Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

A willing suspension of Identity

A willing suspension of identity.

Remember in school your English teacher explaining…“Willing suspension of disbelief?“ Well what they never got around to saying was that a writer has to be able to “Willingly suspend their Identity” Then the writer must be able to assume the identity of their character.

For example the writer might be by nature a kind thoughtful person who teaches Sunday school…but have to create a character who is a serial killer.

Now this gets scary because a writer has a sense that if he writes too well about something the reader will attribute this to his true character…..“ Obviously anyone who writes this well on a subject that is taboo or criminal must be a pervert or a criminal in their own right. That such writing reveals at the very least, latent tendencies for that type of behavior…. Who wants that label?.

For example if a male writer writes comfortable and well from a female perspective they must have latent homosexual tendencies….or if he writes about taboo subjects like incest or child molestation that he must at the very least have fanciful thoughts regarding such behavior. It the writer is skilled enough and the literature is compelling enough the reader is gong to think…hey….this guy can’t be making this up…it resonates to closely to be make believe…. And how would he able to express it so clearly if he wasn’t one of "them…."

Well let me state emphatically that a writer doesn’t have to be one of “them.” What the writer must do is assume their identity for the period it takes to express their character…This is an internal rather than an external process…success will confirm the readers assessment of character and failure will convince the reader the writer doesn’t know what they're talking about.


Nobody needs the ladies at the church whispering…have you read Percy’s latest novel? I knew there was something strange about his family…..but who would have ever believed that his father was gay?

Like an actor who must do more than parrot lines …who must become the character, a writer must be able to slip freely into and out of a character and operate easily in the world he creates.

My advice to writers is don’t write it if you cant take the heat of seeing your prose posted on the church bulletin board, amen....end of sermon.