Write What you Won't Say

Gabriel Matula--Unsplash

Never since Guttenberg dreamed of mass producing the bible has it been so easy for us to be writers. We no longer need reams of typewriter paper or magic white-out strips to build a manuscript. Gone are literary agents and writing clubs. We have Grammarly, Pro Writing Aide, and Hemingway to help us produce syntactically correct writing. Facebook puts us in close contact with other writers. So, answer me this. With all the help we can access;  with the world at our fingertips why do we produce so much shit? Why are so many published writers illiterate?  During a recent college symposium dealing with two English Authors, George Orwell, and D. H. Lawrence, no one knew when Orwell wrote and published 1984. 15 people in a graduate writing class could not answer the question which tells you that Orwell's life was an unknown to these creative writing students. Orwell transposed the year he wrote 1984 to create the title. The book was written in 1948, published in 1949 and he died in 1950. When asked which was written first, 1984 or Animal Farm, there was no real discussion, only guessing. 


In discussing Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence most students felt it was of little consequence and rather boring.  This book changed sexual morality in both England and the Americas. It was the first book to map sex with love, and to treat fucking as both serious emotion and even more serious descriptive writing. What makes both writers stand as towering examples of our art?  What skill did these two titans of literature have that we so lack?

Neither author was a rebel or anarchist. Neither attempted to burn Parliament nor did they curse the Royal family. They each burned with ideas not shared nor commonly held. Like us, they did not get on a soapbox or climb the roof of a building to proclaim their beliefs. 

In 1952  Ralph Ellison wrote The Invisible Man.  Only a black man could write that book. Whites could neither understand nor embrace it; not then, and not today. Ellison, Orwell, and Lawrence all had emotions that burned their souls.

What they accomplished was not realized until the middle 1960s when Harlan Ellison wrote: “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”. This story is one of the first dystopian nightmares to hit the written page, and we as writers need to embrace the scream within us. 

As writers, we seem to be bent on pursuing the ever elusive muse and once found we still often fight writer's block. The muse is a bitch, a wolf wanting only to gnaw at our creativity.  Kick her/him/it to the curb.

Feel this:

''I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix''

If it moves you and you’ve never heard it before, it is the opening lines of HOWL by Allen Ginsberg. If you’ve heard of neither, you have a moral obligation to change the education system so your children will feel what real creativity can do to you and for you.  Even if you’ve read it before, read it again. Read it now. It's free, and it’s right here: 

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl.

We need to scream. We have ideas and we feel emotions that others think exist but do not pursue. Stop running. If you have nothing of value to scream, if you enjoy living in ennui, stop writing. If, in your soul is a message you need to get out; something you must share then write.  As you write you have the God-given right to throw back your head and scream whatever burns in you.

Doomed Hero, Damned Writer

Photo by Chen Hu on Unsplash

Amazon sells several new books at the very reasonable price of $0.99 to $2.99.  Some of these books are real gems and provide a terrific read for pennies. Others are poorly written and should never have seen the light of day. 

Occasionally a title or a synopsis will get my attention. I can often tell if the book is worth reading by paying attention to the reviews of other readers. Out of the twenty reviews I read, nineteen were very much equivalent. The book was categorized as Young Adult fantasy adventure. Both writing and character development was excellent until the last twenty-five pages when it all turned to crap. That consistency amongst reviewers fascinates me so I spent the $1.99 and finished the book in a day of reading. I’m not quoting author or title but those reviews were both accurate and justified. Picture this (my creation….not from the book). Our hero is hanging from a loose root over a deep drop from which there are neither ledges nor cracks to hold fingers. He can’t call for help, he can’t help himself.  When suddenly, seeming to fly from a cloud, is a beautiful woman with golden wings and hair as red as fire. She rescues our hero who is now nestled in the arms of true love. 

While the true ending of the book was not quite that bad it was not too much of an improvement. I will not degrade or belittle the concept of “saving the day by an act of God”. It is piss poor writing that does not deserve to be in your lexicon. It leads to two noteworthy conclusions.

 This Situation should never have happened.

Today it is common to publish your own book. This puts the onus for editing on your shoulders. Several years ago the writer would find a literary agent who would work with the writer to ensure such things as plot integrity and strong character development. They would also serve as the last bastion against bad grammar. A good agent would work with the author to ensure a logical and coherent book.

Some bad endings are salvageable.

The flying angel may be the perfect escape for our hero. She’s beautiful, she’s strong, and she is eminently qualified to save the hero. What is missing and what kills the book is how she was first introduced to the reader.

The writer should have shown the female character as a warrior from another race or time.  The hero might have first seen her jogging, seeming to be running with such grace and agility that her feet barely touched the ground. Her long bright red hair flowed behind her as if balanced on powerful wings.

With every interaction occurring between hero and female love interest we build her as not only an equal but a superior individual whose powers and skills become clear as the plot unfolds.

 With a little work bad endings can be reworked into plausible endings. Don't let your rush to publish kill your story.