Hold Your Morals

I'm a very firm believer in writing a story for the plot and characters, and not to portray a particular moral standpoint. Unless you're writing inspirational literature or something nonfiction, don't begin your novel with a moral theme in mind. At least, not if you want it to be a success.

Are you staring at the virtual me asking, "What, Alyssa, are you against morality?"

No, of course not. I have morals and I appreciate others who hold strongly to their morals.

Literature is a whole 'nother ball game. Before you get anywhere near the moral theme, you need to nail out plot, setting, character development, grammar, punctuation, and plain great writing.

Here's the problem if you bypass those and instead write only what suits your moral standpoint: Your story will not flow organically.

And what happens when your story is forced and inorganic? That's right, kiss those publication dreams goodbye.

First worry about all the story characteristics we've discussed thus far or you've read in magazine articles. These are the important aspects of story. Once you've written the entire draft (and perhaps revised it two or three times) feel free to look within the story and see a moral standpoint revealing itself. There will always be one. Then you can perfect it in your scenes.

Do you disagree? Think back to your last high school or college English Lit class. How many times did you hear "exactly what is ____ author trying to portray here?" How many people decided to weigh in to the conversation of Mrs. Dalloway's stream of consciousness narrative and what that meant for Virginia Woolf? Yeah, you get where I'm going.

People will always try to interpret your work. Much like preaching to the wrong crowd, you can't force readers to accept your morals or point of view. However, your characters can help them understand it if they themselves are organically facing that moral issue in the story. Unfortunately, characters are much like the ornery people who slam the door in your face. They won't buy the morals you're selling. They have a set all their own and they will portray the message that they need to. Oftentimes, it will be the exact same moral you were trying to force them to buy. If you demand morals from your characters, they'll fight you. If you let the story and its moral evolve naturally, you might just have something publishable.

Then, maybe your book will be in the center of that English Lit class.