When a fiction writer puts pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, the words he or she chooses creates a whole new world. The writer decides whether the world will be filled with beauty and wonder or destruction and pain. It’s the writer’s choice whether to bring each character into existence, what actions the character will take, and if/when to terminate the character. Within the pages of each book, the writer reigns supreme.
The first time this idea hit me I almost quit writing, but my compulsion to put words on paper was stronger than my fear of playing god. Besides I’d always believed and still believe I was only putting the characters’ stories on paper because characters tend to come to me and stay with me until I tell their stories.
Still, when a character in my first novel, All She Ever Wanted, died my breath stopped. What right did I have to take someone’s life? My characters had become so real to me I thought of them as living, breathing people. My pen dropped to the floor as the impact of removing someone, albeit a character, from existence and then being hit by the realization all the characters in the book only existed because I created them. What right did I have to create someone? Let alone eliminate them.
That was a lot of power - the power to create and destroy people, places, and even a world even if only contained in the pages of a manuscript. I forced myself to continue writing for a few days but the awesomeness of what I was able to do on paper overwhelmed me. I couldn’t reconcile it. It wasn’t the first character I’d created or even the first character I’d killed in my writing career. Yet, something was different that time. I felt the awe of the creation. I’d lived with this character for a couple of years while writing the book, and in some ways the character had become more real to me than some of the people I knew. I took a break from the process to get a little distance. I needed to deal with my feelings.
After a few days I got over my power trip and the guilt associated with it, mourned my character, and finished the novel. I continued writing, completing another novel and several short stories. As I continue writing, I still feel overwhelmed by my ability to play god with the characters and the worlds in which they live.
I love telling the stories of the characters who reside in my head. I love creating a world with characters that touch and entertain readers and hopefully make a small difference in the world.
Because of this power to create worlds for entertainment, it’s important that writers take their responsibility seriously and create believable worlds. Writers must have good reasons for the crises they inflict on their characters and the events they create in their worlds. The worlds should be populated with diverse characters that interact in a believable manner. The characters should be unique, well rounded individuals to which readers can relate.
Writing fiction is both a right and a responsibility. Writers provide both entertainment and insight. Fiction provides a beautiful opportunity to explore the issues of the world in a nonacademic, non-lecture format that can drive home the realness of the situation of other people in the world. Addressing societal issues through entertainment is the least threatening way to reach people.
Some people may say social issues have no place in fiction, but writing conflict in human lives is addressing social issues. When a murder, rape, or embezzlement takes place in crime fiction, it’s addressing a social issue. When two people find love despite traumas like rape or dysfunctional family relationships, societal issues are addressed. When a family struggles to help a loved one overcome addiction, a societal issue is addressed. When two people grieve the loss of a suicide victim, society can learn to reach out to its members. When two friends struggle to maintain their friendship in spite of their different races, cultures, and/or religions, people can learn about creating a better world. These are all plot lines I’ve read in books. So, don’t assume addressing societal issues in books has to be magnanimous, overly literary, or boring. It follows us every day in books that address life as we know it.
So fiction writers, embrace your inner god or goddess and create those entertaining, enlightening worlds that populate books. Who knows you may even make the real world a little better for your efforts!