Please Keep Your Politics Out of my Fiction! Oh, Wait...

I'm tugging on my Reader Cap today for a bit of a rant about one of my major pet peeves as a reader.

Yup. Sorry. Sometimes you just gotta vent. 

I realize everyone's mileage may vary and there may be some who don't view this as an issue, but I've talked with and seen the comments from enough readers to know it's becoming a pretty major factor in the Readers' Pet Peeves column. 

I can recall a time, not even a dozen years ago, when politics and political issues weren't such major topics among writers and authors. I clearly remember the days when the last thing anyone cared about was what an author's political stand was, and which side of the political equation they supported or leaned toward. No one cared. It was a trivial matter. It just didn't make a difference.

How times have changed.

Today, everyone seems to have a very strong opinion on politics and world views, and authors, being communicators, can be especially vocal. Problem is, some of them don't confine their personal statements to social media and personal expression, and insist on stamping their views all over the books they write, a product they sell to readers as entertainment. Some even go so far as to push their politics in the newsletters they send out to those interested in their work. Yeah, that's an instant click on the unsubscribe button for me.

So here's my take...which you can take or leave at your discretion.

In my experience most readers don't want to hear an author's views expressed via what should be a well-crafted story but which has been unabashedly converted into a politically-fueled soapbox. This reader included. No. Thank. You.

From polls and commentary I've seen, I believe the majority of readers feel the same. They read fiction to escape the teeth-gritting turmoil of everyday life and have no desire to be constantly reminded of the hot mess our society is becoming. I read for escapism. I read to enjoy being whisked away to an imaginative fictional world that is usually set in a distant time. Turn a story set in the future into a mouthpiece for the dystopian present and it's an instant DNF for me. And that's whether I agree with those views or not. 

Here's the low down. If I want political opinions I can watch the news, or any morning talk show, or read politically-centered non-fiction books, or just sign on to any social media platform. I'm not looking to read about current issues in a story that's supposedly set in a different time and place. As I said, my whole point in picking up a book is to escape the here and now, at least for a little while.  

So please...let fiction be fiction.  

But all that said, as I wrapped up this blog, I realized there's a caveat. Completely avoiding the allusion to real life political or social topics in fiction, especially science fiction, is just plain unavoidable. And sometimes a reader might interpret the elements of some stories as political commentary, even though that wasn't at all the intent of the writer.

That's the "Oh, Wait..." part of today's blog title which I'm going to explore in my next post. I'll try to come back and add the link once it's posted. 

Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear your thoughts or comments below, whether you agree or disagree.