A Word Please

I’m a peace-loving hippie – or so I’m described by my children and my husband. I’m not aggressive and I don’t like to fight. I’m not pro-war. All of this is why I sometimes find my writing process disturbing. And, no, I don’t mean that it disturbs me to write aggressive or twisted scenes. Actually, it’s quite the contrary.

Yesterday, I was writing a rather creepy scene from a killer’s perspective. As I was writing, I realized that I was happy. This is what I found disturbing. How can I enjoy writing a murder scene when the core of my being wants to “Give peace a chance.”

I could rationalize and say that it’s the writing process that makes me happy. And it does. But that would be ignoring the fact that the particular scene I was writing made me happy in a specific way. Of course, I would not want to be that killer. I certainly would not want to be the victim. I would find absolutely no joy in the scene becoming a reality. So why the happiness?

I think I enjoy the process of stepping completely outside of my comfort zone – of becoming someone the polar opposite of my real self. In this way, I can release all of my frustrations and irritations without ever really hurting anyone. I can feel what it’s like to unleash all that rage. I can be the bad guy for a brief moment in time and gain a brief glimpse into their world.

Maybe we should teach people to write murder scenes as a deterrent to committing real-life murders. It’s worth a try, right?

Tags: killer, murder, peace, writing