Letter
Dear _________,
I'm writing to you because you're stoned and I'm sad and I can't seem to say this to real you. Say this to you with your walls and your high and your too-smooth skin and the way you gasp and call to god and
I want you to know I still love you. I want you to know that looking into your eyes makes me want to cry or kiss you or both. I want you to know that I'd probably do anything for you. Because I am weak. Because I don't have any walls. Because I made a mistake when I held you and now not holding you hurts. You hurt me. I let you hurt me. I beg you to hurt me. Please baby, hurt me. Reach your hands inside all those holes from other lovers and take my heart. Break my heart. Get high and give me a call. Tell me you want me like you don't in reality. C'mon baby, I've been bad. Hurt. me. again.
Yours.
- awsmpossum's blog
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Awsm....
OK awsm,
Your writing is always filled with passion. That's for dang sure. And, often pain. As with your poetry, I get the sense that for you writing is often cathartic; a way to crystallize and analyze your feelings and the things that happen to you. And when I read your work, I often am very moved. You also are often on the edge; you are the one on this site who has been most AT the edge or slightly over it in terms of the subject matter you write about.
All those are good things. I mean that.
But I wonder how you can take the leash off your writing ... and I don't mean to dive into those topics that are, frankly, just a wee tad inappropriate for some of the users of this site. What I mean is to maybe get into fiction, to develop the ideas and concepts and moments in more depth. And how can I help you do that?
One thought is that I often feel like you are writing for a very specific (and small) audience; sometimes, even, for an audience of one. What if you thought about writing for a much LARGER audience and perhaps, even, an audience that did NOT include the person(s) you presently seem to write for?
What if you looked at the thing that's happened to you -- the actual details , the actions and reactions that followed and the emotions that were felt and turned those experiences into fiction, where you could incorporate detail and characters and setting and many of the other tools of fictional storytelling to have your writing connect with more people?
When one writes about specific people and about specific emotions and edgy topics and you have a very specific audience in mind, one is, in fact, making writing far more difficult for oneself. (But again, I don't want to diminish your work or your use of writing....) One needs to make things vague so as not to offend, or betray secrets or, even, libel someone. One needs to hedge because all of us understand that our point of view may have gray shades.
Fiction can be freeing. Narrative can be freeing. We can tell the story the way we want it to happen. We can use detail. We can develop character and story and dialog.
Please let me know what you think and if there are any things I can help you with this summer. Email me if you'd rather.
cheers
gg