tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896710675157315852.post1963531480245516603..comments2024-03-28T06:40:08.335-07:00Comments on Sheila's Guests and Reviews: Can Faith, Science, History and Politics Co-exist in Fiction?Sheila Deethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13465615546936319164noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896710675157315852.post-54003295815954899562016-03-07T21:06:45.252-08:002016-03-07T21:06:45.252-08:00I guess the writer has to care about the character...I guess the writer has to care about the characters in order to make the reader care, so to some extent the writer's persuasion won't be invisible. But I'm pretty convinced it shouldn't be intrusive. It's okay for me, as reader or writer, to want to argue with a character, but I shouldn't make readers want to argue with the writer--after all, I want them to keep reading. Your comment, Jean, has me even more eager to read Jane Smiley--if I could just find or make time.Sheila Deethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13465615546936319164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896710675157315852.post-41813791661549876142016-03-06T16:27:59.167-08:002016-03-06T16:27:59.167-08:00I will just add that persuasion of a particular si...I will just add that persuasion of a particular side of an issue/polemics should probably best be done as nonfiction. In fiction you might show that a character has a certain viewpoint and other characters might be opposed, but a fiction writer should just let the story tell itself. Readers may see it one way or another; but you can't please all readers all the time. Jane Smiley, in her book "13 Ways of Looking at the Novel" does a great job of describing how she wrestled with polemics vs. storytelling in her novel "Good Faith." It was such a timely story concerned with issues of the day, but she didn't let her own viewpoint slant the story.Jean H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6896710675157315852.post-62392592641240184482016-03-06T09:55:23.354-08:002016-03-06T09:55:23.354-08:00I think that good fiction is not necessarily polem...I think that good fiction is not necessarily polemical or imposing of any views. I think it was Dostoevsky who wrote that fiction should be completely a-moral; the writer records the actions and speech of the characters and doesn't impose judgment.Jeannoreply@blogger.com