Fiction Writing: Choosing a Guiding Philosophy

There are lots of ways to write. You can believe it’s important to write about the darkness in man’s heart, or write about a woman’s journey to restorative joy, or, like me, you can exclusively believe in making masturbation jokes in everything you ever write.

My sense of humor stalled in the 6th grade.

Either way many writers of fiction believe in choosing a guiding principle to weave throughout their entire creation. This is the focal point on which everything else rests, the thing that makes every fabric of the story worth it for you and the readers.

For example, author George RR Martin expresses:

“I’ve always agreed with William Faulkner — he said that the human heart in conflict with itself is the only thing worth writing about. I’ve always taken that as my guiding principle, and the rest is just set dressing.“

As such, the core of Game of Thrones is the struggle in character’s hearts between two opposing forces. It is the battle within a single person and everything else is “set dressing.” It is a guiding philosophy that is peppered throughout the entire story. It ranges from how to treat the bastard son of your husband, duty versus safety, or, like the TV show- whether to fight evil ice zombie’s or drink wine on a balcony in kind of a sinister, but sexy way.