Is the Pen Mightier?
Okay a funny (and awesome) t-shirt image to talk about a very serious question. I believe there are many instances in diplomacy and politics where the pen is more powerful than any weapon of mass destruction. This is because things written by a pen can cause us to use or not use said weapons. But that is NOT the issue I want to address.
As a fiction writer, I wish to address whether the power of fiction can be used for evil, and if it is, is that the writer's fault? Normally I would say no because I believe people are ultimately responsible for their own actions regardless of what they've read or heard. But my own novel deals with a case of deep psychological trauma. I believe that people who go through such trauma may not always be able to make sound personal decisions and could be more easily influenced by a work of fiction they might identify with. I won't give the exact example from my novel but I will give a different one. Neil Gaiman has previously said in interviews that he did not write a story about the dreams of an unborn fetus eventually perishing because he was afraid it might be used as a reason that a rape victim should not get an abortion which was not his intent.
However, as much as I love Neil Gaiman, I would have to disagree with this reasoning. I feel that even though some girls deciding whether or not to get an abortion might be traumatized, and undoubtedly Neil Gaiman has much higher stock with young girls than I'm likely to ever have, ultimately the girl will make the decision on how she feels. How she feels may be influenced by outside sources. But unless she's forced or corerced, which Gaiman would not be responsible for, how she feels about such a story would be dependent on whether the idea of the baby not having a future bothered her. I will NOT debate the rights and wrongs of abortion in this blog. If you want to talk to me about what I think concerning that, you're free to email. But I WILL say that I believe a girl could be traumatized by either decision because how an abortion affects someone will depend entirely on what they believe. I think if a story was enough to influence a girl in such a situation, then it's probably just influencing her towards the decision she was already inclined towards. Inevitably someone could say something similar or even worse to her with the actual intent of controlling her decision, but the decision is still hers to make. Far better to have considered all the pros and cons and know that she will be secure in her decision no matter what people say to her than trying to protect her from all the psychological ramifications of her decision.
All that being said, I understand Gaiman's decision entirely because of the fear of that one letter, the one that says "I did this because of your story, and it hurt me." It's the same letter I currenly fear due to the situation in my story. Once again, it's an entirely different situation in my novel, and in my defense, it was not my intent to imply the interpretation a few of my beta readers took from the passage in my novel. I would also argue that if one pays attention to the fantasy elements, the actual occurances aren't even possible. My story is written like it is purely for literary reasons and not as a psychological guide. But like the abortion example, my novel has possible real-life analogies. Both situations also beg the same question about whether or not fiction writers have power over their readers and if there are ways for them to abuse that power. I would really like to hear what you all think, and the few beta readers I have contacted can answer me by email more specifically.
Lastly, I don't want you all worrying that your opinion will make me compromise how I truly think I should act. It merely helps me to look at the situation in ways I may not have considered.
As a fiction writer, I wish to address whether the power of fiction can be used for evil, and if it is, is that the writer's fault? Normally I would say no because I believe people are ultimately responsible for their own actions regardless of what they've read or heard. But my own novel deals with a case of deep psychological trauma. I believe that people who go through such trauma may not always be able to make sound personal decisions and could be more easily influenced by a work of fiction they might identify with. I won't give the exact example from my novel but I will give a different one. Neil Gaiman has previously said in interviews that he did not write a story about the dreams of an unborn fetus eventually perishing because he was afraid it might be used as a reason that a rape victim should not get an abortion which was not his intent.
However, as much as I love Neil Gaiman, I would have to disagree with this reasoning. I feel that even though some girls deciding whether or not to get an abortion might be traumatized, and undoubtedly Neil Gaiman has much higher stock with young girls than I'm likely to ever have, ultimately the girl will make the decision on how she feels. How she feels may be influenced by outside sources. But unless she's forced or corerced, which Gaiman would not be responsible for, how she feels about such a story would be dependent on whether the idea of the baby not having a future bothered her. I will NOT debate the rights and wrongs of abortion in this blog. If you want to talk to me about what I think concerning that, you're free to email. But I WILL say that I believe a girl could be traumatized by either decision because how an abortion affects someone will depend entirely on what they believe. I think if a story was enough to influence a girl in such a situation, then it's probably just influencing her towards the decision she was already inclined towards. Inevitably someone could say something similar or even worse to her with the actual intent of controlling her decision, but the decision is still hers to make. Far better to have considered all the pros and cons and know that she will be secure in her decision no matter what people say to her than trying to protect her from all the psychological ramifications of her decision.
All that being said, I understand Gaiman's decision entirely because of the fear of that one letter, the one that says "I did this because of your story, and it hurt me." It's the same letter I currenly fear due to the situation in my story. Once again, it's an entirely different situation in my novel, and in my defense, it was not my intent to imply the interpretation a few of my beta readers took from the passage in my novel. I would also argue that if one pays attention to the fantasy elements, the actual occurances aren't even possible. My story is written like it is purely for literary reasons and not as a psychological guide. But like the abortion example, my novel has possible real-life analogies. Both situations also beg the same question about whether or not fiction writers have power over their readers and if there are ways for them to abuse that power. I would really like to hear what you all think, and the few beta readers I have contacted can answer me by email more specifically.
Lastly, I don't want you all worrying that your opinion will make me compromise how I truly think I should act. It merely helps me to look at the situation in ways I may not have considered.
2 comments:
I forgot to reply to your email. Can you send me another copy of your novel and give me the page numbers where that incident is? I barely remembered it because I've read so much since, so I didn't want to comment but now I am more curious about how it was interpreted.
I tend to think along the same lines as you. Ultimately, people can and should think for themselves. On the other hand, things can be written specifically to influence (I'm thinking of propaganda and political documents and speeches meant to influence something directly). Novels, stories, and poetry attempt to put forth an idea or explore a theme, but aren't specifically written to persuade. I find, myself, that I am more persuaded to internally debate my own assumptions when I read novels etc, but that doesn't mean that I will adopt anything that I absorbed from said text. As for propaganda and such, when something is hitting me across the head like that, not matter how psychologically focused it may be, I question it. I don't know if I even addressed the question you asked, now that I've been typing for a while. Oh well.
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