The weird problem, by Taj Barnard

Many people—including me—have feared being seen as weird. Weird in this case, meaning to differ from societal norms or expectations. When I was taking COMM-R110 (Fundamentals of Speech) as a Freshman, I was tasked with creating a PowerPoint presentation on something that I felt knowledgeable about. This was a unique opportunity for me, as before this I’d almost never had the chance to just talk about anything I liked. Quickly though, I found myself encountering what I now call “the weird problem”. The weird problem is a situation where you have the chance to talk or write about something you’re passionate about, but fear that writing or talking about it will make you look weird. In my case, the presentation I created for R110 was about dragons and the distinct differences between different kinds of dragons. This was a very different topic compared to the presentations my classmates made about tech, TV shows, and celebrities. I love dragons though, and they’re a significant part of my life. So, I pressed forward and found three things that helped me move past the weird problem and lead to me improving as a writer later on.

Feeling confident about your weirdness

First, ensure that your topic is relevant to the assignment. The best way to feel confident about your work is to make sure it fits your assignment guidelines. When I was in R110 I found it very helpful to look over the assignment guidelines and to meet with my teacher to talk about my presentation topic. My R110 teacher had said my idea was intriguing and appropriate. For that reason, I believe this is the most important thing for someone with a weird topic to do. It not only grants you the reassurance that your teacher approves of your topic but ensures that you’re creating something that fulfills the assignment. After all, it doesn’t matter how confident you feel about your work if you get a bad grade from failing to fulfill the assignment.

Second, share your idea with other people. Getting your idea out there and seeing how other people feel about it can help a lot with social anxiety and any anxiety you have about your topic. Friends are generally a good place to start with this and it’s who I shared my dragon project with. A much better alternative is to meet with a consultant at the writing center. As someone who’s been to the IUI writing center quite a few times for many assignments, I can say they’ve helped me feel more confident about all of my work. Because the writing center is able to act as a neutral party, they can both make sure your idea meets assignment guidelines and assure you that your idea might not be as strange as you might think it is.

Thirdly, take the time to research your topic and enjoy doing so. Good writing comes from good research. While I felt that I knew just about everything there was to know about dragons when I first began to work on my presentation, I found that doing the research anyway helped me avoid mistakes and got me excited about making it. I’m sure everyone has a topic they think they have an authoritative opinion on. But, I guarantee that doing the research is still worth your time and effort because it, once again, ensures that you can connect your topic to your assignment and because it makes you feel confident and excited to write or talk about it.

The advantages of weirdness

I believe there are benefits to be garnered from allowing yourself to be weird. Writing and doing creative work with topics that are outside the norms of society is good for both a writer and their work. As I see it, there are internal and external benefits.

To start with external benefits, it’s commonly said that the different and unusual draw people in. Weird topics are effective at garnering intrigue and attention from an audience. Take for instance someone like Edgar Allen Poe. Many people in his day thought he and his writing were strange, some even thought he was insane. Much of his writing is very intriguing and different, even though some of it is considered strange even today. This is something that I saw for myself when I did my R110 dragon presentation. All eyes were on me and I had a very positive reception from the audience. Being weird also makes your work far more memorable. While some might be scared about being remembered if they aren’t received well, I believe it’s very unlikely to be received poorly if you enjoy your topic. When someone is very open and passionate about something they enjoy, it comes through in the writing. People can tell when someone is passionate about their work and that passion will bleed from the text and into their own subconscious and understanding.

As for more internal benefits, there are a few that are good for the growth and development of a writer. Being vulnerable about the things you like and taking the risk to write about it makes you more open to taking more risks in the future. In my case, I found that taking the risk to create a presentation about dragons made me feel more confident to write about dragons in fully fledged stories in my fiction classes. I would argue that much of what we might consider masterpieces or important works were things that at the time broke the status quo and were weird in a way. This doesn’t mean every creative piece with a weird subject is a masterpiece. My point is that opening yourself up to take risks and be different opens you up to creating something groundbreaking. Another benefit to weirdness I’ve found is that it helps you understand yourself better as a person. Being able to write about dragons throughout college opened me up to asking myself why I like dragons, what dragons mean to me symbolically, and how dragons are important to me. Being able to ask myself questions like that later on led me to asking questions about who I am as a person. In this sense, I think that getting to understand the weird part of me helped me understand all of me.

I hope that in reading this you feel more confident to go out and write about that weird thing you like. Take the chance to be weird, it’s good for you.