At first I was really struggling with the topic of Agendas in My Writing because I really believe that stories are vehicles to truth. The stories that we have read this semester have all touched me in some element of truth that has forced me as a reader to look at my life and the lives of others through a different lens. If I have any agenda for my writing, it would be that emotional complexities and the motives that drive them could be realized through the characters in the stories I write. I have found this to be very hard.
One reason why this is hard is because of my own biases and fears. Up to the present, I have been very guarded in my writing. I have attempted to stay as free as I possibly can from any types of agendas that would cause me to have to say, “Yes, that is what I believe,” or “Yes, that is the way I see it.” Again, I am being forced to humbly admit that I am a coward because essentially writing is a revelation of the truth as I see it, and I have to have the courage to write and let the chips fall where they may.
I admire Flannery O’Connor who tackled the challenge of being a Catholic in the South whose agenda was shaped by Christian concerns. In Mystery and Manners she writes the following:
The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make these appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may well be forced to take ever more violent to get his vision across to this hostile audience…to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost blind you draw large and startling images (34).
Her clarity and sense of purpose is clear in her own mind and it gives direction to her writing. I lack this type of vision, and often find myself floundering in my writing.
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Toni,
ReplyDeleteI hope you can find a way to express your beliefs comfortably through your writing. The best way I have found to do it is to just write and not focus on what I think, but where I want the story to go.
For me writing fiction means your characters can have the same or different beliefs than me. When I am writing nonfiction I think, if I am the narrator, it is difficult for me not to show my beliefs.
I love Flannery O'Connor. Don't be afraid to write your own truth; it will find its audience.
ReplyDeleteI, too, find myself questioning if I want "my version" of the truth out their on paper for all the world to see. It is a difficult task to do, but writing fiction allows me to assign the truths to other characters and therefore take the weight of it off my shoulders some. This way, I don't feel like it is a "soapbox" story.
ReplyDeleteO'Connor is one of my idols. I'm sure it was difficult to tackle her subjects in the manner that she did given her background and as a Southern Catholic. I applaud you for looking to her for inspiration.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your encouragement.
ReplyDeleteToni, the thing about a comparison to Flannery O'Connor is that you're bound to come up short. The writing will find its own truths as you commit the words to pasper.
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