A Writing Lesson from a Cartoon

Too relatable, Diane, too relatable.

Bojack Horseman is one of the best TV shows ever. It’s clever and silly and deep, too. It’s like the writers followed Joss Whedon’s advice to, “Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.”

​Season 6, the last season of the series, has an episode called “Good Damage.” It’s about the writer Diane, who struggles with writing, which she’s good at. Writing is her passion. But writing about her trauma is too hard and she ends up writing a fun young adult novel about a teenager who solves mysteries at a food court mall. Diane says that she doesn’t want to write this type of fluff because, “That means all the damage I got isn’t ‘good damage.’ It’s just damage.’”

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This resonated with me because even though I say I like writing and am good at it, I have a hard time actually doing it. I struggle and struggle as I force myself to write scripts and stories. I stopped blogging because it was too difficult for me to articulate my convoluted feelings. I got caught up trying to convey everything going on inside. And as a result, I turned off the creative tap. 

But after watching a cartoon writer struggle with writing, I decided to just frigging write. I vowed to stop getting so caught up in my complicated mess of a brain and just write about things that are interesting to me. It doesn’t have to be deep or witty or insightful. And I think not having to be those things lets me off the hook. I can express myself without the pressure of being insightful. 
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Not writing for fun makes me feel sad and worthless because I’m not using my self-perceived talent to enlighten the world. So this year, I’m experimenting. I’m writing for myself. No expectations, no self-sabotage. Just me. And hopefully that’s enough. 

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