What
topics are off-limits for writers?
No
topic should be off-limits to writers.
There is a responsibility for the writer to tackle the subject with
accuracy and fairness, but what about other issues, including:
·
Privacy
violations
·
Manifesto
for violence
·
Legal
issues
·
Being
right
·
Revealing
trade secrets
·
Matters
of national security
·
Blackmail/revenge
·
Hate
Writers
have many tools at their disposal. They
can use fiction to get across ideas and concepts too problematic for
non-fiction. With fiction, anything goes
because none of it is real – even though it could be based on real people,
actual events, and important issues.
Fiction allows writers to entertain their darkest fantasies and provides
an outlet for nightmares to unfold harmlessly.
Fiction
has examined the minds, lives, and souls of perpetrators and victims of all
kinds of horrific acts, from rape, war, terrorism, and genocide to serial
killers, mass murderers, racist violence, and child exploitation. There seemingly is no limit to what novels
can tackle. They address the “what if”
scenarios that many of us privately or briefly explore in our minds. Our fiction lets us debate and dialogue about
things we’d otherwise not speak about.
But
non-fiction faces some real challenges – both to be published and to be
accepted. For instance, some books would
have a hard time getting published and sold if they are libelous, slanderous,
or reveal something that violates a law, confidentiality agreement, or an
off-the-record remark from an interview subject. Books calling for a violent
attack on a specific race or religion may get published but would fall under
harsh scrutiny.
Writers
should tear down walls of suppression and expose us to as many new points as
possible. We hope they will use a
certain level of care and compassion in the process, but sometimes there’s no
polite way to introduce issues or concepts that involve death, anger, hate, or
atrocities. Some topics require a layer
of ugliness to be present. The tone,
language, events, and ideas expressed need to match up with the significance of
the subject matter. You can’t go write a
rated G book on the Holocaust, slavery, or terrorism. There’s no Disney approach to discussing gang
rapes, the KKK, or pedophilia. Some
issues need to be discussed in the raw and offend readers, challenging their
mores and rattling them.
Let’s
explore another area that writers may be challenged to enter, for everything one
writes has repercussions. Anything from
public shame, job loss, lawsuits, and arrest can come as a result of what one
writes. Of course, on the positive side,
many things can come as a result of writing on taboo topics, including law
changes, bringing entities to justice, and forever changing how society views
an issue, event, or person. The area I’m
talking about is violating a confidential trust.
Let’s
say a family member did something – or had something done to them – and you
want to write about it. Nothing stops
you from writing about them – except you don’t’ want to lose that relationship
or friendship. You may feel you mean
well and hope to shed light on something that can lead to change or
enlightenment; but the subject of your prose may suffer harm and real or
perceived consequences.
I
wanted to write about something that impacted me personally recently, and I had
it all written out and ready to go and then the subject of the piece asked, as
if he/she knew I would want to write about it, to not publish anything about
it. I now realize this could happen
several times to a writer and there are millions of writers with untold stories
as a result.
I’d
like to believe that any subject can be written about – but writers have to
weigh the consequences vs. the benefits of doing so.
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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2016 Book Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit
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