Episode #230: How Much Is Too Much? How Little Is Too Little?

Canadian geese....the bird species we loathe more than high gas prices, who in return leaves entire swathes of property naturally decorated as a tacit acknowledgment of our loathing.

Early on, one of the basic rules of writing that was drilled into me was, "write what you know." Which is all well and go if you're writing a piece of fiction that might require you to do basic research in order to get certain parts of the story correct {e.g. attire, accessories, traits, characteristics and other assorted nouns}.

But what about when you're wanting to add your personal viewpoints about certain topics/beliefs to the characters or the overall story? How much is too much? How little is too little? Where do you find that balance where some of your personal views bleed into the story/characters, but not so much where it might turn off a segment of your potential readership. How true do you want to stay with your values? Do you want to be completely inflexible, regardless of the time period you're setting your story in? Or, do you want to tweak them just enough that they don't seem too out of place for the time period your story is set in?

Believe it or not, this is the fine line that I'm constantly balancing on with my current low-fantasy series that has the working title of Hot Mess here. I have some particularly solid beliefs about certain things, but I've learned over the years not to be so inflexible about them. I'm very skittish about sharing them publicly in certain platforms {both Cyber and IRL}, mostly due to the hardcore trolling/harassment that I've experience whenever I've shared them {and that includes my immediate and extended family}.

I am one of those old fashioned individuals who actually knows how to reconcile the social mores/values of today versus the social mores/values of yesteryear quite effectively. This ability to sensibly think logically and rationally for myself has served me well in writing this series, as in this series, I'm dealing with multiple societies who have certain social mores/values at various levels on what is considered to be normal acceptable behavior/traits in a medium sized chunk of the modern world.

In this series, dealing with the overall societal norms for each particular society/time period, has been a very delicate balance when applying the title of this blog post to this series. Most of you probably have an inkling about one of the subdued themes that has permeated this series, and that's the first three letters of the alphabet community, L/G/B {I'm 59, so I've read/observed way more than the average person in their lifetime, and we'll leave it at that}, along with the quaint letter of S that applies to a majority of the population.

Now, about the only belief I will share here on this blog, that is directly related to the previous paragraph, is that it's all genetically based. You either are or aren't. It's just that simple. However, I understood from the get go that I could not apply all of those letters equally/fairly with the various societies that permeate this series. It's just not possible nor prudent to strictly apply my values to those societies in question. I had to specifically tailor that general belief for the particular society in question. 

Let's take the planet Earth for example, I'm dealing with two different societies whose beliefs on this touchy topic are polar opposites. One believes that the particular genetic trait of the first three letters is simply not acceptable, while the other finds it to be very acceptable. With the former, I decided to play it a bit safe by creating the legality of the popular "Don't Ask/Don't Tell", with the premise of "we don't ask, you don't tell, but if brought to our attention, we will investigate and punish both the offender and the informer equally."

The latter society, it's the accepted behavioral norm to be one of those four letters, and people go about their day with no one the wiser, because, unlike today where people decided to make their personal state of being known to everyone else, it's no one else's business what you are.

With the two other societies: one I consciously chose to basically skirt the issue, as they're not as completely involved with the story as the others, with the only exception to the issue is using a deity that is actually considered to be, in their mythology, male and female, depending on the situation. As for the latter, it's currently a mix between "don't ask, don't tell" and "your secret might be a tiny bit exposed but we will protect it just the same".

Now, the other 800lb muscular elephant in the room, which very much ties in with the four letters mentioned, to use a perfectly acceptable word substitute, GRAPHIC SIX. While I have absolutely no qualms in writing about GRAPHIC SIX, I have serious qualms about writing about THAT which involves the first three letters. To put it bluntly, I can't do it without it having to turn out like an outline for THAT KIND OF MOVIE. So, we decided to go lightly-to-overtly suggestive with certain scenes involving two of the first three letters mentioned. The other letter I haven't fully explored yet, other than trying to keep it at the level where discretion was highly valued among the societal upper crust in the 19th and early 20th century.

I've pretty much written certain scenes where you can 100% tell whether it's friendship/family involved or something very deeper is going on, without actually crossing that particular line. Again, the philosophy of "how much is too much" is at play here, as well as trying to stay within the cultural/historical boundaries that are conducive for that particular society. 

It's the simple principle of wanting to work my personal viewpoints in, but not so heavy handily that my personal viewpoints thoroughly corrupt my story. Which is why I've been constantly doing research for the past 2 1/4 years with this story, just to make certain that make my viewpoints gel with a given society being used at various points in the story.

So a good question to finish this post with, would be the title of this post, and have you been successful in straddling that very fine line of blending your personal views without turning off the consumer of your content?

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