Do you have a message in your writing, something big and important you feel you need to say that spurs you to write? If so, what is it?
'Coherent message' is too generous, but there are definitely themes within Binding Ties that I feel are very important to express and express a position on. Agency, the technical social science term for the autonomous ability to make one's own choices, is a major theme, and I highlight its important through removing it as completely as I can. The importance of work/life balance is perhaps the most "concrete" theme. But really, the entire unfolding saga is a meditation on the tension between agency and loyalty. So, what is the nature of loyalty? How is authentic loyalty demonstrated (as opposed to loyalty for convenience/demonstration)? How do characters manage conflicting loyalties, and how do those conflicts resolve, if they do? What is the point at which you know someone fully? Is the choice to embrace what I want for myself going to automatically compromise my loyalty to the larger group?
One theme that had been minor in my planning but is growing in importance (to the point of becoming a message, hey!) is that the truth hurts, but mostly in the short term, and that white lies, half-truths, and cover ups cause deeper long term pain. Ergo, protection through not sharing the truth that someone needs to hear? Not good protection.
'Coherent message' is too generous, but there are definitely themes within Binding Ties that I feel are very important to express and express a position on. Agency, the technical social science term for the autonomous ability to make one's own choices, is a major theme, and I highlight its important through removing it as completely as I can. The importance of work/life balance is perhaps the most "concrete" theme. But really, the entire unfolding saga is a meditation on the tension between agency and loyalty. So, what is the nature of loyalty? How is authentic loyalty demonstrated (as opposed to loyalty for convenience/demonstration)? How do characters manage conflicting loyalties, and how do those conflicts resolve, if they do? What is the point at which you know someone fully? Is the choice to embrace what I want for myself going to automatically compromise my loyalty to the larger group?
One theme that had been minor in my planning but is growing in importance (to the point of becoming a message, hey!) is that the truth hurts, but mostly in the short term, and that white lies, half-truths, and cover ups cause deeper long term pain. Ergo, protection through not sharing the truth that someone needs to hear? Not good protection.