I've been wanting to do something for some time. A while back, I did a piece about writing against conscience. It involved one of the hardest things I'd ever written when I did a chapter from Salvation Day. There was an ancillary character who was in Hell for killing a mother and her two year old daughter. That the character was paying for his crimes wasn't what got to me - it was that I decided to have the reader experience this monster's action through the monster's eyes, so I had to write the horrific scene as if I was the murderer. Having children myself, writing about a man killing a toddler was one of the most draining and despicable things I've ever had to do. However, it also opened up a writing world that was previously hidden from me.
We should all try to grow within the craft. With that in mind, along with my previous experience - an experience I think brought depth to my novel - I've decided to try and replicate it in several ways. Starting next week, I'm going to do six different stories/posts where I'm going to try and assume the character of a different person. By doing so, I want to see if I can write against what I believe, and if the audience will be able to tell. Some of what I write will be only slightly modified from my core principles, while others will be in such sharp contrast that it'll be a different person altogether.
Some of what I write will have the potential in our polarized climate to piss people off, please take everything in the next two weeks with a huge grain of salt. I'm going to write as an evangelical preacher, as an atheist, as a right wing political hack, as a left wing hippie, as a serial killer, and as a pacifist. Each thing will stretch me if I'm to bring believability to each role, and some will stretch me more than others. I think it'll either be a great way to grow as a writer, or it'll send me to the loony bin. I guess we'll find out.
We should all try to grow within the craft. With that in mind, along with my previous experience - an experience I think brought depth to my novel - I've decided to try and replicate it in several ways. Starting next week, I'm going to do six different stories/posts where I'm going to try and assume the character of a different person. By doing so, I want to see if I can write against what I believe, and if the audience will be able to tell. Some of what I write will be only slightly modified from my core principles, while others will be in such sharp contrast that it'll be a different person altogether.
Some of what I write will have the potential in our polarized climate to piss people off, please take everything in the next two weeks with a huge grain of salt. I'm going to write as an evangelical preacher, as an atheist, as a right wing political hack, as a left wing hippie, as a serial killer, and as a pacifist. Each thing will stretch me if I'm to bring believability to each role, and some will stretch me more than others. I think it'll either be a great way to grow as a writer, or it'll send me to the loony bin. I guess we'll find out.
(Stretching can take shape in unexpected ways)
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