Do you ever worry about the opinions you put across in your writing?

Nope. I just write stories.

I often write opinions that I don't share. Sometimes I give them consequences I don't like. It does make me wonder what readers think I think. but I see it as my job to explore something as best I can. It's up to the reader to decide what to make of it all.

I can't say this is something that has ever come up. You don't have to write something slightly abnormal to have someone twist it into something negative if they really want to. Critics will find something to hang you for regardless of if anything actually exists or not.

I worried about that when I did a beating scene in my WIP. My character was put in a restraining chair and got the hell beat out of him be a sheriff. I was worried that it would offend all the good and honest police out there in reader land. I have had feedback from some of my beta's. It was very widely accepted. So I worried for nothing. Even though the picture I painted with my words and opinions, of that particular cop, were very condemning.
Jane

Hey.
One of the reasons I am a writer, is to be able to show my point of view. I am not afraid of telling people that I have this and that opinion about something, even if it´s not conventional. This is why I write, to show that there can be other understandings about certain things. I usually explore religion, politics and philosophy in my books, and of course there are people that won´t like it, but then, they can just read another book! Write to yourself, not the others. At least it works for me

XX Alice

mscelina said:

Nope. I just write stories.

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This.

I don't consciously put any of my own views across in my writing. Note I said "consciously".

Doesn't worry me at all. I don't write my own opinions - I write those of my characters.

stuckupmyownera said:

A book or article or something I read somewhere about theme - the most enlightening teaching I've had on theme in fact - said that the theme of a story is the writer saying "this is what I believe life is like". What do you think about this?

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In fiction? Complete nonsense. If I wanted to write about my beliefs, I'd write a memoir, not novels. My life isn't that interesting anyway. I write about people with different views from me; they're independent of me and not all carbon copies of the author. That way lies Mary-Sueism.

As an example: I once wrote a character who had a particular view about a controversial subject: abortion. I won't tell you her view on the subject or mine, but it was completely the opposite to the view I hold.

So you can't read a writer's work and assume what the characters believe is a case of "I open my mouth and my creator speaks."

Theme is what this particular world is like. I hand you a book and say, "In this universe, X, Y or Z is true." I am not saying that about my life, or the 'real' world at all.

stuckupmyownera said:

Or perhaps you worry your writing could cause unintended controversy and/or put people off?

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I'd LOVE for my writing to create controversy. Seriously. Controversy = massive book sales.

I'll have a double-helping, please.

I don't put my own opinions in, exactly, but I definitely try to juxtapose ways of thinking. It's the kind of work where the reader knows that upfront, btw.

So there are some very un-PC things in there, yes. And folks may think I mean them as a good thing, or what I think. Imho, they aren't reading it well then! Or I'm writing it wrong

IMO, the job of a fiction writer is to entertain, not to preach or disseminate their personal opinions/agendae thinly disguised as fiction. My stories all have themes and they're universal: revenge, ambition, thwarted love, galactic domination, the monster under the bed--whatever follows the very specific formula I use: my protagonist has a goal. my antagonist stands in between the protagonist and the goal. This is what the conflict is. This is how it's resolved.

The way I believe life is like applies to my life. I don't write autobigoraphical work, mostly because I don't like jail. What I write is my characters' lives, their stories, their hopes and dreams and ambitions and tragedies. They don't give a damn about my opinions and I don't really blame them.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'what the story says as a whole'. Are you referring to, for example, novels where bad behaviour is condoned, or it would appear the author is pushing an agenda?

In such instances I'd suggest they're manipulating the story for their own ends; readers aren't stupid (I hope). We know when we're being lectured to. Books like that stray towards the 'political diatribe' end of the spectrum and, while I might read them and enjoy them, they don't entertain me per se.

stuckupmyownera said:

Perhaps you have slightly unconventional views on something, which come across in your writing (deliberately or not). Perhaps if someone took them too seriously, or too far, or twisted them just slightly it could be a bad thing? Or perhaps you worry your writing could cause unintended controversy and/or put people off?

Vague question, sorry.

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No, I don't worry about it but I do try not to be heavyhanded. There's nothing worse than reading fiction and getting a pointed lecture.

I think it's dangerous ground to have characters who are vocal in their political and ideological views if those views are the same as those held by the author.

(of course, this is no way near as bad as putting question marks on the end of sentences that aren't questions)

stuckupmyownera said:

How will the readers know if those views are the author's or not?

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because in the hands of all but the most skilled writers, those views are likely to come across as a polemic rant.

stuckupmyownera said:

They are questions - it's the wording that's wrong!

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I am totally out of order for bringing it up, but it's the one grammatical error that drives me more insane than any other (and don't get me started on people who talk that way too).

stuckupmyownera said:

Perhaps you have slightly unconventional views on something, which come across in your writing (deliberately or not). Perhaps if someone took them too seriously, or too far, or twisted them just slightly it could be a bad thing? Or perhaps you worry your writing could cause unintended controversy and/or put people off?

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Yes.

I've read fantasy novels which, deliberately or not, have given me the impression that the author is a misogynist, homophobic Nazi. Not in a hyperbolic way - I mean as in somebody who believes that blood purity equals worth as a person.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm a Nazi. So I try to think carefully about the themes and views I'm putting across in my work.

stuckupmyownera said:

A book or article or something I read somewhere about theme - the most enlightening teaching I've had on theme in fact - said that the theme of a story is the writer saying "this is what I believe life is like". What do you think about this?

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I feel my stories often reveal what I believe the world to be like. How could they not? The way my characters behave is based on my assumptions about how people in those circumstances would behave. I don't think that's separate from the goal of writing entertaining fiction. We can entertain as much as we want, but our perceptions of the world affect the decisions we make as we tell our stories. Most of us make those decisions subconsciously.

I wrote a story about a guy on death row. I'm surprisingly ambivalent about the death penalty in terms of my political stance. I was just in it to write an entertaining story. I managed that, but I went into it not knowing how the story would end. (Yeah, I'm a hopeless pantser.) I didn't know until very far into the story that my MC would redeem himself, that he even could be redeemed. End result, turns out that on some subconscious level, I think even multiple murderers can be redeemed. Who knew?

I write "good" characters who do bad things and villains who do good things. Someone might take away the message that I approve of the bad things done by the heroes or villains because of that. I would think that I am not responsible for their interpretation of my story. If you look at how straightforward and innocent remarks in public discourse are distorted by people on both sides to give the meaning that suits the interpreters purpose, how can you expect a work of fiction not to be vulnerable to that?

I don't always share the opinions of my characters. I don't consider any of this when I write a story. I just write the story. I'm neither a pulpit pounder, nor a soapboxer.