Drowning in the Dark (Part I): Rose-Colored Glasses

Do you ever notice how people talk about the “good old days?” They make yesterday, or last year, or one hundred years ago sound better than today. Prices were cheaper, the ice cream was creamier and came in a half-gallon instead of a quart, and society was nicer. People were friendlier, more easy going, and perhaps most mentioned, “more moral.”

Without trying, that mindset can engrain itself into the way you write, especially if you’re writing anything but present-day fiction. The characters in that medieval fantasy or WWI adventure may emerge as morally flawless beings. The fictional society gets portrayed as mostly good.

Though the pages of your story may be filled with fist-fights, prejudices, and depressed characters, the underlying worldview of “better back then” will still taint your narrative. It’s unintentional, but it’s there, nonetheless.

I realized this today in my own writing. My Vietnam War historical fiction is filled with all the conflict mentioned in the last paragraph (and more), but it’s tinted.

Looking through my glasses at my novel’s era, I see America, a country that I love. I see a society peppered with racism protesting the Southeast Asia conflict. But that part is a bit shadowed in my story—not the racism, just the protest. I see young men, heading off to fight a war that’s not theirs, being scared to death, but going anyway. There’s this rosy-colored wash over the whole story.

As my yet-to-be written WWI character says, “rose-colored glasses always hide the bloodstains.”

Today, someone ripped the glasses off my face. Glasses I didn’t know I still had on.

I knew that I need to add so much to my story, including more flaws in the story world, but I hadn’t realized how much immorality filled the American culture, even “back then in the good old days,” as many as 60 years before my book takes place.

Some brief reading yanked those glasses away, and I saw all the blood.

Please understand that I’m not advocating immoral stories. In fact, corrupt novels were a huge part of the downturn of society. Art, specifically stories, shape culture in incredible ways, and depraved stories will affect culture accordingly.

I am, however, promoting honest stories. Failure to portray life as it was (or is) will only cause people to keep thinking “those were the good days.” It’s false. It’s rosy. It hides the bloodstains.

People will only wish to return to the past, instead of looking to transform the future.

The Bible has a verse that says, “Do not say, ‘why were the former days better than these?’ For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.” Ecclesiastes 7:10 Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

So, take off your glasses. Research is the best way to do this. Be willing to see and show the bad. But don’t stop there.

Mark Wilson once spoke on how writers tend to look at the world honestly. We have a love for peeling back masks and showing the ugly truth. Mr. Wilson also mentioned that it’s easy for authors to become cynical: we see the truth, and we’ll tell it. Raw. Unglorified. Ugly. Just like it is.

But we can’t stop there. We’ve got to show the goodness, the part that people should aim for. Show the good from the past that we should imitate. We’ve got to inspire our readers to live honorably, to seek God, to live lives that glorify Him, because that’s all that matters in the end.

We’ve got to show the honest darkness, so that people won’t ever want to go back to it. We’ve got to show them the beautiful light so that they’ll run to it. Take off their glasses.

“That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new’? It has already been in ancient times before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those who will come after.” Ecclesiastes 1:9-11 Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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What do you need to begin to see and write honestly?

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