Posted originally on March 24, 2010.
In times like these men should utter nothing for which they would not be willingly responsible through time and in eternity.
- Abraham Lincoln
I have at least a hundred and ten places in the world, big and small, I’d love to visit one day. They are anywhere from Egypt to Ireland to Turkey to Japan to Greece — the list goes on and on. And most of those places have sneaked into my list because of the books I’ve read over the years.
Isn’t it amazing how the image you have of the world is shaped, among other things, by the books (or any printed material) you read? That realization makes the act of writing that much more daunting – forget about how hard the craft itself is.
When it comes to writing books, non-fiction has more rules. Authors of non-fiction are expected to be cognizant of the subject at hand, and they are relied upon to include only proven facts in their books.
Not so fiction.
When writing fiction for adults there’s more leeway, because they are capable of discerning right from wrong. That’s the general belief, at least.
Writing for children? That’s an entirely different beast. Books are one of the cheapest and most commonly used tools to help shape young minds. And children are more impressionable, and hence susceptible to persuasion.
It is well and good to keep books real. I’m all for it. Up to a point.
My problem is when books get gimmicky, all for the sake of sales or some other self-serving need of the creators of the book, and make the depraved characters in it look really cool. Is this really necessary?
Let’s say someone writes a book that has a strong subliminal message that it is okay to make a cheap buck by cheating someone else. And for whatever reason, that book goes out of print after only some hundred copies are sold.
Where do those hundred-odd copies end up? On bookshelves, where they will continue to live for a number of decades. Even if each one of them gets read by one child in each generation, that’s a lot of children brainwashed over the years. And they grow up into adults who affect more children by their beliefs, opinions, and actions. And hence the sphere of influence of that one book keeps growing.
Every book has a message in it, whether it’s an obvious one or not.
As a writer, the bottom line for me is: Would my conscience remain clear even if only one reader embraces the message in my book?
How do you keep your writing responsible?
Great reminder–words are powerful, and if we’re going to write, we accept the responsibility of using words. You make a great case for children’s lit–but I don’t think we can discount that responsibility in adult fiction, either. Grown-ups are easily influenced, too :)
Thanka Rowenna. You’re right — adults could be influenced, too, but I’m hoping from having lived longer, they have the sense to at least pause and make up their own mind when they come across a new concept and/or opinion :).
Wow, I spent a lot of time thinking about this post :). I have seen several cases of such things with science reporting (the classic recent example being the autism-vaccine controversy). I have very strong convictions about journalistic/ writerly integrity- we do have a responsibility to use our critical thinking and remember that every word stands for something.
In terms of fiction, I’ve been trying hard to remember a children’s book with loose moral interpretations. Most of what I read as a child were, if anything, overly preachy! I think it also depends on what a person’s reading habits are overall.
To use a rather common example- teenage girls who read only romances tend to have more flighty opinions of relationships and so on, as opposed to those who read romances with a good mix of everything else as well. For one book to change a life, it would have to be really strong and powerful- and I’ve yet to find a book that strong about ‘bad’ principles.
I am curious though, and would love to hear some examples of such books (with the disclaimer that this blog is not to blame if I’m influenced by them :))
Your comment made me think hard in order to come up with at least one example of a book that I’d like to quote in this post’s context, but unfortunately I couldn’t. :)
When I wrote this post, I was thinking from my own perspective: a novice who’s trying to write for children. When I talked about books influencing children (or adults for that matter), I wasn’t necessarily talking about ones that would change a life. I was talking about books that fall into the “gray” areas.
For instance, I never liked the saying “The end justifies the means.” It could be interpreted in any number of ways. If a book subliminally has that message, a child might wish to interpret it to say: “If you like a classmate’s new pen well enough, and having it for yourself makes you happy, then it is okay to steal it.” Similarly, an adult might interpret the adage in ways that are much more detrimental to others.
I think books shouldn’t beat kids on the head with morals, but they do need to “show” that bad decisions usually end up costing them, which not all books do.
If I think of or come across a book that I have a truck with (in terms of being wishy-washy with their message) in the future, I’ll be sure to let you know — with the disclaimer you already mentioned above. ;-)
Thanks, Jyoti, for not only taking the time to read, but also making me delve deeper into the subject!
Your post really set me off :). One book I came up with was Holes, by Louis Sachar. I don’t remember the book too accurately and unfortunately don’t have a copy on hand to check. But I do have a recollection of being somewhat ‘uncomfortable’ with the moral aspects, especially in the early parts of the book- stealing shoes and landing into a fantastical adventure because of it (approximately..).
I read the book as an adult, but is that something you would consider ethically confusing from a child’s perspective?
I haven’t read “Holes,” but I watched the movie based on the book a few years ago. Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about it except that it’s a pretty bleak setting with the main character going through quite a lot of trials. But from what you’ve said, they go into the fantasy land because they’ve stolen the shoes, and the book shows that that action has only landed the MC in a soup, so to speak. So, that’s okay, I guess, because it says that you earned the bad experiences by making a bad decision.
I’m drawing a blank on children’s books right now to give an example, but Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorites. However, there is one instance in it that I disagree with (I’m not talking about the different set of morals and values of that time period, of course). Mr. Bennet says at the end that among all the three sons-in-law he has acquired, Mr. Wickham is still his favorite. When I first read the book (as an impressionable sixteen-year-old), I couldn’t wrap my mind around why Austen would make an otherwise sensible character like Mr. Bennet say such a thing about Wickham who is a rouge and who has nothing redeemable about his character. (Wicked Wickham — gotta love Austen’s sense of humor! :)) As an adult, it still makes me wonder what was going through Austen’s mind when she wrote that line for that character.
I have a problem with books that show bullies as “cool” (we see these in many YA books). Those characters may or may not be taken down later in the book, but the impression has already been made on some of the readers that you may get away with it.
In another context, I remember a movie made in India a few years ago that showed a robbery in minute detail. A few months later, some entrepreneaurial real-life burglars imitated art and robbed a temple.
These are some of the instances I was talking about…
Such a good point, Hema. I try to keep my writing responsible by being sincere in what I want to say, and by being as honest as I can in every word.
Jai
That is as good a way to keep your writing responsible as any, Jai! Thanks for sharing with us!
Great points, Hema. This is something I try to be careful about in my writing – making sure the messages I’m putting across are good ones. I think what we write about reflects who we are as a person, so hopefully I’ll naturally do that anyway.
BTW, I tagged you on my blog today.
Wow, what a good point, Susan! If you have to force yourself to write responsibly, then you’ve to dig deeper within yourself to see why! Thanks for pointing out this angle to me!
I’m going to hop over to your blog to see what I need to do to get de-tagged :).
I suppose for me, writing about my life keeps it honest and straight forward. I write as it is! But this is fodder for thought when I venture into the genre of fiction.
Let me know when you dip your toes into the waters of fiction, Sharoon! I’d love to read it… :)
I have had a hard time every so often explaining details and incidences in Mythologies to children. I think most of the time, things are not black and white in life and its how to recognize the sacred gray area that is a challenge for a writer and reader.
I completely agree, Meera! I was referring to exactly those gray areas in my post.