Writing has always has been an act of bravery. Words carry power, and the writers that use their words to resist oppression – like Vaclav Havel, whose extensive resistance to the Communist regime in Czechoslavakia inspired a human rights award – deserve our awe and support. The freedoms we take for granted, including Free Speech, were hard won by people willing to wield their pen to fight for liberty.
The writing that most authors do, of course, is nothing so grand. However, it is still a (smaller) act of bravery to be willing to put themselves on the page and share it with the world.
KarenG asked a great question on her blog, Coming Down from the Mountain:
What if you knew there was a publisher waiting to publish you as soon as you got that current wip done and polished? What if there were no agents, no query letters or rejections to worry about?
There are a hundred acts of bravery on the way to having your work in the hands of readers. If we eliminate the gauntlet of publishing – queries, agents, editors, marketing – and you knew that your writing would be read by hundreds, possibly thousands, what would that mean for your writing?
For me, I would live in sudden fear that my work wasn’t good enough, prompting a maniacal refocusing on craft and perfectionist editing.
Every step of the writing process requires small acts of bravery. For some, just putting pen to paper is so daunting that they never do it. That simple act of facing the blank page and sharing your inner thoughts – the ones that perhaps even your closest family don’t know that you harbor – can be terrifying. Taking the risk of being creative, of letting go of the tight control we normally have over our lives, is daunting. Because storytelling is inherently biased – this is your perspective on life, and yours alone. Nathan Bransford described voice as a cumulative expression of who you are (among other things), and it takes some courage to let that shine through and expose your innermost self to the world.
It took a while for me to “come out” as a writer – to let the world at large know that I was doing this creative thing, writing stories for children. First I had to own the writer label in my own mind, but even then, there was a hesitation – what if friends, neighbors, acquaintances read something I’ve written, and they don’t like it?
It’s a risk.
My brother, a sage man three years younger than I, once told me he considered writing and other creative acts to have a moral imperative: that artists have an obligation to create. If they have the ability to contribute to the sum total of unique creations in the world, they have an obligation to make that art available to humanity.
I think he was joking, but I’m not entirely sure.
But I do know that it takes many small acts of bravery to produce any kind of art. So bravo to everyone who writes, from bloggers, to published authors, to writers who post their writing online for all to see.
What risk do you take to write?
(This awesome pix was taken from an even more awesome blog post here about taking risks)
I absolutely love this post. Writing, exposing ourselves is a huge risk, and I think that the more we risk, the bigger the payout could ultimately be. But it also increases the odds of falling on our faces. Rejection is the same thing. The more we submit, the more we learn. As we submit we improve the likelihood of getting published, but we have to bear the pain of more rejection. Cole Gibsen, who just got a two book deal from Flux, did a fantastic guest blog for us this morning on surviving rejection. I think we all focus too much on the pain of being rejected, without spending enough time giving ourselves credit for the courage it takes to put our writing out there. Thanks so much for the reminder!
P.S. – Since I'm Czech, I also loved your Havel reference. 😀
@Adventures in Children's Publishing
First, an adventure indeed! And that's the way I tolerate a lot of the risk, seeing it as an adventure. I will have to venture over to Mr. Gibsen's post! 🙂
I believe writers need to have faith in the stories they have inside them, the ones they want to tell. Focus your doubts on your craft, because there is always something to improve there.
The risk I take is putting myself out there for rejection. That's always a big huge scary one. But I love my stories; I have confidence in them to grab other people. I just need to figure out the execution by honing the craft, and maybe someone will take a chance on one. 🙂
@LT Good for you for taking the risk, big and scary though it is! The worst they can say is no – in which case you learn and move on. At least, that's what I tell myself. 🙂
This is a fantastic post, Susan. I tell my students that writing is so much more than ink on a page – it's blood and guts and heart and soul. There is no greater risk than putting all of yourself into something that will be judged subjectively. It's scary. I love the way you addressed the issue.
@Shannon I love that you are sharing this perspective with your students! One of the great things about being a writer is giving people insight into the writing process. 🙂
Bravo is right!! I think we're pouring out a piece of ourselves in our stories. We're being vulnerable with our creations. And that takes courage. With my first coming out in the fall, I'm very nervous about people actually reading it. Sure, it's also very exciting. But at the same time, we have to battle inner fears, and that definitely takes courage!
@Jody Congrats on the book! That is awesome! And scary. And exciting. And nerve-wracking! 🙂 But you were brave enough to write it in the first place – I'm sure that will carry you through! I'm looking forward to seeing it. 🙂
Looks like we linked to each other! I loved your phrase about writing being an act of bravery so much that I linked your blog in a follow-up post about it. Although I didn't go into as much lovely detail as you do here! Great post, Susan.
@KarenG Thanks for the link back! My fellow bloggers never fail to get me thinking! 🙂
I read that article on Voice by Nathan too (well, so did at least 3000 odd followers… no surprise there). But anyway, his take on voice wasn't exactly what I expected.
But I was pleasantly surprised. (kidlit.com has an article on voice too)
What courage it takes to put ourselves out there! Where we can be hurt! I'm so fortunate I started out with kind critiquers. Now I need to move beyound the "kind" stage and I have a critiquer that is "hurting" but at the same time it is HELPING so much. Still, it shook me up and dashed my ego and my courage for a while.
I've probably been spending too much times on blogs lately but honestly they've helped me rack up my courage again. Because we all face the same demons of fear and insecurity.
Did my comment go through?
@Margo Yes! Comment success! 🙂
I'm curious what your thoughts are about Nathan's take on voice. It seemed to me like he was saying many of the same things from different angles, trying to pin down something difficult to define. His perspective as an agent I think has to be somewhat different than a writer's, but then he's a writer too.
I understand what you mean about different kinds of critiquers. I also think it's important to have someone who is "in your genre" as a critiquer, especially for kidlit. There are some different expectations for children's writers, especially in MG.
I was wondering if you could change your commenting settings so commenters can have the option to have follow-up emails sent to them? I'm trying to figure out how to do this for my blog too. I love your blog because a) you always have interesting posts and b) you always take the time to respond the comments, so I feel like it's worth my time to respond. But then I forget to check back.
I'm planning my own post here shortly on Voice, using Nathan's post, a couple others, and a few other bits and pieces I've gleaned. It's such a confusing topic, but one thing I have to constantly remind myself is that there is the author's voice, which is what Nathan is talking about, and then there is also voice as it applies to characters. Related, but very different.
@Margo The "subscribe by email" link below the comment block should allow follow up comments to be emailed to you. You should be able to go back to previous posts to subscribe as well. I love that you want to follow up! And thank you for your sweet words. Let me know if this doesn't work for you.
Re:Voice I'd very much like to read your post – I'll be looking for it!