I was recently reading an update for one of my favorite Webtoons. I have been following it since its discover days and it’s a wonderful story. (A complete sidetracking from my narrative but I’d recommend checking it out. It’s called Lore Olympus and you can find it on Webtoon. Reading it on that platform helps support the creator, so I highly recommend reading it there!)
What happened was that the writer/artist portrayed a situation of sexual trauma. By the end of that chapter, I was physically shaking with the anger I had for the character instigating the act. I was so upset, and I wondered how the writer could possibly portray such a horrifying situation in her story. But then I had a sort of epiphany…
We as writers are meant to make our audience feel.
And I know what you’re thinking. “Well, duh. That’s your whole point as a writer. You’re supposed to know that.” I suppose in my mind I’ve always viewed writing as conveying only certain emotions, avoiding the ones my mind deems “socially unacceptable. This is a very negative light to paint my mentality in, but it’s true. I’ve never been good at expressing negative emotions or capturing those emotions. When faced with my friend going through a tough time, my usual method of “give them a hug and it’ll get better”… was useless. That event was a pivotal moment for me as a person, as I evaluated my ability to empathize as a person and offer the right kind of support to those around me.
As a writer, if we feel an emotion from our writing, our audience will feel it too. All the people that had been in the same situation as the character from Lore Olympus felt the emotions of the abused character, could empathize with her pain, and maybe knew that her future isn’t as bleak and lonesome as she might fear.
This made me consider all the stories I’ve wanted to tell, but couldn’t work up the courage to write because I didn’t like the emotions I got from them (scary stories, just to name one of the less serious topics). Yes, I don’t personally enjoy those stories. But they hold meaning, and someone out there would definitely enjoy reading them. So I will be pushing myself to reach more outside of my creative comfort zone, to write about what lies deep inside me that I fear to touch.
I hope this journey of self-reflection is (pun unintended) reflected in my writing as I continue from here on out. I hope to write stories with more meaning, that don’t necessarily hold a Happy-Ever-After for everyone, even for the main, most beloved characters. These are the stories that have been hard for me to tell, but that I keep close. So sit back, enlighten, as we go on a journey of pain, loss, and humanity.
Álainn Inaria 