Back in the early months of 2014, I was browsing the infamous Other Site and received an unexpected call. A call to a short story contest, sponsored by Students for Liberty and the Libertarian Fiction Authors Association. The guidelines were simple: Write a short story that illustrates the positive role of freedom in human life.
Writing was something I had loved doing growing up, and continuing into my early adult years, mostly in the form of fanfiction. But by 2014, I had started really considering making a go of this whole writing business, and this contest seemed like an invitation to try my hand at it and see if I could prove myself. I had been working on the bones of a young adult (YA) science fiction novel for a while, a time travel adventure set on Mars in both the near future and the far distant past. So I decided to write a story that would tie in to that series and explore the concept of freedom in the ancient Martians’ dystopian past.
And… I was one of the lucky winners! Out of 150+ entries, mine was one of the ten selected for publication (and a prize of questionable monetary value).
I took that as a good sign about the series in general. So I kept working at it, and a couple years later, the first book in what would eventually become a four-book series was published.
Because of the series’ origin, with its first iteration being published in a libertarian magazine, I wanted to carry the principles of liberty over into the rest of the series. But this is a mainstream YA series, and the word “libertarian” is now a cancellable offense, being associated with some of those icky Republicans who like Ayn Rand. So I had to be even-handed about it. Moreover, I didn’t want to write propaganda—rather, I wanted to write a fun and enjoyable series that just happened to portray the principles of liberty in a positive light. Here’s how I went about it:
Putting the Ideas in a Side Character’s Mouth
To make the concepts of liberty more palatable to a mainstream audience, it was important not to beat them over the head with it. Having a main character who’s already on the side of liberty would probably get this labeled right away as a niche work. The main character needed to be a “normie,” someone generally apolitical and relatable to most readers. But all good main characters need to have a lovable best friend, and in this case, the lovable best friend also happens to be a kooky libertarian troublemaker who routinely spends his free time in detention. He’s dismissed out-of-hand by his friend group as being kind of a weirdo who no one listens to… until it turns out that he’s right. Repeatedly.
Through the best friend, I was able to sneak in more and more lingo, mostly as an in-joke between myself and the other Glibs, but one that I enjoyed immensely. By the second book in the series, I was able to get the phrase “libertarian moment” in there. By the third, “taxation is theft.” By the last one, characters were having serious discussions about the NAP while planning their revolution and no one was batting an eye.
Showing That Principles of Liberty Are for Everyone
Something that was important to me early on in the development of the series was to portray the principle of individual freedom as something that benefits all people, not just the “rich straight white men” stereotype that the media has tried to shoot down the liberty movement with. To that end, characters from a wide variety of economic backgrounds, ethnicities, and sexual orientations make up the main cast of the near-future timeline. (Obviously, in the ancient timeline, the Martians are all Martian.) As the cast expands to include more libertarian characters, including a group of rebels seeking to overthrow the authoritarian government, I was sure to continue showcasing the diversity of the liberty movement. I wanted to portray the liberty movement as something that’s both welcoming of and beneficial to all people from all walks of life.
Depicting Different Types of Free Societies
While the near-future timeline represents a world relatively like the one we live in now, assuming things continue in the same direction (or at least the direction they seemed like they were going in ten years ago, when I started writing the series), the ancient Martian timeline depicts a different type of world, which meant I was able to explore free societies in a different framework. In the ancient timeline (which is the same timeline that the SFL/LFA short story takes place in), we encounter an underground movement of people who have broken away and formed an independent community. This society is a voluntarist cooperative which self-governs through community consensus and adheres to the non-aggression principle, a far cry from the centralized authoritarian government they broke away from. This is the city the characters in the original short story escaped to find, so it was fun to explore their world in a bit more detail.
Not Beating You Over the Head with It
I think the biggest reason that these concepts managed to be successful in a mainstream YA book is because they’re worldbuilding elements, but not a sermon being preached at the reader. I wanted to show libertarian principles in a positive light, but they’re also not the main point of the series by any means. The most important focus of all four books in the series was to tell a good story, one that’s exciting, one with easily relatable characters, and one which holds readers’ interest and keeps them hooked. I hope I was successful with that.
All this to say… the last book in the series is out now! If you’re interested or think a kid in your life might enjoy (recommended age is 13-18), I hope you’ll check it out.
Woot! MLW back, and with a vengeance!
Yay!
Wow. Special Guest Appearance.
To back up your first point (Putting the Ideas in a Side Character’s Mouth), I think that’s one of the reasons The Moon is a Harsh Mistress works so well.
Agreed. Mannie just wants to fix computers and bang his 47 wives. The politics is from Bernardo and Wyoming.
Moreover, I didn’t want to write propaganda
You’ll never hit the big time that way.
Great to see you again! And thanks for also being on B&N for us stubborn Nookers! (Please also get #4 up there when you can, wouldja? KThx!)
They should all be there! Which one isn’t showing for you? Is it Different Worlds?
(Also, thank you for your interest!)
Well, I checked and they all seem to be there so let me know if you keep having trouble on your side!
We’re really fortunate to have so many great writers here.
I didn’t realize how many when I took my stab at fiction. I doubt I would have had I known. On the other hand, they were very encouraging.
Yeah, so why’d you stop?
Wrote myself into a corner. But I’m thinking about giving it another shot and then I’ll have questions about what to do with a “finished” manuscript. 😉
Sowell, eloquent as always, said that one of the biggest mistakes you can make is letting someone who has nothing to lose by being wrong make decisions on your behalf.
If I were a better writer…
“Freedom’s just another word…”
Write what you want to say, we’re all in.
I do a lot more pondering on writing than actual writing.
It seems it would be easy to concoct a ‘not propaganda’ story with that premise. Putting it down on paper is a different thing altogether.
I have half of a dozen half-finished articles for here. I usually bring their theme or premise out for discussion in the comments and by the time everyone gets finished tossing it around the articles seem irrelevant. I know…cart, horse and all that.
Pull a Vonnegut.
1. Copy all your comments to a single document, cut them up
2. ?
3. Profit!
I look at the comments as telling me what I need to write if I want to take it further (making it into something I might get paid for).
And that’s where we are: the people making the decisions pay no penalty for being wrong.
So it is. I am reminded of the European aristocracy. They became so powerful and unaccountable that they freely engaged in so much depravity and stupidity that the whole system collapsed.
“There is nothing new under the sun” – Ecclesiastes
“The only thing new is what is new to you” – Socrates
“The only thing new to you is the history you do not know.” – Truman
I once had a young colleague hate me passionately. He told me with pride and arrogance that the music scene he was into had never been seen before. His generation was ground breaking because they had turned away from the corporate music scene to grassroots, contemporaneous performances.
I listened to his whole screed and then asked him “Have you ever heard of a hoe-down?”
God, he hated me for that.
Hoe Down is the fluffy plumage of young garden implements before they grow their adult pinions.
Similar story. At my first job after college, there was this hippie guy with a long pony tail. I got frustrated because he kept saying there was no such thing as “original” music. It’s all derivative of something else. I brought up every modern band and he gave me one from the past that they copied. Took me a while but I finally realized he was right.
It’s the smug, snide repetition of “Someone else did it already” that’s the issue, especially when you’ve never heard of the previous iterations that makes you want to grab him by the ponytail and slit the throat.
But people like that get off on beating down enthusasm and making people miserable.
Essentially true. Think of endless boring hours of herders watching over sheep. They passed their time with simple musical instruments. There is a reason Pan had a flute.
UnCivil – I wasn’t trying to be smug or anything really. It just popped out before I realized it.
The key phrase that set me off was “he kept saying”. It implied a pattern of behavior.
I would say it’s more iterative than copying.
Of course, I would have then countered with something along the lines of Negativeland.
Thanks for the write up.
Double what he said, MLW
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
MLW’s back! YAYYYYY!!!
Now if only Tulip would return as well . . .
Everyone knows there are no libertarian women. Sheesh!
This is so cool.
Welcome back.
Thank you!
When I was YA, Asimov, Clark, and Heinlein were YA SciFi.
Asimov would have an idea – but then build just enough of a world around it to make a story. I never really cared what happened to any of his characters, and my memory of his stories has them happening in blank white rooms because of a paucity of description. His best work was his autobigraphy. (I still recommend “In Memory Yet Green” and “In Joy Still Felt”)
I’ve read… one book from Clark, so I can’t generalize.
Heinlein I chucked against the far wall.
Now I’ve had an interesting visual idea for the Robots stories
In my sarcasm I was going to go to “Those positronic brains could have been powered by steam-driven antidynamos for all we knew”
I like that visual…
I’m surprised you dislike Heinlein given that he basically invented space marines, along with most military sci fi tropes. There’d be no Warhammer 40K without Heinlein.
Asimov was always more interested in the ideas of sci fi rather the usual aspects of storytelling.
Warhammer 40K can even make a Katy Perry song tolerable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nph-p-vVXQU
It doesn’t mean he did it well.
Trying to read his work was what made me hate him.
Huh. To each their own. Heinlein reminds me of Hemingway almost. Ever read 6th Column? I think you’d love that. It has sci-fi weapons, a fake religion, guerilla warfare, and an invading army of collectivists getting righteously curb stomped.
Heinlein reminds me of Hemingway almost.
For some people, that’s a problem.
Heinlein’s juveniles are miles away his best work. Friday is crap, Stranger… is OK, and I cannot remember any of the other titles they are so forgettable.
I chucked “The Cat Who Walked Through Walls”
I had “Friday” when I was a kid, don’t remember any of it other than it certainly wasn’t a “juvenile”.
I don’t know what his juveniles actually refers to.
Door Into Summer and similar. Aimed more at the teen level.
Mistress is his best work.
yes
Heinlein has a stark difference between the “juveniles” and his other works.
I’ve already started my niece and nephews on his books.
Never read the juveniles. Just his main books.
Most of the juveniles hold up (as well as his main books), but they were also written earlier, so lots of “slipsticks” and needing to enter binary entries into navigation computers. Tunnel in the Sky is a nice counterpoint to Lord of the Flies, and I’m partial to Podkayne of Mars. Starship Troopers, of course, being the one that was planned as a juvenile, but was later revamped as an “adult” book.
Yeah, I got my start on Clark, Asimov, and LeGuin. Basically, the first books I found at my local library branch.
As for the fellers, today I like their less-known stuff way more than any of the greatest hits.
I don’t write YA, but I was pretty upfront with my propaganda. I was banking on the characters being compelling enough that they could override a reader’s inclination to throw it against the wall.
I got “permission” from Sheri S Tepper, whose propaganda (that I disagree with) was front and center, but the story was so good, I didn’t care too much.
Gonna check out your stuff when I get off my arse and start reading anything other than Reddit.
I’m sure my biases stick out like a sore thumb in my writing, but I don’t make a conscious effort to include a message.
Wish-listed! I am not above a good sci-fi YA.
I was eyeing up Cheerleaders from Planet X.
Good enough review for me. 😉
A stand-alone? Nice.
Ha! Cheerleaders is a bit goofier and less libertarian, but I hope enjoyable! I did manage to get in Reagan’s quote about the 9 most terrifying words in the English language, though 😆
Me as well. If anything, YA has to concentrate more on plot, as it cannot rely on tawdry sex or gore. In that respect it can be a fuller experience and has better world building.
as it cannot rely on tawdry sex or gore.
then what is the point . . . . . . .
Gotta save that for Thursdays.
When I was on a plane flight to Europe, I accidentally read a YA sci-fi novel as it’s what my book program recommended for me next. It was fine.
But 3/4 of the way through I got concerned that not a single character had had sex or used a cursed word. So I Googled it and learned about it.
I would disagree about the violence thing though. It was full of violence. Apparently that’s ok for the youths.
Gotta teach ‘em how to stab somehow!
You “got concerned”? Was the story that bad that you noticed?
Take a look at the works of John Barnes. I would suggest starting with one of: Orbital Resonance, A Million Open Doors, Patton’s Spaceship, or The Duke of Uranium as they all are the entry point into a various series. The books are not happy and cheerful reads, they are dark, really dark, and amazingly well written where you want to find out what happens. Quick synopsis of the series:
Meme wars (starts with Orbital Resonance) – People develop AI, people and AI figure out how to cross the brain/machine barrier. Sentient AI’s (known as memes) take over humanity and war among each other. There are scattered outposts of independent humans still.
Culture series (starts with A Million Open Doors) – Mankind has spread among the stars, this happened centuries ago, when various groups ponied up the cash to buy shares of habitable worlds and launch sleeper ships full of people to populate it under their own independent charters. Most were various religious/political groups, others were cultural ones, and some were made up cultures that sociologists thought would be stable. People’s minds and personalities can be backed up and it’s near post-scarcity. A form of FTL travel is discovered, causing issues with the various independent cultures and Earth.
Timeline wars (starts with Patton’s Spaceship) – Time traveling terrorists (who worship Moloch) are trying to take over all timelines by going back to important junctions and changing the past. The main character gets pulled into the group trying to stop them.
Jak Jinnaka series (starts with The Duke of Uranium) – The closest thing to a YA series he’s done, but it works to deconstruct most of the standard tropes, and probably is not the most appropriate read for pre-teens.
Barnes is on my too-long wish-list.
Hugh Howey wrote a fun YA series before he got famous for the Silo books, the “Bern Saga” or “Molly Fynde”. I think I read the first 3, didn’t get to 4, and 5 is not done.
…
Oh there is a new Sand novel! I loved that series. It is not YA. I read the first one so long ago I have to read it again. Right after 4 more Expanse novels.
I love the meme war books, but they get bleak really quick. The culture series is probably the “lightest” one to jump into, and it involves genocide, economics, human rights arguments, and failing relationships. The timeline wars and Jak Jiinnaka series are both faster reads (or they were for me), but don’t have as much meat in them as the meme wars or the culture series.
I read Candle from the Meme Wars series, and the book in the series after that. Both were very good.
Thank you!
This is exciting. I added those books to my read list.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy!
People, young and old, must be taught to surrender themselves to the collective. The Greater Good is best brought into existence by a global socialist dictatorship.
Tell me how terrible an idea Baked Portabello and Cheese is.
Not terrible. There is nothing wrong with a stuffed mushroom
Emeril’s Sausage stuffed mushrooms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaEzhwLFPi8
Well, the idea in my head was more of “replace the macaroni in mac and cheese with mushrooms” and am thinking about the moisture that comes out of mushrooms in cooking.
Cook mushrooms first, incorporate at end
I think the biggest reason that these concepts managed to be successful in a mainstream YA book is because they’re worldbuilding elements, but not a sermon being preached at the reader.
I agree.
It was a grind getting through Heinlein’s preachy worst.
In his defense, For Us, The Living was never expected to be published.
That was a slog, but not what I was thinking of.
“For Us, the Living” reminds me of something I read about Heinlein. The woman he was married to at the time he wrote a particular story was a good predictor of what the politics of the book would be.
We’re lucky here not just to have good writers, but actual published authors. Perhaps I will get there someday.
For those afflicted with low blood pressure, enjoy the following:
***
The leadership at an Air Force base in North Dakota sent a text message to service members to warn them of the dangers of being near a downtown rally that featured a speaker from a pro-Trump organization.
“Leaders, please exercise caution if downtown this weekend,” reads the text message that was sent to Minot Air Force Base personnel, adding that anyone who was thinking about going downtown should “be careful” and “reach out for any concerns.”
At issue was a planned Nov. 17 event dubbed the “Dakota Patriot Rally” at the state fairgrounds in Minot, and the text warned personnel “to be cautious” if they were in the area, especially because some rally-goers “could be confrontational to military members.” The text, which was shared with the popular “Air Force amen/nco/snco” Facebook page, also noted that the event would feature a guest speaker from Turning Point Action, which the warning noted is an “alt-right” organization.
***
continued in reply to appease server squirrels
The server squirrels really don’t like the part where I quote USAF leadership saying that participation in the rally could jeopardize the careers of the airmen who attend.
That’s good advice. We all know what happens to members of the military when they attend one of those fake FBI rallies.
In addition to being wrong in its assertion that TPUSA is alt-right, it’s a veiled threat against their constitutional rights. Yeah, you can’t attend political rallies in uniform or mention your military affiliation in letters to the editor and such, but you sure as hell can attend an event hosted at a state fairground.
If drag queen shows on base are OK, this event should be OK too.
I tend to write characters that have poorly thought out political views that are antithetical to my own. I try mostly to just show why their views suck instead of pushing my own.
MLW! Yay!
Glad to see you.
Yay!
I’ve read that Ayn Rand’s work is bad because it’s didactic. You know, completely unlike anything Aaron Sorkin’s written that relates to politics.
The liberal hivemind of the Anglosphere comedy world is suffocating.
Some people complain that Rand’s villains are two dimensional characters. Its true. The big problem is that is one more dimension than those people have in real life.
Putting the Ideas in a Side Character’s Mouth
The Dirty Old Man at the whorehouse in Catch-22.
Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation?
I wasn’t there when that show was current but I love it now. The writers, who are no doubt orthodox liberals, are skillful enough to let us form our own opinions about him and Leslie.
As is the actor, but he is good at his job, because he made the role realistic, in an over the top manner.
I want my own Pyramid of Greatness.
Point of order from the ded thred. VAX was a minicomputer system not a mainframe.
[game show buzzer]
***
The VAX 9000 is a discontinued family of mainframes developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) using custom ECL-based processors implementing the VAX instruction set architecture (ISA).
***
VAX had single-board computers, minis, and mainframes.
I remember the microvax and vaxstation variants. I concede to the power of Derpy on the original.
Yay me. Of course, I’m still a 38-year old fat, childless, unemployed alcoholic, but at least my trivia game is strong.
Sorry about that. It’s better to vent than explode.
It’s OK to fall apart; tacos do, and we love them.
No one loves a taco that falls apart.
The zen of the perfect taco shell – crispy yet resilient.
robs….Not to worry, if you have a taco that has the temerity to fall apart you just let me know brother. I will take care of the problem.
Yeah.
I didn’t see the dedthread talk so I don’t know what you guys were talking about. Kinnath is correct.
At college, you could register for classes one of three ways – by physically going to the registrar’s office and waiting in line (the fool’s option). via the registrar’s website (the common option), or via the VAX system. Most people A: didn’t know about the VAX, or B: couldn’t navigate it.
Because there was no line on the VAX, it was the key to getting into the best schedules, since you’d bypass the oft clogged website and the lines of fools doing in-person.
I’d say difficult with libertarian fiction is avoiding utopianism and presenting some downsides… If all characters that show up are young healthy competent people, this does not answer the worries of the left e.g the old, the sick, the infirm. If it presents drugs having no downside it will cause the right to call bull. etc.
Avoiding utopianism. To make a story engaging and to get some suspension of disbelief that is a definite requirement.
In reality despite one’s best efforts, even with the aid of any number of others, all of the best things in life cannot be gathered together and distilled in the same place at the same time even for one day.
A real paradise on earth is just too unpossible to be believed. Two pages in the reader will sense candy-coated bullshit and chuck the book.
Also why my articles seem superfluous – I use all of my best lines in these here comments. I say best lines, often I go back and re-read weeks later and wonder “Who wrote that tripe?! Someone has obviously hacked my handle!”.
I’ve been to paradise. It’s in Thermopolis, Wyoming. Nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
Herbert Spencer gave us this gem on the subject of utopia:
“If in these personal affairs, where all the conditions of the case were known to me, I have so often miscalculated, how much oftener shall I miscalculate in political affairs, where the conditions are too numerous, too widespread, too complex, too obscure to be understood . . . when I remember how many of my private schemes have miscarried; how speculations have failed, agents proved dishonest, marriage been a disappointment; how I did but pauperize the relative I sought to help; how my carefully-governed son has turned out worse than most children; how the thing I desperately strove against as a misfortune did me immense good; how while the objects I ardently pursued brought me little happiness when gained, most of my pleasures have come from unexpected sources; when I recall these and hosts of like facts, I am struck with the incompetence of my intellect to prescribe for society.”
Contrast that with the incompetence and hubris of those who do consider themselves competent to do so.
It is obvious why we are all in this damned hand basket.
, mostly in the form of fanfiction- if this was 50 shades of grey you woulda been rich
You can’t propagandize about the greatness of Firsting because it is so self-evident. It doesn’t even need it, anyway.
First power! First power! First power!
Thank you all for your nice words!!