Topics and Characters

[tcv]

I've always wanted to ask a fiction writer this question:

Most stories express, through the characters and storyline, opinions about topics. For example: A story might express an opinion about war or about something else entirely.

Folks like me, who more often write NON-fiction, would simply write an article. But it seems like hte FICTION writer can somehow turn the topic into a story.

I guess what I'm wondering is:

Does the topic create the story or follow it or both?

[Birol]

With me, the topic, if there is one, follows the story. Characters are just fictional people who have had interesting things happen to them.

[azbikergirl]

If I wanted to write a story based on an opinion about a topic, such as 'we make our own destiny' (where the topic is 'destiny vs free choice') then I'd most likely start a story first and try to work that topic into it. But generally I write about people in bad situations having to make hard choices, and a topic ('destiny vs free choice') is identified later and enhanced in the rewrites and revisions.

[Jamesaritchie]

I've always wanted to ask a fiction writer this question:

Most stories express, through the characters and storyline, opinions about topics. For example: A story might express an opinion about war or about something else entirely.

Folks like me, who more often write NON-fiction, would simply write an article. But it seems like hte FICTION writer can somehow turn the topic into a story.

I guess what I'm wondering is:

Does the topic create the story or follow it or both?

Both and neither, would be my answer. Many, maybe most, fiction writers also write a good bit of nonfiction. Nonfiction is pretty straight forward. Fiction isn't.

Sometimes a topic will generate a story. Sometimes an opinion will generate a story. More often than not, however, I'd say the story comes first.

And it's a serious mistake to think an opinion in fiction is necessarily that of the writer. Opions about war or anything else, come across best when they're the opinion of the protagonist, and when they fit the circumstances of the story.

A pro war story often comes from an anti-war writer, and the other way around.

I don't think fiction works nearly as well when the story is written around a theme, or is no more than an expression of the writer's personal opinion. These things can find their way into stories, but the story is king, not the writer.

One mistake I think too many new writers make is in trying to use fiction as a platform for their personal beliefs.