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We’re in the middle of our 4-Day Writing Transformation workshop here in Taos, and it’s INCREDIBLE. I wanted to post what people wrote to the prompt we began the day with yesterday, “The Beautiful Ordinary,” but technical glitches are defeating me tonight, so I’ll post that next week, and tonight, as it’s late and I’ve just come back from a glorious dinner, I will give you an extract from the short chapter “Write With Courage” in WRITE WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW. I’m choosing this because one of our participants gave us all buttons that say “DARE TO IMAGINE” - and that’s what we’re doing: daring.
It takes courage and practice to let your imaginative mind take the lead. Your rational mind may resist, because it likes to stay in control. It’s afraid of two things, chaos and madness. But it tends to shy away from material that might upend your view of the world or yourself, and it can panic if it thinks cherished certainties might get smashed. It takes courage to go to those edgy places. You can take comfort from the fact that you’ll only be doing it for 10 minutes! The timer will ping and your short foray into scary territory will be over.
Everyone has certain thoughts, or memories, or subject matter, that they shy away from. It’s human nature to paper over ugliness, rationalize guilt, turn away from shame. But as a writer, this is some of your most powerful material—for the very reason that most people shy away from it. If there are areas in your life or your psyche that you find yourselff avoiding when you write to our prompts, that’s your imagination telling you it wants to explore your darker corners. If it didn’t, the thought of writing about them wouldn’t even occur to you.
We’ve urged you already to write without judging your writing. Now we’re urging you to write without judging yourself. Does it upset you to think about something you once did? Have you had fantasies that scared you because they showed you what you might be capable of? You’re not alone; even saints don’t live unblemished lives. But how many people can write about their transgressions with honesty and insight? That takes courage.
The more you broaden your acceptance of your own human nature, the broader the range of your writing will be. Your own experience offers you the most vivid, heartfelt insights into the darker areas of our behavior spectrum as a species.
Courageous writing is no-holds-barred truth-telling—to yourself. You don’t have to share these truths. You can rip up the pages, or keep them under lock and key, or use the material for a fictional character. Nobody needs to know where you mined it.
It’s quite an achievement for a novelist to elicit sympathy for a true villain. Ever wonder how they do it?
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