: Re: Potentially risky subject in my script I am writing a script that is three acts long, first act being set between the late 30s to the early 40s, next act being set in the early 50s and

@Kaufman555

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As a writer you need to be prepared to engage any topic no matter how distasteful you may find it. Your current script sounds like a personal project, but you could be asked in the future to write about any number of subjects more unpleasant than matricide.

Check out what's on television today: crime procedurals, historical reenactments full of sex and drugs, family dramas featuring teen pregnancy. I assume you're writing for the stage, but these are all things which are trending right now and subject matter that many people are exposed to. Nearly every procedural involves a murder and most murders are between close relations (either family or friends). It wouldn't take that much work to look up how many involve a mother being killed by a child with or without the added complexity of an anxiety disorder.

What you need to come to terms with is to let go of the need to self-censor yourself. Right now, you're worried about how people are going to view you through this script (which is more likely in the live performance field), but it's a risk you have to take. Those same stories people are so nervous about are also the stories that have a greater need to be told (and have a greater chance of being up for awards).

If you aren't willing to put your writing (and yourself) out there, you will never make it.

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