{"id":1540,"date":"2015-08-18T09:52:00","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T16:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=1540"},"modified":"2023-12-19T09:55:18","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T17:55:18","slug":"devourer-of-words-030-jumping-off-the-cliff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/devourer-of-words-030-jumping-off-the-cliff\/","title":{"rendered":"Devourer of Words 030: Jumping off the Cliff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MARC BERNARDIN’S DEVOURER OF WORDS<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Devourer of Words 030: Jumping off the Cliff<\/h1>\n\n\n
Marc Bernardin<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"Toucan<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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There will come a time\u2014if you\u2019re lucky, it\u2019ll happen more than once\u2014when you encounter a story that you\u2019re not sure you can write. A story that makes you afraid for any number of reasons. Assuming that the story is a good one\u2014or at least the kernel of a good one\u2014what should you do with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, look at what exactly you\u2019re afraid of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reader Response<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

This is fair. You are working in mass media, which means that it will be seen by, hopefully, the masses. And if you have an audience that comes to your work regularly, they will have formed certain assumptions about what they can reasonably expect. But here\u2019s the thing: No one is going to like everything. But every story has the capacity to be someone\u2019s favorite\u2014and the things people fall in love with are, sometimes, the scary ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critical Reaction<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

If you are ever worried about what critics, reviewers or the blogosphere will think of your work, it\u2019s time to reevaluate your chosen career path. Yes, they do qualify as readers and you\u2019d think they\u2019d fall into the section above, but not really. I work with critics and have been a critic and will defend their worth as a crucial cog in the pop culture machine\u2014but the things they look for in a piece of work are not goals for you to achieve. They are trying to dissect, while an audience is looking to absorb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political Correctness<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Much has been said, of late, about writers taking on characters and worlds out of what might be considered by the close-minded their \u201ccomfort zone.\u201d Should writers of one race be writing characters of another, set in a world they\u2019ve never lived in, living lives they\u2019ve only seen in screen or on the page? This is a question that no one can answer for anyone else, but I will just say this: If you believe in your characters and believe in your story and are aware of the pressures you\u2019re under to get it right, no one has the right to censor the stories you want to tell. (Of course, a publisher has the right not to publish it, but that\u2019s a whole other thing.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re Not Ready<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s the big one. Of the four reasons, this is the only one that should give you pause. Because it\u2019s entirely possible that you\u2019re not. Clint Eastwood famously bought the script for Unforgiven<\/em> and then put it in a drawer for 10 years because he wasn\u2019t ready to make that movie. Sometimes you need to grow into an idea\u2014you need more life under your belt, your brain needs time to ferment the story, you need to learn how to write better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve got a story that I\u2019ve been sitting on for years because I knew, when I came up with it, that I wasn\u2019t the writer I needed to be to execute it the way I felt it needed to be executed. I couldn\u2019t deliver it in its best form. So I put it in a drawer, Eastwood-style. Just recently, I decided to dust it off and get back under the hood. Am I ready now? I think so. I hope so. I\u2019ll find out soon enough. But at some point, as the old saying goes, you have to crap or get off the pot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being afraid isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing. The story that scares you is the story that has the capacity to move people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen it feels scary to jump, that\u2019s exactly when you jump. Otherwise, you end up staying in the same place your whole life.\u201d\u2014A Most Violent Year<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marc Bernardin\u2019s Devourer of Words appears the third Tuesday of every month here on <\/em>Toucan!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Marc Bernardin<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n