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Do Writers Have Social Responsibility?

July 5, 2021

ignorance, responsibility, society, writing

I don’t know; that’s the only honest answer to the question above. That’s also the reason why I phrased it as a question. Do writers have any social responsibility? I will try to get a bit closer to the truth during the process of composing this post. If it can help you, too, in some way, all the better.

As a first thing, we would need to lay down some important theoretical foundations. When we wonder whether writers have social responsibility, there are two elements we need to define or clarify:

What do we mean by “writers”? Fiction writers? Nonfiction writers? Artists (who, remember, are not the same as writers)?
What on earth is “social responsibility”?

Most misunderstandings arise from using the same word but meaning different things – think of “love” or “success” – so being as clear as possible about our definitions is important. So, I’ll begin with trying to clarify these terms in my own head first, and then I’ll try to see how (if at all) they play ball together.

writers social responsibility — Writers have no social responsibility. They only have responsibility toward their art

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Write What’s Burning Inside – but Beware of Its Fuel

June 7, 2021

Philosophy, Writing

affect, guest post, Igor Livramento, writing

Today’s post – “Write What’s Burning Inside But Beware Of Its Fuel” – is authored by Igor da Silva Livramento. He’s a fellow academic from UFSC, fellow author, fellow creative-writing advisor, and overall a great fellow. He’s also a composer, music theorist, and producer. Check out his papers on Academia.edu, his music on Bandcamp, and his personal musings on his blog – in Portuguese, Spanish/Castilian, and English. You can also find him on LinkedIn.

Chris mentions this time and again: Write honest to heart, from the fire burning inside. I’d like to add: Indeed, but beware of your flames’ fuel. Not for comedic tone, may I claim.

write burning inside — Write what’s burning inside; but beware of its fuel

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Emotional IQ and Writing: Why It Is Important

May 3, 2021

Writing

affect, characters, emotional iq, fiction, writing

“Emotional IQ” is one of those phrases people in marketing and recruiting love to throw around. Many of them might not even know what they’re talking about. For writers – but also readers – emotional IQ in writing is more than important; it’s crucial.

By “emotional IQ” we generally mean the ability to recognize emotions (our own as well as others’) by noticing patterns and expressions. These can belong to various categories:

Visual. For instance, noticing the way someone’s eyes move, or the way their lips are puckered; body language, in general.
Aural. Think of someone’s speech, including tempo, hesitation, pitch, etc.
Textual. The kind of language we use – including syntax, register, and other such details – can reveal a lot about our emotional inner worlds.

For our context, that is, emotional IQ in writing, you might think the last one is the most important. To some extent you’d be right, but don’t neglect the other two. Visuality and sounds can be major aspects in narrative. If, for example, your goal is to write realistic characters, you’d want their emotional expressions to be subtle, rich, and believable. Visual and aural cues, then, are important.

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