“Once I wrote something really violent and I shared it with kids in my class and after that they were scared of me.”
A student shared this experience during a writing workshop, and I thought it pointed out something really important:
The writing you share represents you
You might want to say something like this:
“It’s not that I want to do the terrible things I said in this story—it’s that my narrator wants to do them!”
The problem is, when you put a piece of writing out into the world, it represents you: your ideas, your point of view, who you are.
Skillful writers are able to write in a way that makes it clear that they don’t agree with their narrators. Mark Twain, for example, wrote from the point of view of racist white Southerners, the sort of people he grew up with. But he made it clear from the context of his stories that he wasn’t racist.
Subtlety is hard!
Most kids don’t have the skill that Mark Twain developed over many years. And in fact, readers today still sometimes mistake the portrayal of racism in Twain’s work for being approval of racism.
So it’s very likely that if you write and share a violent story, at least some people who read it will think that you have violent ideas.
“Does that mean I shouldn’t write about the things that concern me?”
Maybe you want to write a story about a terrible thing that happened and is bothering you. Should you stop yourself?
NO! Always write what you feel. I encourage everyone to keep a journal and write their feelings, ideas, and stories in it.
“Does that mean I should think twice about sharing work that might be disturbing?”
YES! Your writing represents you. If there is any chance at all that the violence or ugliness in a story might make others think you approve of it, you should consider very carefully who you share it with.
I always encourage kids to find a trusted adult to share things with. Show them the story and say, “I wrote this because it’s an issue that concerns me. But I’m afraid it might not be something I should share with others. What do you think?”
The trusted adult knows you and won’t let one piece of writing alter their feelings about you. Remember to trust their advice. Writing is fun and can be a great way to explore hard ideas.
