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Write about your family without fear
Over 100 years ago, Tolstoy began his novel Anna Karenina with the observation, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”
Today, it’s still the stories of families in conflict that make for popular and award-winning narratives, either in print, on audio, or in film.
That’s because conflict makes stories interesting, and conflict makes readers want to turn the page or put down the remote. But many people get anxious at the idea of writing about their family conflicts in nonfiction, poetry, or even fiction.
Last week, I attended the Associated Writing Programs conference in Tampa, Florida. Several attendees (at different panels) asked the question “Should I write about my family, and if so, how can I do it without causing bad feelings?”
Here’s the good news: writing and publishing are two very separate enterprises.
Don’t even think about other people’s reactions while you are actively writing and revising a piece. Wipe those thoughts from your mind.
Remember that no one will see what you are writing until you take the next step: publication. And this step doesn’t happen by accident. It comes after the writing, sometimes long after.
