The Good Enemy Technique: Discover How To Wield J.R.R. Tolkien’s Secret Weapon
By Thea Fiore Bloom, PhD
This post will show you how to use the Good Enemy Technique to let go of anger, find your zone of brilliance, eliminate boring writing, (boring blog posts, boring newsletters, boring meetings, boring articles and boring workshops) and serve others – all at the same time.
What causes boring writing anyway?
Boring writing doesn’t come about because of a lack of talent.
Boring writing comes about because of fear.
If we want to write well we need to take our focus off our fear of being laughed at and retrain our focus back on the good stuff that lies beneath the fear.
But how do we find it?
Start by honoring what infuriates you.
That’s what J.R.R. Tolkein would do.
Let me give you an example from the life of the creator of The Hobbit.
How Ents and Elves Were Born From Tolkien’s Beef With Shakespeare
Did you know Tolkein thought William Shakespeare was a git, a sensationalist- a pox on literary history?
True, but why?
Well, for one thing, Shakespeare’s depiction of the traditionally intelligent elves/fairies of ancient folklore as whimsical airheads in A Midsummer Night’s Dream made Tolkien want to tear his ear hair out.
But instead of depilating himself, Tolkien had the last laugh at his writing desk by using Shakespeare as “The Good Enemy.”
J.R.R.’s frustration became the creative fire that fueled his restoration of elves/fairies to what he saw as their rightful place; as intelligent, noble beings in the eye of the public.
He accomplished this via his Lord of the Rings Trilogy.
Tolkien also used his rage at William to invent the Ents in direct reaction to what he viewed as Shakespeare’s epic cop-out in “Macbeth.”
Our writing goals may not be as grand as Tolkien’s but our work can be authentic and lively if we occasionally ask ourselves:
What am I ticked off at and what can I create about it?
Need proof that frustration can be a cure for fear-based topic selection?
Let me share one example from my writing life.
The Good Enemy Technique: The Cure For Boring Art Blog Topics
Back in 2010, I was desperate to finish the outline for my doctoral thesis in mythology.
But I was stalled by fear and hiding behind bland chapter topics. At that point in time, my dissertation was a sleep-aid.
Professor Ginette Paris suggested I try to stop concentrating on what I agreed with and start focusing on what ticked me off about certain authors’ take on my topic.
“Push against the theory of others to find your own; think of other writers you disagree with as good enemies,” Paris said.
The next day I tentatively started typing on a standard take on my topic that always infuriated me.
I didn’t stop typing for 6 months.
The Good Enemy Technique is a powerful un-corker.
When it finally came time for my defense I was dumbstruck to see many audience members laughing with me– not at me.
Some were even crying over the interview-based material; material that blossomed out of my indignation at what past scholarship overlooked when it came to soul.
It was a miracle.
I went on to use the Good Enemy Technique in small projects like articles and blog posts to convert my snooze-inducing writing into fairly palatable stuff.
And I just realized the most popular post I’ve written to date (the one I thought would get me immediately tomatoed) was born from a mini-rant I wrote down in my little spiral notebook about how aggravating it was to hear some art biz experts say that we have to be on social media to succeed as creatives. If you’re interested, it’s now a podcast here.
Bye-Bye Facebook: How Artists Can Succeed WITHOUT Social Media.
Three morals of the Good Enemy Technique Story :
1. If the Good Enemy Technique worked magic for me, it can work magic for you too.
2. If you care about something enough to be aggravated about it, there’s a great chance you are not the only one. Take a chance on expressing something others think but never get to see in writing.
3. Our annoyance at a societal norm or another’s art or writing can act as a big red arrow that says “dig here for YOUR original idea.”
Here’s a simple, three-step way to use this technique to fire up your writing.
The Good Enemy Technique in 3 Easy Steps
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Do you know that little notebook all creatives are supposed to carry to jot down inspirations? Put it to use to hastily record what pisses you off as well. Create a defacto “Rant Prompts” section at the back to record one-sentence summaries of things that infuriate you.
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When you need a topic, flip to that section. Free-write on one. Or free-write on what artist/writer/person x included in their words or work this week that made you mad.
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Now finish off by writing for 10 minutes on what they left out or what you would have liked to have heard them say instead and why. This will naturally lead you to write on what your approach gifts your reader with. Take your time here and focus on the good you want to bring into the picture. Your contrarian yet POSITIVE take will emerge from this section. So don’t skip it. If you journal long enough you’ll arrive at a wonderful, fully formed original idea and you won’t even want or need to mention the original source of your aggravation in your final piece of writing. Make sense?
Great Art Blog Topics Can Come From Embracing Our Surly Side
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Want to make your art writing even better?
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Are you up for exploring a little negativity? Why or why not?
Is it easy for you to come up with topics? What method seems to work for you?
Tell me in the COMMENTS below! 🙂
I think that is part of it. We are supposed to be writing because we WANT to express it – not cause it’s part of a class. There are some artists who think art should be spontaneous and flow-y without much effort and study…I am not one of those people…But I fell into that mind set with writing! I think it may be from lack of knowledge and experience lol…When you know what it means to write a good chunk of words (like you) you know that it’s a fact of life that you have to work at it and there will be drafts!
Thanks again 😀
Right and if “we want to express it”, there is an assumption it should be easy. But the things we care most about are often the hardest to express. I sometimes tell dissertation students (even the ones who are already strong writers) to consider picking a topic they are fascinated by but emotionally neutral about. When we care about something so deeply we have great expectations. Perfectionism quickly settles in like a fog and can block any writing from occurring at all.
I love this! I am not an artist but more political satire and performance art type of gal. So I rage about everything! I have so much material and more every day. An example is turn signals. I made a sign that said, The stick on your steering column is a turn signal. I stood next to the street with that. I’m about to do that again! I’m a walking, billboard rage machine.
LMAO! What the hell is it with people not signaling in L.A.? Is it an entitlement thing? See now I am starting to rant!
I got you!
Of course what a great idea to use channeled anger to come up with subjects for theatre as well. Never thought of applying it to the acting medium but would hold true in the writing of one woman shows especially I think. Good on you.
OMG gorgeus pics!!! I know that wasn’t the point…. More soon after I process. lol
Thanks Gale, wouldn’t it be nice to be in the shire right about now?
Hey!! This is a great idea – I have tons of negativity lol …sigh. But I always worry about ranting because I’m afraid that people will be offended or something. I mean everyone is so politically correct these days that it’s hard to say much…here comes the rant XD…
Do you think it’s a good thing to share strong views on topics even if not everyone will agree – in a way I guess at least you are saying SOMETHING…right?
What is your opinion on political correctness? I really hate it to be honest but I understand that especially online you have to be careful – it’s not like I want to get people angry for no reason, how do you balance this?
man I think you just found my never ending source of content – haha. Well that is, if I have the courage to share it.
This is a great question Kikoe. I neglected to include this very point in the post. Thanks for bringing it up.
I love ranting but I don’t do it in public. The big question here may be who do you want as your ideal reader or art buyer? What is your kind of reader going to benefit the most from? If your artwork is completely politically incorrect and controversial it might be fine to just go buck wild on the page. However, if your art is not exactly along those lines, to just free-form rant and hit publish may cut your potentially potent piece off at the knees. The controversy one generates with full on rants doesn’t necessarily stimulate people— as much as it TRIGGERS people. Shock jocks make a living off this, facebook is rife with it, but artists who want to build a non-manic mailing list may want to aim more for the middle road. For us, the topic gold seems to be a result of going to the trouble of extracting a few strong sassy sentences from our mostly circular rant. Those sentences can form your subheadings for your post or even act as your outline for it. Then you fill in that outline with rational post-rant back up sentences that contain good information. Information Like: your opinion calmly explained with back up anecdotes, facts you have found, quotes from someone you have interviewed, questions to the reader, etc. Yes—more work. But the end product will be good copy you will be proud of even years later. Hope that answers your questions. 🙂
I mean I don’t like art/writing that is controversial on purpose just for it’s own sake – I think of that as “trolling” or just asking for reactions.
I guess what I meant was ” how do you share an opinion that isn’t wishy washy (because you are afraid of offending someone) ” – Which you already answered so thank you!
I am beginning to think of writing more like painting, there is a “sketch” stage for writing which is probably what I’ve been posting…but I could be refining and backing it up alot more.
Brilliant metaphor! Can I steal that? lol. Exactly, exactly, exactly. There is a big messy-ass sketch stage. You don’t have to publish the sketch. You work it, until it’s a painting. You got it. 🙂
haha! of course ;D
This should have been more obvious to me, I don’t know why I expect writing to be magical and perfect on the first draft!! I’ve written essays for school / uni – those were re-written so many times!!
You may be on to something here.Perhaps we all think our art writing should be different, more effortless than our writing for school or work. Why do we think that? What do you think? Maybe we unconsciously assume art writing like is supposed to come out effortlessly because it’s sourced from a pure, direct place?