All Words are Bad
Copyright reserved by E.A. Maynard 2020 ©
My life revolves around using words. Before I leave home, I am on the phone talking to my crews or clients, as well as talking with my family during the daily routine of getting my son ready for day care.
In the evenings when I’m home, there is a lot of talking and interaction with my family. Once they are asleep, I work on writing. I understand very well that everyone listens to my words for various reasons. My family listens to me because they love me, most days. My crews listen to me because their paychecks depend on doing their work accurately.
My clients listen to me for information that affects their business’s success. They hear the things I say that are meant to be helpful to them. Of course, If I say something they don’t like, then I know about that very quickly.
For the most part, the people I speak with daily have thick skin and
understand not to take a joke as anything more than a joke. It is not that way with everyone though.
People nowadays are easily angered by what is said. Someone says something that is true and has facts to support it, yet that no longer matters. There is a mob of people who will go after to cancel someone’s life because they don’t like the facts and refuse to have open minds.
As an Indie author and a working stiff, it is not likely someone will come after me. At least not yet. But wait, there is more.
Being a new author and learning to grow in my skills, I do need to be aware about this trend to be offended, as much as anyone else. What I write today could offend someone ten years down the road. I could be saying how much I love my family, or how I will stand to protect them.
In ten years, those comments could bother someone that has no perception of my values and isn’t capable of talking to anyone without making others feel uncomfortable around them. That person may have a family and even their parents think they are creepy and keep a six-foot social distance from them. That was before the COVID thing.
Now I am not going to change my views because of those creepy people or those who follow what a mob tells them. I know facts are scary, but it will be ok.
Now to my writing. In Bearman: A Road of no Return, I have a black
guy as a criminal. I know how bad that is. I also have everyone as a criminal and race, color or national origin are not a consideration.
Nonetheless, I have a black guy in a bad light, and it could offend someone. They may go out and try to get people to stop buying my books, only based on their biases.
So, when I write, I have to make a choice. First, I have to decide if I am going to worry about what might offend someone. With enough deep thought between the time it takes me to fill a wine glass, I say no, I will not.
Next, I wonder if I should worry about what people are offended by in today’s current society. That one is easy. No. As I write this, people are bothered by everything. I can’t control how each person feels. But I can continue to write stories that people like to read and who become a fan of my books.
Words are not bad. Words are what drive ideas and emotions. Words in a book are compelling and meant to draw the reader into the story line and sometimes even to dream. Who knows what will cause a young person to dream. Those dreams will lead them to break out of whatever is holding them back and then may go on to become something great.
An author could take words that could scare the reader and keep them on the edge of their seat. By the end, the reader of the book could see a way to face fear and stand up to the monster that is trying to do you in.
Another author could write an epic fantasy about exploring space to find untold beauty and destruction. The power of those stories gives some readers ideas to create new inventions. They could change the world. They could even be one of the crew members someday flying off to explore other solar systems, then galaxies, and then who knows where after that.
My point is simple. If we keep allowing others to tell us what is not allowed to be said, the monsters will be in charge without a hero to fight them. The future will be limited to what we have now. The past will no longer be able to inspire us to build a greater future.