Honesty and Integrity in Writing: Say What You Think

                In the interest of challenging definitives, the following article inspired me to respond in the way Coleridge and Wordsworth once spoke, through the craft of writing.

  Never Write On These Topics

  I believe that it is a noble and excellent point to suggest that there are topics which, by and large, should not be in an author’s main repertoire of subjects and styles. But to speak definitively on a topic as to say, there is no place or time to express these personal feelings in an appropriate manner seems limiting. As writers we should be striving for truth and honesty in what we share and say. I will always take my reader into account, but not at the price of my honest expression of how I feel. Before I continue I would like to express my gratitude to Shivanisd for writing the article for the inspiration of my following ideas, and please know that in no way is this article meant to be an attack on but a literary dialogue and public exchange of ideas.

                1) I will agree that in a slanderous and excessive way, speculative thoughts on those who have passed away are inappropriate. My case and point, say what you will about Michael Jackson, he was a human just like anyone else, and I personally believe that he didn’t deserve many of the ridiculous posthumous headlines. However, speculative comments exist to prove whether there is evidence to support the claim. If everyone took it easy and did not comment on those who have passed away but left questionable loose ends, there would be no dialogue, and through intelligent dialogue comes discovery.

   Now, all that being said, I wouldn’t go write about my neighbor down the street who kicked the bucket yesterday and post on my blog about some amazingly obscure moment that if you make 20 different leaps in logic could mean he was obsessive compulsive with a few weird fetishes… cause that would be ridiculous and unfair. But, just because you have died should not mean that your actions in life are absolved from wrong doing or posthumous attention. Nor should the concept of speculative thoughts be restrained by the idea that they will all be negative. A persons memory and story does not just cease to exist upon the end of their life,  and a story is always alterable as new details are revealed. By all means, there should be a grace period on damaging speculative thoughts in relation to a death, but not an exemption from finding a truth that is worth noting.

  2) I suppose every person has their own connotation as per what writing about nudity encompasses. In the sense of an erotic story, bodice ripping paper back novels or anything by Danielle Steele, I would say nudity plays an important role in those stories. For that matter, Danielle Steele is rich… I’m sure her stories would be decent without the elaborate sex scenes… but face it, they make the novels gooood… if you have a talent and a medium with which to express it/capitalize on it, why not?

   Changing gears, not all mentions or ideas of nudity however need to be within this frame of mind and personal vision. What if I were to write about a revelation I had upon glimpsing at my lover’s nude body in the moonlight? Wherein that moment as the moon’s blue hue shown upon the curve of her waist and graced the edge of her smile I realized that home is an idea, and place is merely the location we must associate with it to tell people where you can find that idea… As a writer, to me, the beauty of that moment would be more than sullied if I were to exclude the details that brought me that realization.

   Or just as well, I could describe my own personal knowledge of how nudity and my own emotional well being tie into one another. Where I know that I am by no means a 10, or even a 6 according to Hot or Not, but I know that I can judge my life happiness by my nude self image. If I am happy, I can see my love handles, thunder thighs and awkward moles and still smile. When this is not the case, I can take that as a point of strength and an opportunity to fix the emotional aspect that may be blocking that self love. And by sharing this personal aspect of myself (which conveniently ties into number 6 as it is not something I would normally offer up) maybe someone reading this may draw similar strength and learn to love their nude self image and build upon my simple words to identify with their own personal needs.

   3 and 4) Derogatory: tending to lessen the merit or reputation of a person or thing; disparaging; depreciatory.

  I will readily agree that those who do not bring such a response upon themselves do not deserve to be attacked. However, this does not excuse people or groups who attack and depreciate others first from receiving a fair and honest response (whether or not there are derogatory comments within said response). Life, emotion and communication are subject to each individuals experience and everyone is right… for better or worse. So even derogatory comments are relative. Some may rise above this and not dignify ignorance with a response, some may slum to new levels of low in order to prove how that person is wrong. There is a market for every side on the internet. Is this a good thing? Not always. But it is what it is.

   To me, the religious group that denies the validity of a gay persons existence is highly deserving of a literary lashing, in the same way as people who view all Muslims as terrorists, all pregnant unwed mothers as impure and everyone on welfare as lazy… I am more than willing to bet that articles of these natures would be rife with derogatory statements, but then comes in the added difficulty of, is the idea itself derogatory? It’s all subjective. It’s all relative. It’s all right because whomever wrote it felt it strongly enough in themselves (the social/moral implications of “right” being a completely different issue from the emotional/writer’s implications of being “right”). Ultimately, to limit your writing based on what might offend someone else is only hurting yourself and the writer’s voice that is begging to share that level of honesty.

  5) I have no clue how exactly to take this point and have learned in my life that the quote “If you assume, you make an ass out of you and me,” is more than an astute observation… Moving on…

   6) Sharing something you never imagined sharing in such a public way can be amazingly liberating. I take inspiration and strength from Postsecret in this respect. There are a million ways to share these truths, as quirks through fictional characters, as personal revelations, as musing on twitter… Obviously, if you aren’t ready to share it with the world, don’t share it… but as a writer, I feel we should all be unafraid to imbue these pieces of us into our work whenever possible.

   7) To incite ill will against another with expressed intent is propaganda in my mind. If you write something based on your own emotions and experience and keep it as your own thoughts presented to the internet, how the average person takes that is up to them… but writing with the intent of creating an ill willed propaganda manifesto… there is no argument from me on this one… say what you have to say, but don’t purposefully aim for a pitchfork and black tar mob to come from your creations… My best case and point, Martin Luther’s and his 1517 public posting of his 95 Theses. While The Protestant Reformation may have been directly related to his publicly posted homework assignment, his statements were merely for knowledge, dialogue and growth… no ill will in his purpose, but a reaction documented in the history books due to his courage to stand behind his words.

   8) Unfortunately, religious fanaticism is also subjective… everyone has the right to express their points of view… and that’s all I have to say on that…

   9) Agreed. Companies have money… I don’t… I mess up, they can hire lawyers… I can’t… Never go out of your way to fight the big guy in the bar unless you have the guts, recklessness or clear cut advantage to back it up… in this case, cold hard facts… unless you are complaining about the new Netflix User Interface or something along those lines where there are no real consequences to saying “It sucks, this is why…” Learn to pick your battles.

  And 10!) I’m kind of hoping this is a cheeky end to the list family is the perfect place to draw inspiration, anecdotes, lessons and articles from! Think of all the movies, shows and books that were rooted in at least 1 crazy family member that was just too good NOT to become a character… Using these people should be relative to their ability to take a laugh and a joke. Don’t go overboard (you still do have to deal with them come holidays), and if you are writing about your spouse, make sure that it won’t end up with you sleeping on the couch for the next week. But look at Sleep Talking Man as an amazing example of the everyday humor that comes from close personal relationships. S&#t My Dad Says became a book and TV show but started off as a Twitter where all Justin Halpern did was tweet the inappropriate things that came out of his dad’s mouth. By all means, as writer’s we should not make light of those who cannot handle it, but we should not be afraid to draw on those we know as an excellent source for our next great article or story.

  In the end, a writer’s words should be based on their comfort level with what they want to say versus how they are trying or willing to say it, but we should not fear making a mistake or inciting negative emotions in people if it means subduing our own need to self expression. We are writers because we have chosen not to limit our creativity. We are writers because we have decided that expressing things with the world means something to us. We have chosen the internet as that medium because we are free to express ourselves as we see fit, where even if no one else will publish us, we can make a blog, or put it on Facebook or start a website to get share it accordingly… and I feel to even limit the ideas we are allowed to express and write about stunts our creative potential and growth. I’m sure not everyone will agree with me… but this is my long winded, sincerely expressed truth. Thank you for your time and enjoy your writing.