I like reading so that I can learn about our shared world and also my inner world. Right now, one of the books that I’m reading is entitled Writing the Breakout Novel: Insider Advice for Taking Your Fiction to the Next Level, by Donald Maass, published in 2001. I’m reading a few of his books to learn how to write fiction. He’s a published writer and an agent for writers. He seems to understand complexities found in characters and plots and how to connect characters and plots with emotions that reach the reader.
I also like the arts in an all embracing sort of way. When I decided to study in the arts it was hard for me to pick just one kind. Music, literature, fine arts of painting, drawing and sculpture are all wonderful areas to explore. I finally selected drawing and painting, but I also briefly studied guitar and I have written a non-fiction book.
I think that these arts that surround us sometimes point out the way that humanity is moving or tell us all where we might go or where we are right now. I liked art about the wars of the twentieth century when I was a young adult because the work told tragic stories in pictures that we could all understand in our hearts. I liked illustration, like N.C. Wyeth’s work, when I was just a kid, when he captured images of imagination that made everyday life feel full of adventures I longed to experience. I liked ideas in art too–like Minimalism where essential shapes can be investigated in 2-D or 3-D, or Impressionism where light and form can be explored by a painter inside a very short time span (like Monet painting the same church front at the same time of day, every day, until the painting was fininished). I have liked photography where an image was framed by the photographer’s camera to emphasize the photographer’s perspective or meaning to an audience of viewers.
Since the turn of the century, I’ve been wondering which art form is revealing our society’s destiny in the twenty-first century. Intuition in art can sometimes lead the way. I can’t find it in visual arts, but I found a hint the other day in Donald Maass’s book listed above.
I was reading Chapter Seven: Contemporary Plot Techniques. Donald Maass said that there has been a “progressive narrowing of point of view.” This already is interesting because I can confirm that to be true. I’ve been reading books from school libraries, public libraries and books that I’ve purchased all my life and I’ve noticed that the way that stories are told has changed. Maass says that there’s been a change from stories being told by the “author’s voice” to stories being told by “omniscient narration” to stories told by “objective narration” to “first- and third-person narration” to “close third-person point of view.” Maass links this evolution to the public’s “search for authentic experience.” People aren’t looking for a journalistic report or an objective viewpoint. In our twenty-first century stories, it is the character’s direct experience only that convinces us to partake in the story’s unfolding.
He goes on to say that plots are driven by two kinds of changes–transformational changes to the character and to the character’s world. He says this is true for every genre.  And I can say that I have observed that too. What Maass is saying about writing good novels is important not just as a practical guide to writing good fiction. It also points out that people are hungry for transformational change. The kind of book that appeals to the public nowadays is about transforming ourselves and our society. And it isn’t a choice of only one kind of change but rather of both kinds. Transformational change at the individual and social level is what people hunger for today. While it is true that character evolution has always been important to stories, this new emphasis may indicate something more than only character development.
When I have studied politics, I have noticed that the power of the individual was emphasized during classical liberalism, the power of social welfare was emphasized during modern liberalism and the power of the organization has been emphasized during neoliberalism. In the political past, ideologies didn’t seek to empower individuals, society and organizations at once. To be sure, ideological changes affect individuals, society, and organizations but what about the power structures that make it all happen?  Our current change towards a new politic may be one that empowers both individuals and society at once and it may be more all-embracing. I hope that the new politic will satisfy people by empowering them to do something good.
If you want to learn more about political ideologies over the history of the United States, buy a copy of Political Catsup with Economy Fries at Amazon.com.