Original Fic: Preaching to the Choir

[meridian_rose]

Title: Preaching to the Choir
Fandom: Original
Pairing/Characters: gen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 383
Prompt: For the writerverse prompt 'disappointment'
Summary: It's disappointing to think you're just preaching to the choir – but maybe there's still value in it.
Content Notes: No standard warnings apply.
Crossposted to my orig fic journal and my wordpress account

photo base from public domain images

Rae closed her notebook. "Do you ever think you're just preaching to the choir?"

Gail took a sip of coffee, tore her eyes from the new barista before she spoke. "What do you mean?"

"When you write a blog article or a piece of fiction and you say things like being gay isn't a choice. Bisexuality is real, asexuality is real. Womanhood is not synonymous with motherhood." Rae rubbed at her eyes. "The people who read these things are usually those open to the ideas in the first place. It's frustrating, sometimes. Disappointing, even."

"You'd rather angry homophobes tell you how you're wrong on the Internet and going to hell?" Gail's tongue liked at the corner of her mouth, chasing a stray dab of cream.

Rae sighed. "Of course not. But isn't it the point of writing, to reach people, to make them think?"

"Not always. Sometimes," Gail said, "people want to be reassured. They want to read about people like them. They want to know that other bisexuals love baking or hate fishing or vice versa. And as for fiction, a well told tale is good for everyone – and you can't be sure who your audience is."

Rae considered this for a moment. "I suppose there might be one or two people who reconsider things," she agreed. "And for the rest, you're saying I'm preaching to the choir but they like it?"

"Why else would they be singing hymns, to stretch the metaphor?" Gail took another sip of her drink.

"So it's more like showing solidarity?"

"Yes, only that doesn't have the same ring. Though it lacks the religious overtones." Gail gave a snort. "I actually used the phrase 'singing from the same hymn sheet' the other day, and the last time I was in church was almost two years ago to admire the architecture."

Rae smiled. Gail had taken some good photos and written a short article to go with them, and it was still a popular post on her blog.

"Maybe that's worth an article. Why we continue to use Christian phrases when the religious landscape has changed and atheism is on the rise."

Gail shrugged. "Why not? That previous post on etymology you wrote got a lot of hits, didn't it?"

Rae nodded, and opened up the notebook again.

Comments

[lobeliar]

This was a nice read, as well as food for thought.

I should follow your origfic blog.

[meridian_rose]

Thank you, and please do :) I haven't been posting much there recently, but I'm hoping to post original fic once a month.

[silk_dragon_zen]

Lovely and so real I forgot it was fiction for a moment.

[meridian_rose]

Thank you :) I was going to write a short blog article on the subject but I thought it might work better as fiction, and it definitely got more attention at wordpress than my blog articles do!

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

A concise and nice little slice of a moment between friends. Dialogue was real and the topic well presented. It felt like a real conversation! I, myself, often wonder how much longer religious metaphor will be apt.

Only concrit - tore her eyes from the new barista. You mean "gaze".

[meridian_rose]

Thank you :) I was going to write a blog article on the subject but thought it might work better as fiction and it has certainly been read more than any of my blog posts!

I know we've talked before about things like "tape" even though VHS is gone and its all digital now, how some phrases linger because of cultural influence. I've seen 'put through the ringer' twice lately and I wince because 'wringer, you mean wringer'; the idea remains while the origin is lost but if they understood the words they would spell them correctly!

Thanks, please always give concrit :)

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

I would love to see more "fictionalized" blog entries along this theme and style!

I mean gaze in place of eyes. :)

[meridian_rose]

I think it worked as fiction, but I'm finding it hard to put into words how it almost feels like cheating/deceitful to make what could have been an article into a fiction piece.
Sometimes fiction gives you distance when you write, and gives a reader an insight they might not otherwise have by showing them a character's inner life.
But isn't it also valuable to speak personally, rather than through characters, to write from lived experience and to give critical analysis from that standpoint? It's one thing to have an asexual character be upset about a newspaper advice column and another for me to say "I am personally hurt by this and here's why it's such an ongoing issue".
Fiction is my bread and butter, but the way I approach reviewing/beta-reading is how I approach writing non-fic articles, and I think that's also who I am.
That's me getting my thoughts out, rather than outright arguing with you :D Though any thoughts you have on real vs fictional issue addressing are welcome. I don't intend to stop writing blog articles on various subjects; even though the audience is smaller at wordpress, I'm guess I'm still building my platform.

[zeph317toho.livejournal.com]

You make some very good points here, and I like the device of using a fictionalized conversation. You're very clever! :D

[meridian_rose]

Thank you :D
Something I'm talking about in another comment thread though is how it almost feels like cheating - can't find quite the right word - to make what I almost wrote as an article into a fiction piece.
Sometimes fiction gives you distance when you write, and gives a reader an insight they might not otherwise have by showing them a character's inner life.
But isn't it also valuable to speak personally, rather than through characters, to write from lived experience and to give critical analysis from that standpoint? It's one thing to have an asexual character be upset about a newspaper advice column and another for me to say "I am personally hurt by this and here's why it's such an ongoing issue".
Fiction is my bread and butter, but the way I approach reviewing/beta-reading is how I approach writing non-fic articles, and I think that's also who I am.
That's me getting my thoughts out, rather than arguing with you :D Though any thoughts you have on real vs fictional issue addressing are always appreciated! I don't intend to stop writing blog articles on various subjects, even though the audience is smaller at wordpress. I'm still building my platform I guess :)