Brexit and the writer – reality is stranger than fiction

I guess even if you don’t live in the UK you’ll be aware we’re going through something of an upheaval called Brexit.  Now, before I go any further I emphasise in this post I am not taking sides, or expressing a political bias.  These are my feelings, on those elected to represent us in this matter and how that relates to my own work.  I am intrigued as to how these political characters and the stories they are telling compare to any of my fictional characters and my stories in general.

Watching on I guess a lot of people, like me, feel helpless and disappointed with our elected politicians of whatever persuasion.  I feel if all the characters in my books behaved in the same way readers would soon get fed-up.  At least in my stories you can build into characters moral values and have them keep to them.  That’s not to say my characters don’t have flaws.  If a character is to be believable they can’t be too perfect, we’re all (and I include my characters here) human after all (OK in the case of my characters, mostly).  It just seems our politicians are acting out their flaws and foibles in the full glare of public scrutiny and thinking that somehow, like the Emperor’s new clothes, we can’t see through them.

From where I sit and watch the so called debate over Brexit I see personal and political ambition taking precedent over the good of the country.  Personal beliefs taking precedent over the wishes of the people.  All this ensures multiple factions and a consensus (for the good of country) cannot be reached.  I’m left feeling how out of touch and how arrogant most of them are and this from a group of people whose lives and careers will be among the least affected by whatever the outcome.  From all sides I’ve heard personal opinion voiced as if it’s fact.  All sides have warped the truth, sold us lies and scare stories.  They appear to do all this believing that their audience (i.e. us) will swallow it, as if somehow we’re all totally gullible and/or we don’t really matter.

As I writer, I know I’m writing fiction, stories that appeal to me.  However, I always have my readers in mind, after all I want people to read and enjoy them.  Yes, I can say anything, have my plots and characters do the most outrageous things in the hope of eliciting a “WHAT!!” from my readers (my audience).  However, we all understand it’s fiction and at the end of the book or series there will be some form of resolution.  We turn the last page and (hopefully) go wow! that was good and then move on to the next work of fiction.  I also hope that everyone who reads my books goes away feeling I have fulfilled my part of the bargain, that I’ve given everything I can to my story in the hope they appreciate it.  That there is in my efforts a form of integrity those who purchase my books can buy in to.

Perhaps that’s it, I feel in all this debate integrity has been thrown out of the window.  That anything goes if it advances your personal agenda.  Unlike how I feel about most of our politicians, for my part I will endeavour to keep my integrity with my readers.  I won’t sell you short.  You do matter.

As always your comments are welcome.

Ian Martyn

Author: Ian Martyn

Science Fiction Writer

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