Telling a story, not preaching a sermon

Often, a writer will have an underlying motive for his or her story. A point to get across. This is fine.

The problem is when the writing becomes preachy. One glaring example is The Jungle, a classic written by Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's purpose was to promote socialism--this is glaringly obvious in a long speech delivered near the end of the book. But if you mention The Jungle, people don't think of it as a political treatise. Instead, The Jungle is notable because it exposed unsafe and unsanitary practices in meat-packing plants and led to the creation of federal food safety laws.

We have a great deal to say. But how will we say it? Through long lectures? I guarantee the reader will put the book down and never pick it up again.

Let's get real. Literally. Don't preach. No sermons. No lectures. Instead, we need to tell an engaging story with believable characters. They succeed. They fail. They learn. Eventually. No quick solutions. No miracles to whisk away their troubles.

This is why Upton Sinclair ultimately succeeded. Because he told an engaging story about an immigrant family struggling to survive. And he exposed real problems in the meat-packing plants, not through preaching but through examples. If John Doe is killed by human negligence, and your reader is able to identify with John Doe, or Muhammad, or Yusuf, or Ali, then your reader will get the message.

I'm still working on this. A very kind fellow writer just told me that a section in an upcoming novel is preachy. She's right. I need to go back to that section and rewrite. Same point. Different approach.

You want to make a point. Great. But make sure you don't forget the story.