Excuse Me, I’m a Writer

“If you expect to succeed as a writer, rudeness should be the second-to-least of your concerns. The least of all should be polite society and what it expects. If you intend to write as truthfully as you can, your days as a member of polite society are numbered, anyway.”

Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

American author and screenwriter, Stephen King, was born on this day in 1947.

I guess this is my week to mention authors who have published works at level I will never dream of achieving. Okay, I’ll dream of it…but…you get the point.

I mean, yesterday was George. R.R. Martin, today it’s Stephen King.

Not to mention that J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, was published on this day in 1937.

Back to King.

And, a note to self that it’s probably getting close to time to read that book again.

And, The Hobbit.

And…

I digress.

King is right. Writers can’t really worry about who they’re going to offend.

I don’t use the level of language that King and Martin do in their works (Tolkien just made up new langauge of words that shouldn’t be spoken).

But, I found when writing my script (Premiering next month with River City Community Players), that sometimes you just can’t get your point across with “shucks” and “gosh darn it.”

In fact, when I had my first read through with Richmond Playwright’s Forum. One of the members, a British gentleman said, “that British officer wouldn’t be nearly so polite.”

Good point.

When you’re going for writing, whether novel or stage, sometimes certain words just aren’t strong enough.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t, like some writers, drop in f-bombs just for the impact.

On a side note, I long for the day when I can sit in an audience and not hear nervous laughter when one explodes.

Words are words. Sometimes stronger words are needed.

Sometimes, the whole point is to write some thing that will offend, and then make the reader think why they were offended.

I’ve said before that I’ve held off on writing somethings because I didn’t want to have an Allison MacKenzie moment from Peyton Place.

Go watch the movie or read the book. If you’re going to hang out here, you’re going to get a lot of geeky, obscure references. I can’t do all of you homework.

Oh, sorry, is that rude?

I must be pretty good at this.

I don’t set out to offend. But, if the story calls for it, well…there you have it.

It’s Friday. You know there’s too much to do this weekend.

So…excuse me.

Follow The Write Side of My Brain on Google+, Facebook and Pinterest.

Cover Photo by Djurdjica Boskovic on Unsplash

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.