Part 2: Writing Honestly.

“Write hard and clear about what hurts.” — Hemingway

I quoted Hemingway again because it’s an incredible quote that should be burned into the folds of your labyrinthine brain or stitched to the inside of your eyelids. So, now on to the post.

 

“Write what you know.”

We’ve all heard that expression. It’s a time honored phrase repeated in writing classes the world over.

But it’s an incomplete phrase, and often times woefully misunderstood.

I believe whoever said it was on his/her death bed and died mid-sentence because a lot of new writers instantly choke on its possible meanings:

Only writing things based off of ACTUAL real life knowledge.
Writing, essentially, a replay of one’s daily life.

And the most tragic:

Never writing about imaginary things, because after all, they have never experienced them.

These assumptions attack many greenhorns, but is important to note all the same. The phrase “write what you know” can be SO such more powerful, potent, and clear if only that poor chap had taken a deeper breath before running out of life. If he had, he might have said this:

“Write what you know to be sincere .”

This is where honesty in your writing comes from. Honesty is a mine of emotional truths that you believe to be sincere, valuable, and worth sharing. Honesty is a color mixed into the palette of your story, unifying all the kaleidoscope dots of your characters, plot points, actions, and reactions in common shades — common shades of truths.

You might be thinking: “Ain’t that the theme of a book?” It isn’t. A theme is generally only ONE overarching idea that umbrella’s the entire book. Writing honestly spreads wider a net, while seeping into the nooks and crannies of each sentence, dialogue, and scene, rather than only at big plot points.

Writing honestly is about conveying whole heartily the predilections that you’ve imbued your characters with — to not shy away from being brutally honest about what needs to be said, or how it needs to be said. No matter if your character is a murderer or a saint, or if your story takes place in Nazi Germany or on a planet with blob creatures that are raging racists, writing honestly means being honest with your world.

Write what is true to you, and write what isn’t true to you, because that is also a truth! To be honest is to honestly approach each character’s beliefs (good or bad) and treat them as sacred — this is the chasm of sincerity, the intimidation of honesty. It can be scary, becoming so honest with the truths of your story that it feels as if it’s threatening to swallow your sanity.

It’s why many mediocre books read thinly — shallow. A flutter of pages as easily scattered as straw on a windy day. Teetering and flinching between the gaps of “going there,” and not.

In the following example, the hypothetical author is passionate about shedding a light on the brutality of living on a slave plantation:

Wishy-washy Version:

“I din’ take no coins! I swear masta! I swear!” John cowered before Hammit, the plantation owner. Hammit brandished a whip over his head.

“Don’t lie to me john!”

That night John’s back stung….

Honest Version:

“I din’ take no coins! I swear masta! I swear!” John cowered before Hammit, the plantation owner. John crawled on the ground, scratching at the dirt to get away from the pain that was to come. Hammit was livid, red-faced with drink, veins bulging. He brandished a whip over his head.

“YOU FUCKIN’ NIGGER! DON’ LIE TO ME!” Hammit stumbled after the slave. He unfurled his whip. “STOP MOVIN’ WHILE I WHIP YA!”

John stopped his crawling, Hammit’s words terrorized his will, ripped the hope from him like so many times before. Hammit’s leather cracked like lightning on his back. A seam of flesh sliced open. John screamed into the earth. More lightning. Blood mist popped tufts into the air. John’s shrill cries blanketed the plantation, peaking and dipping between strikes.

That night John slept on his stomach, his ratty mattress stained crimson from the red bark carved into his back.

Don’t betray your story because you’re unsure how the outside world might look upon it, and you. Indeed, writing can be one the greatest acts of honesty. You owe it to yourself, and your readers, to respect that. And it’s the most honest of writers that are the most beloved by their readers.

 

Part 3: Writing Dialogue coming next week! So bookmark, share, and tweet!
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