Write What Scares You

by Ron Estrada

You’ve heard the same advice for years about how to behave at a social gathering. The unwritten rule to avoid controversial subjects like politics and religion are the basis for etiquette and creating lasting friendships or, at the very least, long term associations. It’s what keeps our existence steady and predictable, albeit boring.

What is sage advice for social gatherings is disastrous advice for writers. No one picks up a novel hoping for the safe and predictable. If they wanted that, they’d listen to NPR. And who wants to do that?

Readers like to be Uncomfortable

The new novelist tends to drift into the arena of acceptable social behavior. Our protagonists lead clean lives, never cheat on their spouses, vote in primaries, and obey the stop signs in the Target parking lot. Our themes are usually about forgiveness or love conquers all or something equally benign. And our cast of characters might have been plucked directly out of Green Acres.

Let’s think for a moment, shall we? What were the last few novels that truly gripped you? Let’s see, I’ve recently enjoyed The Help, Shutter Island, and The Hunger Games. Good safe subjects and protagonists, eh?

Let’s see, I’ve read about racism, insanity, and a barbaric future America. The protags are insecure, nuts, and willing to kill 23 other contestants so that she can survive. How does your protag stack up? My latest started out as a kindly ex-cop who lost his wife to cancer and moved north to open a diner. Exciting, I know.

Write yours down now. Go ahead. I’ll wait. How’s she looking? All-American Girl?

Get your Character Dirty

Let’s fix that shall we (we’ll work on theme as well, but let’s mess up this protagonist first).

My ex-cop, for example. His wife died of cancer? That, my friends, while tragic, won’t screw my man up nearly enough to be interesting. I think his wife has been murdered. Yes, it’s been done, I know. But let’s kill her as she’s on her way home from an affair…with my cop’s partner. Oh much better.

I think my ex-cop needs not to be such a kindly old grandfatherly type. Let’s give him a temper. And he’ll keep his feelings bottled up. He’s driven his wife to this adulterous affair. And eventually to her murder. Now we’ve got a protag with issues!

I’ll end it there. Don’t want to give away the whole story. How about your character? Is she investigating a murder, too? Oh goody. I like those. But let’s allow Nancy Drew to rest in peace, shall we?

Is your protagonist a single, beautiful, and pleasant member of the choir? Yikes. Let’s bring her down a notch or six. Maybe not so beautiful. A birth defect? A horrible burn scar? Better. She deals with her problems how? Drinking? Maybe something stronger and illegal? Or maybe she is beautiful but is terrified of damaging her hard-earned social status. Work on it. Don’t make us hate your protag, but let’s make her someone we want to read about, even if it’s for the “train wreck” effect.

A nice, unpleasant Theme

Now how about that theme? Remember, a them is different than concept. The theme is a simple short description that sets the tone for the story. If Forgiveness is your theme, then that drives the concept, every scene, every line, toward one end. There’s nothing wrong with themes like forgiveness or loves conquers all, but you’ll have to work hard to make them interesting, because they’ve been used so often the fabric is darn near transparent.

What about other themes? What theme would scare you to write about? What is it that some might say you have no business writing about? Racism like The Help? Insanity? Government Corruption? Sex Addiction? Modern day slavery? At least one of those makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t it?

We’re told frequently, as writers, to step out of our comfort zones. If you take a glance at the topics covered in today’s best-sellers, you’ll find many topics that make you squirm. Even Christian writers will find little that is taboo in our market. We have to present it in a more delicate manner (which, in my opinion, requires more talent), but we’ve seen novels sold in the CBA on topics ranging from child sex trafficking to infidelity among church leaders. Maybe someone reading this needs to address the issue of homosexuality among Christians. You don’t need to come to a conclusion on your topic. We’re fiction writers, we only lay down the story. All we can do is make the reader think.

By the way, your genre doesn’t trap you into a theme. Love conquers all is THE overriding theme in any romance, but we can doctor that up a bit. What if your heroine is in love with a man who was sexually abused as a child and now struggles with a porn addiction? Maybe your conservative Christian hero sets out to shut down an abortion clinic, but the pending love interest is a rabid pro-choice activist. I might even read that romance. The overriding genre theme still stands. But lets not that get in the way of tackling some hot issues that arouse some real emotional fire in our readers.

So what scares you? Write it down now. Read some headlines if you need help. Whatever makes you uncomfortable, that’s probably where your next great idea will stem from. Nothing’s off limits. I’d love to hear what you come up with.