Shannon Clark1d ago

Authors (yes alluding to one in the news at the moment) who say their writing is "not political" and that they wish most things "weren't political" (books & other media) are, almost always, members of a highly privileged class who can go thru life without their life being inherently politicized (in the US this typically means wealthy, white men).

(I'm a well off cis white man - my writing even the most humorous and silly is also very political - in form and in story)

Show threadShannon Clark1d ago

I'm no where near as published or "successful" as a writer as the author I'm alluding to (and in turn he is not the only one with these types of views)

But when I tell a story - whether it is fiction or narrative non-fiction, heck even if it is technical writing like a project spec for a client, it is political - I attempt to illustrate in the story multiple points of view, to consider perspectives from a wide range of diverse contexts and make sure the story works for a wide range of audience

Show threadShannon Clark
in business writing this means considering multiple users for any product I'm specing - but also to consider who is the audience of any deliverables I'm writing (the needs of say designers differ from software engineers - and in turn managers/senior leadership care about a different perspective and set of details than the folks implementing the project. But ideally while each audience might dive into different sets of details - I manage to inform all of them of the constraints and views of all
Mar 31 at 3:09amWeb
Show threadShannon Clark1d ago
that's political - whether its internal docs, non-fiction for a wider audience, or fiction - the power of good storytelling is in telling a story from a specific point of view - and bringing the audience along with you - that time spent considering different perspectives often resonates more with readers (or listeners/viewers for works in other mediums than text) than the specific story beats or characters - just showing a richly thought and considered perspective of an other is powerful