Fiction writers' challenges are different from those of non-fiction writers. Non-fiction readers are usually seeking information, advice, or instruction. Fiction readers usually want reading pleasure and entertainment, what has been called a "willing suspension of disbelief for the moment." Disbelief is suspended for one purpose, and that is to enter a world different from the ordinary or the expected. We like for fiction to delight, amaze, surprise, and even scare us.
Looking for ways to get attention, many fiction writers ignore fine-tuned skills for shock value. Hence, gory stories and foul language stride arrogantly across pages, disturbing not only many readers but the story itself.
I'm not the first one to say that lazy writers use cursing or blasphemous language. It has been obvious to people far smarter, older, and more accomplished than I that it takes hard work and a sensitive ear to strive for the best words rather than to settle for the easiest and most shocking. All of us recognize the insecure loud-mouth in restaurants or at sports venues who curses almost every person or play not going his way. We pity him, even as we look for seats elsewhere, where we can enjoy the game free of battered eardrums.
However, like many writers I have wondered if it's true that, in order to sell big, book pages need to shout salacious, sleazy, or edgy words. On my most discouraging days, I've wondered if maybe I should follow the popular trends of the day. I have known I would not do that, and not for any reasons I can brag about or any credit I can claim. I am just too much my father's and my mother's daughter.
My parents never used language that could not be shouted anywhere, even within hearing of the most delicate ears. Yet, they had sharp wit, wry humor, and genuine love of a good laugh. And I think that's what stuck with me...the good laugh. They enjoyed what was good!
Writers still are handed the myth that good is boring! "Good puts readers to sleep! Good can't cut it!" We know the chant.
Yet, think about A Christmas Carol, To Kill a Mockingbird, Gone with the Wind, Les Miserables, Jane Eyre, Treasure Island, Pride and Prejudice. If I had time, I could list thousands of best-selling books that continue to appear in new book editions and film re-makes. They never lack a big audience, whatever generation visits them for the first time.
Looking at the titles I named, it is clear that good does not mean boring! Consider the advantages of good:
1. Good does not always lose. Yes, in fiction good has enemies. There, as in life, good and evil war against each other. Unlike what we can see in real life, good actually wins, usually, in the best fiction, for good often does win in life...even if its victories do not come quickly or cheaply.
2. Good does not mean weak. This fact comes from Judeo-Christian tradition, where good is always admittedly stronger than evil; God's power is inherently absolute, even if unseen or withheld for a time. The victory of seemingly weak characters in a story is their silent strength, which is their goodness. They bear much without lashing out to defend themselves, and they forgive.
A familiar example is Bob Cratchett of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Bob Cratchett appears to be pitifully weak, in contrast to Scrooge, the wealthy, hoarding tyrant. Readers are understood if they feel some disrespect for Bob at first, for failing to stand up for himself.
Yet, by the end of the story, Bob's patience and humility are among his qualities that we marvel at most. Bob amazingly wins. A simple, poor man of quiet faith and humility...wins! And he doesn't gloat, "I told you so!" when the dust settles and he is vindicated. No, he graciously thanks the man who tormented him! Somehow deep in the most cynical heart there is the knowledge that Bob Cratchett would make a superior friend to anyone down and out. He would never bail out of a friendship. He would not fold when times got rough.
We would not have the same confidence about Scrooge!
3. Good gives quality. In fiction, it flows at every level to pass the highest tests. It flows through the storyline, the character development, through thrilling and tense scenes, through the language and information.
What writers do you admire for the quality of their writing rather than the temporary, one-generation success of their books? I guess that their works showed goodness in the guise of weakness coming forth with amazing strength in their story finales. I bet I'm right about that! What do you think? Isn't the effort to develop good characters and stories worth a professional lifetime of practice, work, and growth?
The easy success does cry out loudly and often hauntingly. Yet, the good success must have an aroma and taste unlike any other. A good, complete, well-told story with strong character description and story line without grotesque crutches of curses and blasphemies...ah, so good!
Jane Bullard is the author of a true story, told in Not All Roads Lead Home:A Story of Renewed Love. Jane wrote the foreword for The Mourner's Comforter (Isaiah 61:1-3 Explained) byCharles H. Spurgeon. Read about those books and Jane's quarterly newsletter for Christian writers at OpineBooks.com. For samples of Jane's favorite categories, including people, writing, politics, history, and Christian beliefs, read her articles on SearchWarp.com. Jane's pen name is an anagram of her first name plus her maternal grandmother's family name. Jane is giving books for a limited time, upon request. Any of Jane's articles may be shared, read, or quoted in part or entirely if the selected or quoted texts remain unchanged.
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