: Re: How do writers differentiate personal beliefs from the messages of their writing in public discourse? Hypothetically speaking, of course... Let's say I write a work of fiction. It could be construed

@Reiling826

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I think I'd challenge the idea that the "message" of your writing is different from your personal beliefs.

People write about horrible characters all the time, but they write about them in a way that makes it clear the characters are horrible. The message of their writing is "these characters are horrible". So there may be times when the content of a text involves something the author disagrees with, but I'm having trouble thinking of times when the message of a well-written text wouldn't match the opinions of the author.

And looking at your examples, I'm still having trouble understanding what you mean. Insofar as 50 Shades or Anne Rice's books have anything I'd call a message, I think the message would be something like "These things are hot!" And I assume the author probably agrees that these things are hot?

So maybe you don't mean the message is different from your personal beliefs, you just mean the message is different from your public persona?

If that's the case, there's not much trouble with being published under a pseudonym. If you're going for full anonymity, promotion can be a bit difficult - no author photos, no personal appearances, no activating your army of friends and family to talk up your book. Even something as simple as a Facebook page is technically against their TOS, since they don't allow accounts under false names. But there are lots of other promotional opportunities, and lots of authors successfully writing under one or more pseudonyms.

In terms of your second question, I think I'd refer back to my first idea, that author's books usually are accurate reflections of their personal beliefs, at least to some extent. Why would you write something you don't believe in? Can you give me an example of an author who's written something with a world view s/he thinks is totally wrong?

You seem to acknowledge this with your "bully pulpit" idea.

I think readers are willing to accept that works of fiction aren't complete manifestos, but fiction with a clear message? I think they're right to assume that this message is probably reflective of at least some aspect of the writer's beliefs.

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