Tip #1: Figure out what your book is (really) about.
The funny thing about my novel is that I never really considered it to be about politics at all. In my mind it’s always been about easy bibliography generator: The political aspect is just the backdrop for the story of an unlikely group of friends bonded by the shared experience of being left behind.
Even a work of fiction that might address politics more directly than mine is still, at heart, going to be about people, relationships, friends or enemies. Books about politics can still be universal, so always keep that emotional core in mind as you write.
Even a work of fiction that might address politics more directly than mine is still, at heart, going to be about people, relationships, friends or enemies. Books about politics can still be universal, so always keep that emotional core in mind as you write.
Tip #2: Be clear about what purpose politics will serve in your book.
Are you writing 1984 or Primary Colors or The Handmaid’s Tale or Election? What is your novel’s attitude toward the political world? I knew from the start that I wasn’t writing satire or something dark or dystopian. I wanted my book to be fun and escapist, and the campaign in my book to be its own zany character. I wanted the campaign, essentially, to be the villain: something so wild and over-the-top that it throws all the other characters’ lives into disarray.
Once I sorted out this dynamic, I realized I could get away with a lot. For instance, I didn’t need to identify any political parties, and no one in my book even needed to talk about pesky things like the issues. I was more concerned with the energy and spirit of the candidates in my election and about contrasting their different approaches, attitudes and personalities.
Are you writing 1984 or Primary Colors or The Handmaid’s Tale or Election? What is your novel’s attitude toward the political world? I knew from the start that I wasn’t writing satire or something dark or dystopian. I wanted my book to be fun and escapist, and the campaign in my book to be its own zany character. I wanted the campaign, essentially, to be the villain: something so wild and over-the-top that it throws all the other characters’ lives into disarray.
Once I sorted out this dynamic, I realized I could get away with a lot. For instance, I didn’t need to identify any political parties, and no one in my book even needed to talk about pesky things like the issues. I was more concerned with the energy and spirit of the candidates in my election and about contrasting their different approaches, attitudes and personalities.
Tip #3: You don’t have to chase the headlines (unless you really want to).
Here’s where my advice gets very Choose Your Own Adventure:
If you’re not writing about what’s happening in the news right now: skip to Tip #4
If you are writing about the news but you’re extremely gutsy and/or you’re Sean Penn (i.e.: Bob Honey Who Just Do Stuff): skip to Tip #5
If you are writing about the news and you’re moderately gutsy, continue reading Tip #3:
I probably don’t have to tell you this option isn’t the easiest, but I admire your fortitude! The political world moves at lightning speed (especially these days!) and writing about what’s in the news can make things extra sticky, so you’ll have to buckle up and take a deep breath if you’re tackling real-life.
Ask yourself these questions: What will be my balance of fact and fiction? How wedded am I to the headlines? How long a leash will I allow myself when fictionalizing it all? It might help to set some parameters around certain events, a time period, one character, one aspect of the bigger picture so you don’t feel like the story is forever changing (because it is forever changing and I imagine overwhelming to try to write about while it’s unfolding in real-time). No matter how much you’re incorporating reality and which lens you’re viewing it through, remember your novel is still going to come down to that winning ticket of strong characters and killer story. Now jump to the all-important
Tip #4: Make your characters and events as different from the news as possible.
I wanted my book to feel escapist so I knew from the get-go that I wasn’t going to model the events of my novel or my characters or their appearances or their actions on anyone or anything actually going on at the time. I wanted the freedom to create everything from scratch. Of course, that doesn’t mean that readers won’t try to draw parallels anyway. Which brings us to, the most vital…
I wanted my book to feel escapist so I knew from the get-go that I wasn’t going to model the events of my novel or my characters or their appearances or their actions on anyone or anything actually going on at the time. I wanted the freedom to create everything from scratch. Of course, that doesn’t mean that readers won’t try to draw parallels anyway. Which brings us to, the most vital…
Tip #5: Accept that you’re not going to please everyone.
I am not a gutsy person. (Seriously, I don’t even ride rollercoasters.) So having a book set in the political world and hitting shelves in this particular… climate… is probably the riskiest thing I’ve ever done. Even if you’ve gone the route of Tip #4, like I did, readers are always going to draw comparisons to real-life, who could blame them? And some may even discount a novel for political reasons alone. In these contentious days, with emotions running high and the world of politics as divisive as ever, it can feel plenty intimidating to center a novel in this circus. Sure.
But, here’s the thing: No matter what you write about, there will always be someone who doesn’t love it. That’s just how it goes. So be fearless, write the book you want to write, and make it the best you can.
I am not a gutsy person. (Seriously, I don’t even ride rollercoasters.) So having a book set in the political world and hitting shelves in this particular… climate… is probably the riskiest thing I’ve ever done. Even if you’ve gone the route of Tip #4, like I did, readers are always going to draw comparisons to real-life, who could blame them? And some may even discount a novel for political reasons alone. In these contentious days, with emotions running high and the world of politics as divisive as ever, it can feel plenty intimidating to center a novel in this circus. Sure.
But, here’s the thing: No matter what you write about, there will always be someone who doesn’t love it. That’s just how it goes. So be fearless, write the book you want to write, and make it the best you can.
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