Hello Kate, my vision doesn't have to be your vision. If these are not the kind stories you want to write, then you have to follow your own heart. If you are drawn to writing crime, then you should absolutely write it. But that doesn't mean you can't bring love and connection to the stories too. Show us why the people who are committing crimes are doing so. Make the reader feel compassion and empathy for them.
When I say that we should tell stories of love and connection that doesn't mean we can't write about difficult things. But instead that we show that we're all in this together and yes, some people behave badly and do terrible things, but we should try to understand why rather than vilify them.
On reading your comment here, two passages from the Tao Te Ching came instantly to mind. One is from Chapter Two:
When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
The other is from Chapter Three:
If you overesteem great men,
people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions,
people begin to steal.
So it's about how we explore these kinds of things in relation to the wrongs that people do in our stories and we write them with nuance, kindness and understanding rather than making them 'the bad guy' and that's all they are. All of us are a product of the way our societies are and what I am encouraging us to do in our writing is to bring us closer together to work through our problems and understand each other, rather than writing stories that create more division.
I almost always write positive endings. I thought this might be a negative thing to do. I think it's to counteract all the depressive things I read elsewhere. I want readers to enjoy my writing and even occasionally be entertained by it.
Hello Kate, my vision doesn't have to be your vision. If these are not the kind stories you want to write, then you have to follow your own heart. If you are drawn to writing crime, then you should absolutely write it. But that doesn't mean you can't bring love and connection to the stories too. Show us why the people who are committing crimes are doing so. Make the reader feel compassion and empathy for them.
When I say that we should tell stories of love and connection that doesn't mean we can't write about difficult things. But instead that we show that we're all in this together and yes, some people behave badly and do terrible things, but we should try to understand why rather than vilify them.
On reading your comment here, two passages from the Tao Te Ching came instantly to mind. One is from Chapter Two:
When people see some things as beautiful,
other things become ugly.
When people see some things as good,
other things become bad.
The other is from Chapter Three:
If you overesteem great men,
people become powerless.
If you overvalue possessions,
people begin to steal.
So it's about how we explore these kinds of things in relation to the wrongs that people do in our stories and we write them with nuance, kindness and understanding rather than making them 'the bad guy' and that's all they are. All of us are a product of the way our societies are and what I am encouraging us to do in our writing is to bring us closer together to work through our problems and understand each other, rather than writing stories that create more division.
I hope that helps.
A x
I’m glad it helped! 😊💙
I almost always write positive endings. I thought this might be a negative thing to do. I think it's to counteract all the depressive things I read elsewhere. I want readers to enjoy my writing and even occasionally be entertained by it.
My writing used to be much darker but the endings were always hopeful. Now what leads up to the hopeful ending tends to be a bit less gloomy too!