The Joy of Writing Random Bullshit on Medium

If you’re like me, you’re not just a perfectionist in your writing. You’re a perfectionist in your choice of topics, too.

You only write about things that fascinate you and excite you, issues that you’re passionate about. No boring topics allowed!

But you’re also too serious about life and get stressed more often than not.

Do stress and anxiety have to be a constant presence in your life, though?

What if there’s a way out? What if you could permanently reduce your anxiety? I’m sure you can’t get rid of it completely, but you could still give yourself a break, and provide yourself with some peace and calm.

For my part, I’ve been trying out creative ways to relax my mind and soul.

First of all, I’m breaking into humor writing!

Friends may cringe when they see me trying to be funny when I’m not. But it’s less about my success (or failure) to make people laugh. And more about me giving myself the permission to be goofy or outright stupid, and laughing about it afterwards.

So far, trying to be funny in my writing has improved my mental health. It seriously did. Friends, including seasoned humor writers, have been super encouraging of my efforts, too.

David B. Clear even kindly wrote a post with tips for aspiring humour writers. He’s not just hilarious, he’s also a great teacher who knows how to articulate concrete, practical tips that made me more hopeful about writing humor.

Recently, I came up with another fun activity to lighten my anxiety: writing about the random things I tell my friends.

These things are tiny, trivial, and even laughable.

Yet, believe it or not, these stories became some of my most popular pieces on Medium. Just look at these two examples: “The Surprising Reason Why My Poem Was Rejected By a Publication” and “When Nice People Use Headlines That Make Them Sound Like Assholes.”

That story about my poem rejection, was something I told a lot of friends, since I thought it was an amusing yet eye-opening experience about rejections.

The mean headline article was originally just a personal complaint, a rant. But the story turned into something deeper and more interesting.

My “random bullshit” articles are not always about writing or Medium, however, in case you’re wondering. Some time ago, I wrote: “It’s Oddly Hard for Me to Recognize Faces.” This was a silly story I had told countless friends, because I thought it was funny (but they probably thought was just sad.) But still, it unexpectedly became one of my most beloved stories on Medium.

Do you see a pattern here?

You may have noticed a common trait among these stories. Not only are the topics random and sometimes facetious, they are often emotional, too, involving some gripe or another about my life.

Do writers advise you not to complain about your life in your blog posts? Don’t listen to them. Rather, learn how to make your complaints sound like valuable, intriguing nuggets of wisdom.

The packaging of your content matters more than the content itself, to be honest.

I’ll show you an example: During the lockdown, I felt lonely and sad, and a bit sexually frustrated. So I wrote up an angsty poem about my crush.

A year later, I polished this poem into something I hoped would be semi-readable and not utter gibberish. To my amazement, it became my #1 most popular piece on Medium…This is “My Secret Love for a Boy with a Golden Retriever.” Here are the current stats for it:

(Image reads: 18.6 K views, 5.3 K reads, 29% read ratio, and 43 fans)

It’s 98% external views, by the way, so that means I only earned $7.56. But hey, $7+ for a poem is not too bad!

Another time, I was super mad at a friend (now former friend). So I wrote up an article to smack down all his arguments to make myself feel better. The result was “Self-Compassion Is Not Laissez-Faire.” Yes, the article itself is quite wholesome, but the idea came out of pure anger and spite.

While this is by no means my most read or clapped article, the comments I got from readers were very enthusiastic. So I realized that I could transform my rage into something good and healthy that may inspire people.

So, all of these examples show me that it’s absolutely okay to write random stuff. Even if I think my story is trashy and self-indulgent, I can still tidy it up, polish it, and turn it into a worthwhile read that others may enjoy.

There are no guarantees, of course. But again, the packaging matters even more than the content. You can turn any turd into a diamond if you know how. Even literal diamonds are just carbon atoms mashed together in a certain way.

Meanwhile, I will have more fun dishing out these silly, bullshit diatribes and transform them into something interesting and worthwhile to read. My mental health will improve substantially after freeing up all my lighthearted nonsense.

Unrelated lesson: In fantasy fiction, there’s a subgenre called grim dark fantasy. George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, also known as A Song of Ice and Fire, is a famous example. Grimdark fantasy is exactly what it sounds like. The stories are bleak, brutal, and utterly depressing. But somehow fascinating as well.

The societies in grim dark fantasy are harsh and unforgiving. It feels like good people don’t exist, and kindness is a lie. Even the main character is usually unlikable, if not downright detestable.

In fact, grim dark fantasy is like a dystopia or a never-ending nightmare. However, you may find some characters who give you a tiny smidgen of hope. There’s empathy and compassion among those characters, at least sometimes. A major theme in grim dark is that even good people have their nasty sides, while villains can be disturbingly relatable.

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For a wonderful example of turning random bullshit into a delightful gem, check out “I’m a Top Writer in Bullshit” by Michael Burg, MD (Satire Sommelier).

Originally published in The Badform on Dec 21, 2022