How Fiction Works Writing Meme - Day Seven

[meridian_rose]

Section II - Modern Narrative and Classical Style

7 - Are you a modern relativist, or an author of more classical style, or the rare bird that is somewhere in between? The modern relativist divorces themselves from their writing, makes no judgments upon good and evil, lets the reader decide many things for themselves. The classicist has a more clear moral or message, and sometimes speaks directly to the audience. Which are you, and why?

I probably lean towards the classicist style in that sometimes I have messages I want to communicate, and am less than subtle about it. On the other hand I love anti-heroes, so the message isn't always clear-cut when it comes to good vs evil or right vs wrong – the real world [whatever that means for your characters] isn't the black and white place of heroes vs villains, and so a character's actions will often be varying shades of grey.

Conformity is a short Firefly fic I wrote with a message behind it. I'd seen a rather proscriptive list of rules at a local cemetery, especially with regards to places for cremated remains rather than graves, and I felt it was telling people the 'right' ways to commemorate loved ones, as well as cashing in on grave sites by allowing more expression at those. It fitted a prompt for a landcomm too and the story wrote itself around those two themes. There's no doubt that I, the author, feel strongly about enforced conformity.

On the other hand, Beyond Good and Evil is a Burn Notice/Dollhouse crossover where every major character is a anti-hero by virtue of canon, and they come to a sort of understanding despite the circumstances they meet under.

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I'll make an index post when I've completed the meme with links to all my answers; they will all be tagged #how fiction works meme. You can find the full set of questions at pristineungift's entry:here

Comments

[hrhrionastar.livejournal.com]

I don't know that I entirely understand this question - it seems impossible not to make any judgments on good and evil, but that doesn't mean I necessarily write with a clear moral message in mind, or even if I do, that I take time out to lecture my readers.

I'd seen a rather proscriptive list of rules at a local cemetery, especially with regards to places for cremated remains rather than graves, and I felt it was telling people the 'right' ways to commemorate loved ones, as well as cashing in on grave sites by allowing more expression at those. That's depressing - although that sort of thing can be perfect for inspiration. I'm glad you got a story out of it :D

[meridian_rose]

I did wonder about this, which is why I chose the two examples, one where I was aiming for a message, and one where I was making no moral judgements. I think it's probably difficult to write without some of your own biases showing through, but I'm guessing the latter is more about authors like Dickens, whose novels were intended to highlight the problems of the working class - or so I remember reading somewhere. The idea that it's rare to write in between the two absolutes seems an odd one to me in contemporary terms.

Oh, yes, sometimes it's writing as therapy when something affects you; writing out your frustrations can be very helpful. Inspiration can come from some very painful or difficult places.