Great writing takes big motherfucking risks. Unfortunately, we current world of media expects us to play it safe. Tentpole action films must be for all ages and follow predictable formulas. We need PR firms to run our social media accounts. We can’t give our secretary a back massage because it’s considered a form of sexual harassment and also because her husband has told you explicitly to your face to stop doing it.

In our writing, this takes the shape of self-censorship. We eliminate ideas that are wild and unencumbered. Unfortunately, we soon realize that all of our writing becomes totally cumbered. We don’t let the racists in our story say the n-word. We don’t let the homophobes in our stories say the f-word. We don’t let the Republicans in our stories tell the immigrants to go back to their countries, even though they’ve spent years building concentration camps around the country to do just that.

This is one slippery fucking slope. Of course, it makes sense why we’d want to self-censor. It feels horrible to get bad feedback. A single negative comment is stronger than a dozen positive ones. Nobody wants to be called a racist on Twitter, even if it’s a bot account run from Nigeria that hasn’t even read your book. To give a real world example, today I think less about all of the girls I successfully banged in high school than I do about Jenny Simmons, the popular cheerleader who rejected my advances and said she was worried she’d get herpes just breathing the same air as me.

We often worry about our family, too. You know many of them will read the book and you don’t want to offend them or embarrass yourself. For example, I was mortified when my grandmother confronted me about this line from my early novel Dawson:

“Fuck all the hoes and the bitches and the whores and the sluts and the cunts.”

My grandmother said that she raised me better than that. Luckily, it turned out my “grandmother” was actually a scammer pretending to be my grandmother so she could use my social security number to commit Medicare fraud.

Writing is also a very personal and vulnerable process, and many writers may touch on family traumas or paint certain family members in a bad light. As I’ve said, most of the villains in my fiction represent at least one aspect of my father. But I’m 99% sure the man we buried at sea was him so luckily I don’t have to worry about any awkwardness or retribution. Unfortunately, my brother is still very much alive. He was very angry that the antagonist of my novel, the cult leader Hendrix Branderson in Storming the Gates of Heaven, seemed to be based off him. They both claimed to be descendants of Jesus, they both faked their own deaths and they both were big Arizona Cardinals fans. Had I known my brother was going to get out of prison early, I likely would’ve rewritten the character.

I’m also not saying everything in fiction is worse now than it was thirty or forty years ago. We’re more conscious of diversity and representation. And that’s a good thing. In my early books, all of my female characters were big-titted love interests and my villains were all Arab terrorists. I’m happy to say that the protagonist of one of my most recent books, Game Theory, is a Sunni Muslim female physicist who just happens to have an amazing pair of double d’s.

However, there’s a great danger in letting ourselves be influenced by social media, by book banning conservatives, by self-righteous left-wing Twitter mobs and many imagined groups that we’re worried of offending or weirding out. True art is meant to provoke and get us to rethink our relationship with each other and the world around us. When I wrote the climax of Bride of Prejudice, which depicts a brutal naked fight between two Georgian women in a bog, I wanted to challenge the way we view gender roles. It’s had such a positive impact that the men who come to my book readings request that scene to read more than any other.

So how do we find this balance? How do we write freely while still being marketable and being respectful toward a diverse, pluralistic readership?

Tip 1 – Don’t Tell Anyone You’re Writing

Here’s my advice: Write as if nobody will ever read the words you’re writing. It’s the best way to sidestep self-censorship. And let’s be honest, if you’re watching this channel, it’s also probably true.

Take this line from my novel, Plastered Bastard:

“I don’t trust those people. They’re poor but they wear flashy clothes. They’re naturally violent, but constantly claim to be the victim. They’re loud in movie theaters, too.”

I only had the bravery to write this because I wrote it in a secluded cabin in Vermont, though I was mostly there to avoid my former agent who was trying to serve me legal papers. In any case, it’s an uncomfortable thought that challenges the reader, and while it doesn’t actually reflect my true feelings on teenagers, it is true to the protagonist of my story.

Worrying too much about the opinions of others also makes your narrative choices boring. If The French Connection were written today, for example, not only would Popeye Doyle not use the n-word, the movie would’ve ended with him getting the bad guy and with Serpico appearing in the post credits scene to invite him to join the Good Cops initiative.

Tip 2 – Think of Trigger Warnings As a Recipe List

Despite what you may think, I’m actually a big fan of trigger warnings. And this is one thing fans of dark romance and erotica have over all other readers. Those people go into books hoping to read some messed up stuff. The author and the reader make an agreement: “You will be entertained and you won’t punish me for entertaining you. The only punishment, if any, will be you shelling out 24.95 for a hardcover.”

Don’t think of it, “Oh, I’m sorry, but this book has sexual assault and foul language and animal-human hybrids.” Think of it as “Hell yeah, this fucking book has sexual assault and foul language and animal-human hybrids that completely redefine what it means to give consent.”

Tip 3 – Use a Pseudonym (And Get Them A Passport and a Social Security Number if possible)

Having said all of this, it’s still hard to shut off the noise. Vladimir Nabokov had to contend with constant allegations that he was pedophile after writing Lolita, when in reality, Nabokov was only ever shitty to adult women.

Fans of the channel will know that John Lazarus is a pseudonym for personal protection, and also because my legal name is the same as one of the most prolific serial killers in American history. But a pseudonym can also free you, if only subconsciously. JK Rowling for example, is able to write all the anti-trans stuff she wants under her Robert Gailbraith pseudonym.