: Re: How to deal with moral/legal subjects in writing? More specifically, how can one write a novel that examines or even argues against cultural moral values and laws without... dealing with legal

@Hamaas631

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Shadowzee makes some excellent points in their answer, so I won't talk about those.

Ideally, when arguing against a long-standing tradition/law (like speed limits), you would have some good arguments, something beyond "I want to go fast". You can use the setting of your story as a vehicle for those arguments, but beware: this can get preachy.

You can go to two extremes in the setting - a world where speed limits are
insanely rigid and low, and everyone (especially the MC) suffers for it, or a utopian world
where there have never been speed limits.

You also need to give your MC a good reason to be against speed limits. This is easier with human rights issues - if you're writing about gay rights, make your MC gay, etc.

But you can also try something like - A sign declaring the speed limit fell and killed the MC's younger sister (more comic), or a very uptight cop stopped the MC who was speeding to the hospital, and his sister died in the backseat(more serious).

If you show the audience many good reasons why the speed limit should be abolished, you are presenting a proper argument. Audiences tend to side with the MC/ narrator anyway, so you have a bit of an advantage.

Again, this will get preachy. Hopefully your whole novel isn't about this issue, or it's a much much meatier issue with many sides to explore.

Assuming it's a debate with multiple sides, I'd actually recommend using
your world to explore the entire argument, even the sides you disagree with.
You can use the power of the MC to tell the audience which side is 'right',
but I think this is a much fairer way to represent a debate and has a lesser
chance of seeming preachy.

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