This episode is so powerful, and personal. It challenges me in ways I can scarcely articulate.
It is important. Critical. To avoid confronting these/this questions is to diminish our individual paths, and erect roadblocks for others. We writers are private and isolated, but our choices in the broader sense impact the writers against whom we "compete" - willingly or inevitably.
I could go on as long as Jody did, here. Instead, I will beg others like me to listen, and ponder, the content.
I think I had similar trouble until I understood that the questions are all interrelated. For instance, I started with WHAT need do I see in the world? After that, I asked, WHY is it important? Then, HOW could I help? And ended with, WHO would I serve?
There are a lot of needs in the world. Some are less important than others. Some you won't be able to have any impact on, but if you can figure out all those questions then something magical happens in your fiction. It's not just about writing stories for the sake of stories but writing stories to help others.
I'm not under the pretense my stories will transform the world but if it helps a few people/kids see the world differently, then that's probably the greatest impact I could have.
Ultimately, I think sometimes we are so conditioned against having a message in our content (don't want to be preachy) that we lose sight of how important it is to have strong themes in our work. We might have one naturally come about but it won't be as powerful as those we are most passionate about.
For starters, I can't question your experience, but Simon Sinek would say that reversing the order leads to massively reduced impact. He cites companies like Southwest (most profitable airline ever and cheapest for consumer…) and Apple as starting with Why. He illustrates how Walmart had a why under its founder, lost that why when the founder died and almost went belly-up because of it. "Why" appears to give us the leverage to impact those things you believe you can't have any impact on.
I believe Sinek, but I'm not seasoned enough to say, this is how it works, so at this point I'm going to use his roadmap to step into something I intuitively "understand".
Jody, I think we are not far apart. We would probably agree that what Simon is saying (by starting with WHY) is that we need to steer from the heart. I can see why he believes the order is important too because we can easily lose sight of our passion if we lose sight of the WHY.
With all that said I believe it's also helpful to think non-linearly at times as we can make connections we otherwise wouldn't. That's what happened for me.
My motivation for writing comes from an intention to nudge the direction of history, though I am realistic about the impact a single person can have. At best you might draw people's attention to a possibility that they would have found sooner or later anyway. The question of whether long form narrative fiction has ever changed the world has bothered me for a while. Did any authoritarian dictators ever read 1984 and decide to call the whole thing off? The only example I could think of was Ayn Rand, and only because she attracted a group of close friends who went onto influential positions like Alan Greenspan. Books that present themselves as nonfiction (like the Malleus Maleficarum that sparked the witch burning mania) seem to have a greater impact. Both examples though are pretty clearly negative impacts on the world . In the early days science fiction used to be about exploring where emerging technology might take society but has more recently morphed into techno-fantasy for entertainment purposes only. I am hopeful my hard biological sci fi will return the genre to its original intentions and show a third option to the usual futures that are either post-scarcity star trek type worlds, or the endless apocalyptic deprivation of Mad Max (where oddly everyone still drives everywhere in their cars).
First off, let me be absurdly forward and ask if you'd be open to trying that new Substack letters feature?
My reason for asking is because I want to dissect and reply at length to a number of points you made. If not, hey, I understand.
In brief, I'd raise the "objection" that Rand has had a positive impact on at least this writer (I suspect I'm not alone). I've looked up to the tenacity, confidence, and dauntlessness of Roark but don't love his army-of-one attitude or his selfishness.
Star Trek is TV but I understand many inventions resulted from that show.
There's untold impact from books like CHARLOTTE'S WEB. That's a whole cookie to crumble. And kids can't read GOOD TO GREAT…okay they "can" but they probs won't. Yes, I just typed probs and didn't edit it out…
We should do this for sure. I'll put something on my calendar for April. I know that's a ways off, but I'm in the midst of my book launch and find I'm stretched slightly thin, but that will change and I really want to trade letters with that feature. What topic would you want to focus on?
I don’t know yet but I have to get through this dry spell....I’m so blue about it. It’s good work too; I don’t understand...but I had an unreasonably good year last year maybe it’s just the lack of value we place on art in our society which, like the house, will always win in the end....!
I'd love to try the substack letters feature. The topic of the impact of fiction on society is a huge one, and I can admit that maybe I am too quick to be cynical in that regard. Fiction definitely can impact individuals, but whether that translates into greater social movements (that wouldn't have happened anyway) is a difficult topic to analyse when we only have one history to study. My general position though is that social movements pick up acts of fiction to act as a lightning rod for their pre-existing sentiments, much as the anti-nuclear movement of the 70s popularised Lord of the Rings as a touchstone for their anxieties of the time.
Why is a labyrinthine question for me Too Jody. My usual answer is “because I have no choice.” But that is not interesting to anyone else either. I think I would be interested to know more about the question you asked yourself right before this one. It’s a good thought experiment!
As a mathematician in a former life, “why” is the single question I sought to answer so this is especially interesting to me after such a violent reaction to doing math again (it did NOT go well!). So yeah I like this post a lot.
Found JP’s book!!! In some ways, I agree that math and fiction are extremely closely related. (I thought you knew I had this horrible math phd I don’t want and never did, but if you just keep jumping through the hoops, anybody is at risk of ending up with a serious degree they don’t even want!
This episode is so powerful, and personal. It challenges me in ways I can scarcely articulate.
It is important. Critical. To avoid confronting these/this questions is to diminish our individual paths, and erect roadblocks for others. We writers are private and isolated, but our choices in the broader sense impact the writers against whom we "compete" - willingly or inevitably.
I could go on as long as Jody did, here. Instead, I will beg others like me to listen, and ponder, the content.
Why, indeed. The "why" is everything here.
I think I had similar trouble until I understood that the questions are all interrelated. For instance, I started with WHAT need do I see in the world? After that, I asked, WHY is it important? Then, HOW could I help? And ended with, WHO would I serve?
There are a lot of needs in the world. Some are less important than others. Some you won't be able to have any impact on, but if you can figure out all those questions then something magical happens in your fiction. It's not just about writing stories for the sake of stories but writing stories to help others.
I'm not under the pretense my stories will transform the world but if it helps a few people/kids see the world differently, then that's probably the greatest impact I could have.
Ultimately, I think sometimes we are so conditioned against having a message in our content (don't want to be preachy) that we lose sight of how important it is to have strong themes in our work. We might have one naturally come about but it won't be as powerful as those we are most passionate about.
Jim! There's so much I want to reply to here.
For starters, I can't question your experience, but Simon Sinek would say that reversing the order leads to massively reduced impact. He cites companies like Southwest (most profitable airline ever and cheapest for consumer…) and Apple as starting with Why. He illustrates how Walmart had a why under its founder, lost that why when the founder died and almost went belly-up because of it. "Why" appears to give us the leverage to impact those things you believe you can't have any impact on.
I believe Sinek, but I'm not seasoned enough to say, this is how it works, so at this point I'm going to use his roadmap to step into something I intuitively "understand".
Jody, I think we are not far apart. We would probably agree that what Simon is saying (by starting with WHY) is that we need to steer from the heart. I can see why he believes the order is important too because we can easily lose sight of our passion if we lose sight of the WHY.
With all that said I believe it's also helpful to think non-linearly at times as we can make connections we otherwise wouldn't. That's what happened for me.
My motivation for writing comes from an intention to nudge the direction of history, though I am realistic about the impact a single person can have. At best you might draw people's attention to a possibility that they would have found sooner or later anyway. The question of whether long form narrative fiction has ever changed the world has bothered me for a while. Did any authoritarian dictators ever read 1984 and decide to call the whole thing off? The only example I could think of was Ayn Rand, and only because she attracted a group of close friends who went onto influential positions like Alan Greenspan. Books that present themselves as nonfiction (like the Malleus Maleficarum that sparked the witch burning mania) seem to have a greater impact. Both examples though are pretty clearly negative impacts on the world . In the early days science fiction used to be about exploring where emerging technology might take society but has more recently morphed into techno-fantasy for entertainment purposes only. I am hopeful my hard biological sci fi will return the genre to its original intentions and show a third option to the usual futures that are either post-scarcity star trek type worlds, or the endless apocalyptic deprivation of Mad Max (where oddly everyone still drives everywhere in their cars).
First off, let me be absurdly forward and ask if you'd be open to trying that new Substack letters feature?
My reason for asking is because I want to dissect and reply at length to a number of points you made. If not, hey, I understand.
In brief, I'd raise the "objection" that Rand has had a positive impact on at least this writer (I suspect I'm not alone). I've looked up to the tenacity, confidence, and dauntlessness of Roark but don't love his army-of-one attitude or his selfishness.
Star Trek is TV but I understand many inventions resulted from that show.
There's untold impact from books like CHARLOTTE'S WEB. That's a whole cookie to crumble. And kids can't read GOOD TO GREAT…okay they "can" but they probs won't. Yes, I just typed probs and didn't edit it out…
New Substack letters feature? I would play!
We should do this for sure. I'll put something on my calendar for April. I know that's a ways off, but I'm in the midst of my book launch and find I'm stretched slightly thin, but that will change and I really want to trade letters with that feature. What topic would you want to focus on?
I don’t know yet but I have to get through this dry spell....I’m so blue about it. It’s good work too; I don’t understand...but I had an unreasonably good year last year maybe it’s just the lack of value we place on art in our society which, like the house, will always win in the end....!
I'd love to try the substack letters feature. The topic of the impact of fiction on society is a huge one, and I can admit that maybe I am too quick to be cynical in that regard. Fiction definitely can impact individuals, but whether that translates into greater social movements (that wouldn't have happened anyway) is a difficult topic to analyse when we only have one history to study. My general position though is that social movements pick up acts of fiction to act as a lightning rod for their pre-existing sentiments, much as the anti-nuclear movement of the 70s popularised Lord of the Rings as a touchstone for their anxieties of the time.
Why is a labyrinthine question for me Too Jody. My usual answer is “because I have no choice.” But that is not interesting to anyone else either. I think I would be interested to know more about the question you asked yourself right before this one. It’s a good thought experiment!
I feel asking why sometimes gets me lost, but I don't have much of a better solution either. Keep moving forward, you know.
As a mathematician in a former life, “why” is the single question I sought to answer so this is especially interesting to me after such a violent reaction to doing math again (it did NOT go well!). So yeah I like this post a lot.
Math and poetry are like mirror images and fit together so well. That's cool to know you have that background.
Found JP’s book!!! In some ways, I agree that math and fiction are extremely closely related. (I thought you knew I had this horrible math phd I don’t want and never did, but if you just keep jumping through the hoops, anybody is at risk of ending up with a serious degree they don’t even want!