Writing ingredients: Absurdism
How the use of absurdism is great for writing.
One of the most important abilities any person should have is the ability to put everything in the proper perspective. We humans tend to take everything and ourselves very seriously. But we forget that at any given moment, it can be very insightful to take a step back and look at things from an angle. Putting yourself and everything that is happening in perspective helps you to let go and see more clearly what needs attention, what goes well and what goes wrong.
A great tool here is absurdism. Absurdism is the ability to forget about the *real* serious world and change our assumptions about the world and our society, and replace them with others.
A simple example is this: imagine that all women wear a mustache. And now think of the stigma of women in our society that have a little more hair on the upper lip than most, the way they must feel, being ridiculed and mocked, even though nature has given us all that we are, and each and every person is beautiful in his or her own way, just different. And it is that difference that is the core of the issue, being able to categorise is easier for us, because it makes us feel part of something (a group) and makes it easier to mock those who aren't. But coming back to the assumption that in our society, women generally have mustaches, imagine how desperate women without a mustache feel. Imagine what they would do to grow one. And understand how absurd this is. Understand how idiotic it is to treat women with a little facial hair in our current society the way we treat them.
But now I have given you a tool. Think about something that we believe is normal, change that and think about how it would change the way we live and think, about the influences on life it would have, for you and for everyone else, and you have some interesting insights in a possible great story to tell. I will allow you to take that step back and look at the situation from different angles, turning it in your hand as if it was a physical object.
Another great benefit from using absurdism is the humor that comes with it. You may have heard of the famous Ministry of Silly Walks, created by a few brits who called themselves Monty Python. In this sketch, they take the way we are supposed to walk, and change that. Only that. Nothing else is changed. But it changes a lot in our daily lives, such as the way we interact. Imagine how hard it is talking to someone while walking when you are supposed to walk like that. And do not forget that people that walk like we do in our current society are mocked and ridiculed in this imagined society because of the way they walk.
Thanks for your time. You cannot be sure if I have just used a few hundred words to mock you, or if I was sincere in my efforts to try and explain something that could be useful, or at least, entertaining.
