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Want To Hone Your Writing Skills?
Get thee to an open mic
Lisa Martens writes about the ability of a writer to tittilate in the way a burlesque dancer does, with a wink here and a nod there, to draw the writer in. As I read, I thought of what burlesque, performance art, and writing have in common. We all want to draw our audience in, entertain them, and leave them, if not changed, at least with a broadened perspective. Burlesque broadens our perceptions of the feminine and sexuality. Performance art pushes our boundaries in whatever area of thought and experience the artist addresses.
As writers we take our audience on a journey, whether fictional or factual. During which we hope to educate, influence, or elicit emotions from our readers.
The difference is that, unlike stage performers, we don’t know the impact our words have, unless or until someone responds. If the responses aren’t comments in a thread, at least on Medium we know there is some reaction based on digital applause. But we don’t get a sense of what internal reactions we’ve sparked from claps on a screen.
Performers onstage get to see, sense, and experience audience interest and approval. We writers are sitting in our home, office, or favorite coffee bar writing arena, completely alone, even when surrounded by other writers in that coffee bar. (I’ve tried writing in real bars…
