One of the last truly "grass-fed" notions we’ve been fed in a long time is: "You can change the world."
In a different time and place -- post-World War II -- America was wealthy, healthy (aside from 418,000 soldier/civilian casualties) full of pride, innovation...throughout the late '40s on into the '50s, our youth was raised with an unrelenting optimism. It turned into patriotism under the pressure of the Cold War.
Now, just try to imagine -- less than 20 years later -- the mental impact America’s moon landing. In an era where mostly all technological advancements were missile flavored, America beat its only competitor in a race to claim THE F*CKING MOON.
Russia could win every Olympic medal for the next decade, and it meant jack sh*t next to a moon rock.
Now, put yourself in the shoes of a parent staring into the eyes of your little astronaut-to-be.
We can understand where "You can change the world" was born. We heard it all through our developmental years and it became a sin to think otherwise. It worked. We all wanna be like Mike, right?
So, as I work through my own hang-ups as a writer, I have to ask myself, "Is it OK if I don’t change the world?"
I don’t know. I’m writing an entire article to tell you that you have to stop trying to change the world, because it kills the humanity of your characters. And yet, this morning I woke up, watched a couple of clips of Donald Trump and got angry.
I vividly imagined writing an article so biting and insightful, that Trump read it and immediately jumped off the 90th floor of Trump Tower on Christmas into the Chicago River. The Christmas Parade stopped and everyone clapped as his body floated down the Chicago River.
Now that’s changing the world. Right?
Not really. At all.
It would be a pop culture benchmark of sorts, but the world would move on and somehow badge him as a “martyr who told it like it is”...which is what happens when everyone dies... as it should in a lot of cases. That’s the way of the world. No one went to Mars because of it.
My article would never reach him. But if it did, what would happen? He would do what he always does to deflect and become stronger for it. I’m destined to fail by the default standards I set for myself. Why did I start with that image of greatness.
Now, luckily as I’m writing my opus to Trump, I realize...”holy sh*t, I’m just ranting. The context is one-dimensional, and my imagination is ignoring 90 percent of the cylinders I’ve got in my engine.” You need everything you’ve got to communicate a good story about a good character.
It took 700 words to see that I’m not writing for me. I’m writing for the world, which means I’ve got about 7.4 billion too many cooks in the kitchen. I gave up on it.
Personally, I can’t even afford to sit down with the bare intent to write something that’s just “funny.” If you want to see that monstrosity, this is what I wrote. Offensive. Too much for America. It’s just about being funny. And maybe it was hilarious (being the funniest writer in America -- just kidding, that was a funny joke).
The true optimist would say: All bad writing is the journey you needed to take to get to your voice. Bullsh*t. Why did it take me 1,500 words to recognize my waste five years ago when I sat down to write? Because I got better at humbling my intentions. And getting better really just means you can get to the story faster.
Writers need to be humble at the feet of a story, because real-deal-gut-f*cking stories change the world all the time. They just start as local stories.
I’m not saying that most writing is worthless, but I think a lot of beginning writers will simply spend too much time failing to change the world, or finishing anything for that matter, and they quit writing.
To those beginning writers, I say: Before you change the world, start with a character that changes.
... Just my humble opinion. I say all this to change the way you think about writing, ultimately so I indirectly change the world. Please link this article when you do.
Nighty-nighty, future Hitler.
