And you know it. Deep down, you do.
So I’m gonna mention transgressive fiction.
It’s the writing that makes you think “Look at this mess. It’s yours. Deal with it.”
It’s not gore porn for wannabe nihilists, despite what your cousin who binge watches Euphoria might think.
It’s not about upping the shock factor until readers vomit.
We want truth.
It needs to be like you’ve been punched in the mouth.
Sometimes it makes you squirm.
Think Fight Club. Think American Psycho. Think Trainspotting. Think of anything Bret Easton Ellis wrote during his existential crisis or when Irvine Welsh decided to rip the shine off humanity and smear it with heroin needles.
Every day, I scroll past writing that’s been sanitised into oblivion. Content so neutered it hurts to read. Blog posts that don’t say anything because someone in marketing decided that controversy was bad for engagement. Social media captions that sound like they were scraped off the bottom of a focus group PowerPoint.
Your job isn’t to make people comfortable.
You need to make them think.
They need to be in their feels or ask questions or even make a change.
Sometimes it’s such a little shift in perspective. Even if it’s just noticing the cracks in the mirror they’ve been avoiding for years.
Here’s an example by one of my favourite authors Chuck Palahniuk
This is probably where Bonnie Blue took inspiration from and even though I’m not a fan of whatever lifestyle is. She’s really turning the thumb screw on society.
Anyways. I’m off to have a nap.
Yes. It’s nearly 9pm…
Stephen Walker