Every good writer wants to find a way to make people care about something, even if said author seems to hate life and think that everything is futile.
Case in point: Sylvia Plath. “Plath-y” writers do care about something: the fact that life seems random and unfair. They want to make you jump on the apathy bandwagon. Plath-y writers typically make you want to bang your head against the wall for days after reading their stuff. I sank into a two-day depression at the end of Jude the Obscure, by the ever-cheery Thomas Hardy, but the tragedies in that book stick with me to this day. In Hardy’s case, tragedy has a point–it’s often a direct result of bad behaviour. Thus, it says something.
I do want to say something with my novels, to reflect the world accurately by using characters who act in realistic ways while they grow and change. Although sometimes, they’ll refuse to do so, which brings some serious consequences.
Here’s what I’d like to know: Do you have a big idea you could build an entire novel around? Grandparents who get dropped off in nursing homes and are forgotten like yesterday’s news? Pet overpopulation? Media trying to make girls grow up too fast? In other words, what do YOU care about in this day and age?
Writing is so powerful, I think many forget the power in the pen. My cares today??? Too numerous to list but I suppose to sum it up, I am writing about how societies morals have degraded and how it is fundamentally changing our world. Not a cheery topic, but one that is timely (unless you still have your head in the sand and are ignoring the plethora of signs all around).
I know your topic is timely, TC! I enjoyed reading your query and hope your book skyrockets!
Hi, Heather! Returning your visit from Creepy Query Girl's Bloffee! It's nice to meet you!Over 23 years of teaching, I've built up quite a number of Big Ideas I could write about — from lack of parenting skills, to test-mania, to witch-hunts against teachers who did nothing wrong. I even started a novel once about a teacher whose actions were taken out of context and splashed all over the newspaper, while she was left hung out to dry by an unsupportive administration. Long story short, it made me sick to write it. I didn't want to come home and write about all the unfair things I saw at work after living them all day. I wanted to escape into my historical fiction stories instead.Speaking of which — love the blurb for God's Daughter at the top of your blog! 😀
Thanks, Dianne, and I totally get the idea of not delving into those horrors in a book, when you're living them! Eek! Yes, historical fiction was a lovely escape world, though of course bad things happened then, as well, and lives were more tedious as far as health, etc. But it is amazing how you can slip back into that world you created, along with those main characters, at any time!