With my voracious intake of social media, I can’t remember where I saw it, but someone was talking about how writers can’t be judgmental because of their need to write fully realized characters. This struck me because I’ve learned that I can be very judgmental as a person, which I’m working on, and I surely don’t want to be that way in my writing. There are certain attributes that make great writers. Most are curious, observant, readers, etc. I’m now adding non-judgmental to the list. Or as close as we can get to it, because who am I kidding? I’ll never be all the way there.

What I realized is that sometimes, our judgment is hindering our character development. We can see a need to give people redeeming qualities when maybe there aren’t any. Maybe people will either love or hate the character and that’s okay. Maybe the protagonist is an anti-hero in a way. It’s all interesting to think about so please forgive me for ruminating on the page a bit.

I have a couple thoughts here. First, there’s nothing wrong with redeeming qualities. I mean, I find that I’m actually drawn to the backstory of the people we find most detestable. The older I’ve gotten in life, the more I have started to ask, “what happened to that person?” vs, “what’s wrong with that person?” So, as a writer, I do find an interest in exposing the gray area a lot with characters. Are they really bad? Are they really good? Are most of us simply somewhere in the middle?

Nina Simon, author of Mother-Daughter Murder Night recently posted an interesting video on Instagram where she talked about giving one of her problematic characters a bum knee. In investigating the choice further, she realized that she was trying in a sense to make the character more palatable for readers with this device instead of diving deeper into who the character was as a person. This is when redeeming qualities can get tricky. Are we using it as a device, or being true to the fact they actually have a reason for their actions? It’s a subtle but distinctive decision to have to make as a writer.

My second thought around this idea of judgment free writing is that it helps us be most honest on the page. A huge obstacle as a writer is finding the ability to be as authentic and raw as possible in your work. If we’re not going to tell the truth of the matter, if we find ourselves holding back, why are we even doing this? If we can cast aside the judgment of the people we’re constructing on the page, I think they show up in a much more three dimensional way. Bring your truths, bring your ugly parts or the ugly parts of life. Bring the evasive, bring the joy, all of it. When we replicate that, we’re pulling the reader in a way where they can say, I’ve seen that, I know that, or I have experienced that and never had the words to explain it. Which is the sweet spot of being a writer at all.

If we’re not going to tell the truth of the matter, if we find ourselves holding back, why are we even doing this?

In one of my current works in progress, I am writing about a depressed addict who has left a path of carnage in his life as a result of his destructive behavior. I find myself pushing to ensure that I am as forthcoming as I can be about the pain he’s caused in the lives of those closest to him. Now, it’s also a story of redemption, so the reality is, that even with all of that, the people in his life have still decided to love him. This is also realistic, you know? I’m sure you’re thinking of about 2-5 people in your own life right now who you love in spite of themselves. But to make the tension what it needs to be, to ensure those peaks and valleys that keep pages turning, I have to show his growth from completely unlovable to something entirely different. Go to the depths of his personal hell, if you will, to make the reward of the ending as satisfying as it can be.

When we get to this place, letting go of our judgments, I believe our stories sing. I think our characters show up in all of their colors and become full and complex and endearing.

Do you find yourself judging your characters in a way that’s making them not show up as fully as they can? Are you judging your writing ability in a way that’s doing the same? This week, I want to challenge you to write the “truthiest truth” as my friend GG Renee said to me so many years ago. How does it feel? How can you incorporate that into your work more often than not?

Sundress Academy for the Arts is accepting applications for Summer 2024 residencies for short-term writing residencies in all genres—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, playwriting, screenwriting, journalism, academic writing, and more—for their summer residency period which runs from May 20th, 2024 to August 18th, 2024. (Deadline: Feb. 15)

Anaphora Writing Residency is a ten-day program designed exclusively for writers of color. The residency offers workshops, readings, craft talks, and discussions with professionals from the literary and publishing industry. June 6 - 15, 2024. $2400 with partial fellowships available. (Deadline: Feb. 29)

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