Reader question #7: Authentic writing

I love doing AMAs because this readers’ community as a whole is so eloquent, and thoughtful. I spent an hour taking questions about writing, life, creativity, and much more. I wish I’d had time to answer even more. The Ask Me Anything questions and my answers will be published in the upcoming months. Stay tuned.

Here’s a transcript of one of my favorite readers’ questions and my answer to it:

Hi Lisanne, I’m a writer/blogger myself and I also have a (small) audience of readers. I wonder whether you write with an audience in mind, and if yes, how do you make sure it’s unique and personal?

I believe great writing is authentic writing, and authentic writing comes from within. A story resonates with people when it’s raw, emotional, and vulnerable. It’s about expressing truth.

Amy Winehouse, aside from having talent and a great voice, created songs and a whole album Back to Black for that matter, based on her tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil. The stories came from a place of personal loss and loneliness which many people across the globe could relate to.

The same applies to Taylor Swift, who came up around a time when country music only knew mature artists singing about starting a family. Taylor, then a teenager, wrote songs about falling in love for the first time. Friends that hurt her, and about feelings she wants to get back at them and get revenge on them.

At the end of the day, whether we like Taylor’s or Amy’s music, or have lived the same exact experience or not, we all experience loss at a certain point in our lives. We all fall in love, and we all fall out of love, and knowing that Swift or Winehouse feels what we feel validates our emotions, letting us know it’s OK to lean into that heartbreak or joy.

When I’m attached to a story it’s because the writer was able to write in a way that helped me see myself in someone else.

When I’m writing, I have to care and be excited about the material in some way. I need to be unable to fully grasp the topic which makes it interesting to put in my time there. Writing can be an excellent way to get harsh feelings off your chest. The art becomes a tool of self-expression and it’s that truth that could speak to others.

I believe if you want to create something meaningful and fulfilling, something that lasts and speaks to people, the counterintuitive but necessary thing is that you must write for yourself first.

Oscar Wilde has said once, “A true artist takes no notice of the public. It’s hard to not care.”

In some ways, writing is like a message in a bottle that you throw into the sea. You’ll never know where it arrives, how it’s going to be perceived, and by whom. This is actually the fun part because I like to give people something to explore and discover. Something that sparks a conversation rather than a bunch of mereless words.

I feel like it’s not my job to determine how the work needs to be perceived. It’s up to the audience to feel for it or not. So the end goal might be to shake things up a little bit and to create something of value. Something fulfilling, so that if that bottle is not going to be received at all, it was still worth writing it. In this weekly, you can find the long answer to this question: Message in a Bottle.

The same applies to the personal essays that I get to publish on this platform.

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