what do these phrases mean to you?

I think of “brave writing” as writing something controversial or outside of the box. I think of “brave reading” as reading stuff that’s not so hot–not so easy to get through quality-wise….

Until your post, I hadn’t given either any thought. And now that I have, here’s what I think:

“brave writing” — is writing that dares to go to deep and/or dark places, or to explore very complicated stuff (usually in the form of emotional truth, but it could include presenting highly technical stuff in a palatable form (physics, sci-fi, whatever)). It could also be writing that challenges the norm, whether it’s ideas of sexuality or religion. For instance, Luna involved brave writing, because it presented transgender issues in a sympathetic light. Teach Me is brave because it addresses a teacher/student romance, which is a taboo. Writing about freedom and constitutional values these days would be brave writing because there’s such strong conservative (and rather McCarthey-esque) thinkspeak going on these days, so that challenging it would be a hot-button sort of issue.

“brave reader” — A reader who is willing to challenge themselves with unfamiliar material. Could be someone willing to read a new genre, or, as Cocoskeeper said, someone who will plow through distasteful and/or boring stuff. I am probably not one of them.

Brave writing is when you write something that you are scared to have published because you know your mother, your brother, your work colleagues, and your innocent little granny will all read it!

A brave reader is someone who reads something she knows will offend her sensibilities in some way but is willing to open her mind enough to try it.