Keeping Your Own Politics Out of Your Fiction

Starrykitten, have you ever read Sara Paretsky's VI Warshawski books? If not, you should. I have loved these books for over 25 years and one of the things that makes me love the character is her political stance - she's headstrong, a feminist, a socialist, believes in fighting for the underdog, opposed to injustice and the exploitation of the poor, pro-abortion, anti-religion.

Some novels are written and purposefully feature a political stance. Even if you choose not to make your books all about politics, it's generally hard to keep them out of a novel completely. Politics is an important part of life and how can you realistically write about human beings without touching on this? It's OK for a book to reflect the author's politics, and indeed is rather difficult to write a book that contradicts your own beliefs. If the reader agrees with the politics they will enjoy the books all the more. If they don't, they might find them preachy and annoying and stop reading, but that's OK. You can't please everyone.

T J Deen said:

But if not my politics, then whose? Yours? No one's at all? Then which politics should the fiction encompass?

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The MC's. Politics is part of who they are.

If they are conservative in their ways then that's that. E.g. against abortion, homosexuality, etc.

It doesn't matter if you, yourself, are in opposition to this viewpoint. It is not your story. It is your MC's. That goes for secondary characters too.

I guess if you write in omniscient there is some wiggle room.

"Joe obviously is a bigot. The dumb jerk. Now where were we? Ah yes ..."

Ken said:

The MC's. Politics is part of who they are.

If they are conservative in their ways then that's that. E.g. against abortion, homosexuality, etc.

It doesn't matter if you, yourself, are in opposition to this viewpoint. It is not your story. It is your MC's. That goes for secondary characters too.

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But why must you write an MC with a different political view than your own? Unless you want to explore that view for some reason, that is. And that, of course, means writing a very political book.

I think writers should write political books, if that's what they want. Write them didactical, too, if that's what they want. (It's not what I want, as I find that sort of thing boring. But lots of people read to have their world-view validated. If your personal views aren't too far out there, you should find an audience).

If you want to win people over to your political view, it's better not to stereotype the opposition, that's true, becaue then they won't listen to you. And cardboard cut-outs are always bad, political or not.

As always, it's all about the execution. Write compelling, well rounded characters and a good, well-thought out and believable plot, no matter your politics. Then even those who disagree with you might enjoy your books. Write stereotyped characters in a forced plot dictated by politics only, and very few will like your books.

Ken said:

The MC's. Politics is part of who they are.

If they are conservative in their ways then that's that. E.g. against abortion, homosexuality, etc.

It doesn't matter if you, yourself, are in opposition to this viewpoint. It is not your story. It is your MC's. That goes for secondary characters too.

I guess if you write in omniscient there is some wiggle room.

"Joe obviously is a bigot. The dumb jerk. Now where were we? Ah yes ..."

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This is pretty much how I feel about the issue.

I could see myself choosing a racist homophobe as my MC, yes. And then of course I wouldn't write him as a dumb, evil jerk. I know people like that, and they're not dumb, evil jerks. I would do my best to be loyal to that character, write him as nuanced and empathic as I possibly can. But I would show in my story, one way or the other, that racism and homophobia are not OK. Either the MC would have their views softened for some reason as part of an inner story arc. Or the events and other characters in the book would offer the nuance the MC would lack, and challenge their views. I wouldn't hit the reader over the head with anything, because, like I said, I find that kind of thing boring in the extreme. But I see no point in me writing a book that would seem to support political views I strongly oppose. Why would I?

I find that when I write with curiosity and care from the deep POV of a character, however different from me politically or otherwise, I begin to round off those plastic nibs that show where I pulled the character off the sheet of CLICHE TROPE WHATEVERS.

Good fiction is local, and so is politics, so good fiction will always be political in a sense.

Torill said:

I could see myself choosing a racist homophobe as my MC, yes. And then of course I wouldn't write him as a dumb, evil jerk. I know people like that, and they're not dumb, evil jerks. I would do my best to be loyal to that character, write him as nuanced and empathic as I possibly can. But I would show in my story, one way or the other, that racism and homophobia are not OK. Either the MC would have their views softened for some reason as part of an inner story arc. Or the events and other characters in the book would offer the nuance the MC would lack, and challenge their views. I wouldn't hit the reader over the head with anything, because, like I said, I find that kind of thing boring in the extreme. But I see no point in me writing a book that would seem to support political views I strongly oppose. Why would I?

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What about something a bit more nuanced than that, though?
Racism and anti-homosexual bias are not political views, they're philosophical ones, despite what some people may think. A better example of politics in your fiction would be having a main character who is a firm believer in free-market capitalism when you personally are a socialist. A well balanced portrayal would be showing good reasons WHY he believes what he believes and good reasons why some other character put in to balance him believes he might be wrong.
Or perhaps having a character who believes in interventionism internationally while you personally may be opposed to intervening militarily against possible threats.
Those are political differences that can be shown with a balanced view, where reasonable people may disagree and not have either one be the "bad guy."

I don't see philosophical and political as opposites exactly - actions based on your homophobia for instance will turn political pretty quick - but let's not debate the semantics here. I think your examples are very good, actually.

A well balanced portrayal would be showing good reasons WHY he believes what he believes and good reasons why some other character put in to balance him believes he might be wrong.

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Exactly. You say it a lot better than I did.

Of course, you may not want to explore the reasons why your characters believe what they believe. That may not be the theme of your story, and that's OK imo. But you always want to write well rounded characters who are not defined solely by their political views, either way. And I believe your own basic values and philosophies - which usually informs people's political views - will always leak through in what you write. And that's OK, too, and nothing to worry about.

RikWriter said:

What about something a bit more nuanced than that, though?
Racism and anti-homosexual bias are not political views, they're philosophical ones, despite what some people may think. A better example of politics in your fiction would be having a main character who is a firm believer in free-market capitalism when you personally are a socialist. A well balanced portrayal would be showing good reasons WHY he believes what he believes and good reasons why some other character put in to balance him believes he might be wrong.
Or perhaps having a character who believes in interventionism internationally while you personally may be opposed to intervening militarily against possible threats.
Those are political differences that can be shown with a balanced view, where reasonable people may disagree and not have either one be the "bad guy."

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Isn't free-market vs. socialism an economic view? And interventionism is a foreign policy issue. And both could also be philosophical views, although I would personally categorize racism and homophobia as moral views before philosophical ones. There's somewhat of a distinction between socialism and racism as views, but I don't think it's the one you make here.



That said, you do make a good point about people being able to disagree and not be the bad guy. Again, though, I wouldn't say it's depth of nuance in the portrayal that's different here. You can have plenty of nuance in the portrayal of racism or homophobia. But there is a great deal more granularity in why some particular person might support free-market capitalism over socialism.

So where does this put someone who mainly does haiku? Not to be confused with Senryu. Putting aside whether a haiku would be a boring novel or not, there is very little in the way of social commentary. The goal is state the scenery simplistically, your not necessarily stating how you feel about abortion.

Fiction should be designed to be relatable to the common person with any particular skill set. This is one of the reasons I don't care harder fiction. If your putting in legal jargon and engineering nuance in it, the average person that isn't a lawyer or engineer is not going to relate to it.

I see politics in much the same way. How an election works, or who you vote for has little importance to me. And the finer points of what makes someone of a particular party is of very little importance.

Novels are not textbooks. There should be a story.

I do not try to keep my politics, opinions, or personal sense of morality out of my work. Some of my characters agree with me and some do not. I don't particularly care about showing both sides of an issue as much as I care about by characters being complete beings with thoughts, opinions, and beliefs. Characters are people and people have political beliefs.

What I do try to avoid is grandstanding. If my character has stepped up onto my soapbox to harangue about the injustice inherent in the system, then he's not doing his job. He's just spouting off one of my personal rants and that has no business in my story. That is, not unless it's important to the story to have crazy ranting guy.

Here's an example. It's not political, it's religious, but there's a similarity. I have no political example, but I want to illustrate what I'm saying. In my current WIP, the MC is an Atheist. It's mentioned lightly. Not once does he rail about why religion makes no sense. He is confused about why people he runs into bring religion into non-religious situations, for example. Then when he runs into a metaphysical event, he has to translate it into a scientific format before he can deal with it. He uses some junk science in order to do this, but it works for him.

The point I'm making about him isn't about religion or being an Atheist at all. It's about the little stories we all tell ourselves in order to deal with things outside our own bailiwick. That is important to my story, while the specifics of religion are not.

Do I have to worry about people not reading my book because the MC is an Atheist? I doubt it. It's not a major theme, it's just part of who he is. At no time does he discriminate or think badly of people because they do not share his beliefs. At no point is religion mocked or belittled. No soapboxes here.

Should I be worried that readers will identify me with Atheism? I don't care. I do not happen to be an Atheist, but it certainly wouldn't offend me if people made that assumption about me. Just as it wouldn't offend me if readers assumed I was gay because some of the characters I write are gay. Those things are not offensive to me because those things are not offensive. Now, if people started thinking I was a Republican...

Just kidding!

Ken said:

The MC's. Politics is part of who they are.

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It can't just be solely the MC's politics. In order to create conflict the MC's politics MUST clash with an opposing political view point whether it be from another character or the policy and practices of the story world. The outcome would be that either the MC is right, or the opposing view is right, or neither is right and they either compromise or find an option C.

Not --really-- disagreeing with either of you. All the things you've said my viewpoint lacked were what I figured anyone reading my post would assume. E.g. well-rounded characters a must as well as conflicting viewpoints between characters. So I really don't have anything to add. You sorta filled in the gaps of what I left unsaid, not because I don't ascribe to them too but because I figured they were rather self-explanatory. Suppose not. I will issue myself one demerit on your behalfs ;-)

"Politics" is more than parties; it encompasses any matter of public import. There doesn't need to be a listing of characters with party affiliation for politics to enter the book. So it's not impossible to tell a story entirely apolitically, but that story is likely to barely if at all touch on the world readers live in even through metaphor.

With that in mind, the things to avoid, I would say, are:

• Don't make characters on "the other side" one-dimensional villains.
• Don't write a screed, unless a screed is what is intended.
• Avoid making any assumptions about the reader's politics, though the views of the writer are likely to come out in what they consider normal regardless.

But there's a difference between writing a book in such a way that one's political views are discernible, and trying to persuade readers to share those views.

Torill said:

But why must you write an MC with a different political view than your own? Unless you want to explore that view for some reason, that is.

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Not ncessarily. The sort of person the MC is differs from the sort of person I am in ways that would make it very unlikely that our politics would match up, or even overlap very much.

What would Starship Troopers be considered. There were parts of that novel that seemed, a little weird. Maybe I'm just not a military SF person. But that book seemed a touch ... political.

Heinlein was political as hell.

RedWombat said:

Heinlein was political as hell.

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Blatantly so.

Honestly, I don't think I would want to try to write a story that drastically differed from my own beliefs and values.

For one thing, I think when a lot of people talk about a book being political (or otherwise having a bias), they mean at a narrative level. That is, the story is structured in such a way that supports a particular belief system, or the story relies on that belief system being true. For example, having some Christian characters doesn't make something a Christian story. Christian stories have Christian themes or messages.

I don't know if it's really possible to write something that supports beliefs you don't agree with. I think writing a political story requires you to think the ideology makes sense. If you're a feminist, then a story where women are naturally subservient to men probably won't make sense.

That doesn't mean everything you write will be political, or that all your stories will be feminist just because you're a feminist. But I don't think it's really possible for someone who believes in feminism to tell a story that supports the opposite.

Characters who mirror your beliefs or act as mouthpieces for your beliefs are a slightly different issue, I think. But again, I don't really have an interest in writing about sympathetic characters who believe things that I think are really wrong. I'm not going to write a hero who's racist or sexist, because I don't think being racist and sexist are pleasant traits for a character who's supposed to be likable. I also tend not to write characters whose beliefs are so different from mine that I have a hard time relating, even if they aren't bad beliefs. I have nothing against religious characters, but since I'm not religious at all, I think it could be challenging for me to write a character who's very devout. It's not something I would go out of my way to avoid, but it's not something that would come naturally to me.

So most of my characters aren't drastically dissimilar from me when it comes to their beliefs and ideologies. What I do try to do, however, is to have them approach their beliefs in a way that makes sense for them, and that feels authentic. Not all feminists have the same perspective on things, and I think it's good to allow your characters to say and believe things that you don't necessarily agree with, but that are still relatable.

Not too long ago, I was writing a story about a transgender character where the trans man had to talk a little about how he viewed himself and his body. I didn't want to just echo how I've felt or how friends of mine have felt, so I really tried to focus on how this character would feel. What I ended up having him say probably isn't how I would explain being transgender in a non-fiction context, but it made sense for his character. Similarly, the friend he was talking to wasn't a perfect mouthpiece for what to say to a trans friend who's coming out to you, but he was kind and made an effort. On the other hand, I wouldn't have been able to make the friend really transphobic because then I wouldn't see him as a nice and sympathetic character. My beliefs influence what I see as a good friend, and that's not really something I can change. So that absolutely is going to come through in my writing, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

Alessandra Kelley said:

In spades. In every character he wrote and in their every interaction.

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I don't know about that. Some of the characters in his "juveniles" weren't particularly political.

starrykitten said:

I've been struggling with something that I imagine has come up for other writers here, which is trying to make sure that my own politics are not creating bias in my characters or storyline.

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Deepen your characters. They are their own person. There's always a bit of 'you' in them, but if they're well defined, you shouldn't have problems with this. Dig into them, ask them questions, see how they'd respond to things in life, how they talk, how they act, how they think. Their politics are not your politics. You will also be surprised at some of their answers. I know I always am...but that's the fun in it all.

Usually I just have a plot where my opinion (at least shouldn't) come up. I realize how impossible that probably sounds.

It's not important to me for my characters to be like-able, there are times when I outright hate my characters. Then again my ability to finish my work doesn't have the best record either.

I finished my first book, and I liked my characters. Not sure if there is a correlation there, but there you go.

As a writer, my political views can't help but com through. I do, however, have characters with opposing viewpoints. Maybe the reader won't be able to tell which are my true beliefs. Maybe they will. I don't write with a particular political agenda in mind, but they do come out. I don't see how a writer can truly write without their political views coming out in some form or fashion.

I neither intend nor avoid readers thinking "ok, he's clearly a ______" (by the same token, I don't care whether they're right). On the other hand, I don't need people to come away from my writing sharing my politics. I'm not going to deliberately write for people who already share my politics, but nor am I going to make a point of being politically inclusive.

Though if I'm not telling a story a wide variety of people can relate to, that's the problem.

I'm not writing issue stories or trying to ram a moral or my proposed solution to one of life's great problems down anyone's throats when I write. But I'd be a phony if I said my own beliefs and values, including ones that inform my politics, didn't make their way into my writing. I do try to avoid simplistic "black and white" thinking, even regarding people whose views I find abhorrent, but even that is a reflection of my world view in a sense (my belief that few, if any, things, countries, institutions, or people are all good or all bad).