This week: Don't Be Afraid Edited by: Legerdemain  
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Don't Be Afraid
Are there genres and topics you shy away from because you don't think you have enough experience or background knowledge to write well? You can research, but what are the other reasons?
One reason that comes to mind is certain topics or scenarios might trigger you or your reader base. If you know your audience, say they're military veterans, are you going to avoid topics that might turn away readers? Do you dig deeper and find a better way to present your scene so it's less controversial or upsetting?
Other reasons might be cultural or social. Writing about LGBTQ+ and knowing the terminology used for gender identities can be tricky. "Transsexual" is a deprecated term that is often considered pejorative similar to transgender in that it indicates a difference between one’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth. Transsexual often – though not always – implicates hormonal/surgical transition from one binary gender (male or female) to the other. Unlike transgender/trans, transsexual is not an umbrella term, as many transgender people do not identify as transsexual. When speaking/writing about trans people, please avoid the word transsexual unless asked to use it by a transsexual person. The umbrella "native American" might not be enough to show a difference in different groups of peoples.
My opinion is that you should dive in. Maybe you'll get it wrong, but someone will come along and help you get it right. If you can take correction from well-intended criticism and the person commenting can do so helpfully and constructively, rather than get inflammatory, we can all learn more, right?
Ask for help in getting it right, and have someone beta-read your work. This is what our site is for, getting help from our peers and improving ourselves.
So don't be afraid, and Write On!
This month's question: What topic or genre would you like to try?
Answer below  Editors love feedback! 
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Excerpt: Jedd was hiding in the box the machine had been packed in. Even standing up, Elizabeth couldn’t see the top of his head. She laughed and pretended she couldn’t see him until he tipped it over and crawled out.
Excerpt: The traveler did not fear the looming threat of winter. For two thousand years, he'd walked the empty lands of Asia, and today was just another day.
Excerpt: There had been rumors that a lich had sequestered itself in a long forgotten temple deep in a forest on the edge of the kingdom. It had been terrorizing the local population for several months. It was rumored that the lich had several powerful talismans in its possession. Many had tried and failed to destroy it. At first it had just been rumors. Now, the rumors had been confirmed.
Excerpt: A young soldier hung from a dead tree nestled in the shallow gully of two hills. His hands were tightly bound above his head to an overhanging branch, and his legs were tied to the trunk.
| |  | Believe (E)
Do you believe in yourself enough to make your own dreams reality?
#1196757 by Kirsten  |
Excerpt: The following is an excerpt from one of my travel journals -- definitely a work in progress. I visited SEA (South East Asia) during a time when fear and prejudice influenced the opinions and actions of many, with little attention given to reason.
Excerpt: Most everyone in the sleepy little village of southern Maine drudged through the sultry afternoon, praying that thunderheads rising above the horizon would bring relief. Young Derek was an exception.
| |  | Invalid Item
This item number is not valid.
#2307924 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: The mist had returned, an ethereal predator in the twilight hours. A paralyzing dread had seized the wise man, drawing him to his knees on the soil stained with the struggles of yesterday, his robes—a testament to his purity—now flapping violently in the chill breeze, as if the gale itself wished to abduct him skyward.
Excerpt: Perona was a Ghost Girl. A pink-haired cutie who ate the Hollow-Hollow fruit. She was in the crew of the Warlord Gecko Moria. She wasn't that good of a fighter, but she did have a broken Devil Fruit, and she was powerful.
Excerpt: Ten year old Abdul was bringing the goats home. He paused at each tree for them to eat. He saw the hazy form of his seven year old sister, Jamila, bringing home the water jar on her head. She was the only sibling he had left from three. He waved his spear above his head.
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This month's question: What topic or genre would you like to try?
Answer below Editors love feedback!
Last month's "Action/Adventure Newsletter (December 20, 2023)" question: Does random curiosity help you learn new things?
How do you use that in your writing?
keyisfake : Yes, I get curious all the time.
Paul  : Absolutely! There is no telling what my randomly curious mind will conceive of.
Jayne  : My husband will ask me random questions all the time. I occasionally mention he's holding a Googlebox in his hand.
His response is usually, "You're faster."
So, yeah, I learn stuff just because I don't like not understanding things. Words, concepts, politics, hard sciences, social sciences, folklore, cryptids, Star Wars canon, you get the idea. Whatever floats my boat in the moment.
It comes in handy when reading and writing, and also for having a baseline to talk to a wide variety of people about the basics of what their core focus is, and then ask (semi) intelligent questions and learn from what they know. I'm less of a great conversationalist than I am good at letting people talk about themselves.
Be curious. Invite others to be curious with you. There's a big old world out there full of curiosities.
TheBusmanPoet : My adventure is as it has been my whole life, to take each day one at a time and try my best to live it to the fullest. 
HollisFrances : I say yes! Then I wonder why I even said it. Is it really a random thought? Dr Caroline Leaf, (https://drleaf.com/pages/about-dr-leaf), has several books on the brain and brain function as it pertains to learning, memory and thought.
In her book, "The Gift in you", she writes that our brains are separated into 7 distinct functional areas. And when we develop a thought, the brain cycles through each of those function areas many times per second accessing every memory that we've ever 'stored' whether we actually remember the memory consciously or not.
the "curiosity" prompts us to investigate, but from where and why? Is there a blank space in our memories that prevent us from find a solution to this curiosity and therefore more data, "memories" must be created and stored in order to solve the curiosity?
kimauge : Many times.
elephantsealer  : "Random curiosity", for me, means I need to learn new things; and at this time, I am curious how I would like to learn to write "mystery". I would be interested to know how I can learn this side of writing. Is there somebody somewhere who can guide me through this learning process? I would be appreciative if there is someone out there to teach me?
Khola Mousethyme : Of course. I get curious about something and I just have to look it up and find out more. Cellphones with Google Search are wonderful for this..Also tablets...
Bonnie8910 : Yes. Just asking random thoughts and questions leads to some really interesting answers.
tj ~ endeavors to persevere!  : I would say yes, curiosity can help us learn new things, but it can also get us into a lot of trouble without some critical thinking and what used to be common sense (now more uncommon).
Steve  : One never truly knows their next adventure until it begins.
oldgreywolf scribbles : Of course.
We're all biologically Homo sapiens sapiens, but do you know the behavioral difference between the run-of-the-mill Homo sapiens and the rarer Homo sapiens sapiens personalities?
The former live their life day-to-day, often dragging their children down to their level, except for those who are aspire to the latter category.
Behavioral Homo sapiens sapiens seek out a better future, identify means to attain that future, and work towards it. Their research is initially focused, but, unless on a government grant, focused research only goes so far. Random searches, playing with various search filters, turning up information that may be useful now or later (often not at all), may result in discovering the keyword that opens the floodgate.
Every member of writing.com , whether using the internet, good old library search, or face-to-face contact, will usually go through this same sequence, or run into a brick wall (or get very lucky once or twice).
This isn't a complete answer, because each individual is different.
Bob : yes
flash : My next adventure will depend on what new video game I play during the new Year.
s : Always. Without random curiosity, I never would gave delved into the chaos that is the US electoral college, for instance...
Thanks to everyone for your responses! Leger~ |
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Action/Adventure: January 17, 2024 Issue [#12371]
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