Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

A Writer Talks About Self-Censorship

... very eloquently too.

I often write about controversial topics.  There is very little that will stop me from talking/writing about something.

1) I'm tired of people griping about it.  This may make me wander away from a topic for a while, but I'll probably come back later.  Or I might just shut off the comment feature.

2) I'm not willing to talk about it with readers or other people.  So, probably not something I should be writing about.  Maybe later.

3) I don't care WHAT happened in YOUR world, I am not writing THAT down in THIS world.  Either I'll skip the story or I'll hack out the offending section and replace it with something plausible and acceptable.  I think I've done one of each.
Tags: reading, writing
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  • 5 comments
fayanora

fayanora

July 8 2010, 23:53:10 UTC 10 years ago

[Comment censored]
natasiakith

natasiakith

July 9 2010, 01:57:00 UTC 10 years ago

Aww.

You beat me to it.

Edited because I posted it in the wrong place.:P
jtglover

jtglover

July 9 2010, 11:49:13 UTC 10 years ago

Nice post, and thanks for the link.

Deleted comment

ysabetwordsmith

Well...

ysabetwordsmith

July 9 2010, 19:15:15 UTC 10 years ago

That's a point of difference for me: I rarely self-censor at all. I filter. I'll change the tone of presentation, because it isn't necessary to speak the truth cruelly. But I've found out that if I don't speak it at all, the pressure builds up and damages the system and eventually spurts out sideways and hurts people a lot worse. So I work on ways of saying what needs to be said gently if possible, firmly if necessary.

And of course, there are always pen names, for when I want to keep unrelated fields separated or whatever.

Deleted comment

ysabetwordsmith

Re: Well...

ysabetwordsmith

July 10 2010, 00:21:53 UTC 10 years ago

When a person or thing is prevented from fulfilling its purpose, mayhem usually results. Writers are all about moving ideas around. Plug that up and you are begging for trouble.