Do we, as writers, have anything to say.

In my reading experiences, those authors of old had a platform, a preaching kind of idea they wished to beat about the heads of their readers.

I wonder. How much of our own conception of this world is put out to influence the rest of it? Maybe we are unconcious of it. Our stance in this world is us, we have lived and developed it and are finally comfortable with it. Even authors who write terrible horror, what comes in the end? Is it their values? I wonder this stuff.

Love,
Betty

Good wondering, Betty. I can't imagine writing anything without values coming through. They are part of who we are as people and writers.

Carol

In writing historical fiction - even in raw fiction like Don and I are
working on, I try to add moral values, good always overcomes evil (even
if it takes the entire book to do it) and hope that my words instill a
love of the written word, or at least not cause someone to never want
to read a book again.

But I don't feel the same way Phil does. I'm not into giving life lessons to anyone, and don't care if there is a moral or not. In life, good does not always win, bad things happen to good people, and too many times the person with the most money wins, regardless of how bad he/she has been.

I think that's why this book with Phil is working. He's trying to write people the way he'd like to think they would be if something as bad as our fictional sun storms were to happen, and I'm writing them much closer to the way I think they'd really be. We're balancing out pretty well. He keeps me from going too much on the dark side, and I keep him grounded in the baser aspects of human nature.

I am glad E. Don did not drown.
I have nothing to say, that is why I talk non-stop.

I don't think it's about giving lessons or trying to get anyone to think like I do.

I try to give facts, am matter-of-fact when I write, put pieces together not previously put together in writing history, and just want people to think.

E. Don said,

In life, good does not always win, bad things happen to good people, and too many times the person with the most money wins, regardless of how bad he/she has been.

Very true, and it is what one does with what happens. I have an unceasing prayer that I will be able to handle whatever happens. I'm not always sure I can, but the praying has helped so far.

I had a co-writer where we balanced each other quite well. I was feet-on-the-ground practical and she was in the clouds with spirituality I had never heard of.

We just sold the rights to the work we did to an organization that sent a letter of how proud they are to be owners of this work and are looking for people who have been involved to give them ideas.

We wrote this over twenty years ago. We have moved on in our lives. We have let it go to someone else. They will have other ideas, and will take good care of it. We are happy and they did pay us well for the rights.

But it is like letting a child go out in the world.

Carol

Alice,

Very funny.

If you have nothing to say, it makes me wonder why we all answer.

You are a delight.

Love ya, Carol

I ran across this while doing my morning surfing:

http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/web_search.asp

Even considering the source, I think it's valid. We live our values, so they can't help but be noticed by our readers, even if we aren't trying.

Ann

My thinking seems to be more like Don's. In the story I have in the November Alfred Hitchcock a gangster wins, a woman willing to see her husband murdered for his $25,000 insurance policy wins and a drifter who doesn't care about much of anything wins.
In a story that will appear sometime next year a dime-a-dance girl commits murder but is found not guilty. In another a man murders a guy because he has been sleeping with his wife, the guy who committed the murder kills himself and the wife marries the narrator.
A number of people who have read my stories have told me I don't like women. That's not true, I love women. I also know how a lot of them operate.
As for passing along moral values to readers, I recall my bank-robber-turned-writer friend saying you can't rehabilitate someone who wasn't habilitated to begin with. My moral values don't always coincide with those of others. I suppose mine were built on a lifetime of living among evil people and consist of little more than trying to treat those less fortunate than me as decently as possible. Hard to pass that along. When reading, I quit the minute the writer starts getting preachy.

Congratulations Betty on becoming a five star member!

Mostly, we're storytellers, aren't we? Need we have a mission, too? That is to say, an agenda? I can only write with passion about what I know. Anything else falls flat. I see life as a spiritual quest, but whether the reader accepts that or not, I don't have a stake in that. I'm not an evangelist for my political and spiritual beliefs. I tell stories. That's it.

Malcolm

Malcolm wrote:

Mostly, we're storytellers, aren't we? Need we have a mission, too? That is to say, an agenda? I can only write with passion about what I know. Anything else falls flat. I see life as a spiritual quest, but whether the reader accepts that or not, I don't have a stake in that. I'm not an evangelist for my political and spiritual beliefs. I tell stories. That's it.

Malcolm

I'm really into missions, but have been thinking about whether there is one when I write. Unless we are writing a non-fiction text book, we need to show, not tell, write the story that is nagging us to be told, fact or fiction.

But in spite of having no mission, no agenda, I think they come through.

As a reader of Dick's writing, I hear, "life can be really crappy, the bad guy wins, but it keeps on going."

Malcolm, I think you are saying you see life as the journey with no specific destination.

Just my thoughts.

I certainly hope I don't preach.

Carol

I'm a story teller I have no hidden or visible agenda.
When writing a story I let the story live, it's the only way I can work.
To me writing is like reading a story for the first time. I most likely break all the rules. I may have an Idea an inspiration to begin with but that's about it.
My plot progresses along with my characters. The story takes on a life of it's own that's the fun thing about writing fiction.
I know there are many methods of plot outlines and other such formula but that's not for me. I can stand up infront of an audience and tell a story on the spot ad lib. I won't preach I just want to entertain, that's my only goal.

Thank you Shelagh. Wordy, I am.

Love,
Betty

I was thinking of people like Dostoyevski who wrote in time and in a place that could have gotten the self in prison for expressing thougts. I was not considering moral judgements and pontificating religiously as writing any thing to say.

I was talking about a more subtle approach.

Love,
Betty

Events can trigger one's motivation to write, however the subject must be of public interest to make it worthwhile.
Whether writing for entertainment or for public interest, there is some motivation that will drive the work to completion.
If what we write has no public interest, entertaining or otherwise, why bother writing? Who will buy the book?

Abe wrote: "Events can trigger one's motivation to write, however the subject must be of public interest to make it worthwhile. Whether writing for entertainment or for public interest, there is some motivation that will drive the work to completion. If what we write has no public interest, entertaining or otherwise, why bother writing? Who will buy the book?"

Abe, unless you just love to write.

Is it any different than many things we do in life, like playing music, doing artwork, and even games of golf or tennis? If writing is part of one's life, and valuable to the writer, it has value. Does everything have to be part of the marketplace? Can't writing just be part of our lives? And if we keep writing, we'll develop style and skill and maybe we'll hit on something others want and like to read, and maybe not. But not all people that love sports are going to make money at it. Not all musicians are going to have their songs on the radio.

And who says those who are published and on the best seller list are happier writing that some of those whose writing will never be read widely?

It comes down to our saying what we need to say. We wouldn't even be on this messageboard if we didn't have something to say. Just communicating with others has tremendous value: thinking, putting pieces of life together, making sense of situations, connecting with others.

Carol