: Re: How to write a story that argues an idea I apologize for the wording of my question; it's probably not very clear. I've got this idea for a book that explores a sort of philosophical theory.

@Candy753

Vote Up Vote Down

There are many ways to actually do this.

Create a setting that's completely different and develop the plot based on the setting- One example would be Animal Farm by George Orwell. The whole setting is about animals in a certain farm who try to be free from humans. The whole setting- talking animals on a farm- is fictional but the main concept of the story was actually based on the events leading to the Russian Revolution and the characters- the animals- are actually how George Orwell wants to explain the situation about Corruption through the Animal Farm setting of what has been done during the events leading to the Russian Revolution. Therefore, George Orwell actually told what happened during the events leading to the Russian Revolution and about stopping corruption through a book about talking animals. However, you can't write a story about animals smoking so maybe you could create a setting where the point you are trying to argue is suitable.
Create problems from the point you want to argue- let's say you want to argue about smoking, yes, you can create problems like lung cancer and such but wouldn't it be more captivating to talk about problems that the reader might have faced before? Talking about lung cancer, the reader may say stuff like, "Oh, I'll never get lung cancer" but if you put stuff like, for example, the protagonist who smokes faces social problems due to everyone steering clear of him or, for example, the smoker is discriminated by maybe the parents or something. These are all things that the reader can relate. No matter how much we try to argue, there is definitely social problems and discrimination in our community and majority of people would have faced it and felt the effects of it. Thus, this creates the thought that "I'm troubled enough, I don't need more problems so I won't smoke."
Don't tell what it is first, create suspense- I use this A LOT in writing and this really works. Let's say you are talking about smoking, you can say, for example only, "The silent killer crept swiftly toward its umpteenth victim. The unsuspecting victim himself, too naive to notice the presence of the killer. Slowly. Silently. Taking a piece of the victim away bit by bit. Leaving the victim in a swirl of confusion." So in this case, you're not saying that the killer is smoking but you're creating a sense of hatred towards the killer and then later when you reveal that the killer is actually smoking, they find out that smoking is bad.
Be VERY subtle- the smallest of events can create a big impact on the reader. If you want to talk about, say smoking again, you can say that the protagonist maybe faces people who smoke every day or she incurred a loss due to smoking. You can say, for example, "Airi crept into her house and closed the door silently to not disturb her temperamental brother. As the putrid smell of ash slowly dissipated, she welcomed the fresh air and longed to be free of the haunting memories of her deceased parents. She wished her brother would not share their fate." SO in this case, we're talking about how her brother smokes and that the protagonist does not want her brother to end up dead like her parents. Why? Because of what the brother is currently doing- smoking.

I hope you find my answers useful and wish you all the best in your writing journey!

(0)

Login to post a comment!