Writers Being Too Careful

Know what makes for boring writing? Fear of offense. I've been bored by articles that either never got to the point or constantly contradicted themselves. "Of course, on the other hand..." State an opinion!

I've fallen prey to it myself. I sometimes wonder if I should edit a sentence that could be perceived as offensive to some. I hate when I second guess myself like that. What freed me from that kind of doubt was the knowledge that I would never have enough readers for any of them to be offended.

On the other hand.....a writer might be surprised at the innocuous things a reviewer gets all hot and bothered about. One reader was appalled that my MC would sleep with....well, I'm not giving the plot away. (I'm kind of appalled that she did, too, but that's drama for you. Characters do dumb things.) I suppose I could have revised the story; turned the situation into a prim and proper professional relationship. Yawn.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big X user. I really get the bulk of my news from X. If a story is intriguing enough, I might look for more in depth reporting on regular news sites, but X pretty much tells the tale for me. I follow far too many accounts, which means that if a post doesn't strike my interest, I'll scroll right on by. So, the poster needs to say something. I can get pablum from the other thousand people I follow. 

And there's fiction writing for you. When I wrote my first couple of novels, and even the third, the stories started out as boring as hell. Part of that was because I hoped to attract the attention of an agent, so I tiptoed around, wary of turning off those hundred or so people I sent my first chapters to. No wonder they all hated it, so much so that the majority of them didn't even waste their time sending a quick rejection email. 

Little mouse that I was, I wrote two full novels that never said much of anything. The main characters hardly ever got angry enough to spout something inappropriate. They were supremely obedient and socially correct.

I've begun reading a lot of Substack articles, primarily about writing, and because I have so many subscriptions, the writer needs to hook me right away. Yes, I might skim, but if nothing jumps out at me, I'll abandon it fast. And just like a book cover, the title is all-important. I suck at titles, as you'll notice from this blog, but I'm trying to be better. I'm trying to convey an opinion. It could be a garbage opinion, but readers love finding something they can argue over. That said, they're my opinions, and I won't back down from them. 

For newbie writers, fear is natural. You're still feeling your way around. You've likely read a lot of "shoulds" and you take all of them to heart. But what is the point of writing if you're not gonna say something? 

Plus, if you write honestly, you'll never hate yourself in the morning.