I was recently reading Joshua Braff's blog on myspace and was interested by some of his thoughts on writing and the publishing world.
One point in particular stood out to me as I read through.
He said:

To the aspiring writers out there, the quickest piece of advice I can give to you is something a mentor of mine said to me about ten years ago. And although it may sound a tad corny out of context, anyone attempting to produce any form of art will understand. The advice was to - Dig Deep. Now, actually digging deep into yourself to potentially produce something that will be shared with the masses, can be a daunting task. There may be places deep inside you that youre not quite ready to tap into or feel afraid to tap into. But look at the various types of art that you love. Whoever produced it, probably bled a little in his/her attempt to give it to you. Bled in the previous sentence, implies the act of making yourself vulnerable or even turning yourself inside out for days or weeks at a time in an attempt to put something substantial and meaningful and poignant down on the page or on the canvas or on your tape recorder or on stage. And when youve found this part of yourself you then need to balance it with characters and metaphor and humor and sexuality and symbolism and the things that make your story unique to you - meaning your very own voice.

My question is how many of you have really dug deep for a piece of writing, to the point of making yourself vulnerable? And if you did, what did you gain from the experience? Was the writing you produced truely a quality piece of work? What is it that helps you to tap into that part of you?

Just something that I am thinking about as I launch my latest project. It is something that I feel incredibly vulnerable about, and the initial draft of the first 2 chapters reflected that, with significant emotional distance. I have now gone back to the beginning and have decided that if I am going to do it justice, I am going to have to lay my soul bare, but I have a feeling that will involve shedding a little blood of my own.

I would love to hear people's thoughts on this.

Best,
Saz

Ps If anyone would like to take a look at Joshua's page it is http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=99463831&MyToken=97d8973c-596d-4eb5-a64d-053b97a3604d

I think this is very true, SazzyJ. And I think it's what makes any artistic effort - writing, painting, whatever - worthwhile, no matter whether it's read, seen etc, or not. Personally speaking, I do my best work when I'm vulnerable enough to key into what's going on inside and then actually write it on the page - and never mind the consequences!

Of course, in terms of fiction, you will be filtering that vulnerability through your characters/situations etc - but it makes them and what they do far more real and hard-hitting (in whichever sense), and will also give you a hell of a lot more satisfaction in the process.

I'd really encourage you to do it and carry on with the work you've started. Once the first draft is done, you'll be going back and tinkering to improve it with the editing eye, of course, but that's natural and necessary. The most important thing is the more of yourself you put in it from the start, the better it will be.

Go for it!

A
xxx

Hi Saz,

this reminds me of a thread i ran in the lounge called 'is anything off limits?' I was having problems writing about something which would have drawn upon the fatal illness of someone close to me. In the end i couldn't dig deep, i just couldn't do it. It didn't feel comfortable. Maybe in the future, i don't know.

I think digging deep is a path to perceptive, heartfelt writing but it's not something which is always possible or indeed desirable.

Casey

I think it can be important, but only if you have some control over the feelings you're using: you need emotional honesty to write it authentically, but at the same time emotional distance to be as cool and editorial as you would be about any other material. If the material's too raw and recent, then its needs take priority over the needs of the writing, and that's a recipe for bad art. I know with me there's a time-lag between something happening and it being available to my writer's self. And since I don't write at all autobiographically, I fondly cherish the illusion that it's not obvious which bits of a novel are blood-spattered.

Emma

Thanks for your responses. I think it's true that done right, digging deep and laying your soul bare can make for an amazing piece of work, but it is also important to balance that with humour and well rounded characters etc. Emma, your point about leaving some time between the incident and the writing is a good one, and the reason I would never try to write about my illness. The piece I am writing is not autobiographical, but if I can reach down far enough, it will certainly be blood soaked by the end.
Best,
Saz

This is something I often find myself struggling with. The writer I am is not the writer I know I can be. However much I want to become that writer there always seems to be something holding me back keeping me from taking the next step. It's not a technical issue but more of how much I'm willing to externalise an inner self through my writing. Maybe that's one reason why I write. I read somewhere that we read to know that we are not alone, maybe we also write to learn about who we are or what we are capable of becoming.

I've actually written this conundrum into my current work. Striving to become the person you want to become and shirking off the mask of the person you are.

Geoff