Writing Worry #4: I have nothing to say
When I told one of co-workers that I wanted to be published, the first thing she asked me was if I had something to say. The question took me aback. I had always viewed my writing as brain candy. It was something to be enjoyed not getting across an agenda.
My chosen profession is in the sciences and has always been very fact based. My writing has always offered me an escape from the grounded reality of science. It's probably why I've preferred to read and write horror, fantasy and romance. None of those genres are too firmly grounded in the restrictions of reality. Of course, they need to have familiar elements that are also apart of our world. However, the fun part for me has always been the unexpected and how people handle it.
I've never had any one particular message that I wanted people to know. Sometimes I think I should write based on my life my experiences. Sometimes I think I should have a cause. Most of the time, I want my writing to be an escape from the everyday, a suspension of believe, a roller coaster ride, an emotional journey. My goal in writing has always been to create a setting and characters so real that my readers will go along with them on their fantasic adventures feeling their pains and pleasures.
This weekend I scowered the picked-over shelves of a local bookstore that is going out of business. My picks were a medical/horror mystery and a book about fairies. I love medical fiction that verges into the realm of horror.
However, just because a book is read for entertainment doesn't mean that it can't have a message. That's the beauty of fiction. It allows readers and authors to explore situations and tackle heavy issues. Many authors like Jodi Picoult address weightier issues in her novels that are largely based in reality.
Just because a novel leaves the realm of our reality doesn't mean that it leaves behind the problems that plague us as people and as members of a society. In the Coldfire trilogy, C.S. Friedman explores the conflict between monotheism and polytheism, the relativity of evil and the impact of sacrifice. Karen Miller made an interesting case for the relativism of monothism in the Godspeaker trilogy. In 'I am Not a Seiral Killer', Dan Wells explores a character who must break his own rules to destroy a greater evil without become just as bad.
Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R Tolkien and so many more past and present fantasy and sci-fi authors have used their fiction to explore the basic questions of mankind from the level of the individual to the level of country and planets while still being entertaining and enveloping stories.
My aspirations are no where near as lofty. I may not have any specific message to say, but my own life experiences influence my writing. My goal is to make realistic characters who, no matter how fantastic their settings and situations are, must face the very real challenges that happen in reality.
