Round Robin topic:
Have you ever included current social, political, or environmental problems in your stories or thought about doing so? Why or why not?
Thank you, Diane Bator, for this month's topic 📓
💭👩
While the others in our RR group may respond to all eight questions, I'll reply to those topics I have covered in my fiction and nonfiction articles and novels.
- Do you ever include politics in your stories (why and how?)
- Do you ever address topics like discrimination or race relations?
My involvement in Native American education, Title IX programs, and volunteer work prompted me to interview and write about current events and tribal culture (current and past). I interviewed those educated in the boarding school system and families who had participated in the 'forced marches.'
Tanayia--Whisper upon the Water is a YA historical novel. The topics include forced relocation, boarding school, the tensions between the races, discrimination, and the changing society of the 1800s.
*Larry Sellers (Cloud Dancing) of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." shared his experiences as a five-year-old being sent to a boarding school. He encouraged me to complete this novel.
I am more inclined to address hot-button topics in historical or vintage stories than in a contemporary novel.
Why?
Opinions change. World-events change.
I read fiction for pleasure. My genre fiction may touch on contemporary topics (alcoholism, emotional abandonment); those topics provide character motivation/character development in my story. However, it is not the focus of the story.
I'm not making a judgment call.
My writing style is lighter, character-driven, and usually humorous.
Please visit these fabulous authors and see what each one has to share with you today.
Happy Reading, everyone,
Connie
XOXO
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
A.J. Maguire http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Marci Baun http://www.marcibaun.com/blog/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-1Ng
Rhobin Courtright http://rhobincourtright.com
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
I agree -- as time moves on, people's opinions change. People read fiction for entertainment and want to identify with the character. While all generations have problems, it is the character's viewpoints and changes that make the story.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree. Most folk read fiction for pleasure. For a short exit from their real life to sit back and enjoy. Filling a novel with constant in-your-face issues isn't what most people need or want. Sure we have characters that fall into any of the contentious issues - that's the world we live in, but we don't have to make the story about a political statement. We can just include the diversity without making a judgement.
ReplyDeleteI have read and enjoyed your story of the dreadful way Native American children were treated. Same in my country, Australia. We call it the Stolen Generations, and it's still going on.
ReplyDeleteFiction should allow you to "become" someone else as you read, investing yourself in the character. When done right, it can expand the reader's understanding of how/why people are different.
ReplyDelete