It’s another Go Teen Writers Mailbag! And today we have a heartfelt question surrounding an issue many of us have pondered at one point or another.
Charlie asks:
Do you have any tips on writing deep, moving scenes in your novel, while avoiding being preachy or cheesy?
I have a lot of thoughts, Charlie! A ton. But if I were to drill down to the nitty gritty of my feelings on the topic, it would leave me with this piece of advice:
Oftentimes we teeter on the edge of preachy when a book’s theme matters deeply to us. That’s why this issue can feel so personal. We feel we must do the truth justice and to do so means saying ALL THE THINGS. We don’t want our readers to miss this important message, so we beat them over the head with it.
The answer to this problem lies not it what we’re trying to say, but in how we say it. We can choose to stab at our readers with whatever we believe the truth might be, or we can approach the topic openly and honestly.
See, an honest depiction requires you to earn a reaction from your audience. To do that, you have to create characters worth following.
These characters will invariably have backstories and relationships; they will make mistakes and have successes; they will deal with shame and fear. They will have the daily concerns of living and breathing and providing for themselves or those dependent upon them. Your characters will have wants and needs.
And if you can set all that up in a genuine, honest way, you’re halfway there. Because suddenly you’ve created characters your readers will care about. Maybe even root for.
The hard part comes when you place a controversial obstacle in a character’s path. You, the author, must allow your character to respond in a way that makes sense within the story. If you find them acting contrary to themselves in order to prove your point, you’ve meandered off track.
The good news is you’re the author; you can go back and work on your character until his actions feel like an honest response to your plot.
When your character is acting honestly–when you, the author, are honest about the consequences of every action–the reader can disagree with you or your character and still appreciate the storytelling. They may even consider your message more deeply because you’ve handled a delicate issue with genuine care and concern.
Where you run into trouble is when you neglect honest character development in favor of building yourself a plot-shaped pulpit wherein you can shout the truth as you see it.
If that’s your goal, your characters will never be more than wooden pawns.
See, it’s perfectly acceptable for you to hold fierce beliefs and to tell stories that have a message, but doing it honestly means acknowledging perspective. Two people can look at the same truth and, depending on where they’re standing, they’ll see it differently. You certainly don’t have to expound on every side of an issue, but if your story ignores perspective and nuance, you’re not being honest.
You’re not being thoughtful or even provocative. You’re not bringing anything new to the conversation.
You’ve simply got a bone to pick and you want an audience while you go at it.
Honest storytelling starts with you. Are you thoughtful about the important things of life? So many of the deep, moving moments in our stories exist because we gave ourselves permission to chew on challenging topics and, regardless of what we come to believe, we can acknowledge that hard decisions and brave actions are not always easy to choose.
I think it’s generally more effective to portray deep emotions in very simple, blunt language than try to dress them up in fancy words. Simple language sometimes carries a gravity that cannot be achieved in another way. In regards to focusing on honesty first instead of telling the truth, I disagree strongly: I think honesty should follow the truth instead of the other way around. The most effective scenes I’ve read dealing with some hard topic present the truth of the matter as it is, simply and wholly, and then portray the honest reactions of characters. They let the reader draw their own conclusions–whether or not they happen to be those of the characters.
Your approach to plot, structure, character development, etc will certainly impact how you address important issues in your book. And there is a ton of room for people to do this as they will. There is absolutely no wrong way to write a book.
I suppose I see it as the difference between showing and telling. You can’t just tell someone what’s right as you see it. You must set up a story that shows the rightness of it in an honest portrayal.
Yes, I can definitely get behind that!
Really interesting perspective, Shannon. As writers, we’re advised to “tell the truth” rather than try to appeal to everyone, but I see what you mean. Writing authentic, honest characters needs to include how we handle our story’s theme/truth as well.
It makes me think of The Hunger Games. There’s a theme of the rich exploiting the poor, though that truth is never stated. Rather, we see characters interact with it on all sides. There are characters who disagree, but yet don’t speak out because of fear or golden handcuffs. There are characters who are oblivious. There are those who are actively exploiting and those who are being exploited.
Very interesting. You always give me so much to think about!
Yes! The Hunger Games is a fantastic example of a book with multiple preachable themes. Instead of telling the world how wrong oppression is, she showed us. Thank you, Steph.
Is it wrong to not have a deeper meaning to your book? Like, for me, I just have a story to tell, and right now I don’t see a huge theme throughout the whole thing.
That’s perfectly valid. Just write the story as it comes to you, and a theme might naturally work its way in without you even realizing. Sometimes those accidental themes are the best, because they grow out of the story and fit it well. And even if that doesn’t happen, as long as your story brings someone joy, then that should be enough of a reason that it deserves to exist. Creative expression is an enriching part of the human experience, even if it doesn’t offer “deeper meaning”. Creativity itself is meaningful.
Not wrong at all! Books can be pure entertainment. That said, Elizabeth nailed it. Oftentimes a fun book produces a them as you move along. It’s a magical sort of happening that surprises in the best ways. The power of story, I think.
Thank you both!
Really thought provoking! It almost seems like one of the best ways to do this is to use a mostly “show not tell” method. Great insight!
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However, I do think there is a place for stating exactly what you believe, too.
Absolutely! And of course, you can do whatever you want. It’s your book. Here’s the kicker: you can even preach in your book if you want. There is no one way to do this thing.
*APPLAUDS* So, SO well said! It seems like more and more stories these days are just trying to shove messages down our throats instead of telling a good, honest story that will truly resonate with us.
I LOVE how you put all this! Definitely words to remember while creating stories. Thank you for this!
Oh yay! I’m so glad it resonated with you. I feel very similarly when I look around at all the books. Tell me a compelling story and I’ll listen to whatever it is you have to say.
Excellently expressed. My favorite way theme’s handled is when it comes from the characters organically–not as a “we interrupt this program to inform you…”