Tips to fake out your inner censor when writing creatively
I prefer watching musical theatre to American football. Also, I’m repulsed observing women—particularly bridesmaids at weddings—drinking beer from a bottle.
Both statements above are true. And both will cause readers to form some opinion of me. Yet, the first of the two statements is tenfold more difficult for me to reveal about myself to others.
In early childhood we recognized the voice of our inner censor: the feeling in our mind that holds us back from revealing certain interests, thoughts, and emotions for fear of ridicule and embarrassment.
No doubt when you began your journey of creative writing you experienced that your inner censor can’t distinguish between “real life” versus writing creatively. As far as it’s concerned, you’re putting yourself and your emotions on the line; your inner censor is on guard, like an offensive lineman preparing to shield his quarterback from a blitz. It’s there to stop you from revealing too much of your personal emotion and it wants you to believe many of the thoughts, ideas, and beliefs in your mind aren’t worth sharing.
How many times have you spent an evening writing poetry or a blog post, only to wake up the following morning with the hell-bent desire to permanently delete the piece? That’s an example of your inner censor at work.
In order for your creative writing to take off, you’re going to have to practice “faking out” your inner censor. Think of it as starting toward the left, and then taking off to the right. You’re going to need to run some practice drills.
First, you must accept the fact that some individuals who read your writing are going to believe your voice is synonymous with the narrator’s voice to your piece. Although the narrator’s voice of your short story may be modeled after a five-year old child you saw interviewed on the evening news, some readers–no doubt your mother–will interpret your piece as a cry for help. Accept the fact that not all readers are also writers.
As a warm-up exercise, spend ten minutes writing some prose or poetry on a topic well outside your emotional comfort zone. If you’re female, try writing about your desire to purchase some socket wrenches. If you’re male, write about your sensitive emotions. Once written, post your work to your blog or perhaps as a comment to this post. Writing outside your comfort is one thing, but your inner censor won’t really start kicking and screaming until you try to post it publicly.
Reveal something about yourself to your friends on a social networking site that your inner censor is sure to balk at. After all, your friends are accepting of you no matter what, right? So what if your grade-school next-door neighbor defriends you over the content of your post? Trust me; you’re going to find other friendships flourish as a result of your newfound candidness and honesty.
Over the past four years I’ve personally practiced these exercises numerous times. For me, they helped desensitize my inner censor and, as a result, elevated the thoughtfulness contained within my writing. Further, I suspect you’ll unlock other emotions within that you never could imagine. Whether or not you decide to carry that through to your creative writing, is up to you.
