Articles, postings on social media, and even a multitude of websites focused on the art of writing are blaring out a message these days: Writers have social responsibility. But do writers really have any such role? We have to back up a moment and address two basic questions first:
1. What type of writer – fiction or nonfiction?
2. What does “social responsibility” mean?
Fiction vs. Nonfiction Writing
Nonfiction writers by definition focus on what is real. Fiction writers quite frankly make things up, even though events might take place somewhere real such as New York City. (The genre historical fiction kinda straddles both of these broad categories.)
Nonfiction writers, therefore, need to do the following:
Assure Information Accuracy
Especially true if you are writing for a news site, company site, or other site that is set up as an authority. Sadly, a lot of sites these days fail in this area. And many blogs often post items written to drive traffic to their site instead of using SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
Be Impartial and Unbiased
Remember, you’re reporting facts, truths, what really is. Your writing must be bias free. Tough to do, since we all have our opinions on things, and certainly something that a lot of news sites fail to do these days, crossing the line between reporting and opining.
Avoid Misleading Ideas
Such ideas abound on the internet. Remember the old adage: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true.” This is also pertinent: “If it sounds too false, it might be true.” Stretching the truth or presenting false items as true is the job of fiction writers. Stick to facts and double-check them.
Avoid Offensive Content and Manner of Expression
This is a tricky category, since so many things seem offensive these days and different cultures will consider different things to be offensive. Don’t sweat it too much. Something is always offending someone. Just do your best to avoid obvious things such as racial slurs, profanity, lewdness, and truly violent verbiage. Also, avoid name-calling, abusive language, outright insults, and much of what we often see on social media these days. Save such things for your fiction.
Remember the Impact of Your Writing on Others
People will be reading your writing. They will bring their own individuality to it. They will therefore interpret it through that mindset, but what they read will also affect them. Make it a good impact – inspiring them to right a wrong, informing them of a danger for which they should prepare, etc.
Fiction writers have no such restrictions. Well, maybe that last one. And maybe not. Read on.
Social Responsibility Defined
One article defines a writer’s social responsibility this way:
It would be the responsibility of an author (of fiction) to produce artistic work that is inspiring, enlightening, offering a catalyst for betterment – individual and (consequently) social as well.
Of course, he also says that Sophocles, Shakespeare, or Lord Byron’s writings have made society cumulatively better.
By reading such authors, we have a better understanding of timeless issues pertaining to life, relationships, societies themselves, and overall the human experience.
Frankly, Shakespeare quite possibly had no such thoughts when writing his plays of improving society. He sought to entertain. Sophocles and Lord Byron, though, very likely did. But J.K. Rowling, the Brontë sisters, P.D. James, Agatha Christie, and a host of others certainly aimed to write something that people would like to read. What is socially redeeming about Poirot or Harry Potter? Sure, good winning out over evil. But that is a standard plot device, one popular with readers.
Basically, then, what is this social responsibility? Don’t worry about it. Write what you want. If you feel the need to add in your ideas for a better world in the hope that others will read it and be inspired to emulate those ideas, do so. My Freelan series does just that. People living truly free lives and resisting the efforts of elites to control them. My short stories, though, are written to shock, scare, enthrall, delight, thrill, or more.
Some Things to Consider as a Fiction Writer
As Isabel Allende said in an interview:
Tell stories. Gather stories and tell them. Personally, I don’t feel I have a mission that I have to preach about anything. I write about things I care for, the things I believe. And I just want to tell a story. Why have I chosen that story in particular and not another one? Why I have never chose a story about Wall Street, for example? Because it has nothing to do with me. It doesn’t touch me in any way. And I chose stories of strong women, of marginal people, of violence, and death, and loss, and love, and friendship, because that’s what really has been important in my life. So, the person I am and what I think sort of filters in through the lines, but I’m not trying to deliver any kind of mission, and I don’t think I have a mission—except telling a story. (Source: https://bigthink.com/videos/the-writers-role-in-society/)
Eminently sensible advice. Find a story and write about it. You have many going on around you everyday, and depending on your age you have many stories inside you. You can be a Victor Hugo, crusading against the wrongs of the world. You can be John Grisham, seeking to entertain and thrill. The choice is yours, and blending a bit of both into your writing isn’t a bad idea, either. Just don’t feel compelled either way.
Final Note
Remember this quote from Ayn Rand, the bestselling author of all time and a great philosopher, from her book The Art of Fiction:
Literature is an art form which uses language as it tool—and language is an objective instrument.
You cannot seriously approach writing without the strict premise that words have objective meanings. If you approach it with the idea “I sort of know what I mean and my words sort of express something,” you have only yourself to blame if people fail to grasp your intended meaning, or get the opposite meaning.
…
Since all art is communication, there can be nothing more viciously contradictory than the idea of nonobjective art. Anyone who wants to communicate with others has to rely on an objective reality and on objective language. The “nonobjective” is that which is dependent only on the individual subject, not on any standard of outside reality, and which is therefore incommunicable to others.
When a man announces that he is a nonobjective artist, he is saying that what he is presenting cannot be communicated. Why then does he present it, and why does he claim that it is art?
A nonobjective artist, whether a painter or a writer, is counting on the existence of objective art—and using it in order to destroy it. (Source: https://aynrand.org/novels/the-art-of-fiction/)
In short, whatever role you choose as a writer, remember that you are first and foremost communicating, no matter the reason (to entertain, educate, influence, etc.). This holds true for both fiction and nonfiction writers.
Hope you found this helpful and have been inspired to start and/or continue writing!
See my article: Publisher Agent Fiction Genres Defined, with downloadable PDF (https://accargillauthor.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/publisher-agent-fiction-genres-defined/).
Please check out my works in progress (WIPs) (https://accargillauthor.wordpress.com/my-works-in-progress-wips/). And thanks for reading.
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