Question about discussing abortion in my novel

Yes, No, and Who Cares

Yes a huge number will not want it if they disagree with your view.

No Any publisher/agent of christian literature will not be put off.
No Any agent that agrees with your view will not be put off.
No - controversy sells.

Who Cares - isn't the important thing on a subject like this that you say what you believe in and accept whatever consequences that brings?

Well, there are people who believe that. If it's fitting for your characters to express this opinion, then it should float. Most everybody, even editors and publishers, (hee hee) realize that this is a passionately debated topic with both extremes up to their eyeballs in utter conviction. If your characters believe it, we'll believe that they believe it and it shouldn't be a showstopper. Now if either side is presented as the absolute truth according to your own convictions, you will possibly alienate those on the opposing side. And if you're okay with that and your piece is great, then you should be able to locate an editor/publisher that is fine taking on a work that doesn't try to play King Solomon and makes a statement.

I don't think you should care about whether something is controversial or not. Controversy sells, period.

Just keep in mind that a lot of authors try to remain neutral in their tone of voice, even if their characters vehemently argue for one side. Doesn't mean you wouldn't have a ton of readers either way, but IMHO, I prefer to read about people making well-reasoned, thought-out decisions, regardless of personal views.

IOW, the less didactic for mainstream lit, the better. If you're writing for a Christian publishing company, be as didactic as you want.

The film The Cider House Rules presented both sides of the issue through the opinions of different characters, and it was a very successful film. I don't think there's any doubt that abortion is killing, in the same way that a natural miscarriage is a death. The controversy exists because people disagree about what kind of entity is killed.

I dont mind abortion, one of my friends had an abortion over the summer, but I'm not put off by books that express a different opinion to me.
Maybe its just me or maybe this is a bigger thing in the US but I dont think it should really matter.

I think if you portray the abortion issue true to the character, it'll work out fine. A lot of controversy is more how it's done than what's done.

You have to treat your characters as if they were living in the real world. You can't expect everyone to agree with everyone else in real life, so why water down the opinions or beliefs of your characters to suit the readership of people who might never read your book anyway? Life isn't like that. We DO meet people with whom we disagree. Even if we disagree with them, it doesn't always make us dislike that person, or choose not to associate with them. I quite happily read books featuring characters with whom I disagree.

I mentioned abortion in my last piece...it was part of the history of the main character. I didn't moralise, I just revealed it as part of her history, what made her the person she became.

I wish to keep this post neutral so all I will say is that when it comes to abortion, or murder, or crime, or drugs, or sexuality...I have no problem writing about characters with whom I would disagree if they were real people. As long as I can sympathise with them, and understand why they do what they do, that's perfectly all right with me. And the same goes for books that I read.

If you make a particular stance on abortion a theme within your story you may have a hard time with it, or you may have to seek out very specific audiences. If, however, you use a character's struggles with an abortion decision, either hers, his (reaction to his partner's desire to, or not to, abort their fetus), or the character's reaction to the decision of someone close to him/her, you are using the abortion situation as a source of character tension, not as a sociological or philosophical issue for reader judgement. Boil that sentence down, and the key is using the abortion SITUATION and the characters' reactions to it, instead of using the characters' action to support a stance on the abortion ISSUE. Personally, I find murder of post-gestational humans reprehensible, yet writers don't hold back in using it freely in fiction (in many, possibly most genres) without risk of creating controversy, even when the killing is extremely graphic and vile, and the perp's thoughts are portrayed during every step of the act.

Milly,

If this is your first book, especially if this is your first book, write the darn thing and worry about controversy and marketability later. Let the characters speak for themselves.

Once you get to the editing stage, I think what NeuroFizz said makes a lot of sense. The issue of abortion (or rape, homosexuality, alcholism, and any other controversial topic) in a novel isn't going to immediately cause it to be unsaleable. But if the novel is a platform to air the author's views on the topic, as opposed to a platform for the characters to tell their stories, it probably won't sell.

John Irving wrote Cidar House Rules, a story not only about abortion, but about the morality of performing illegal abortions at a time when they were all illegal.


Courage.

MarkPettus said:

John Irving wrote Cidar House Rules, a story not only about abortion, but about the morality of performing illegal abortions at a time when they were all illegal.


Courage.

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And reputation!

Alphabet said:

Yes a huge number will not want it if they disagree with your view.

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It isn't necessary for an agent or publisher to agree with an author's--or character's--views in order to represent or publish a book.

I must agree with what was written actually, "controversy sells". It is as simple as that. And even if you write something bland and easy say like a cook book and tell people how to boil an egg, someone, trust me on this, someone out there is just gonna disagree with you. So just write what is in your head, heart and soul, let the other parts speak for themselves.

Years and years and years ago (ugh!) when I wrote my first novel which of course I thought would soon overtake Hemmingway, and I actually did get an agent and made friends with a few other agents, I left a copy of the novel, (by mistake), on my Mom's kitchen table. When I got back that day, Mom was waiting for me with a real evil glint in her eyes. I knew I was in for it.

The conversation went almost verbatim like this:
"You wrote that?" she said pointing to the manuscript which had obviously been in someones hands.
"Yes, Mom", I said smiling sheepishly and wondering if she had the audacity to actually read the book. (Mom was a voracious reader.)
"It will never sell," she said with a wave of dismissal.
Totally shocked and actually upset I replied:
"Mom, you didn't read it did you?"
"Yes, I did. And dont give me any crap about invasion of privacy. If your agent can read it, your own mother can."
(Jewish Mom's unite in that thought.)
"Okay, I give up. Why won't it sell?"
"Easy," she answers, "no sex. You want to sell - put in some erotic scenes!"
Mouth open, and no way I was going to ask my mother about sex, that would be TMI.
"Listen, the book has a message," she says. "But you need to make it real to. Life is about conflict and controversy and yes, even sex. That is what sells. People who will read this book, want to read about "real" characters."

Well it is 20 years later, the book never sold despite some "almosts" but almost as we all know is not worth a damn, and Mom is long gone and I have another literary agent who is representing three works of mine. One day I told my agent this story. She immediately pipes back and says, "You should have listened to your Mom. Sex and controversy sells. Nothing sells like it. And if you can get it in a liteary book, then you really have a chance."

So abortion is controversial. But it is part of the world. Women have abortions every day. It is real. It makes people think. It gets them angry, or makes them nod in agreement.

It also keeps them turning the pages in the book. And gets them to talk about it. Remember even when one trashes a book to others, it makes the others want to see what they are talking about. So go ahead. WRITE IT. EXPLORE IT. DO IT. GO FOR IT.

(And one day soon, after six kids and a divorce and now a grandfather and living life, I promise I will try to write an erotic scene in a book!)

My humble two cents on the matter.

Teddy

It should be a non-issue.

Someone said controversy sells. NOT TRUE! Be careful about letting that into your subcon.

Make your "abortion portion" a brilliant selling point to the editor. Make em go
"wow, never thought of it that way."

Argue that abortion isn't about "life and death" as the pro-lifers like to present it. They only use the pro-life label as a subliminal message that pro-abortion is pro-death" If there is no life, there is no death. Life is a process of existing. A sperm is life. human life happens when the human body is fully formed. Then abortion is murder. The issue should be existence vs. non- existence, and who determines whi will exist or not exist. Any thinking, rational person would choose non-existence over existence. Life is a ***** and then you die. Life is all about suffering. You live by the sweat of your brow. People look to hurt you, kill you, rob you, rape you. You watch loved ones suffer and die. You get sick, paralyzed, victimized, terrorized. Then your soul may go into eternal jeopardy. Better to not exist than to exist. God only intended to make one man-Adam. he never intended human races. Eve and pro creation was an afterthought. God nearly ended creation and human kind several times. Genesis 6:6 says that God "REPENTED" that he made mankind. It cost him his son to atone for his creation of mankind. It's the only way he could square it with himself. If a mother doesn't have the final say on who will exist or not exist; who does?

Approach the thing with creative vim and vigor. Most oppose abortion on "Browny point religious grounds." they just want brownie points from God. I don't think God gets all worked up over abortion. He creates the human. If it is aborted; he can still give it spiritual life. God can make the aborted mature and live in Heaven. If a woman wants an abortion, obviously the baby isn't wanted or needed. BETTER TO NOT EXIST THAN BE BORN UNWANTED AND UN-NEEDED.

Milly, I am unpublished, and a little late on this, but I wanted to respond to your question, because I think I can give you a helpful answer.

First of all, I am extremely pro-choice, and I wanted to say that I like your scenario very much. It is very realistic and believable. A lot of women who have abortions have at one time thought of it as wrong. Some women say to themselves, "I would never do that," until they are actually in the situation. The fact that you have that in there shows how unique every situation is. The fact that the MC and several others feel it is wrong does not bother me as a pro choice woman, because I know a lot of people who feel that way, and I don't think any less of them as people.

I think that what would turn readers off would be if you tried to make this woman stand for all women who face this. I mean that from either side. If the narrative implies either, "She chose to have the baby, and that just proves that having the baby is always the right thing to do!" or "She had an abortion, and she's fine, and that proves that abortion is always okay!" then that would turn me off. Even if your message was pro-choice, it would still bother me a little. As long as you look at it as an individual situation, I think you will be fine. Most serious readers are not bothered by things happening in books, as long as you don't try to tell them how to feel about it. If you are trying to make a statement, do it in a subtle way.

That said, Million Dollar Baby did deal with a controversial issue as it related to one single, unique situation, and it still caused controversy. However, that seems to be more common with movies than books. Also, it caused a lot of reviewers to be more vocal about what an excellent film it was, and why you should see it anyway, regardless of what Rush Limbaugh says. As others have said, controversy sells.

If you are worried about publication, I think it's important to remember that, as NeuroFizz said, most people think that killing people after they are born is wrong, and murder, but they have no trouble reading about it. And writers have no trouble getting it published. It's not what you make happen in the story, it's how you handle it.

If it helps, I found out recently that my main character had an abortion. It just came up out of nowhere when I was writing. I didn't plan this a part of the story, but once it happened, it worked too well to leave out. I had some concerns about it, as you do, but I'm just going forward. The book is what it is.

I say the more controversy, the better!! Nobody wants to read a "safe" or politically correct book... Or at least I don't.

You should write it the way you want it without regard to what others will think.

Good Luck!!

Without wanting to sound 'precious' about it, or wanky, just stay true to the characters. Let them do what their personalities lead them to do. Allow them to tell their own story - all you have to do is write it.

'All' she says!!!

mkcbunny said:

If it helps, I found out recently that my main character had an abortion. It just came up out of nowhere when I was writing. I didn't plan this a part of the story, but once it happened, it worked too well to leave out. I had some concerns about it, as you do, but I'm just going forward. The book is what it is.

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Real characters will do that to your novel...

Yeshanu said:

Real characters will do that to your novel...

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Yup. Gotta let 'em make a mess. I just pick up the pieces.

Abortion is inherently dramatic. Nobody who's had one, or who knows somebody who has, will tell you that it was a black/white experience. No woman thinks about one without great anguish, and none walk away from it feeling any sense of closure.

It's a very worthy subject for fiction, because it has more gravity than political speeches on either side can ever do justice. It's a deep issue that calls all the basics into question - life/death, male/female, adult/child, not to mention religion, class, and by extention of class, race.

Abortion's been on the Controversy Table for close to fifty years now, so I highly doubt you can put a twist on it that is going to result in a mass book-burning. Just watch "Law & Order SVU" for a week and you'll know what I'm talking about.


Just don't make it a morality play. Those died out with Ayn Rand.