Ruminations of an Old Goat

Many years ago, I was reading one of Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame novels. I don't remember the title, though it was after one of the main character's son had come of age. We discovered that the main character had named his son's horse "Libertarian" and were then treated to a paragraph or two of ranting against libertarianism. Oh, it was done "in character" but it was totally jarring, totally out of place and totally pulled me out of the story. I'm charitably willing to assume Joel has run into too many of the idiotic libertarians who, for instance, insist a true libertarian would support selling heroin to five year old kids. Even given my charitable assumption, I felt the screed was totally inappropriate. I put the book aside, never finished it and never bought another Guardians book again.

Less than two years ago, I was reading one of Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington novels. Once again, while staying in character, Woods inserted a "Republicans should all be taken out and shot" screed between the main character and the woman he was going to be working with (among other things) in the novel. Once again, I was yanked out of the story by this out-of-place rant by Woods. I put the novel aside and have no further interest in reading any further novels by Woods.

I've had the same reaction running across screeds again Democrats, though I can't recall the author or the name of the novel.

The jarring interjection of the author's political opinions always yanks me out of the story. And I can't understand why otherwise good authors would be willing to risk pulling readers out of the story or risk irritating fans whose politics are being trashed. Rosenberg, at least, picked a minor political party to slam. But what does Woods think he's going to gain by insulting what are likely about half of his readers?

Lest you think this is a politically motivated column, it's not. No, this column is about writing. Let's take a look back at the books I mentioned above, a fantasy novel and a mystery that did not involve politics. What did the authors gain by adding their short rants against political parties they don't like? In my case, they both lost a reader.

So, what's the lesson for today? Be careful what you include in your story. Every paragraph should work towards building your story, your world, your characters. Regardless of your personal beliefs, unless expressing those beliefs will serve the story, don't put them into the story. And that's the thing about both of the rants I described to start this column. Neither rant served the story. Had either of them actually served the story, I wouldn't have minded reading them. They wouldn't have yanked me out of the story because they would have belonged there.

As far as I'm concerned, an author has an implied contract with his or her readers. Under the contract, the author agrees the story comes before personal politics. If you want to inject politics, write a political story. Even then, the story comes first.

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Henry is a former comic book writer, contributor to the Curse of the Wereweasel (currently on hiatus) and winner of multiple Friday Challenges before taking his place as one of the judges. Ruminations of an Old Goat appears every Monday morning.