You Need To Be Bad To Be Good

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an alcoholic.  Hemingway was an alcoholic.  Sometimes a writer has to be bad to be good.

Hello hello hello, my brother and sister bloggers and writers.  The Old Soldier thinks about many things, but flash fiction and writing are always on my mind.

A writer does not have to be a saint or write only about nice things to be a good writer.  Actually, the opposite seems to be true.  The more flaws, bad experiences and bad chooses a writer can bring to his or her fiction, the more readers seem to like it.  Readers love the dirt.

Of course, a writer has to have enough talent to overcome his or her bad experiences and self-inflicted wounds.  The bad experiences and self-inflicted wounds of many writers keep them from accomplishing anything.

I challenge all flash fiction writers to exploit everything in their lives: the good, the bad and the ugly.  Flash fiction is an art form and true art is about life, all of life.

A good flash fiction writer has talent.  That talent comes from the writer’s psyche.  A writer’s psyche rest on the writer’s attributes and flaws.

You need to be bad to be good.

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2 Responses

  1. Just what I needed to hear. I need to practise being bad. Maybe it’s true, confession is good for the soul.

    • Betty, there is some badness in the best of us and some goodness in the worst of us. Good luck.

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