In a guest post on Jane Friedman’s blog, Katie Bannon gives writers multiple reasons to write about topics they are told are off limits. “Topics like mental illness, sex, and violence are often branded ‘taboo’ and can be among the most challenging material to write about,” she says. “But at their best, these narratives speak to our darkest truths and teach us what it means to be human.” Sharing these stories can be cathartic, can provide healing, and can give comfort to readers experiencing similar situations. Bannon adds five more reasons why you should tackle taboo subjects:
- Writing about taboos can give our stories heat and urgency. “Emotionally charged, vulnerable experiences lend themselves to high-stakes storytelling,” Bannon says. “Taboo topics tend to be rife with conflict and dramatic tension, among our best tools for engaging readers in our stories. What’s more, when we lean into stigmatized topics, we invite readers to wrestle with the same complexities we’re examining in ourselves.”
- Vulnerability can make us more trustworthy narrators. Whether in memoir or fiction, readers want a candid story. “If they sense that we are holding back, being evasive, or trying to present our lives and ourselves as rosier than the reality, we risk losing their trust,” Bannon writes. “Readers respect writers who come across as honest and authentic.”
- Writing the “unspeakable” allows us to reclaim power. Often, stigma is used to silence truth and dissent. “Writing about taboos helps jumpstart conversations about some of the most important topics of our day,” Bannon says. “We can break through the forces that attempt to silence us, instead using our stories as a way of speaking truth to power.”
- We can reduce shame in ourselves and others. “When we give voice to the rawest parts of ourselves, we take control of our stories rather than them taking control of us,” Bannon notes. “When a reader sees themselves in our stories, it sends them the message that they are not alone.”
- Taboos speak to our darkest truths as humans. “All of us have experienced the shame, guilt, grief, and pain that comes from having difficult experiences,” Bannon adds. “No matter what the specifics of our ‘taboo’ stories are, we have the capacity to elevate our experiences beyond the personal, digging into the messiest and most essential parts of what it means to be human.”
