When the Writer Grows Up.
When does the writer dip the toe into the Other? Who gives the writer permission to have the audacity to write a character that is not just as they are? Why do we even ask ourselves these questions?
Writers tip toe closer away from themselves every day, if they are evolving. Think about it. Did Tolkien have to be a talking tree before creating such a creature? Did Flannery O’Connor have to live as a sociopathic killer before introducing the world to The Misfit?
Shhh. Don’t speak. Let’s move on.
In a post I since took down on Instagram, I attempted to address the delicate subject of the Other. It’s too big of a topic to gloss over in a few hash tagged sentences. The topic of writing about the Other appears to have vanished into a black hole of literary creativity. (I was hard pressed to find much on the subject, so I welcome anyone to tag this post with links on this topic!) Writers on social are barraged with “grammar queen” memes and often shared quotes that remind us to edit, research, avoid writer’s block, and how good a cup of coffee looks placed just so next to our laptops. I am guilty of all of these, so dodge your own guilt where you may. Where do we go to find how to write the Other? I offer my own experience.
At no point in my creative writing life did some booming voice shout down from the Heavens “NOW. Now you can pretend you are an older man who knows how to fish and gets marooned on an island. NOW. Now you can play dress up and write about a black woman who may or may not get away with a murder.”
What did happen is this-I grew up. I went outside of myself. When I was a young writer, I placed myself as the adventurer. The main characters of my stories tended to be precocious, tomboyish protagonists who were merely reflections of my not-so subtle wish fulfilment goals. My characters, ranging in age from ten to eighteen years old, were an extension of my ego.
Ego, you might say. Why, the literate redneck, of course writers have an ego! Let’s address that misguided opinion. Don’t we all have acquaitances and loved ones who talk excitedly about their career, perhaps a promotion, perhaps they landed an interview or got a bonus? Is that ego? Are they allowed to be happy? Of course they are. And so are we. Writers have an ego. We have to. Otherwise our debilitating insecurity would keep us from ever sharing our work with the world.
For many writers, there is just not one big moment when they decide to step outside of their comfort zone and imagine a world without someone just like themselves. It’s a transition that can be subtle or it can be something the writer plots out- a goal to further expand their talent and authenticity. As I grew into a more experienced writer, I found the challenge of writing the Other to be a welcome one. I researched, yes. Yet I also got better at watching people. One doesn’t need to be in front of a screen to find out how a retired florist, at least two decades older than the writer, might behave or speak. One also doesn’t need to go to a florist shop and stalk subjects. No. Just write as if you had more in common with them than you might imagine. They make dinner. They think bad thoughts about annoying neighbors. They walk their dog, too. Just like you. Then - give them a problem. Did their plastic pink flamingos disappear in the middle of the night? What are they going to do about it? What would you do? Now, go back to what they would do. See?
Not that hard at all.
(Please check out another post about writing the Other at www.matociquala.livejournal.com!) It’s a subject that needs to be discussed more often.
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