Message Board Topic for 5/24

[Comicality]

"And that's why you should never open doors for a strangers."

 

Thus...the lesson has been learned, and the story has been given a direct purpose, right? Just like last week when I was talking about 'fairy tales', morals have been a part of stories for as long as they've been in print. They may not always be as 'obvious' as they are in fairy tales, but I'd assume that a great number of stories are often with some kind of general theme or lesson involved. Maybe about war and the beast within like 'Lord of the Flies', or the threat of brainwashing and loss of free will like "1984", or maybe communism like "Animal Farm"...there is a lot of fiction written with a definite message in mind. Something the author wanted to share with the rest of the world.

 

This week's question (or questions, plural) is...how do you feel about putting morls into your stories? How do you readers feel about having an author's agenda being evident in what you read? Sure, there are a lot of stories that authors just write with no big 'push' or message in mind, but is there anything that you directly want your readers to know your feelings about? Anything that you want to 'give' them as a piece of knowledge and experience? How do you do it without being 'preachy' about it?

 

For both readers and writers alike, I'd be interested to know your feelings on this. Do you guys spot the whole 'soapbox' lecture when you see it? And how do you feel about it? The board is open!

 

 

[JamesSavik]

One of the core lessons that you will hear about writing is show don't tell.

 

There's a time and place for sermons and most people don't read them.

[Agincourt]

I think in general that it is dangerous and generally unsuccessful to "put a moral in the story." In other words, a conscious effort to weave in or impose some kind of predetermined moral tends to lead to an artificial, sermonizing quality that readers tend to dislike.

 

Having said that, however, I think it is common, and probably desirable, for a theme or moral to emerge from the story itself. It may be that the writer won't even recognize what it is until the story is finished. The difference is that the writer isn't trying to push the story into that particular mold or theme; the theme emerges organically from the characters and their actions, the situations they encounter, and the way they deal with them.

 

In other words, if a character behaves in a self-destructive manner, and comes to grief because of this, the principle that self-destructive behavior will lead to a bad outcome is illustrated/exemplified by what happens in the story. There is no particular reason to jam in some additional sermonizing about this.

 

I also think that modern sensibilities tend to reject the such a strong intrusion by the author into what's happening in the story. Even if the story is written from a third-person point of view, it is customary nowadays for that point of view to belong to one of the characters. We don't generally like an omniscient point of view that isn't anchored to a particular character, but appears to see and comment on much more than any particular character can. Incorporating overt morals, however, tends to lead to such an omniscient view, which itself may be off-putting to readers.

 

A