5 Tips for Writing About Controversial Topics Bestselling author Syed M. Masood shares his top 5 tips for how to handle a controversial topic in your work. Author: Feb 9, 2021 I might not be the right author for this piece. I just want to admit that upfront. Yes, my work is considered controversial in some quarters. I mean, my next book is called The Bad Muslim Discount. Obviously, that was always going to raise some eyebrows. But I truly don’t set out to be controversial. My fictional worlds are based on the truths I know and have experienced. My goal has always been to tell these truths in the most entertaining way possible. That’s it. It just so happens that there are people—holding a wide variety of beliefs on the ideological spectrum—who find these truths uncomfortable. That, so far as I am concerned, is more of a ‘them’ problem than a ‘me’ problem.