Big Issues. Small Stories.
By Nancy Johnson | April 3, 2018 |
Our social media feeds are cluttered with the significant yet chaotic issues of the day. Either we’re resisting or resisting the resistance. I’ve engaged in a war of words on occasion via Facebook and Twitter, trying to convince someone I can’t recall ever meeting in real life to consider my point of view. Did we meet at a writing conference or in fourth grade? When we want to be part of the larger conversation and extend our voices beyond 280 characters, many of us turn to the power of our prose.
Writing an issues book feels like the world’s on fire and we’re trying to snuff out the flames with a garden hose. Our stories and characters seem too small to carry such big topics. But they aren’t.
No one is looking for a didactic text or a sermon or an edict from on high. We want to understand the heart of these charged issues through human experience. That’s where we come in as storytellers.
I can’t stop raving about An American Marriage by Tayari Jones because that novel tackles the lasting ramifications of wrongful incarceration on families without preaching to the reader. In media interviews, Jones explains that she received a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University to study this weighty topic. However, she got nervous when she didn’t have much to show after a year of research. Soon, she realized that the best way to tell this story was not with statistics and data points but through the lens of one marriage.
At the start of Roy and Celestial’s young marriage, he’s imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. He asks the ultimate question of his wife: Will she wait more than a decade for him, for his release? In letters they write to each other during his time behind bars, they say:
“Dear Celestial, I am innocent.”
“Dear Roy, I am innocent, too.”
At its heart, this is a love story. At its heart, this is also a human story about impossible choices and the devastating impact of wrongful incarceration.
To tell the story of war is not to write about nukes and napalm. Every war has its people and their stories, as the author Tim O’Brien discovered when he served in the Vietnam War. I read The Things They Carried often just to immerse myself in the rhythm of the language he uses. That collection of linked stories makes you feel but doesn’t tell you what to feel about the Vietnam War. There’s no running tally of battles and body counts or discussion of whether the conflict was justified. Instead, O’Brien writes about a world where there are no winners and no one is right or wrong. They just are.
He writes about First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross and the letters he carried from a college girl named Martha.
In the late afternoon after a day’s march, he would dig his foxhole, wash his hands under a canteen, unwrap the letters, hold them with the tips of his fingers, and spend the last hour of light pretending.
Grief, love, and terror have faces through O’Brien’s stories. We understand war as much as we ever can through these soldiers and the things they carried like rifles and chewing gum, brass knuckles and bibles, condoms and comic books.
It’s a delicate balance to strike as we explore complex issues without being heavy-handed and polarizing. Young adult literature is leading the way in tackling real-life issues that are making headlines right now. In The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas wades into the long-simmering tensions surrounding police shootings of unarmed black men.
Her novel follows Starr, a sixteen-year-old girl who sees Khalil, her childhood best friend, gunned down by a cop. To add further complexity, Starr’s uncle is a police officer. In a country deeply divided by black and white, Thomas shows the gray areas where answers aren’t easy but people are desperate for change. This is the scene right after Khalil is killed.
“No, no, no.”
Khalil doesn’t move. He doesn’t utter a word. He doesn’t even look at me. His body stiffens, and he’s gone. I hope he sees God.
Someone else screams.
I blink through my tears. Officer One-Fifteen yells at me, pointing the same gun he killed my friend with.
I put my hands up.
As I brainstorm topics for my next novel, I’m considering a few societal issues I’d love to unpack through characters in a novel. The first question I ask myself is why.
For me, it’s about my purpose as a writer. Do I want to spark an important conversation through the prism of one person’s story? Will I feel fulfilled even if no one is persuaded to adopt a certain perspective on the issue? My answer to both questions is yes. When I explore an issue in my fiction, it will always be centered on people first and the stories they have to tell.
What big issues have you addressed in your books and how you did you do it? Have you seen other fiction writers tackle this successfully? If so, what worked well? How do you stay off your soapbox and effectively tell a story with an issue at its core? Or maybe you avoid writing about issues. Why?
[coffee]
A native of Chicago’s South Side, Nancy Johnson (she/her) worked for more than a decade as an Emmy-nominated, award-winning television journalist at CBS and ABC affiliates in markets nationwide. Her debut novel, The Kindest Lie, was a Target Book Club Pick. It has been reviewed by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, and was featured in Real Simple magazine and on Entertainment Weekly’s Must List. It was a New York Times Editors’ Choice selection and was named one of the most anticipated books by Newsweek, O, the Oprah Magazine, Shondaland, NBC News, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Chicago Tribune, The New YorkPost, Good Housekeeping, Parade, Refinery29, and more. Booksellers nationwide selected her novel as an Indie Next pick and librarians chose it for LibraryReads. A graduate of Northwestern University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Nancy lives in downtown Chicago and her second novel, People of Means, will be published by William Morrow/HarperCollins in early 2025.
Find out more about Nancy, her books and events on her website.
Beautiful post, Nancy, and difficult to discuss.
I am currently writing No Apology For Being, which attempts to tackle the complexity of the twenty-year-old mind in today’s society. Twenty is a hard age. They are neither child or adult, the rules and laws for or against them. Yet they have a voice.
On any given day, I flip flop between polar emotions. I feel this is a story that MUST be told, and I CAN tell it. Then I find myself asking, “Who am I to think I can do justice to this story?” I haven’t been twenty for a very long time. And how do I even attempt to cover such hot topics as sexual identity, gender inequality, religion, and politics? Am I crazy?
I just might be.
But at the end of the day, I remind myself of one thing…. I am not writing about me or my life. I am writing about my character’s life. Research will play a heavy roll, of course, but ultimately, the experiences in No Apology For Being are NOT mine. As the author, I am responsible for doing my very best to see and feel these topics through the eyes of my characters. THEY are telling the story. I am merely the narrator.
Great post!
Dee Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT (Gift of Travel)
Denise, you have it exactly right. You’re writing about your characters, not necessarily the issues of sexual identity, religion, or any host of other issues. It’s their story to tell and inevitably it will illuminate those larger issues.
Thanks for commenting.
Best,
Nancy
This is such a welcome post, Nancy. I have a “small” novel in verse about a big issue ( body image bias and destructive dieting for middle grade readers), and yes – it was a struggle to find a way to turn “issue” into “story”, but well worth the challenge.
I find deep pleasure in stories that are also considered “quiet” (as if that is a negative) when they really handle big, loud, important issues.
Yes, Carol, sometimes the most powerful voices come from one character and one story. You don’t need the bully pulpit. You have story.
Body image bias is such an important topic that lends itself well to seeing the world an oneself through the eyes of children.
Thanks for sharing.
Best,
Nancy
Nancy, great post. I have always loved stories about making difficult choices. It’s when we discover what we value above all else. So when I have grappled with questions that I want to know the answer to, I turn to story. I’ve asked, “Are you your brother’s keeper?” and reluctantly come to the conclusion that yes, you are. I’ve asked about exacting revenge, and discovered it’s better to rely upon Divine justice, which will always be perfect.
I have to make sure to get out of my characters’ ways to let them show the consequences of their action instead of preaching. But first drafts can often be full of philosophical musings as I mull over the questions. But in the end, I want to have a story that makes a difference.
Vijaya, you sound like me. I, too, want to write stories that make a difference. Stories that matter. But sometimes I get in my own way trying to make people see the injustices in the world. The examples I shared above teach me that our stories are not about issues; they’re about the people, the characters, who inhabit them. That’s where the passion and empathy arise.
Best,
Nancy
An American Marriage is next on my list to read. Thanks for highlighting it here. My WIP is also the story of a marriage and the way a community can or cannot help that marriage thrive. Sometimes we need to stay where we are, to realize the benefits of connection. Searching for the answer to the perfect community seems to slip farther and farther from our grasp as present commentary wants FEAR to be all that we see. Through writing, reading and reaching out, we might be able to change that. As always, what you have to say is meaningful to me.
Hi, Beth! Great seeing you here again. You will really enjoy An American Marriage. I look forward to hearing what you think. Tayari Jones does a magnificent job of showing the impact of wrongful incarceration on one couple. I love your idea, Beth, of exploring how a community lift or tear down a marriage. The question of leaving or staying is another significant one.
We all go into our novels, especially those that address big issues, with our own strong points of view. I think the key is to step aside to let our characters interrogate those complex dilemmas.
Thanks for sharing.
Best,
Nancy
Interesting topic, Nancy. And excellent examples.
I started working on my epic fantasy series fifteen years ago. Admittedly, I continue to discover the true nature of the themes of my work. But I have always had a divided nation of people, and the rise of a leader from the side that feels disenfranchised. This leader uses “the glory of his ancestors” and the resentment of his faction for the majority that rules through the manipulation of their economic supremacy in order to seize power. Put more simply, my protagonist comes to believe that the only way to fix a corrupt system is to tear it down. And he proceeds to do so.
I’m working on book two, in which the leader takes his ideology to the next level, and proceeds to tear down civilization itself. The self-assurance he gained in his initial success (on a national scale) leads him to a sort of megalomania that blinds him to the consequences and suffering born of his actions. In other words, once you tear something down, you own the rubble.
Now keep in mind, I started all of this before I sensed the development of our (in the U.S.) current political situation. Well, perhaps aside from the fact that we are an increasingly divided society. At first I merely saw an increasing (and depressing) familiarity with current events. Now I honestly wonder, almost daily, if the absurdity of the day’s headlines has so completely overrun my fictional world that it will make it obsolete on arrival.
Then I remind myself that this story is more than allegory. I didn’t start it with allegory in mind, and there are themes and lessons that even I continue to perceive and grapple with.
Now granted, I’m on a long journey here – both story-wise and as an artist. Longer than most (indeed, I was thinking last night that some of the singers that advanced on the current season of American Idol were born about the time I began). But, regarding your question about picking issues to write about, I’ve been discovering my issues and themes through the work.
I am continually amazed by the epiphanies and revelations the work offers. I couldn’t have planned this, and I have no idea what will come of it. But that’s just me. Heck, who knows? Maybe all of this self-discovery is just that: for me and no one else, and for some other purpose. Good food for thought. Thanks.
Hi, Vaughn. First, your epic fantasy series sounds intriguing. I can definitely relate to having the pace of change in our world be so fast that it’s hard to keep up editorially. The solace I find is that everything is cyclical. Issues of injustice, megalomania, and corruption will always be timely, unfortunately. The one unique differentiator will our characters and how they wrestle with this stuff.
I like what you said about being on a long journey as an artist. When we go into creative pursuits with that mindset, we’re not chasing every headline and trying to keep up with trends in issues. Times may change but our humanity and who we are at the core doesn’t.
Thanks, as always, for sharing.
Best,
Nancy
You hit a nerve because I have been struggling with this exact issue. I wrote my novel first, but then I have been asked over and over to pinpoint why I wrote it. You know, the marketing side. The side that narrows your premise down into a crystal nugget that lends itself to branding. Ugh. A writer’s nightmare. But I have learned a lot about myself and my world in the process. As an historian and political scientist, I am well-schooled in the stating of premise. That’s harder to do as a creative and a storyteller. In today’s world, it is a must. But we tell stories often to express an understanding of the human condition which is what any good social scientist does. It’s just a writer/storyteller does it in a way that conveys empathy, understanding, problem-solving, and co-creation or living in the embodiment of the story. How do we navigate our social or natural landscape without some blueprint? How do we engineer the open question without first posing it? And our stories must be gifts to the process. One of the things I have struggled with is how my novel, Entangled Moon, will be received because it is very much engaged with so many social issues–race, feminism, resource extraction, corporate malfeasance, violence, genocide, name the controversy and there’s a chance I hit it. As I watch the social conversation on social media, my terror is only heightened. Where is the smallest hole in which I can crawl? But I am just the storyteller of a bigger story and it is not my story to hide. Yes. We are humans who have survived these many years because we collaborate and we live in community. Good stories are always social. Thank you for the wonderful post.
Elizabeth, I can imagine it’s challenging as an historian and social scientist who takes in volumes of information to distill a story to its most elemental core. I struggle with that, too. You mentioned six social issues you’re tackling in your novel. I think I have three or four in mine, too. I’m reminded of the author Roxane Gay’s commentary on a popular novel in which she said it was akin to “black people bingo” in its attempt to say everything about race in one book.
I believe there’s value in going narrow when we’re telling these big stories that touch on big issues. I’m still discovering right alongside you.
Thanks for your perspective.
Best,
Nancy
Nancy, a wonderfully thought-provoking post. And thank you for pointing out new authors for me to have on my to-be-read list.
My WiP has a millennialist whose family is biracial and a small circle of cousins who are close-knit but the parents and grandparents not so much. When one cousin is attacked and left unconscious, it pulls their extended family dynamics into the foreground.
My protag is white. I am white. I am not a millennialist but I attempt to see the world through my millennialist children and their friends’ eyes. I have conversations with my children about the issues of race because the church I serve is composed, almost 50/50, of black people and white people. I believe that composition is due to the fact that my co-pastor, a man older than me, is black. We do not, however, seem capable of hanging onto young people. They come for awhile then all of a sudden they quit. So there seems, perhaps to also be an age-ism coming into play.
All of these dynamics come into play with my story too, as I attempt to avoid stereotypes, to give distinct personalities with strengths and weaknesses to the close-knit cousins and the significant older adults.
My story is quiet and small. It attempts to deal with big issues. I’ve had great crit partners who’ve pointed out when it became preachy or academic sounding or info dumpy. I’m hesitant to admit what I write to real-life people because I wonder if I might seem arrogant. Through relationships at church, I see some of the wounds, some of the struggles, yet the great potential for trust and loving relationships.
Lisa, your WIP sounds intriguing. I’m not sure whether your protagonist is biracial or not but that’s a fascinating thing to explore. Young people I’ve talked to who identify as biracial often struggle with identity issues as they move in different racial worlds. They’re met with rejection from several communities and sometimes feel isolated even within their own families. The bias can be both conscious and unconscious.
I’m glad you have critique partners to tell you when you start preaching in your novel. The natural human experiences of your characters will reveal truths and help the reader find his or her own perspective.
Best of luck with your book!
Thanks,
Nancy
While I don’t actively avoid writing about “issues,” I don’t set out to. I become interested in a character and that’s where my focus lies.
All the same, of course they sneak in there: alcoholism, abuse, neglect, judgment based on the color of skin or how someone looks or because someone is seen as “different” they are to be feared.
Beautiful eloquent post, Nancy.
Kathryn, it may be best that you don’t lead with the issues. Instead, you start with your characters and then issues inevitably emerge. That’s an effective way to avoid getting weighed down by topics that can overtake the actual story.
Thanks so much for commenting.
Best,
Nancy
Wow, Nancy. You can tell by the lengthy comments your post received that this is a powerful one. Excellent discussion. Most of my favorite books tackle some big issue. As for my own writing, I’ve felt a pull toward centering a story around an issue. Your post has helped me clarify my thinking. Thanks for the list of books to add to my TBR.
Karen, I’m glad you enjoyed the discussion! The best part about contributing here is the rich dialogue. I learn something every time. I look forward to reading your work someday.
Best,
Nancy
Nancy, you know my story. I hope I managed to do it well, with no soapboxes and no stuttering. But I suppose readers will be the judge of that. Which makes me anxious sometimes.
And what’s funny to me is that the initial idea was not an “issues” story at all. It developed more into that type story as I went. I didn’t set out to write something to change anyone’s mind about anything (and I very much doubt I will). It was more of a way to explore the ramifications of how we are raised and the stories we choose to tell (or not tell) to the next generation.
Hi, Erin! I love your story, and no, you didn’t preach at all. You dealt with timeless issues that are as relevant today as they were during the times of the Civil War and the Detroit riots.
You handled it well. If we set out to convince someone of a particular point of view on an issue, it comes across as heavy-handed. It’s transparent. In your book, I was rooting for the characters and that’s what is most revealing.
Thanks again for sharing your novel with me.
Best,
Nancy
Nancy, thank you for writing this piece! My first novel circles around two lonely young adults that fall in love and marry despite the secrets they keep from each other, like belonging to a white supremacy group. My newest release deals with MBP, when a mother purposely sickens her child. These are Christian fiction stories. However, although there are faith elements, I do not preach a given message/sermon. I strive to have my characters show their stories, their hearts. Hopefully, in return, the reader feels.
Elaine, I’m sure there’s a fine line to walk in Christian fiction between expressing faith and not turning your novel into a sermon. It sounds like you’ve handled this beautifully with a riveting topic. Membership in a white supremacy group really speaks to how well we can really know another person when we fall in love and marry. Such rich material. I look forward to reading your book someday.
Again, thanks for sharing.
Best,
Nancy
Hello, Nancy. Excellent essay. I agree that personalizing big issues via fiction is one of the most powerful ways to open minds and touch hearts. In my current WIP, a romance, the subplot revolves around two families handling a relative’s dementia. It’s a subject that touches most families, I suspect. I hope to treat the topic with the careful research and sensitivity it deserves.
Hi, Rhonda! Thanks for your perspective. Exploring dementia as part of a love story sounds powerful. I agree that thorough research is vital so we’re credible. The key is for us to avoid a research info dump and let our characters tell the story.
Thanks again for sharing!
Best,
Nancy
“We want to understand the heart of these charged issues through human experience.”
Yes, so true! And I love the examples you’ve chosen. (Tayari Jones’s book is on my list for this year, as I loved her earlier work, SILVER SPARROW.)
Hi, Kristan! Thank you for your comment. I hope you’ve had a chance to read AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE. It’s a great example of how one small story can magnify a larger issue like wrongful incarceration. I’ve listened to the audio version and read the print one.
My best,
Nancy