Explorations In Reading, Writing, and Publishing
I published a novel last May (for sale but also free) that explores what it takes to establish Enduring Peace.
I spent over 20 years doing the research for the novel…
Peace, in our day and age, is a very complex, multidimensional proposition.
Should fiction be used to encourage people to work toward World Peace?
There are three past posts that approach that question from varying angles:
Writing Fiction To Make A Difference In The World
Do Creative Writers Have Social “Responsibilities”?
Fiction and Social Justice ~ Can They Coexist?
While I absolutely don’t feel and certainly can’t imagine that all creative writers Must labor to weave social issues into their work, I deeply hope more of them will—I think our Human Family deserves it…
Whether you’re a Reader, Writer, or Publisher…
If you have similar feelings…
If you want to help humanity…
If those people on the other side of the World are in your Family…
If you like challenges…
If you can maintain a positive attitude in spite of the mayhem of our World’s Situation, you should be able to appreciate a video with Paddy Ashdown.
Even though he’s a politician and diplomat, he makes some remarkable sense…
If nothing else, Readers can get ideas for books to seek-out, Writers can obtain some writing prompts, and Publishers can ponder global networking.
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It seems to me that during and until probably pretty recent many authors used novels for social awarness and relevant issues. Elizabeth Gaskett, North and South is my favorite from the Dickens era. Mark Twain another favorite. George Orwell, Asimov and the sf folks. Also probably a good way to sell books as the audience is already in familiar surroundings and an idea can be brought forward without the weight of a serious treatise. The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, 1984 are perfect examples I’ am thinking of. Imagine objectivism or moral philosophy for capitalism without John Galt?
Another thought I would like to express is; outside of universities and closed academia will the story once again be the vehicle to frame and debate these issues? With the amount of distractions in a life nowadays and the trend only getting worse who wants to or has the energy and time to think about these issues? A story entertains while a deeper meaning can be inserted into the text.
Being a Libertarian I believe there is no ‘responsibility’ for putting social issues into your work. That being said can you not? Unless you live in a cave, then talk to Socrates, it is obvious there are things not quite right and there is a story there.
Let me first respond to your mention of past authors’ use of social issues—this blog post was written mostly for those who haven’t yet realized that many authors have already done it :-)
As far as life’s distractions keeping someone from reading a fiction title that deals with social issues—the huge amount of distractions these days would be a great social issue to weave into a story :-)
Jacob, pardon my ignorance but do Libertarians generally feel they have no social responsibilities?
Forced responsibilities no, other than not harming others. That is a given. Speaking for me, you will get slightly different answers from different people, it is really what your conscience says as voluntary action and association are the rule. As a human of course you are going to fell compassion and will want to see the world change for the better. Is it something that should be forced upon you as an obligation (responsibility)? No.
Sorry, to ruin the surprise alex.
No Surprise…
No Ruin…
:-)
I think that mankind has been concerned with writing about social issues since we began putting pen to paper, not to sell books, but because writing is a way of connecting and letting people know about issues that are important to the writer – and before the invention of the printing press perhaps
we used song and epic poems sung by the bard to talk about these issues. Now because of our greater access to the wider world, writers have more global concerns to deal with. The meaning of the word ‘responsibility’ surely implies that you ‘respond’ and take on the consequences of that response and act accordingly. Responsibility is an internal process for the individual, it cannot be forced upon them, but it cannot also be ignored by the authentic individual. I guess the question here is, as individuals, should writers still in this day and age read their own hearts correctly and ‘respond’ appropriately to their surroundings? And I would say: Yes.
Jane,
I will attempt a restatement of your comment as I understand it…
Human communicators were very long ago drummers and dancers—they enacted the most important daily and seasonal rituals as a means to ward off danger to the tribe. There are still a few of these communicators left…
As humanity continued to evolve, various other ways were created to communicate the important rules and means for safe existence…
Eventually, time was facilitated for individuals to make explicitly individual responses to the human condition. Somewhere in this period we began calling them writers…
As the bulk of labor became less demanding, more and more individuals began writing stories that were further and further away from compensatory responses to dangerous human activity, even, at times, writing stories that encouraged risky and non-progressive activity.
Certainly, even today, there are some writers who respond to the dangers surrounding humanity with story-as-remedy; yet, story-as-escape has gained much popularity—it seems the moral of the story has escaped the consciousness of most writers…
Whenever you write posts along these lines, I always go check the fiction bestsellers lists. I don’t have an answer, but my question always is does the reading majority want/appreciate such a message? It’s only a guess, but it seems to me the “trend” is leaning more toward yes. What’s your opinion, Alexander?
Simone,
Looking at the fiction bestseller lists is not necessarily the best way to gauge what readers want or appreciate. Those lists show what publishers want readers to appreciate…
Though, there are more and more on-line venues (like GoodReads) that let readers express their opinions on books………
I admit the only list I checked was Amazon’s. I forgot to say too. Our local libraries put out top reads list so I can say with mostly confidence their readers aren’t interested in world peace, I don’t think. #1 for several weeks has been a coffee table book on historical train wrecks.
Sorry, Simone, I should have written “Those lists show what traditional publishers want readers to appreciate…”
Though, the thing with Amazon is that, while more reader oriented, it has an opaque method of determining the top sales…
My personal feeling is that most folks have the attitude that world peace is completely impossible so why read a book about it…
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