[Fusaichi Pegasus]

Does anyone here try to place some ''message''' at the heart of their story? Do you try to explain some deep philosophical concept in you story? Or use your writing to popularise a particular form of religion or moral concept?

Share.

This post has been edited by Professor Blagden: 22 September 2009 - 03:16 PM

[Malus Rune]

I do it a lot. The story in my sig, Bane, is about the consequences of evil; it's about the descent that follows crossing your own moral boundaries. When you do something evil, even with the best of intentions, it can keep spiralling downwards until any sense of morality is gone from the matter. My previous, on-hiatus story, The Reaper's Apprentice, is about the consequences of trying to gain power and how it corrupts. A third side project I have going- which I may put up here some time, but not for a bit- deals with the point where a dictatorship may be necessary.

That said, I only ever do it through example. I rarely have characters openly state philosophical issues; it's usually just part of the storyline.

This post has been edited by Malus Rune: 16 September 2009 - 03:09 PM

[Spinner]

There are messages in most of my stuff, but that's really not why I write it. Readers really don't like being preached to--they like to think, and I generally find it's sort of detrimental to throw your world view bodily at your reader. Its a fine line, really.

Ben

[Pixel]

I think everyone puts some form of their own opinion into their writing. Sometimes, your favorite character reflects your own values. Your favorite character may be so because they have characteristics you value.

[Arthryn]

I like to state things as they are (or at least how I find they are) but then don't follow through with trying to promote or refute that which I have stated. I don't like it when other authors preach their crap, so I try to avoid doing it myself. And being more apathetic, I don't care if I get a particular message across. I thought CP's discussions of religion vs atheism were pretty heavy handed and the book would have okay/better without that useless derailment, because I really didn't care if the elves' atheism was better than the dwarves' polytheism or not. Most people don't care, so I'd recommend not going out of your way to make some sort of point and push your opinion. But if you don't need to go out of your way and understand the art of subtlety, then okay I guess.

[Go for Gin]

Messages, not so much. While many of the characters do reflect a part of my views, I don't really put them together into a message.

Themes, on the other hand, I enjoy using. So I think I'm going to add that as a sister thread. Unless you want to include themes in this thread. Your call.

[Fusaichi Pegasus]

Themes are fine. I suppose I don't have much of a problem with messages/themes in books, as long as they are not oppressive. I found the anti-communism messages in the Sword of Truth series to be very off putting. While I am by no means a communist, I felt that they were rather unfair. However in Harry Potter, Dumbledore Preached love, friendship and forgiveness. That I have no problem with.

[Go for Gin]

Well, gosh, I absolutely hate love, friendship, and forgiveness.

Bit of a difference between the two examples. One is seen as inherently good, a view almost all people hold, and the other is an opinion held strongly by the author and not necessarily everyone else. The latter should be avoided.

Anyway, themes in my work. QWERTY had two main, conflicting themes: the death of innocence (AKA coming-of-age, only by a different name) and second chances/redemption.

[Cielina]

You titled the thread 'Morality/Religious/Philosophical teachings'. I would cross out the last word, and replace it with discussion, or themes. Preaching is annoying, whatever the concept. Whenever writing a story with philosophical/moral//political/religious ideas in the foreground, you need to keep it in balance.

Firstly, the teachings need to be entwined with the plot. The ideas need to come out in the actions, as well as the dialogue, and the characters learn or discover these as a personal journey of character development Shelving a chapter of a book to purely discuss these ideas in dialogue is a no-no - it's got to be linked in some way to the writing, it has to flow. If you remember Eldest, the atheism preached there had nothing to do with the plot, nor did it add, or was shown through the actions of the characters, or through the outcomes of their actions. It was taught, told, preached, almost like taking notes on paper.

What I don't see a lot of, are stories which look at different sides of the arguments. Discussion, basically. Perhaps having one theme - say, Socialism (a commonly used example) - and having different characters hold different perspectives, change perspectives, as the plot makes them develop as characters and see different sides of the issue as their situations change. For example (on this theme of Socialism), perhaps having a rebellious son of a rich merchant, living the high life as a rich kid, but falls in love with a poor girl, who dies due to circumstances reflecting on the theme - lets say she is shot by someone else for living in a dangerous neighbourhood. He then disconnects himself with his family, joins a communist group planning revolution, but recoils in horror during the bloody revolution and aftermath. Simple example, but it lets all sorts of different views and ideas surface, with a simple conclusion of events.

Personally, I prefer stories which are stories, which have plot and characters, maybe a slight philosophical/moral/political/religious edge, but it doesn't focus on it. Sometimes this leads to more interesting conclusions, especially if we see characters turn bad, or aren't wholly rounded, rather than the typical 'x' is good and 'y' is bad. Characters have unique perspectives, and it's interesting to see theirs, even if it isn't completely moral, normal, or right. After all, I don't read books because they have characters who are good people, but characters who are interesting. People can make their own minds up about things whether they're right or wrong. Sometimes the story can get lost in a sea of ideas and values - though saying that, I don't like completely shallow books. It's a fine line, like Ben has said.

[Behave Yourself]

Ohgod, Revelations has so many themes. Mainly anti-racism and hate and war, though (no pro-love or peace or friendship in it, because that would just be hard to put in to a story where most of the people in it want to brutally murder eachother for religious reasons.) Also, one of the messages is anti-pride - Well, it's not anti-pride, it's more like against people who think they are better than other just because of their religion or race.

Fragment's themes are basically just anti-abuse, really. Both of my characters in it have been abused in some way, anyway, and the theme isn't an amazingly obvious one. The story is simple as hell, and that's one of it's strengths.

James

[Spinner]

To build on your post, Cielina, themes aren't always stated overtly. In fact, I really don't think they should be, period, unless you're trying to be blatant--which uh, is difficult to be in good taste. Anyway. No, themes don't, and really shouldn't stare you in the face. A lot of the time, you may not even be aware of them when writing. Its sort of like riding a bike in the way that if you concentrate too much on balancing, you fall over.

Those are my added thoughts.

Ben

[Buddhist]

In Apocrypha, I've decided to include a transition from a medieval like system to an industrial steampunk-esque system inside the story. Unfortunately, there might be some bullpooop environmental or anti-capitalist/progression message/theme that comes with the package. It's totally unintentional, and I don't think I can take it out D:

This post has been edited by Caligrus Morn: 22 September 2009 - 08:11 PM

[Ayaka Dirutia]

Many of my stories abound in philosophical and moral themes, but I try to keep it in check so that it pertains naturally to the world of that story, and not because I want to indoctrinate my readers (although I feel that some of my stories would appeal more to an audience of my religion, but I hope that anyone would enjoy reading them). My main goal in putting these messages in my stories is in hopes that the reader will learn something good from the stories.

[Arget Kveykva]

when I write something, I usually describe the setting thereof, which is nature. Thus I like the morals of my story to delve deep into a sort of transindentialism that God explains himself through nature as well as The Bible.
My next story, which will be full length for me (10-50 pages), will have a moral of guilt, and how people will erase or ignore their memory to escape their guilt. It should premier on Halloween, as it is a mystery/horror.

[Hoof Hearted]

Theme of ninety percent of my stuff: Insanity is a virtue.