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  • C. J. Korryn

Can Writing Fiction Influence The Way Others Think?



I don't know if you have really ever thought about it, but do you REALLY think a completely fictional story can change someone's attitude on a subject. Now I'm not talking about a simple thing as someone not liking to read, and suddenly because of one book they find out reading isn't so bad. I truly believe that everyone can find a book that they like to read, it is just a matter of finding the subject that they like (and I'm not limiting it to fiction either). What I am talking about is influencing the way someone thinks simply by a character's actions, a character's statement, or the narrator's explanation of why a character did or said something. I can say from first hand experience that the answer is YES, fiction can alter the way someone thinks. I remember years ago, when I was in the military I started reading this book series called "The Icewind Dale" books. They are fantasy books and, in my opinion one of the best book series' I have ever read. The series follows a Drow (dark elf of an evil race) who decided to be good instead of evil. The book series actually paved the way for many more characters of the "evil" races to become good. So this Drow finds a band of friends and they travel the world besting the bad guys. One such scene, though I don't remember much of it, was narrated with the Drow's thoughts. Basically, in short, the Drow had decided to treat everybody with respect instead of only respecting those who "earned" it. I thought that that was a good idea so I adopted the philosophy. To this day people automatically get my respect, at least until they earn my disrespect. So, as the Drow, I go against the mainstream thought of only giving respect to those that "earn" it, and simply always show respect. Maybe unlike the Drow, one can "earn" my disrespect, but that is a different story. Now, here is the thing. I have never considered myself "weak minded" or the such and I don't change my mind at the slightest breeze, or follow the crowds. I have always prided myself on "being me" which means I don't do things to fit in, I don't change who I am because others think I should change, I am what you get, if you don't like it - fine. So, I don't just take any idea from a book that I read an incorporate that into my life...if I did that, well, who knows what that would look like. But, when I see a good idea, I take it and run with it. Giving respect to others without earning it, I thought was a good idea, so I incorporated that into my life.

So, do I believe I can possibly change the prejudices of my readers or the such through my fiction. Sure. I truly believe that something as innocuous as a statement or action or thought of one of my characters can influence the mind of my reader. For my Christian writing, this is the hope that I have, for my "secular" writing, this is less of a goal of mine, but if it happens, then cool.

If you think about it media (T.V. and movies) do this all the time. They portray the Christian as crazy....so people start to unintentionally view us as crazy. They subtly include in their movies and T.V. shows commentaries on everything. For example, abortion....they might portray a young, teenage girl's struggles through her pregnancy and her decision to abort her baby in such a way we identify so much with the young girl that we begin to almost accept her decision to kill the baby, because we have seen her cry, we have seen her family's condemnation toward her, we have seen her boyfriend and father of the baby turn his back on her when she needed him the most. Every movie, and every t.v. show pretty much has social commentary on some aspect of life that we might agree with or disagree with, but it is so subtle we may not even realize we are beginning to think like they want us to think.

I remember watching a T.V. movie that had a teenager who tried to kill his parents....he succeeded in killing his dad, but not his mom. I remember the scene when his mom asked him why he did it. He said that he didn't want to disappoint them if he didn't succeed. I also remember that the entire rest of the movie revolved around him playing Dungeons and Dragons. The movie made it seem like this kid got sucked into this evil game that eventually twisted his mind into wanting to kill his parents, and thus the media portrayed D&D as evil, and it was "the game's fault". But I have to say....I have played D&D for about ten or so years now....never once have I thought about killing my parents, or killing anyone because of the game. The one thing I noticed about that particular T.V. movie was that the boy never said anything about D&D being the reason he tried to kill his parents. The reason he stated was that he didn't want to disappoint them. D&D didn't seem to have anything to do with it. OF COURSE the boy had some mental issues because he felt such despair and fear in that he might disappoint his parents that he felt the need to murder them so they wouldn't have the emotional scarring of being disappointed. He apparently felt murder was a more viable option than disappointment.

So, I said all that to say this....yes....we can influence our readers. I hope to find out one day that my fiction (both Christian and secular) had influenced a few of my reader's lives for the better.

Thanks for reading.

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