Write What Scares You
“Write what you know.” You’ve probably heard this classic adage before. But one piece of advice I don’t see as often is: “Write what scares you.”
ALEX HERRINGWRITING ADVICE
“Write what you know.”
You’ve probably heard this classic adage before. It’s one you’ll hear college professors tell you in creative writing classes (especially when trying to discourage you from submitting stories about ghosts or werewolves).
One piece of advice I don’t see as often is: “Write what scares you.”
I’m not saying you need to start writing exclusively about daredevils who scale great heights, or have your protagonist be a giant spider. What I am saying is that if you want your writing to feel real, to be driven by heart, it helps to start with fear.
A few years ago, I watched a short behind the scenes documentary featuring Dan Scanlon, the director of Pixar’s 2020 film Onward. Scanlon shared that when trying to decide what type of story he wanted to tell, he started with a brainstorming session. He covered a whiteboard with sticky notes of possible ideas, drawing inspiration from his own life and the lives of others. On one note, he wrote down something about the ache of not knowing his dad (who had died when Scanlon and his brother were young). When other Pixar employees came into the room and saw his board, Scanlon felt a strong urge to flip down the sticky note that felt most personal, the one about his dad.
Ironically, that’s when he knew he had a story worth telling. That spike of fear, that jolt that runs through you right before you share something deeply personal and vulnerable about yourself—that’s where you’ll find something unique to share with the world.
Maybe it’s a fear you don’t measure up to your contemporaries.
Maybe it’s that you’ll never win your parents’ approval.
Maybe it’s that no one will ever love or accept you if they see every part of who you are.
Whatever that fear looks like for you, lean into it. For art’s sake.
Fear is a universal language that crosses cultures and language barriers. It’s also a powerful driving force behind any goal you want to set for a character. And if it’s marked by a fear that you also share? Then you’ll understand exactly how someone might authentically respond in the face of that fear, and your readers will feel that underlying force between every line.
Maybe what you fear is not a unique experience, but your interpretation of what that experience is, and that’s what the world needs to hear.
So show us what scares you. Then show us how you face it.