Jessica Russell's Blog - Posts Tagged "bias"
To Campaign or not to Campaign–That is the Question
I love a good political thriller. I read Tom Clancy and Robert Ludlum. I like Jack Ryan and Jason Bourne, and a lot of other characters by a lot of other great political thriller authors. So what's my point?
Well, that's a specific genre, and it's supposed to be that way. But it is my humble opinion that that's where politics belong. In their own genre. Nevertheless, a trend was started decades ago that every novel must have social-political overtones or the work is meaningless. I don't believe that. Sometimes people just want a good story. Sometimes they're reading to escape heaviness. Sometimes they're reading because they want to feel better. Sometimes they're reading because they want to see if they can figure out a mystery before the novel ends. Sometimes they're reading to GET AWAY from politics for a while.
There is tension all over the world, but as a United States author, I become utterly fatigued with the political civil war being waged in my country right now and I wish that more people would be willing to walk away from extremes and try to be at least somewhat moderate on some issues so that we can talk again instead of spewing hated each other. (I know. I'll be waiting a long time for that.)
Sometimes when I'm reading, I'm reading to escape all the insanity and I just want to read about people who are simply PEOPLE, rather than party members. I know I'm not alone.
We all have political bias, but when and where does it belong? Launching a political campaign in your novel is probably not the best idea in this day and age. For one thing, you don't know who's reading. You may have someone who's completely absorbed and engaged in your book, but he or she becomes so turned off at the political slant that the book eventually gets tossed. At that point, you have to ask yourself it was worth it? You got your licks in for sure, and you let people know where YOU stand politically, but did it help you or hurt you, and was it really necessary?
Those are the questions I urge writers to ask themselves. If you know why you're doing it and what you hope to accomplish, and you feel it's the best way to write your stories, then of course, go for it! But if you're doing it just because you think you're supposed to, you might be losing some readers for no other reason except that you're doing something "just cause." And "just cause" really isn't enough of a reason as far as I'm concerned. That's why I stay away from it.
Of course, depending on the era you are writing in, there may be a lot of political unrest or war or something similar, and of course that has to be worked into the story to make it authentic. However, you can do it in a neutral way. The latter of which essentially means do it without inserting your opinion. LOL.
I won't mention the author's name, but a very very popular romance writer got so political with her books that it actually started to hurt sales. Virtually every novel was a 350 page object lesson about why you should belong to a certain party. I'm sure even people in that party got tired of it after a while. We need a break from that stuff, peeps. That's the bottom line.
I urge other writers out there to consider eliminating politics from a novel every now and then and simply write an engaging book that other people can relate to and enjoy without working in your political bias.
Well, that's a specific genre, and it's supposed to be that way. But it is my humble opinion that that's where politics belong. In their own genre. Nevertheless, a trend was started decades ago that every novel must have social-political overtones or the work is meaningless. I don't believe that. Sometimes people just want a good story. Sometimes they're reading to escape heaviness. Sometimes they're reading because they want to feel better. Sometimes they're reading because they want to see if they can figure out a mystery before the novel ends. Sometimes they're reading to GET AWAY from politics for a while.
There is tension all over the world, but as a United States author, I become utterly fatigued with the political civil war being waged in my country right now and I wish that more people would be willing to walk away from extremes and try to be at least somewhat moderate on some issues so that we can talk again instead of spewing hated each other. (I know. I'll be waiting a long time for that.)
Sometimes when I'm reading, I'm reading to escape all the insanity and I just want to read about people who are simply PEOPLE, rather than party members. I know I'm not alone.
We all have political bias, but when and where does it belong? Launching a political campaign in your novel is probably not the best idea in this day and age. For one thing, you don't know who's reading. You may have someone who's completely absorbed and engaged in your book, but he or she becomes so turned off at the political slant that the book eventually gets tossed. At that point, you have to ask yourself it was worth it? You got your licks in for sure, and you let people know where YOU stand politically, but did it help you or hurt you, and was it really necessary?
Those are the questions I urge writers to ask themselves. If you know why you're doing it and what you hope to accomplish, and you feel it's the best way to write your stories, then of course, go for it! But if you're doing it just because you think you're supposed to, you might be losing some readers for no other reason except that you're doing something "just cause." And "just cause" really isn't enough of a reason as far as I'm concerned. That's why I stay away from it.
Of course, depending on the era you are writing in, there may be a lot of political unrest or war or something similar, and of course that has to be worked into the story to make it authentic. However, you can do it in a neutral way. The latter of which essentially means do it without inserting your opinion. LOL.
I won't mention the author's name, but a very very popular romance writer got so political with her books that it actually started to hurt sales. Virtually every novel was a 350 page object lesson about why you should belong to a certain party. I'm sure even people in that party got tired of it after a while. We need a break from that stuff, peeps. That's the bottom line.
I urge other writers out there to consider eliminating politics from a novel every now and then and simply write an engaging book that other people can relate to and enjoy without working in your political bias.
