 Drama: June 19, 2024 Issue [#12594] |
This week: Social Issues in Dramatic Fiction Edited by: Joy  
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“You write in order to change the world … if you alter, even by a millimeter, the way people look at reality, then you can change it.”
James Baldwin
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Fiction is like a spider's web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners.
Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own
“Don't ask for guarantees. And don't look to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library. Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, at least die knowing you were heading for shore.”
Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. This issue is on writing about social issues.
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Doesn't dramatic fiction love to get attention? Yes, it does and with good reasons, too!
Although drama may be viewed as entertainment, I believe its most important attention-getting reason is its insistence on social issues and a wide range of them. Why? I think it is because such issues reflect the challenges and complexities of our human existence.
Those issues may delve into the various forms of inequality, be it racial, gender, economic or social class divisions. Such dramatic fiction may portray characters struggling against or perpetuating such inequalities, and through their stories, we see ourselves grappling with the same questions of self-discovery, acceptance, and the going along or disagreeing with societal expectations.
For example, take The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. This novel follows the life of Gogol Ganguli, the American-born son of Indian immigrants, as he lives and searches through the complexities of cultural identity and family expectations.
Then, another example is Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. This novel tells the story of a young Nigerian woman who immigrates to America for college and later returns to Nigeria. It explores themes of cultural identity, race, and the immigrant experience. In this story, the main character Ifemelu, after spending her adolescence in Nigeria, comes to America and spends her adulthood in America, Princeton, New Jersey, mostly. In her views, it is impossible not to see ourselves as we are, as this quote from the book suggests: "The only reason you say that race was not an issue is because you wish it was not. We all wish it was not. But it’s a lie. I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as black and I only became black when I came to America." Something to think about, wouldn't you say!
As such, many works of dramatic fiction look into the themes of political upheaval, social movements, revolutions and resistance against oppressive regimes or lifestyles. The protagonists in these stories may or may not have started out to make waves or seek confrontation to bring about change, but they do inspire those of us who haven't even thought about such issues. After all, life has so many angles to it and the ethical and moral dilemmas sometimes are put in the back burner.
As a first for me, the earliest story I can recall that dealt with social issues was "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. This story addresses racial injustice as seen through the eyes of a young girl whose father, Atticus Finch, defended a black man accused wrongfully.
Then, of course, exist the social issues of violence and conflict in themes of war, crime, and other complexities where characters are forced into making moral or immoral decisions. Also, as technology has taken a fast turn in reshaping our lives, in the future, dramatic fiction may start exploring additional themes such as, privacy, surveillance, artificial intelligence and the ethical implications of technological advancement.
Yes, Science Fiction has ventured into similar highly-imaginary areas; however, dramatic fiction dealing with social issues against real technological advancements will have to surface in the future. And forgive my being so partial, but I tend to believe our WdC writers and poets will do the best justice to such ideas. 
Until next time! 
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 This Issue's Tip: If you wish to write about social issues, find a good plot with compelling characters and an interesting story that highlights one social issue. If writing a personal story or essay, stay away from clichés and generalizations. Instead, write about what the topic means to you personally. Write about it showing what it has meant in your life and why you think it is important.
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Feedback for "Moral Choices Within the Conflict"
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brom21 
I've never really considered this idea as a writing topic. I'd suppose I write about choices where one leads to obvious death or a way out of harm. I encounter times when there is a time constraint with the decision to be made. So, the character really doesn't have time to weigh reasons for or against a choice. Only afterwards does he or she realize what the right one is. I will definitely put more hard choices in my stories. Thank you!
Thanks for the input. What you are doing isn't wrong. After all, we all write from our own experiences. It is a good idea though to get used to twisting existing situations or whatever it may be that we can exploit in the name of dramatic excitement.
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Beholden 
Thank you very much for including my poem, Pandora, among your Editor's Picks.
As regards your newsletter, you've made me think about giving characters moral choices to make. I was going to say that I don't, but then began to remember occasions when I have done exactly that. They're hard to remember because I don't think of them in that way - they're just what happens to the character and I write down how they react. There's none of this deciding whether they should be punished for bad choices or rewarded for good ones. What happens happens - I'm a writer, not God. ;)
Thanks for the input and your beautiful poem, Pandora. Reflecting life is one form of writing. There's nothing wrong with that. Giving characters difficult moral choices, however, gets reader attention a bit more since readers may relate to similar moral choices in their own lives. Best wishes with your writing!
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