Fear is a part of writing. There’s no getting around it. Writing acts as though it wants fearlessness but it really requires fear. It requires everything. The trick is to write with the fear, even if your teeth are chattering.
The trick is to keep going and ride the fear through to what’s underneath, the scarier the thing the more juicy the writing. That’s not to say all terrified writing is good. Some of it’s pretty ghastly. That writing is important too. You have to write through the crap to get to what’s beyond it or tucked here and there in the midst of it.
So I do none of the things I know how to do to cope with fear. Someone with PTSD learns how to deal with crazy fear. I don’t cope with it, I use it. I let it work me till it’s on the paper, no matter what story it wants to tell.
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