Tell it the much cooler way it should have happened
I've got a new entry for the things-I-didn't-even-realize-I-believed-in folder: morals at the end of stories. I think that's made for some pretty terrible art. I've noticed a certain preachy-ness, a high on my horse type vibe, sneaking into my writing. I once wrote a 10 page allegory about a weapons contractor capturing the Senate . I had a great time writing it, but nobody had a great time reading it. I think there's something in our culture, an ideology that you have to wrap things up all nice and tidy. Where does that come from? Perhaps it comes from this nice and tidy list here: Years of English teachers harping on about introductions, bodies, and conclusions. "And so the boy's thumb got eaten. And that's why you don't steal cookies," type tales from childhood. Endless demonstrations in church that every passage of the Bible has a bullet list of meaningful lessons. Would you pay to go see any of that? It's all boring, preachy,...