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Moralists and censors who want to shut down people who create taboo fiction and artwork will claim their opponents believe that “Fiction doesn’t affect reality”.
Nobody (generalization) actually believes “fiction doesn’t affect reality.”
⭐ We believe that fiction doesn’t reprogram someone’s morals.
⭐ We believe fiction doesn’t take away your free will.
⭐ We believe that blaming the actions of abusers on fiction absolves abusers of their guilt.
⭐ We believe that people are responsible for their behavior no matter what fiction they’ve read.
⭐ We believe that enjoying fiction about evil things doesn’t cause someone to do evil in real life.
THIS!
Also, I hope my dark hideous fiction affects people’s lives in reality in actual possible ways:
I hope it makes them consider how you don’t have to think you’re a Bad Person to do horrible things, and how a lot of people who think they are Bad People are often just people with serious morality hangups.
I hope it makes readers empathize or understand pains they haven’t experienced. I hope it makes them think about what life would be like for someone suffering. I hope it makes them consider the suffering around them with new eyes that see humanity now.
I hope it makes readers feel for pain they have experienced, writ LOUD on a page for the first time. Finally, finally, someone said it. In a fantasy story maybe, but it was said and they feel a little more seen and validated.
I hope it makes them cry, when they couldn’t cry over what they think are mundane problems in their own life that are really hurting them- but reading about torture and darkness lets them cry for someone fictional, and let out some of their pain at the same time.
AND
I hope it entertains them
or interests them
or lets them consider dark things without ever experiencing them. That’s justification enough for writing to exist.
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