Piece d’ resistance – Where will you shove the bongos?

Hello! Jumped in first to take the ‘piece’. Well, the piece d’resistance anyway. LOL. If you’re scratching your beard - Come on, Ladies! Get with the programme and wonder what that woman’s wittering about, today, for one day only, I wanted to talk about resistance writing since it gets me out of ironing.

Eh?

Yes. You heard me. That kind of writing that gives you a kick up the jacksy and makes you go ‘Oooooooh’. Yes, ‘Oooooooh’.

How can you write something that’s both original and yet controversial?

First off, go with your gut.

Only you have your own life experience and as Stephen King once said, albeit in a round about way, ‘only you know those scars’. If you can rip them out and hurl them down on paper, there is your originality and why not bump off the person that gave them to you as one of your characters? You’ll feel better and you can always send them a copy if it does well. They’ll know and they’ll know that you know which is better, especially if the writing doesn’t tank.

Be brave

Courage isn’t simply popping that bloke in the eye when he pinches your bum. There’s great courage in honesty and being able to say, this is my experience, this is my background and this is how I make sense of the world and everything in it. We are all monsters of the world’s making. We have preconceived views from parents, school, society and media. Never be afraid to say this is how I was brought up to see it as long as you can temper your views with other ideas and perspectives.

(As the policeman once said to me when my noisy neighbour banged his bongos off the wall… and that’s not a euphemism, ‘Your normal is not everyone’s normal!’ My preconception being that I wanted to shove the bongos where the ‘sun don’t shine’.)

Be willing to try something new

Whilst countless books will tell you to ‘write what you know’… yawn, hang on, sorry one too many digestives after lunch… simply because you know something does not mean that you can’t imagine, or create something else. How would you behave if one day you were chasing your sun hat and the next day you were legless on a hospital bed? Put the gin down, you know what I meant!

Find out about other people and perspectives

Try putting yourself inside someone else’s shoes. Follow someone you don’t know, not in a creepy stalker kind of way but does their feed tell you more about the person than they say. Everyone has secrets, tells as to who they are and what their opinions are. Can you write a character that is different in that they try to fit in, or stand out, or simply keep the peace and maintain the status quo?

We’re showing out. Do do do do etc. (Sorry had to. Ed.)

Ask questions and research

I’ve always been a great believer that if in doubt ask, if you want to see an idea from someone else’s view why not start a thread on FB, or twitter, or the like. Ask different people how they feel about a subject. If their neighbour banged bongos would they duff him up, report him, or simply drop a piano on his head?

We are all of us different and that’s where in lies the joy. Find how to be the same but different and don’t be afraid to reach… just make sure the neighbour and the bongos are not in the same room as I’d hate to visit you behind bars even if it means writing alone time.