We all have a specific way that we view the world. The right way, of course. (Wink, wink.) We also all have passions, some that are positive in nature and others that are sad or hard. You might feel deeply passionate about writing stories that leave people feeling hopeful about the world. Or you might feel passionate about people understanding the pain caused by racism. (Though obviously these two examples could coexist.)
Passion is a good thing, and we’re rightly advised to create out of it. If you’re not passionate about your topic, you can’t expect anybody else to care, right?
But what about when your critique group says that you’re “preaching” or that you’ve gotten on a soapbox? Should you cool down your passions? What about books like Jodi Picoult’s (The Pact, My Sister’s Keeper) that are focused on issues like suicide, a broken legal system, stem cell treatments, and so on?
We know novels that revolve around religious or social issues can sell, so the question becomes:
How do you put your passions on the page without readers feeling like you’re preaching to them?
Remember story is king.
Sometimes we build stories based on a subject we’re passionate about. I did that with my WWII novel that comes out with Blink/HarperCollins in 2019. I grew passionate about the Japanese American experience in the United States during the war, and I wanted to explore it more, so I crafted a story idea.
But very few people will pick up that novel thinking, “I’m going to buy this in hopes that I learn more about the Japanese American concentration camps.” That’s not why we buy novels. We buy them to be entertained.
As someone who adores historical fiction, one of my favorite qualities of the genre is learning about another place and time in history, but if I was truly wanting to be educated about a topic, I would head to the non-fiction section at Barnes and Noble.
I have learned lots and lots of fascinating things about the Japanese Americans in WWII, but only a fraction of it gets to go in the story. The rest are darlings that need to be killed, or kept out of the story from the beginning.
You have to be strict with yourself on this one. If it doesn’t serve the story, it’s got to go.
Show other viewpoints with equal strength and respect.
If you hang around the writing world very long, you’ll hear characters referred to as straw men. This refers to characters who are clearly there just to give the main character someone to beat, and they’re beaten easily. A friend of mine, novelist and writing teacher Daniel Schwabauer, said in a class, “It doesn’t take much effort to knock down a straw man.”
If you want to avoid being preachy or heavy-handed, it’s vital that you create strong, respectable characters who believe the opposite as your character. These characters should have clear, understandable reasons for believing what they do. It’s much more impressive if your character triumphs over another character who’s strong, right?
I think the first step to achieving this happens off the page. You have people in your life who believe something different than you or who don’t get fired up about this hot-button issue of yours. Take the time to think it through from their perspective and to be respectful of them. I’m not talking about watering down the truth of what you want to share, but rather how to be honest while showing honor to other view points or beliefs.
Remember to raise questions.
One of the biggest reasons that preachy fiction is annoying is that it’s all about telling me what I should and shouldn’t believe. That’s not what we pick up novels for, nor is it a great way to convince somebody they’re wrong.
I think it’s much more effective to write a story that raises questions:
Is this really the best way to live? Is this really fair? Do you know this is going on in the world? How much risk is too much?
Questions make us think bigger than statements do. Your writing will be more effective if your story raises questions like that than if it states this is the best way to live, this is what’s fair, and this is how much risk you should take.
Ask for sensitivity readers.
You can probably guess this, but sensitivity readers are people you ask to read your book because you are aware that something you have written could unintentionally offend a person in their situation. For example, I might be a sensitivity reader for a book that deals with epilepsy, since I have personal experience with it because of my son.
This is a great way to make sure you are treating an important issue with the respect and accuracy that it deserves.
Sometimes we need sensitivity readers even when our story is about something that we have personally lived with. Angie Thomas is the bestselling author of The Hate U Give, a book written from the perspective of a sixteen-year-old black girl about racism. Even though Ms. Thomas is also a person of color and has had personal experience with discrimination, she still got sensitivity readers for her manuscript. On a panel at ALA, she said words to the effect of, “Not everyone has had the experiences I have. I wanted their experiences in the book too.”
So even if it’s a topic you think you’re an expert on, consider asking others for their take too.