Firstly hello to the forum!

As an independent writer I find it a welcome surprise to come across a place to hang out and bounce things of peers. So hello all! :)

Now, I wonder if the community might give me a little advice on something please?

I've written a contemporary story with a very dry humor style. My first in a few years. It contains a lot of situations which are designed to shock the reader and misdirect their thought train. Originally, all of these situations were necessary, as my plan was to justify them later in the work. However, I ended up just dropping those threads as the story seemed to flow better without resolving them.

When I took the story off ice last night and gave it a scan through as a precursor to editing, I noticed that now some of these situations could possibly be taken way out of context to the point of appearing to be racist, sectarian or misogynistic. Even when in comparison with other sections of the story. These are most definitely not the kind of messages I wanted for the reader. Quite the opposite in fact.

Making alterations to these sections will significantly change the feel of the story. I'm sure of this. I wanted to ask what you would do yourself under the circumstances.

Would you just leave it as it is and let the publisher worry about it? Would you modify the sections which might cause offence or would you try and resolve them according to the original plan?

As it stands, a careful reader would bundle the situations in with the overall style of the story and take them with a pinch of salt. A scanner will probably swallow his own tongue in outrage.

From my perspective the situations in question could happen to anyone of any sex, creed or race. I'm a white guy but I've worked and lived amongst Asian communities for most of my life. That's taught me not to tiptoe around this kind of stuff too much. Forced political sterility invariably creates problems where there weren't any. To me they're just urban characters. I don't want to change them because they are what they are.

On one hand I'm mainly worried that the story could be read by people who don't share that perspective. Anybody could read all sorts of terrible things into the text if they were in a frame of mind to do so. On the other hand I wanted to shock people to a certain degree. The story needs it and to be honest most people in real life aren't generally very politically correct anyway. There's no such thing as safe controversy.

Maybe I'm just thinking about it too much. I really would appreciate some input on this. :S

~Peter

Is it possible for you to show us a part you are concerned about? Understandably you should be concerned if you are looking to get the piece published but it might be easier to make suggestions if you gave us a hint. :) However, if you write it right then the reader will pick up on the theme and realize they were an integral part of the story, and not due to racism. Writers are brave people and open themselves up for criticism and misunderstanding no matter what they write. Except greeting cards ... now they are unoffensive. (Unless it's about your birthday ... or retirement ... or anniversary. Never mind ... even greeting cards can be offensive.)

Good plan to set something aside and wait awhile before editing it as you've done. Really gives you a fresh eye on the piece. Given that, maybe you should listen to your fresh eye. If it seems awkward to you, how will it seem to the reader that does not share your insights? Sort of the point of setting it aside for a while, isn't it. So that problem areas jump out at you. If they're jumping, they probably need some attention. jon

I wouldn't change a thing. And I'm telling you this from experience. I've published 13 novels with NYC publishers and Hollywood optioned five of those books. I've taught creative writing for 30 years. (This is not a brag. I just want you to understand that I do know what I'm talking about.) This is the wonderful thing about fiction--our characters can be racist, can be misogenistic, can be downright disgusting. In fact, the more darkness you give them, the better. See, as a fiction writer, you want to emphasize the 'bad' because it makes the 'good' so much more potent. When you, as the writer, start to worry about what you have written, then you are focusing more on the audience than the message. Focusing on the audience dilutes your impact and you definitely do not want to do that. Pick any great character out there and you'll find a voice who speaks directly about society--from Captain Ahab to Lestat, the Vampire. Your characters are driven by the situation, so if you want to make a 'point of light,' then don't restrict them or your reader. Happy writing! Denny

QUOTE: "When I took the story off ice last night and gave it a scan through as a precursor to editing, I noticed that now some of these situations could possibly be taken way out of context to the point of appearing to be racist, sectarian or misogynistic. Even when in comparison with other sections of the story. These are most definitely not the kind of messages I wanted for the reader. Quite the opposite in fact." .... hello, Balorange .... It looks like the panel is 'divided' above? .... more 'dilemma'? .... lol .... (gotta' laugh or you'll cry?) .... anyhooo .... from my most humblest opinion .... I think 'you' answered your own question? .... Your 'next-to-last' sentence?(the definitive being "I")? .... for what it's worth .... good luck!

What you have to ask yourself is, do these things contribute anything to the story. If they do, leave em in, if they don't, take em out.