It’s amazing when you read a book and gain insight into writing and the reason why you write.
I had this premonition while reading Stephen King’s It. In this scene, it shows Bill Denbrough as a university student in one of his writing classes. They’re discussing a vignette they were assigned to read. One of the students claims the vignette was making a socio-political statement, and the rest of the class (including the instructor) agrees. However, Bill has other thoughts.
“Why does a story have to be socio-anything? Politics…culture…history…aren’t those natural ingredients in any story, if it’s told well?”
He goes onto continue: “…can’t you guys just let a story be a story?”
With that one quote, Stephen King makes one of the most important claims in all of fiction (and maybe even nonfiction) writing: why a good story is simply a story.
Do Stories Need to Have Underlying Meaning?
Hey, if your story has underlying meaning, then more power to you. Some of the best works of literature have so much depth, you can’t help but appreciate the author’s geniusness.
Let’s take one of my favorite stories as an example: “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates. I was assigned to read that story in the Women’s Literature class I took in college, and we dissected the story like a frog.
The PDF I attached is a mere nine pages long, but Oates crams so much hidden meaning in that story it’s unbelievable. References from the Bible, Satanism, vampirism, pop culture, and other general sexual themes. I personally love this story because it’s a keen example of one of the most difficult writing techniques: write a violent, good story without actually showing violence.
However, the average reader wouldn’t look into the story with that much depth. Instead, they will read a troubling and dramatic story.
There are some aspects that are off. For example, the perpetrator, Friend, reading off the numbers randomly (“Now, these numbers are a secret code, honey,” Arnold Friend explained. He read off the numbers 33, 19, 17 and raised his eyebrows at her to see what she thought of that, but she didn’t think much of it”).
Many people are confused by this part, and you can’t help but dig a little to understand the meaning of the numbers. This can be interpreted in many ways and Oates largely left this part up to interpretation. My professor told us that these were Bible verses but I also heard another interesting take: the first number is the age of Friend and the other two numbers represent the ages of his first victims.
Otherwise, the average reader would naturally not look much further for hidden clues and underlying meaning. Sure, they may feel uneasy because of the dark themes the story conveys, but overall it’s an enjoyable read.
Do Most Stories Have Socio-Political Elements?
Even if a writer doesn’t mean to include socio-political elements in their good story, it naturally comes out anyway.
There’s a simple explanation to that: real life naturally inspires our stories.
Think about it. How often do you set a story in your hometown? If you recently suffered unemployment and are taking this time to focus on your writing, maybe one or some of your characters are also unemployed. These are just examples, but it goes to show that our stories are similar to our lives and we may not even know it.
Because of this, I will always say true life is the best fiction inspiration ever. We all live different lives and that’s what truly makes a story unique.
In addition, I assume all of us pay attention to worldly events, whether or not they pertain to us, and we naturally base our stories off the current or past socio-political climates.
Let’s take Dissecting House as an example. Did I intend for this to be a feminist novel? No. But are there elements of feminist theory in my book? Absolutely. That not only comes from my background studying feminism in an academic setting but also with my own experiences as a woman, mainly how I was taught to fear men and men aren’t given the same warnings about women. That was largely the inspiration behind Dissecting House.
Why Stories Should Be Stories?
Even though most stories have socio-political elements, the most important aspect of writing is writing a good story. When your readers get lost in the pages of your book, your references to pop culture, the Bible, or what you learned in your 10th grade history class won’t matter.
That’s because your readers aren’t thinking about these hidden elements. They want to entertain themselves with a good story. And let’s face it, isn’t that the real reason why we all love reading?
Featured image credit: Image by bluebird6