I've noticed a pattern in my writing lately and I wondered if anyone else noticed the same. I seem to be working today's cultural themes and even some politics or current affairs into my fiction. If we're talking short stories, it's never what the story is about, but the reader is aware of what's going on and how it is affecting these characters. Very, very subtly at times. But it's there, and I see it in my new stuff especially. I think it can ground a story and add texture. I'm only now starting to realize I do this. It's like I have something to say. Do I have something to say? What am I trying to say? Are you trying to say something with your writing? And it's in my novel. It was never supposed to be, but how can you write a modern-day story without the characters being affected by things that are really going on in the world? I don't know. Maybe this will work? It was not intentional, but I'm aware of it now and I'm not exactly sure what to do about it. I'm not at all worried about dating my stories. I know some people worry about that, but it's really not something I'm concerned about. What I am wondering is if you all as writers have something to say about the world and it comes out through your fiction. Do you have a message? Don't all the really great works regardless of genre have a message or a stance? I recently went through and edited the first quarter or so of my novel and I started to realize how even in small ways things I've included reflect the times like an art program being cut from the schools and things like that. A bunch of small things can create a larger picture. And along the way I seem to have made choices to include certain things like such and tie them into the plot. Or maybe I'm just going through some sort of satire phase. What do you think about including or playing off of current affairs in fiction?
I try not to send any kind of political message with my writing, because I give a massive eye roll when I feel preached at by an author. I like satire like Private Eye, but that's because I buy it knowing that it's satire. When I buy a novel for entertainment and it turns out to be didactic, I feel cheated. Including current affairs isn't really for me, either - I think you can't help but be political if you focus on that. But then THE HATE U GIVE is the most successful novel in years, so it can clearly work!
Anthony Trollope regularly folded current events into his fiction. The Pallisers' series is a virtual primer on Victorian-era politics.
I think it's hard to not include your socio-political views in your writing. It's just that if those views are fairly standard, they won't be noticed. Like: I believe in the importance of representation in fiction so I try to have at least minor characters of different sexual orientations, racial and religious backgrounds, etc. I include female characters in a variety of roles and abilities, mostly just by accident but sometimes by design. I'm an atheist, so my characters are rarely religious. I'm a pacifist, so I try to avoid glorifying violence (although I don't always succeed...). I worry about income inequality, so I try to present characters struggling with poverty in ways that show how difficult it is. I think the only time I've been accused of "preaching" in my books was with one that had an Anglican priest as a character, and the character was struggling not with his faith itself but with the structure/hierarchy of his church. As I said above, I'm an atheist, but I really tried to crawl inside this character and figure out why/how/what he believed. And the accusation was that I was pushing a Christian agenda. Certainly not on purpose... I think it's when the ideas presented don't match the ideas of the reader that we feel like we're being preached to. I've read some neo-con militaristic stuff that definitely felt like an author pushing his agenda, to me, but I assume that his target market would just accept that he was presenting reality through a clear lens. I've read stuff written in the past full of casual racism, sexism, and anti-semitism, but they weren't perceived that way at the time because those views were more dominant, then. I think it comes down to making sure you're telling a good story, not using the story as a shield to disguise your preaching. If the political angle is too prominent, I think it interferes with the story, but I don't think it can be avoided altogether.
