56
votes
Accepted
What do you do when your message could be dangerous?
If you don't want people rioting in the streets you should show how people are rioting in the streets in your novel - and how that way utterly fails to achieve what the people wanted to achieve.
...
- 5,736
50
votes
How can I portray body horror and still be sensitive to people with disabilities?
Disabled people fear losing functionality as much as anyone else. Perhaps even more so, because they need to rely on existing functional parts more strongly than others do.
What you want to avoid is ...
- 32.4k
50
votes
How to write a sincerely religious protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?
Show his religious practices more and his explicit beliefs less. What does a devout Catholic do? Probably he doesn't spend all day talking about his beliefs; instead he lives them. He tithes. He ...
- 21.4k
33
votes
Accepted
Do I really need to have a message in a novel to appeal to readers?
A message and a theme are not the same thing
A story need not have a coherent message to be successful. Look at Disney's take on The Little Mermaid - what was the message? If you sign away your ...
- 8,659
30
votes
How do I introduce dark themes?
Foreshadowing is your friend.
Your example of Harry Potter isn't quite right. Chapter One is titled The Boy Who Lived. Now that's a bit ominous. Magic is hinted at on page 1* and is outright on ...
- 32.4k
25
votes
Accepted
Should I focus on ideas which the market enjoys, or ideas which I enjoy?
From your either-or phrasing, I understand that you're asking whether you should write something that appears "hot", but that you personally find utterly boring. How then do you propose to write such ...
25
votes
Accepted
Story that's too depressing?
It depends on your target audience. If you are writing for adults, go with the flow and let terrible things happen as long as they make sense in your paradigm.
If you are writing for young adults, ...
- 12.3k
22
votes
Story that's too depressing?
Are these many layers of misery inflicted upon innocents too much for a reader to handle?
You must be careful here: the way you phrase that statement, you appear to be laying the blame on the reader -...
20
votes
How to write a sincerely religious protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?
What should I include or avoid in my story to ensure that the reader can empathize with this protagonist but not feel that I am either evangelizing or sending anti-religious messages?
Treat the ...
- 301
19
votes
Accepted
What should tie a collection of short-stories together?
If you can make a good case, you could potentially group the short stories by whatever common thread you want, including author. You can also subgroup them. Some examples:
Main point in common: ...
16
votes
How do I introduce dark themes?
Four chapters in, your readers should have an idea what they're in for. Not everything that's going to happen, but certainly a hint. Once you've hinted that there is darkness, you can skirt it, turn ...
13
votes
What do you do when your message could be dangerous?
From my POV, if I strive to make myself clear and unambiguous, and people take that the wrong way, that's on them. Not me.
Virtually every revolution for the good has involved "illegal" acts, ...
- 100k
13
votes
Do I really need to have a message in a novel to appeal to readers?
Let’s look at the even-numbered Star Trek movies. They’re considered good pop culture, and tonally, they’re all over the map, so they’re a good example.
Counting backwards, VI is a blatant allegory ...
- 1,586
12
votes
Accepted
How do I include a powerful theme in my story without making it blatantly obvious?
No one can really answer that. Because what works for you may not work for me, and that may or may not work for the next one in line. It's personal, and different people need to go about it ...
- 5,441
12
votes
Should I focus on ideas which the market enjoys, or ideas which I enjoy?
Write what you enjoy.
Even professional authors have written first books they couldn't sell, and even when famous wouldn't sell without rewriting them from page 1. It is difficult to sell a first ...
- 100k
12
votes
How can I portray body horror and still be sensitive to people with disabilities?
Having a villain lop off an arm or leg ought not offend someone who either was born without them or lost them due to accident or combat. Losing limbs is not desirable.
I have some disabled friends. ...
- 12.3k
12
votes
Picking a theme as a discovery writer
I am a discovery writer; I don't usually look for a "theme", and my readers don't seem to miss it. There can be a problem with a story seeming to stall, and I don't know that there is an easy fix in ...
- 100k
12
votes
Is there a "right" way to interpret a novel? If so, how do we make sure our novel is interpreted correctly?
It's impossible to make sure your book is interpreted the way you want it to be.
Some writers have actively disavowed particular audience interpretations of their works. In many cases the audience ...
- 1,998
11
votes
How to write a sincerely religious protagonist without preaching or affirming or judging their worldview?
Save the cat
All the standard tricks will still work. Readers can like the protagonist through some simple actions that show he he is a kind person. Allow him to help someone in need, show a kind ...
- 27.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Is thematic character naming off putting?
It's all about immersion. You need to make things realistic from an internal logic point of view. I agree with both mwo and Sara Costa, but the point they both miss is immersion.
Let me give you an ...
- 5,441
10
votes
How can I portray body horror and still be sensitive to people with disabilities?
If you want to be PC, stick to symptoms of infectious diseases, where the sense of body horror would reinforce prevention and be justified as a mean towards avoiding contagion.
As the OP suggests, ...
- 10.6k
10
votes
Picking a theme as a discovery writer
A theme isn't a "meaningful moral"
Or even a regular moral.
A theme is the central idea and a moral is a lesson. These can overlap, but they're not the same thing.
It's okay to develop your themes ...
- 32.4k
9
votes
What do you do when your message could be dangerous?
So, you've come across a message that you "really believe in, but if taken the wrong way by enough people, it could have horrible consequences" and, I assume, you don't want people to be persuaded in ...
- 7,743
8
votes
Story that's too depressing?
To a large extent this is will be dependent upon the taste of the person reading - so you have to work out who your target audience is and how you're trying to make them feel. There's nothing wrong ...
- 7,223
8
votes
How can I portray body horror and still be sensitive to people with disabilities?
To the best of my understanding, the main problem with the zombie genre is that it positions decay-disease-disability as non-human evil to be eradicated, and as a threat to humankind. (I don't ...
8
votes
Balancing setting, theme, and character arcs: how to deal with a setting that carries emotional weight but is left behind?
Since it's an historical novel involving international politics, I'll assume that you can't change major events in the plot or Setting.
I'll try a Theme/Character example:
One setting (British ...
- 27.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible