: Re: Weaving VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS into a story without murdering it In Bad Webcomics Wiki, a place for reviews of bad webcomics, there's a common phrase: the "VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS". The

@Hamaas631

Vote Up Vote Down

You should start by considering that your VERY IMPORTANT OPINIONS might be wrong.

I mean, clearly some people don't share them, or else you wouldn't feel the need to write about them. Why don't those people share them? How do their values and motivations differ from yours? What ideals do they have that conflict with your opinons? What would the downsides of a society where everyone shared your opinions be?

If after this you come to the conclusion that people only disagree because they're stupid/hateful/ignorant/[insert negative word here] and there would be no downsides to such a society, stop. These are not motivations--they're strawmen. Your story or whatever will end up exactly as preachy those webcomics you hate.

Otherwise, what you have is a conflict between people. And conflict is the foundation of storytelling. So explore it. There's a lot of different directions to take this. Perhaps you already have one in mind, or perhaps you'll think of one while working this out. Some sort of -topia is always popular for high concept stuff, though a bit overused. But regardless, as you flesh out your story, if you want to avoid preachiness, the key is humility. Don't try to tell the audience you're right. Let them come to that decision (or not) on their own.

(And don't kill off Mao Tse-tung with Zyklon-B. It never helps.)

(0)

Login to post a comment!