I Am You - Challenge (yourself).You.
One thing consistent with all writers on this site, is ”you”.
See, “You” is important to us. We’ve loved them, hated them, fucked them, killed them, wanted to kill them, wanted them to love us, wanted them to fuck us. People from our pasts, people from our present and people we would like and hope will be a part of our future.
We’ve built lives with them, we’ve watched them build lives from afar, they’ve affected us for better, for worse, or not at all. We’ve written about their tiny, almost invisible flaws and perfections, the way they do certain things, their mannerisms, that only us writers, can notice, analyse and document.
So, all of us have written about our own “you”. Maybe, some of us writers have several “you’s”.
The “I Am You” challenge is designed for us writers to turn the tables on ourselves. What would your “You”, if they are/were a writer, write about you?
What would they say about you? What perfections would they admire, covet and lust after? What imperfections would they notice and set aside, or become enraged by? What would they say about the things you’ve done to them? What would they say about the feelings you’ve given them?
Does your “You” love you? Do they despise you? Do they misunderstand you? Do they loathe your insecurities and the way you treated them? Are you the one that got away for them? What would a stranger write about you if they saw you in the street?
This challenge is all about honesty, there’s no prize for participating, only gaining further knowledge of yourself. If someone has hated you, I want to know why, from their perspective. If they’ve loved you, I want to know what they felt, what they loved about you the most. I want you to tell me “their” stories about you.
There’s only two conditions of this challenge.
The first is honesty. When you use the word “You” in these pieces, it has to be you that you’re writing about. I want to feel what you write while viewing yourself through another’s eyes. If it makes you smile, I want to smile, if it tears you up, I want to be torn up. I want accountability, if you’ve broken someone’s heart, I want them to tell me what you did. If someone has loved you, I want them to tell me about it. I want them to tell me what you’re like in bed, what you’re like as a person.
The second condition, it must be told in the first person. I feel first person will make us squirm more, whether the piece is positive or negative.
These tales can be poetry in any form, prose or whatever you want to call whatever it is you do. Long or short. They can be hilarious, they can be sweet, they can be dark, they can be unforgiving.
It is my hope that this tag will continue to be used after the challenge is done, much like the reveries tag.
I will make a list of the top five of my favourite poetry and top five prose. Perhaps I’ll do a spoken word of my favourite pieces from each.
The challenge is valid until the end of month. Tag it “iamyouchallenge”.
If you have any questions, please direct them here.
Good luck guys, I am really excited to see what you all come up with, there should be some amazingly beautiful and raw pieces that come from this tag. Looking forward to reading them.
Mr. Self Destruct.
UPDATE: I know some of you are very private about your work, some of you don’t tag etc. This challenge is my own personal love affair, I really want to read what you guys come up with. So, if you feel that you would like to participate, but don’t want to tag it/want it to be private, please feel free to send me a message that you have contributed and it will be our little secret.
This is definitely something I am doing.
From the perspective of someone who’s loved me,
and hated me.
This should be FUN.
