Controversial Writing: Poison or Candy?
I am by nature a person who likes to buck correctness of any kind. Especially political correctness. But when it comes to morality, I have strong, impenetrable principles about what is morally right and wrong. I see myself as a moral person and generally react with guilt and shame to my own moral sins. I believe I am forgiven by the grace of God, but I can't seem to stop those pangs of regret.
Several years ago, my next door neighbor told me about the previous tenant in his home. The previous tenant was a 26-year-old man who lived with a woman and her 13-year-old daughter. He had sex with the teenager. As a man with three daughters, I have a visceral reaction to this. Instantly, I think, "What if she was my daughter?" And then I want to kill him. Slowly. With dull instruments requiring sawing and chopping. But that's my reaction to it being one of my own kids. I often read or watch on the nightly news about crimes and tragedies that happen to strangers. And what is my reaction? A fleeting glimpse of sympathy as it flashes by on its way to the far reaches of my apathetic mind.
In California, if the child is under 14, the crime is "Child Molestation"; if the child is over 14 and under 18 years of age, the crime is "Unlawful Sex with a Minor," which does not carry a penalty or social stigma as strong as child molestation. When my neighbor went into more detail about the sexual encounter, there were elements to the story that changed my view of what happened to him. For one thing, the teenager pursued the relationship. That's not a legal or moral excuse for his crime. In this case, the girl was almost 14. A few days later, his punishment and how his crime was labeled would be different. By days. Not her or his maturity. Not circumstance. Simply by time. It seemed arbitrary to me. And that's what raised my interest in the story.
I began the what-ifs. What if the 13-year-old was physically and emotionally as mature as the 26-year-old? Is that possible? What if the girl's life had brought her to a place of real affection, albeit a child's view of those emotions, for the man? What if the man was a virgin? A man who easily identified with teenagers. A man whose emotional development stopped at 17? A boy-man?
There were a lot of "what-ifs." But I took the premise and began writing a novel called Cherry Road. The story of a doomed relationship between Denny, age twenty-six, and Arlie, age 13. I decided to write it in a literary style, which means I placed as much emphasis on the style and technique as I did the subject matter. My reason was to contrast with the harsh reality of the topic.
I wrote five chapters. It was a struggle, because I knew where it was leading, and I didn't want to downplay the immorality and potential destructiveness of a man and young girl having a sexual relationship. I made careful decisions about making the story palatable and readable. But in doing so, I often felt like I was playing devil's advocate. I knew my purpose was not to encourage this behavior. I knew I wanted to narrow the circumstances to one where the reader could engage in accepting the fact that circular morals are believed to be absolute but honesty and humanity are often square pegs in our round morality.
The story was compelling and the characters unique. But I knew the story would be controversial, because it might seem as if I was blessing the sexual relationship, when I was actually blessing only the emotions. Humans expressing positive and real emotions often act them out in ways that are inappropriate and harmful. In my story, I wanted to try to eliminate the harm. What if...no one was hurt? What if...the relationship was real?
On the surface--the gut reaction--I wanted to grab this guy who used to live next door to me by the neck and scream, "What were you thinking? How could you do that to a young girl?" But deeper in my gut was the details of that relationship.
My father married a woman 19 years his junior. They were both adults at the time. When they first married, there was an obvious difference in their age arising from their physical natures, behavior and maturity. But as many, many years passed, the difference in their ages closed to a narrow gap of insignificance.
I wondered if I could accomplish that narrowing of perception with this story without allowing the controversial aspect of the behavior dominating the reader's ability to accept the reality of the story and like the characters. But after five chapters, I fearfully took refuge in my principles. I stashed the book in a drawer. I've thought of this story many times over the years. But I worried about how others would think of me. Would I be considered a sick pervert? Would I be accused of insensitivity to child rape? Would I be white-washing what is often a horrible crime?
But now, fifteen years later, the gap between my own sense of moral certainty and my willingness to explore my principles has narrowed. I realize now that it's impossible for me to play devil's advocate, for one simple reason: I know right from wrong and it's wrong to advocate for evil.
Cherry Road is not an attempt at sugar-coating the devil's poison and calling it candy. I now know how to write this book. I have to write it without considering the controversial nature and just write honestly about real people in unique circumstances and allow the story to mete out consequences without my own preconceived morality pushing the devil in the way.
Poison? Candy? It's neither. Controversy is not something I can create. It's what arises out of what I create. As a writer, I can't consider if it's controversial, as long as I avoid manipulating what I truly believe.
Let us know when it's finished; I, for one, cannot wait to read it. I think you're absolutely right: you, as a writer, don't have to condemn or approve. If you have honestly and authentically portrayed the characters and their emotions and circumstances, you've done your job. The rest is up to the reader.
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It's about fifth in my list of projects, so don't hold your breath, ma dear. It'll probably be 2011 before I actually get working on it. But I hope to have it completed in just a few months, because the story is real clear in my mind. It's just how to "light it up" that's going to be tough.
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