I've given this advice before. It dovetails off my favorite writing advice: Don't get it right--get it written. In essence that means, 'Don't self edit.' Get it on the page and then worry if it's crap.

My advice goes one step further. It means, 'Don't self censor.' Get it on the page no matter how revolted you might be with even the conceptual bounds of what you are writing. Forget your morality, your humanity, your sense of human decency, and get every element of the story on the page, unfiltered.

Then, grab a match. Or hover your finger over the delete button. Decide how much of what you've let out needs to be seen. Or, if you are squeamish, how much you are willing to let the world see.

This is not some exercise in free form artistic expression where you throw mangled verbiage at the page. It's simply unplugging the natural filters we all have in order to let the story become.

I'm big about that term: become. To me it means that, regardless of what we know, and outline, and plot in advance, every story can take us, and itself, in surprising directions if it needs to go there. And if we let it.

In my experience, the only way to let that happen is to unplug that filter and let the words fly.

One thing I do in this endeavor as I write is this: I don't look at the computer screen until there is a natural break in the narrative. The end of a paragraph, a scene, a sequence. I look at the keys as I type. Being a two-fingered typist this often reminds me of my inadequacy where speed is concerned, but it keeps me focused on getting the words out. In a way, it stops me from equating the visual of the story with the essence of the story.

I do write some intense stuff. One of the greatest compliments I've ever received was when a producer said to me, 'You're a dark little F*&%%$, aren't you?'

She should have seen the stuff I burned.