What
is the worst offense a writer can do?
Don’t
answer so quickly. Consider some of the
choices:
1.
Plagiarize.
2.
Lie
in his or her writings.
3.
Fail
to fact-check.
4.
Misspell,
misuse, or abuse words.
5.
Bore
the reader.
6.
Violate
the copyright of someone.
7.
Fail
to interview the appropriate sources.
8.
Misquote
people or content.
9.
Passing
opinion off as fact.
10.
Writing
with a particular slant due to unidentified compensation.
11.
Using
your writing to hurt someone.
12.
Writing
something you don’t actually believe.
13.
Passing
information along as if new but it’s really dated.
14.
Writing
libelous or slanderous things.
15.
Hacking
or breaking laws to obtain information that you use for your writings.
16.
Saying
you have an anonymous source when it’s really you.
17.
Writing
with product placement that wasn’t revealed.
18.
Writing
based on a misunderstanding or lack of awareness of relevant facts.
19.
Using
your abilities to write persuasively to support a viewpoint that is dangerous.
20.
Knowing
you’re just mailing it in and not writing at even half the level you’re capable
of.
21.
Lie,
cheat, steal, or commit violence to assist you in your writings.
22. Writing with an undisclosed conflict of interest.
22. Writing with an undisclosed conflict of interest.
You
probably don’t spend too much time thinking about things you shouldn’t do. Whether it’s a legal, ethical, financial, or other reason that keeps you from
doing the wrong thing, keep it that way.
The world is filled with too many wrongs. Writes make things better – or at least they
write stuff that makes us feel better.
But
the art of writing – like most skills or assets – can be used for bad
purposes. Good people do bad things
every day – whether intentionally, accidentally, or from being indifferent and
apathetic. Writers generally hold
themselves out to be intellectuals of a higher moral character. They may suffer
from addictions and obsessions – and have wild fantasies and dark thoughts –
but many of them want to write because they want to be heard and to influence
some positive action. But as we can see
on matters of politics, religion, and sexuality, many writers can frequently
disagree with one another, each thinking the writings of the other to be
misguided , misinformed, inaccurate, and downright dangerous.
Just
how much would we tolerate from our favorite writers? What type of faux pas would it take for you
to disown a writer and boycott his or her work?
What standard should we hold our writers to?
For
me, the writing has to be good, pure, accurate, and original. Do I care that you like to have sex with a
donkey or to snort cocaine? Not at all.
I generally try to separate a writer’s personal behavior, views, or lifestyle
from his work – unless it corrupts the very work that I enjoy. I mean it’s harder to respect a book of
fatherly advice if you find out the author was arrested for beating his
kids. It kind of undermines his
opinions. And yet, if I knew nothing of
the writer’s life and just enjoyed the book at face value, I would forever love
the book. I don’t like to feel that a
writer can impact how I feel about the writing, but could there really be a
complete separation between the two?
Writers
have a lot of power and influence, to get us to feel, to see what’s not apparent,
to know a secret, to teach a fact, to make us look at things we normally deny
ourselves of experiencing – and so for all the good they can do they can
equally hurt, destroy, and erode our lives.
Writers
have a great responsibility, even a burden, to not only write great things –
but to achieve such writings without harming others, themselves, their craft,
or the truth.
So
what would be the greatest offense for any writer?
To
not write at all.
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2016
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