When it comes to agendas be they economic, political, religious, or sexual, I find that while I let my own deep-seated opinions leak into my writing about many things, I tend to stay away from political agendas. As a good Southern girl, I learned from my momma that it's never polite to talk about politics and religion at the dinner table (she also told me that singing at the table would ensure that I would marry a crazy man, but that's another story).
When it comes to politics, I listen to my momma, but religion? Well...I talk about it shamelessly in my writing. And to my momma I say, "Well, why the hell not? I got enough material here to tell a million stories." Then she just shakes her head at me and asks God in a 'loud enough to hear whisper' why she was cursed with such a heathenish child.
Looking back at my writing I've noticed that the axis around which most of the stories spin is religion or sex. One dominated my life for so long that I can't help but write about it, and the other was the forbidden fruit for so long that I can't help but write about it either. But don't worry. I haven't gone blind yet.
Paper Heart is still in the developmental process, and I haven't quite decided what route I'm going to take with it yet. Growing up Pentecostal, then Baptist, and then just spiritually-minded, the pull of religion calls me. As O'Connor so eloquently put it the south is "Christ-haunted," and I see that spectre everwhere I go. It pops up in my writing before I can hit the space bar. When I figure out where it's going, I'll let ya'll know.
The Prophetess, however, is deeply rooted in religion and sex. A major concept I'm visiting is when religion is used as a scapegoat for depravity, as a vehicle for evil all while praising Jesus.
So when it comes to agendas in my writing, they are always there. I'm usually thinking about them, but I have to admit that I eventually get lost in the writing at some point and let the characters do the talking. Usually, they have something to teach me about my silly little agendas.
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I also stay away from political agendas, but mainly because I find them uninteresting in a piece of fiction. However, like you, I am drawn to religious agendas. My poetry is flooded with overtly religious tones, and I'm not ashamed of it. I don't try to disguise it, or even ignore it. Yet when it comes to my fiction, the agendas become more subtle, even subconscious. I try to get lost in the world I'm writing, that hopefully, I won't have to think about any type of agenda.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing wrong with religion or politics (or sex, for that matter) as long as you remember that most people generally don't change their mind about the first two. If the agenda is to sell some books, we must be cautious about running off buyers.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, Ray, it could increase sales if we wrote something that stirred up all kinds of controversy and got people talking about it. Even if they hated it, they'd probably still buy it! Religion and politics are probably the only two things that sell almost as well as sex. I'm just kidding - but that does seem to happen. Even if something isn't well-written - controversy sure can make a best seller.
ReplyDeleteWell, of course I don't want to run of the buyer, Ray! Maybe if I get a pretty picture on the cover....
ReplyDelete:)
I don't think we can, or should keep agendas out of our writing, but beware: when we write about them with the kind of purity and intensity required of the craft, we open ourselves up to doubt. To me, this is as it should be.
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