Messages and Morals

Within the "Am...?" series, there are five problems. Right now, in "Amanda Lynne or A mandolin?" it is name-calling, the very situation I deal with all the time. As the series progresses, a new problem is faced and dealt with amidst the backdrop of a budding romance.

Well, in my opinion people write morals into the story without knowing. I think some times it is up to the reader to discover there own interpretations on the subject, because every persons life is different. When other stories have a distinct message collaborated into them.

Alphabet Soup:

Well, In My Opinion People Write Morals Into The Story Without Knowing. I Think Some Times It Is Up To The Reader To Discover There Own Interpretations On The Subject, Because Every Persons Life Is Different. When Other Stories Have A Distinct Message Collaborated Into Them.

Please don't capitalize every word in your sentences.
It's against board guidelines and could get you banned.

I guess most stories, that are actually stories, have some kind of message to them. If maybe the most insignificant one. I tend to write about really sick, twisted stuff sometimes, or basically just sad endings, but they still mean something to me. I'm sure many people see through it, and aren't able to grasp the meaning or morals behind it all, but they're there.
I usually also include all hope or lesson at the end, so it may seem a pointless, whiny rant throughout the first chapters or paragraphs, but it gets deeper. I think my one-shot with the most value to me is Awaiting. My only chaptered story, Autumn Leaves, too. I guess the more the author pours into the story of him or herself, the more meaning it'll have.

Transylvania kind of has a moral. It started off as this period romance that seemed as though it was going to have a fairytale ending, but the moral was that life isn't like that. You make mistakes and you pay for them, and sometimes you just can't beat society and its views and morals.

Morals and messages are importat to me in stories. There's hidden ones all over.
The most obvious (because it's the most poorly written story of mine) is in You're Never All Alone.
Lots of messages about equality, gay rights, finding happiness, forgiveness.

druscilla; gutter.:

Alphabet Soup:

Well, in my opinion people write morals into the story without knowing. I think some times it is up to the reader to discover there own interpretations on the subject, because every persons life is different. When other stories have a distinct message collaborated into them.

Please don't capitalize every word in your sentences.
It's against board guidelines and could get you banned.

Ok, my bad. I fix it.

I try to fit morals or messages into most of my stories, I think it gives you a purpose to write kind of and sort of allows you to be more imaginative in how you can drop little hints and gear the reader to feeling of thinking a certain way in order to get your point across, and they take it in somehow, consciously or not. I think it's quite important to have a moral or a message behind your stories :XD

When I was writing We're Just Two Boys (and there's nothing boring about the ordinary) I did not have a message or moral in mind. I just wrote. But after it was done and I was titling it, I realized the message was simple. That relationships can be simple and the routines can seem boring, but that doesn't make the relationship boring. It makes it comfortable and safe and isn't that what relationships are supposed to be? A comfortable safe place for you to go when the rest of the world isn't that way?

Thou Shalt Not kind of has a message, but I didn't realize it until other people pointed it out. It's the full-circle-ness of the whole situation. The idea that some things just happen, even if they're wrong and you know it. Some things happen that don't really have a reason, but they happen.

I don't really have a "moral" in my stories. Mostly it's just there to just kind of show what life's like for teenagers (mostly in my area) who are losers or who are different. I guess that's why most of my unposted stuff takes place where I live-- Anti-Liberalcity.

Pure entertainment isn't genius without reason. There are plenty of morals put into famous writings that unfortunetly aren't as great as is wished. Take Stephenie Meyer for instance, she a desent writer, and the moral throughout the Twilight saga is self control, but by no means is her style of writing mind blowing or insightful. The entertainment aspect of the story drowns out the moral, I think, which makes it such a hit even with readers who aren't usually readers. Books that are heavy in the entertainment department don't usually require a lot of thought to understand them, it's like children's books: you're not going to make a complex story, because you want everyone to be able to understand it.

Any morals I put in my own stories happen on their own, I don't plan out what I want to preach to the world. If it happens, it happens. There's nothing wrong with literature that is pure entertainment, but the abundance of books that are so simplistic bothers me. I haven't been able to find a decent book in a long time that didn't deal with stereotypes or glorified teen sex.

I hate when authors get really, super preachy.

I read a story once and it went something like... "No one likes ___ because she was a republican. A dirty stinking no-good republican." It could have been vaguely understandable if it was satirical but it was wasn't.

(I'm not even American and don't know enough about American politics, the democrats, the republicans or the independents to make an informed decision but still...show some respect yeah?) I don't know why but this story seriously irked me.

If I had to find some kind of message in Wanderers of Ruin, it would be about surviving tragedy. Even after everybody Gerard loves has died, and he's alone in the ruins, he keeps breathing. It's about trying to live on after the worst of things, if I'd sum it up in one sentence.

Mirrors from Afar has a lot of stuff that I would consider messages in them. The characters themselves give messages, I guess. For example one shows the result of hiding yourself from everyone, another the result of NOT hiding from anyone and the consequences, one the result of drugs and alcohol etcetc.

I'm going to try to fit a moral into Starling, I'm just not sure what exactly.

Honestly, I pretty much agree with this person.
I really, really want to list a book as an example, but I don't think I can. Basically, everyone says it's "so amazing" when all it has is entertainment value. Personally, I believe it encourages really bad habits and ways of thinking that basically brainwash people into believing something harmful is good.
So my stance is something shouldn't be judged on it's litterary merit based off it's popularity/entertainment value. It should be based (mainly) off the contrabutions it's made to culture, and it's message. This backs up why most books of litterary merit are, to me, kind of boring as far as action goes.

Anywho, to your questions:
And how many of you try and incorporate morals and messages into your stories? Into my stories I definately do, most the time not my oneshots, but most of my oneshots are comedy pieces, so what can you do?
How do you go about it? I don't really think I have a system about it. I guess I try and show my messages through plot events and characters, which is I guess, pretty standard. I'm not quite sure how to explain this one. But I guess my main way of showing it is by using characters that are foils of each other.
Can you show us some examples in your stories?
Certainly.
In ATSOHP, it being a Harry Potter fanfic, I wanted (inadvertantly at first, but then intentionally later on) to resonate with JKR's original themes of love overcoming evil and the power of love. I've also been kind of slipping in the ideas of having to fight for what you love and not just sitting around and expecting things to fix themselves, as well as the "there's hope even in the darkest to times," idea, which is something I find in JKR's books as well. My foils (that I mentioned above) are both Jennifer/Lance, Jennifer/Cedric, and Sarlanda/Lance.
As for Music Girl, I think I've pretty much made it a morality slut XD I wanted to get the message of "you can't ever stop being yourself" across, and in doing so I've created a world, religion, and girls' life that would make most people sick It's basically the story of what happens when you let confomity go far. My opinions and feelings on the subject are very strong, so I kind of ended up making an in your face story...oh, and my foils ended up being Sam/any character not in Boston XD Mainly Sam/Aravic and Sam/Rachel, though.

^ Holy Fizzing Whizbees I wrote a lot XD

What I'm writing lately, the message seems to boil down to taking responsibility for your actions, you create your own way in life, and punishing yourself for your sins doesn't make you happy or reach atonement.

It's never said like that, but it's pretty much how it goes . . .

The message of After the War was that we can't fix everything, especially through ignorance and silence.

The message of Marked was that you can go on, you can continue, you can get better, even after (especially after) you've hit rock bottom.

The message of & What Would We Have to Sing About Then was that we can't save people who don't want to be saved, we can't save people just because we want to.