It’s important to be brave in your writing. You know the saying, “Faint heart never won fair maiden?” Well, think also that “Faint writing never won fair readers.” We read stories to be transformed, uplifted, entertained, affected. You can’t do that unless you write bravely.

Author Jim Van Pelt wrote a blog post called “New Year’s Resolutions for Writers” (the whole thing is worth reading, really), and the #4 resolution was:

Be brave. Take risks on the page. These can be risks with language, risks with plot, risks with theme. No matter what, don’t write stuff that feels “safe” because I want to avoid criticism or because I’ve been praised for telling that kind of story before. Remember Neil Young. He’s never done the same album twice.

I don’t know much about Neil Young, but I strongly believe the rest of that. Be brave while you write, and be confident in your bravery. Writers are often worried about pushing it too far, but that’s not the problem. The problem is always not pushing enough. Fiction is about creating an emotional response in the reader. Scare them, make them laugh, make them cry, turn them on. Be brave!

Harlequin editor Brenda Chin is famous for saying that if a writer goes to far, she can pull rein her in, but she can’t do the opposite. An editor can’t make a book funnier, sexier, more emotionally appealing. That’s up to us, the writers.

Today, be brave in your writing. Take a risk. You may find you like it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Diana Peterfreund. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.