posted
About a six weeks ago I went to a reading at my school and the author had about sixteen poems and three shorts about Sept 11th. Now I know that that was a tramatic period. Personally my father was there before the buildings collapsed and I lost contact with him, he called about four days later but it hit home.
Anyway, I know that we are not supposed to censor ourselves because opening that door will lead to intellectual suicide. I wonder though about timing. Should you hold off writing about something because A. Too soon, tomorrow might have new information making your work useless and B. Sensitivity for the victims and their famalies. I personally have never written about an event dated after 1984, but thats my view.
posted
Timing can be crucial, and timeliness, or the lack thereof, can certainly date a story--consider all the science fiction stories that are laughed at now because the hero whips out his sliderule to calculate something.
Part of speculative fiction is prediction, though, and no one really expects it to be exactly right (if it is, some people can get nervous, in fact).
So, yes, you have to think about timeliness, and realize that things can be outdated more quickly than you might expect.
But there is also the fact that something inspired by current events, such as the poetry speaking of/to the September 11 attacks, has cultural value and its timing is important.
If someone doesn't write about now, then now will be lost when it passes. No one looking back will ever be able to recapture it as accurately as someone describing it now.
[This message has been edited by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (edited December 10, 2001).]
I think the mental equation you need to consider has three variables. It looks something like this:
(Best time to write) = (Subject sensitivity) * (Audience sensitivity)
If you are writing for people who will not be very sensitive about your subject, you can write immediately. If you are writing today about a sensitive subject (e.g. terrorist attacks) make sure your audience is one whose feelings will not be hurt. If you are writing today for a very sensitive audience, pick an inoffensive subject.
Unless of course you want to irritate your audience. Howard Stern and others have made a fortune doing that.
posted
actually, i have a few things i'd like to write about the events of the 11, but have let public opinion stop me. i think, though, that if there is something you want to say, say it. people may frown upon it now, but some day the masses may just agree with you. sort of like _Animal Farm_? is that a good analogy? it's been a while...
posted
I guess i think of it this way. September 11 was a huge cultural moment for us as a society. As awful as it was, it has inspired many people to great thinking and acting. You can't stop feelings as powerful as that just because it is an inappropriate time, so I say, write them down. When you share them may be more a matter of tact, depending on what you write, but this event has mythological potential, and people will be writing about it for a very long time.
Here is an example of tactless and inappropriate use of the Twin Towers as a symbol: My friend was married in August, and one of the groomsmen was killed in the attack. My friend's coworkers knew it. One of them, in complaining about a schedule change, compared the group of people to the two towers, and the schedule change as the airplane hitting them. That was really inappropriate.
I shudder to think of all the bad fiction and movies that will come out once the timing feels OK to people. Some bad music about the event has already hit the public. But it will also inspire much great thinking, so I say, write away.
posted
A lot of bad writing has come forth in the immediate aftermath (or indeed smack in the middle) of crucial world events. And yet, this kind of immediate translation of current events onto the written word has produced some pieces of immediate resonance and continuing significance.
The example which springs to mind is the early career of Bob Dylan. He was known to hear or read of an event, and begin performing a song inspired by it only days after. Some of the greatest speeches ever written came directly out of specific events, and were very carefully written to prouce a desired effect. And yet many have liberated themselves from their original immediate context and have moved on to ever greater cutural resonance.
"I have a dream..." anyone?
I think that the determining factor is the skill of the writer, and their intention. If the writer is overly sentimental, crass, simplistic, or even deliberately inflammatory, then the piece will probably flop. However, a writer of true skill, attuned to the human condition and writing out of a pure desire can be of immense benefit in times of social upheaval. They can comfort, provide perspective, inspire, rekindle hope...
And so I would say... Go ahead and write about things in the current world. Because all writing is about the world in which we live, whether it seems that way or no. Ender's Game is about the world now, though it is not set in our world exactly. We take the principles, attitudes, ideas, movements, and emotions put forth in the written word, and measure them against the world of our own experience. If writing is irrelevant to us, it is, well, irrelevant and useless, and perhaps even detrimental if it makes people shy away from writing.
So should people write about September 11th? ABSOLUTELY. Should every piece refer directly to the events? Of course not. Will there be lots of bad, self-serving, or destructive writing about it? Of course. Will all of it be to everyone's taste? Absolutely not. But most writing is not to everyone's taste. A poem about September 11th which one person considers to be inspirational, I may consider to be slushy dreck. But that does not mean that it should not have been written.
posted
From another point of view, should a writer change events in a story to keep from being accused of playing on real life tragedies like the attacks on new york and wash? Where does that line get drawn?
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