Chapter 7 “From Story to Art” – Section 2 “Ethical Writing”
With Links to Supplementary Material
Of all the elements of storytelling, the one that sets it apart from other forms of art is the relationship between the artist and the author. Not to say that a relationship does not or cannot exist in other forms of art, only that storytelling creates a necessary long and intimate connection between the author and reader—requiring trust between the two so that the story can be told. Today I'm going to discuss the process of earning that trust and not abusing it—a first step in learning to be an ethical and responsible writer.
Tip 1: Understand the need for ethics and relationship in storytelling.
Imagine that a close friend is telling you a story about something that happened to them. If you are listening with filters—a figurative net used to catch lies, half-truths, attempts to manipulate you, inaccuracies, and harmful subliminal messages—then you will not be able to fully immerse yourself in the story. Now, if a reader is just naturally distrustful, that is their issue to resolve; but if you are giving them one of the valid reasons mentioned above not to trust you, then that aspect of your writing is every bit as flawed as a blatant grammar mistake or misspelling.
Tip 2: Understand the relationship dynamic between yourself and your reader.
The worst stories that I have encountered have had the same quality: the storyteller does not consider my readership to be an integral part of the story, and so does not make efforts to respect my needs, wants, expectancies of quality, health, or even my participation. The truth is that even if you wrote the world's greatest masterpiece, it would be worth as much to the world as heavily bound toilet-paper without a reader to experience what the artist has created. The reader is not only your friend, your supporter, and the one that has paid you the ultimate respect by trusting you enough to experience the world through your eyes, but they are also an essential part of the story—the opposite half-moon of the storytelling circle. Understanding this relationship is the first step to writing with a level of quality that honors that reader.
Tip 3: Realize that artists do not exist in a moral vacuum—our actions carry consequences.
A common defense for ethically dubious art, that I hear from artists, is that art is supposed to be free. If audiences don't like something, they shouldn't read it. Both of those statements are true—but they imply a falsehood that the right to do something and reader responsibility, remove the artist from a position of being responsible for the consequences of their art. Flailing your arms wildly on a public street is similarly a right and it would be best if other pedestrians got out of your way, but it is still your responsibility if you injure someone: whether they be a another person flailing their arms, a blind person, an unsupervised child, or even someone who tried to get close for kicks and giggles. Similarly, you share in the responsibility for whatever good and bad actions, attitudes, and thoughts come from your story.
Tip 4: Develop your own code of ethics.
Ethics are an entire field of study, and an entire book would not be enough to completely encapsulate the depth of the field. For my purposes, however, I will oversimplify them to be a personal set of beliefs and standards for the actions you deem to have good consequences and bad consequences for yourself and those around you. But in order to act in a way that is “ethical” you must have a standard that you truly believe in and wish to live up to, lest it become just a set of personal laws that you try to lawyer around. And just like with every other element of writing, that code must be purposeful, definable, and analyzable. That code and the depth of that code will be evident in how you tell a story, just as much as any character, theme, world-building, or plot.
Tip 5: Note the consequences of every element of your story.
Once you have an audience in mind and a code for how you believe that one should behave and how one should treat others, you have a basis for analyzing the elements of your story. If cruelty, selfishness, nihilism, and other destructive actions, motivations, and attitudes, lead to purely positive outcomes in your story—you are creating a message for your reader that those are things that should be done. If you utilize Deus-Ex-Machina, you teach the futility of human actions. If you create empty, vacuous, one-dimensional characters, you tell your reader that such expendable humans exist and should be treated as such. Essentially, you are the God of your story and how you choose to punish/reward/illustrate your characters for their actions, motivations, and thoughts will communicate your code. Not to say that you have to make a Karmic system where the good rise up and the evil are crushed, simply that you should show that evil actions lead to bad consequences, stupid actions to stupid consequences, and good actions to realistically good consequences.
Tip 6: Create stories that make people think and grow, not ones that think for them.
When I did a study on old Hasidic parables, I learned that the Hasidic rabbis did not tell simplistic parables with simplistic messages. They told purposefully difficult stories that were designed to develop thoughts and questions in the readers, not to give them answers. Similarly, storytellers should not be motivated to manipulate or control the thoughts of their readers, but to create messages that encourage readers to think about particular topics in all their complexity. For example, compare the power of a simplistic parable that teaches children that lying is wrong, to an intricate story about the good and bad consequences of deceit, along with situations in which the characters might need to lie in order to protect others—creating in readers the need to think about why honesty is important and to actually wrestle with the complexity of morality.
Tip 7: Make efforts to tell an honest story.
In all that you do, make sure to be as accurate and truthful as you can, whether this means research, fact checking, and doing tedious exercises such as mapping out the world. Be accurate to the realities in the world we live in—from moral complexity, to the depth of both good and bad people, to even the ways that evil so often seem to triumph over good—and visa versa. And if you need to make creative embellishments, either make your world fantastical enough to justify them or blatantly tell your readers that you have taken creative liberties for the sake of story, And for each exercise in honesty you will not only add depth to your work but gain and honor the trust of your reader.
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Of all the elements of storytelling, the one that sets it apart from other forms of art is the relationship between the artist and the author. Not to say that a relationship does not or cannot exist in other forms of art, only that storytelling creates a necessary long and intimate connection between the author and reader—requiring trust between the two so that the story can be told. Today I'm going to discuss the process of earning that trust and not abusing it—a first step in learning to be an ethical and responsible writer.
From my own *cough* writing guide *cough*- Never lie to the readers about upcoming events. Its one thing to use misdirect, innuendo, and vague hints. Those things have can have a 'grain of truth' about them. Lying on the other hand is something that is not true. . .and a half-truth is still a full lie.
Communicate with the readers in your comment sections. I don't mean you have to reply to every simple 'Good job/work' but if someone makes a comment that can turn into a decent dialog then go for it.
