The World According to . . . Erica
A LONG time ago, on an electronic board in the writersphere far, far away, I was publicly reamed by a somewhat . . . angry . . . reader. I won't dissect it and will spare you the boring details. But the gist of it was that I had an "agenda" having to do with child abuse--that I wanted to, if I can summarize, propogate the idea that child abuse and child sexual abuse was widespread, and that if I was going to have these issues in my books, my books should have a warning label. This was in reference to The Roofer, which does, indeed, have issues of abuse in it. Then the whole discussion at the time fell apart into one of expectations of readers and censorship and mature themes. But what stuck with me was the word . . . AGENDA.
Sounds kind of . . . Big Brother-ish, totalitarian, political.
But . . . I have to confess something. I don't have an agenda, but my worldview sneaks into my books. For instance, my beliefs on Buddhism, on good vs. evil, on loyalty, on evil mothers-in-law. ;-) On greed . . . on power and its corruptibility. On the idea that with great wealth and power comes great responsibility. On the importance of charity and good works. On kindness.
I don't hit my readers over the head with it. But it's there, if you look. It is there in the pain of my characters, in the struggles they face, in the ways their loyalties are tested. It's how they breathe and what they do and the choices they make.
So maybe I do have an agenda. The world according to Erica. In it, I say compassion is the most important quality a human being can possess. In it I say death with dignity and living with grace are the walk we must aspire to walk.
I wear a dog tag around neck. Two chinese symbols grace each side: faith and hope. And two quotes. On one side, from Einstein:
There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
On the other, from Camus:
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer.
I never take my necklace off. It reminds me how I want to walk my walk. So how about you? Do you find your worldviews creeping into your writing? Does your worldview color all aspects of your life? Do you have an AGENDA?
Sounds kind of . . . Big Brother-ish, totalitarian, political.
But . . . I have to confess something. I don't have an agenda, but my worldview sneaks into my books. For instance, my beliefs on Buddhism, on good vs. evil, on loyalty, on evil mothers-in-law. ;-) On greed . . . on power and its corruptibility. On the idea that with great wealth and power comes great responsibility. On the importance of charity and good works. On kindness.
I don't hit my readers over the head with it. But it's there, if you look. It is there in the pain of my characters, in the struggles they face, in the ways their loyalties are tested. It's how they breathe and what they do and the choices they make.
So maybe I do have an agenda. The world according to Erica. In it, I say compassion is the most important quality a human being can possess. In it I say death with dignity and living with grace are the walk we must aspire to walk.
I wear a dog tag around neck. Two chinese symbols grace each side: faith and hope. And two quotes. On one side, from Einstein:
There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
On the other, from Camus:
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that there was within me an invincible summer.
I never take my necklace off. It reminds me how I want to walk my walk. So how about you? Do you find your worldviews creeping into your writing? Does your worldview color all aspects of your life? Do you have an AGENDA?
posted by Erica Orloff at 7:01 PM
10 Comments:
Yes a writers views will creep into the books that they write. Our beliefs are as much apart of us as our writing is so it woulf be in our writing even if we didn't mean for it to happen.
In my novel my mc is a witch because I'm a witch, that is how I make my characters seem real. People want believable characters so that's what we give them. If people don't like it they don't have to read it.
Hi la:
I agree. I try to watch what I reveal--I've been in awkward (and a couple of times creepy) situations in which people thought I WAS my character. So I like to say "It's all fiction." (I once had a male fan track me down and mail me something really inappropriate based on a book. BUT, I also know I write because it makes me happy, and I like exploring philosophy, and that ends up in my books.
E
I LOVE your dog tags, Erica! Albert and Albert were a couple of pretty smart dudes.
I don't think I have an agenda, per se, but some of my views on the physical and spiritual worlds naturally creep in from time to time.
I didn't think THE ROOFER was heavy handed at all, btw. I walked away thinking it was a lovely book about love and redemption.
Jude:
THANK YOU! I consider it a book about redemption and sacrifice and love. Tom was my sacrifical lamb. I think the frank and honest depictions of sexual abuse could make someone uncomfortable, and I guess I mildly can understand that books aren't like movies. They don't get a PG, or R or X rating. But if you picked up the back cover of the book, you had to know it wasn't "Fun with Dick and Jane." :-)
And I agree. . . I wouldn't say I have an AGENDA, but the view creep in. It's just a part of the people I am interested in. I.e., I wouldn't want to write 300 pages about a "too perfect" heroine or a hero like x or y. I write about people who I am interested in getting to know for 300 pages or so.
E
Morning. I think its inevitable that a writers own view sneaks in, but I don't personally feel I have an 'agenda', nor am I trying to cram my view down anyones throat.
Funny (not so much) story re: readers thinking you ARE the character. Had a completed ms, decent but flat. Let a straight-shooting neighbour read it. She said she kept expeting the characters to 'get busier'. (not a strength on my part, still tend to write with my mother and old auntie on my shoulder 'heavens, you put your name on THAT!')
Gave it a whirl, for a challenge as much as anything. She came back raving about it and said her partner had read it over and over. Ack! The guy looks at me like I'm a completely different person (often making me feel like a naked person) and says inappropriate, suggestive things. The hubbie and I laugh about it, but it does make me uncomfortable.
Erica, I've heard it said if you can't win them over, you can pi$$ them off. You made that reader think, react and respond, so IMHO, you did your job. You depicted a sad reality honestly. Way to go.
Elaine
Hi Elaine:
I laughed at your story. My godmother says I write "filth." She won't read my stuff--though she is, I think, a little bit proud of me. Well, I gave her Mafia Chic because it has like zero curse words in it and very, very little "filth"--not because writing sex or curse words bother me, but the story wasn't that.
And yes, people can make assumptions based on what you write. I was interviewed a few years ago for an online magazine or something, and the interviewer pointedly asked me why I was so flippant in my bios. I thought about it, and after the few weird fan occurences, I guessed that it was to keep a little distance there. Humor can hold strangers at arm's length. In real life too!
E
My first writing teacher told me that the writer's skin has to be tough to withstand judgement and praise, and yet thin enough to let in the world around him. I don't write a book with an agenda; most of the time I feel like I'm just the typist! But when I sit back and read it many many months after finishing it, I then see my world seeping through.
Mary:
Good advice. I likeb being a writer sometimes to being in a bathroom stall in 7th grade and hearing the other junior high girls saying terrible things about you when they don't know you're there. When you put your work out there, reviewers, bloggers, the Amazon world, other writers--anyone can say whatever they like about your work, something you loved and nurtured. It was the hardest lesson I had to learn and is one I am still learning.
E
Yanno... it might be that when you connect with a book/poem/whatever it is because you can associate it with something within yourself. It strikes you somehow.
The author is puting words on a page. The reader makes them mean something. How you experience the words will allow you to connect with the characters, or not.
If you don't like a book, it may be that it is not written well, or it may be that you connect with something in there that you don't like, or don't like about yourself.
If the reader perceives an agenda, it may be what they are bringing to the story from their own life, just as much as it may be what the author has written.
Just thought I would throw that out for you to chew on. It is something I think about when I am reading and writing.
Ewoh:
True enough. I mean, some people can read a book and miss entirely some zen statement or symbolism--but because I search for those things or hunger for them . . . I'll spot it right away (Natalie Damschroder blogged on Serenity--the movie--and that is one that springs to mind).
And, it's also like the concept of reaction. Someone can say something cruel to you. You can react with pain or ignore it. YOU bring the emotion to the table. They are merely words.
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