I am Afraid to Write Anything Possibly Controversial

Shock factor is not a part of my vocabulary.

If you’re a storyteller by nature, you know a lot of other people’s stories just because you collect them.

It’s strangely true. You tell stories? You collect stories. It’s the balance we live with as storytellers (and I don’t just mean writers).

There are stories you cherish. Stories you hate. Stories you wish you could relieve. And stories you wish you could rewrite. And you have opinions about all of them. Every one.

All around you are these magnificent- real or fictional- tales and we are shaped by them. The stories we tell- and will tell- are slowly shaped by the others we collect.

Slowly, yet with great certainty, we become historians of some sort.

It is a universal truth, that a storyteller of any variety, will hear and share many tales over time. Delightful, shocking, frightening, sad, or even controversial- we will cover all possible options in our lifetimes.

So, with that frank reality in mind- why am I so afraid to ever post a story that could be viewed as controversial… Even if I’m just speaking the truth?

If you share your opinion, you are guaranteed to encounter someone who completely disagrees. I don’t make the rules- it’s just the way of life.

Point in case: I think root beer tastes awful, and if it vanished tomorrow, I literally would not notice or care.