT TO ASK A QUESTION, HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A TIMID WRITER? WELL WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE, THEY DO EXIST. I USED TO BE ONE. EARLY IN MY WRITING CAREER, I WAS AFRAID TO WRITE FROM A “TRUE” PERSPECTIVE. MAINLY BECAUSE I DIDN’T WANT TO OFFEND ANYONE WHO READ MY MATERIAL. SEE I WAS YOUNG AND NAIVE AND NOT READY OR WORLDLY ENOUGH DESPITE THE FACT I’D READ EVERYTHING BOUND BY TWO COVERS. I DISCOVERED THIS FACT WHEN I COULDN’T  WRITE ABOUT TOPICS THAT WERE CONSIDERED TABOO, OR USE CERTAIN WORDS BECAUSE AGAIN, I DIDN’T WON’T TO OFFEND ANYONE. IN ORDER TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING, I STAYED IN MY LANE AND WROTE FROM A SAFE ZONE. WHENEVER I READ BOOKS, I’M A ROMANCE LOVER BY THE WAY, I ALWAYS READ MOSTLY HISTORICAL NOVELS AND NOT MANY CONTEMPORARY ONES. MOSTLY BECAUSE I LOVE THE VICTORIAN OR OLD ENGLISH LANGUAGE. THE WORDING WAS MORE CHASTE THEN MODERN VERBIAGE AND I FELT COMFORTABLE READING THIS.   

 IT WASN’T UNTIL YEARS LATER WHEN I MATURED FROM THIS STAGE AS A READER AND A WRITER TO A MORE COMMERCIAL OR CONTEMPORARY POINT OF VIEW. BECAUSE I WASN’T BEING TRUE TO THE CHARACTERS, THE READERS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, MYSELF.

I STUMBLED UPON AN INTERESTING QUOTE TODAY ON INSTAGRAM BY JUNOT DIAZ WHO SAID:

“IN ORDER TO WRITE THE BOOK YOU WANT TO WRITE, IN THE END YOU HAVE TO BECOME THE PERSON, THE PERSON YOU NEED TO BECOME TO WRITE THAT BOOK.”

TRUER WORDS WERE NEVER SPOKEN. IT AMAZED ME WHEN I SAW THIS BECAUSE IT WAS THE EXACT TOPIC OF TODAY’S SHOW. 

AIN’T GOD GOOD! I WAS LIKE WOW! IT MIRRORED EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED TO SAY TO THOSE WRITERS WHO ARE SO AFRAID TO LET THEIR HAIR DOWN AND JUST GO WITH IT.

I HAD A FRIEND TELL ME ONCE: “ONE OF THESE DAYS YOU’LL STOP HOLDING BACK AND JUST WRITE.” WELL TRUTH IS HE WAS RIGHT AND I TOOK HIS ADVICE. MAINLY BECAUSE I DID FEEL AS THOUGH I WAS WRITING WITH RESTRAINTS. I WASN’T ALLOWING THE CHARACTERS TO SPEAK THEIR TRUTH, INSTEAD I CENSORED THEM BY USING CANDIED WORDS INSTEAD OF CANDID ONES. BY THE TIME I’D WRITTEN MY SEVENTH BOOK, I REMOVED THE SHACKLES SPOKE THE TRUTH AND SHAMED THE DEVIL. I WATCHED MY CHARACTERS COME ALIVE AND LET THEM BE WHO I CREATED THEM TO BE. I LET THEM EXPRESS THEMSELVES HONESTLY AND OPENLY. YES I AM THE AUTHOR BUT THE CHARACTERS I WRITE ABOUT OR A SEPARATE ENTITY. THEY HAVE THEIR OWN MINDS, EMOTIONS, AND POINT OF VIEW. I STOPPED BEING THAT TIMID WRITER WHO HID BEHIND THE SCENES REPRIMANDING THE CHARACTERS WHEN THEY SAID SOMETHING I THOUGHT MIGHT BE RISQUE. YOU SEE BEING INTROVERTED DIDN’T ALLOW ME TO DISPLAY AN OUTSPOKEN PERSONALITY. HOWEVER, IT WAS ALWAYS THERE LURKING IN THE BACKGROUND JUST WAITING FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO MANIFEST ITSELF IN A POSITIVE MANNER.

I HAVE NOTHING AGAINST HARLEQUIN ROMANCE NOVELS AND I MUST SAY THEY HAVE STEPPED UP THE PACE OVER THE YEARS. BUT THIS IS THE TYPE OF MATERIAL I USED TO WRITE. I’M NOT SAYING THAT WHAT YOU WRITE HAS TO BE EXPLICIT ALTHOUGH IT SHOULD BE. NOW I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT EXPLICIT LANGUAGE, BUT I DO MEAN EXPRESSING YOURSELF IN A WAY THAT WHAT YOU SAY IS PLAINLY UNDERSTOOD. THIS MEANS IF YOU ARE A TRUE, WRITER THEN YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SHOW MEANING OR REVEAL YOUR THOUGHTS OR THOSE OF THE CHARACTERS THAT ARE PRECISE AND ACCEPTABLE AT THE SAME TIME.  WHAT I MEAN BY THIS IS YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO USE FOUR LETTER WORDS IN EVERY OTHER SENTENCE TO GET YOUR POINT ACROSS. BUT AT THE SAME TIME THE READER IS AWARE OF WHAT YOU’RE TRYING TO TELL THEM. OKAY I DO REALIZE WE ALL LIVE IN A VERY EXPRESSIVELY COLORED WORLD BUT AT THE SAME TIME WE ARE INTELLIGENT ENOUGH TO SPEAK THE TRUTH WITHOUT USING FILLER WORDS TO ACCOMPLISH THIS.

NOW HOLD ON BEFORE YOU SAY I’M NOT BEING TRUE TO MYSELF AS A WRITER, BECAUSE I AM. TRUST ME THE CHARACTERS I WRITE ABOUT OR JUST AS HUMAN AS YOU AND I. WHEN THE OCCASION CALLS FOR THEM TO BE MORE DIRECT, I LET THEM SPEAK THEIR MINDS. I GIVE THEM FULL PERMISSION TO SAY THINGS I NEVER COULD OR WOULD. YOU SEE THIS IS WRITING OUTSIDE THE BOX. I NO LONGER HAVE TO STAY WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF WHAT’S PROPER AND WHAT IS CONSIDERED NOT. I LET MY CHARACTERS LIVE THEIR LIVES AND SAY WHATEVER THEY WANT, NO MATTER WHO AGREES OR DISAGREES. WHAT I LEARNED IS THAT PEOPLE RESPECT YOUR ART MORE WHEN YOU ARE DIRECT AND HONEST. AND WRITE FROM A REAL STATE OF MIND. SOMETHING THAT’S RELATABLE BECAUSE THIS IS THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY AND PEOPLE PREFER HONESTY MORE SO THAN SUGAR COATED WORDS. THERE IS NOTHING WORST THEN NOT BEING ABLE TO DISPLAY YOUR ART IN IT’S TRUEST FORM.

A FEW WEEKS AGO I WAS ON AN OUTING WITH MY SISTER, AND WE CAME TO A RAILROAD CROSSING AND HAD TO SIT THERE AS A LONG LINE OF RAIL CARS ROLLED BY. 

BUT SOMETHING GRABBED MY ATTENTION. IT WAS ALL THE GRAFFITI TATTOOED ON THE SIDE OF THE CARS. AMAZED I WATCHED ALL THIS COLORFUL ARTWORK PAINTED BY UNKNOWN ARTIST SCROLL IN FRONT OF ME, AND THOUGHT WOW, WHAT A WASTE OF TALENT. IT WAS REMARKABLE HOW CREATIVE THEY ALL WERE USING NOTHING BUT A SPRAY CAN AND A LOAD OF CAPABILITY. IT WAS MAGNIFICENT, INSPIRATIONAL, IMAGINATIVE, AND INGENIOUS. I COULD USE A TON OF WORDS TO DESCRIBE TO YOU WHAT I SAW. BUT MOST OF ALL I SAW A LEVEL OF SKILL THAT SHOULD BE ON CANVAS AND IN AN ART GALLERY. MOREOVER, NOT JUST ON THE SIDE OF A RAIL CAR, ONLY SEEN BY PEOPLE STUCK AT A RAIL ROAD CROSSING. THE ONLY THING IDENTIFYING WHO THEY WERE OR THEIR ART WERE THE TAGS SPRAY PAINTED AS THEIR SIGNATURES. IMAGINE HOW THEIR ART WORK COULD IMPACT THE WORLD ON A GRANDER SCALE IF THEY LITERALLY WROTE OUTSIDE THE BOX.

THIS IS WHAT I’M SAYING TO EVERY WRITER, AUTHOR OR THOSE UNDECIDED IF THEY EVEN POSSESS THE ABILITY TO EXPRESS THEMSELVES THROUGH WORDS. YOU HAVE TO THINK BIGGER, BROADER, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY OUTSIDE THE BOX. IF YOU LIMIT YOUR ABILITY FOR WHATEVER REASON THEN YOU ARE JUST LIKE THOSE GRAFFITI ARTIST  WHO USE RAIL CARS AS THEIR CANVAS’S. WHY WASTE YOUR TALENT BY BEING SAFE, LET THE WORLD KNOW WHO YOU ARE BY WRITING FROM THE HEART. BY BEING HONEST AND OPEN WITH YOURSELF YOUR CHARACTERS AND READERS. BELIEVE ME IT IS THE MOST REWARDING AND CLEANSING EXPERIENCE YOU CAN HAVE. 

FREE SPEECH IS THE FREEDOM AND RIGHT TO ARTICULATE YOUR OPINION AND IDEAS. REMEMBER IF YOU DON’T USE IT WHEN YOU’RE WRITING THEN YOU ARE CENSORING YOURSELF. INSTEAD, THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX AND MOST CERTAINLY WRITE THAT WAY. 

IT’S OKAY TO BE SAFE BUT MORE IMPORTANT TO BE TRUE TO YOURSELF AND ALL THAT YOU DO.