I think one thing that is especially true about writing with an ideology is that most writing reflects the life and times of the author. I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Does it "ruin the wonder" of Les Mis that the Hugo has an ax to grind against the iniquities of life for the vast majority of 19th century French people? Or War and Peace, or Things Fall Apart? Ideology is born out of our experience; it is, for better and worse, part of how we as humanity figure things out, painfully and slowly but unceasingly. Anyway, now I'm on a high horse myself.
Where I guess I sort of agree with Weir is the "weak version" of the claim -- I think it's important to not sacrifice other elements of a story on the altar of ideology. If you have a great ideological point but it is so strong that your plots start to fall apart, or your characters feel stale, step back and edit. This is a bit of a stretch, but I think it might be a critique I have for GRRM's work. He is not an ideologue, but sometimes I feel he is so committed to "the European medieval period was horrible, actually," that it gets in the way of his telling a compelling story.
In the game I'm writing now, which is heavily about class struggle, I find myself dealing with this problem to an even greater degree, because of the element of player choice. I well remember, and have taken to heart, our many conversations about moral choices in RPGs all the way from KOTOR, that basically boil down to "eh, I'm a normal person" vs. "I kill puppies for fun!" There are some ideologically motivated, tear-down-the-system type choices in my game; but it's very important for them to not feel as the default, with puppy-killing as an alternative. When you destroy a noble family's evil magical mansion, what is the collateral damage? Both in the immediate, physical sense, and in the social / economic shockwaves that reverberate through the society.
Well said!
I think one thing that is especially true about writing with an ideology is that most writing reflects the life and times of the author. I think there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Does it "ruin the wonder" of Les Mis that the Hugo has an ax to grind against the iniquities of life for the vast majority of 19th century French people? Or War and Peace, or Things Fall Apart? Ideology is born out of our experience; it is, for better and worse, part of how we as humanity figure things out, painfully and slowly but unceasingly. Anyway, now I'm on a high horse myself.
Where I guess I sort of agree with Weir is the "weak version" of the claim -- I think it's important to not sacrifice other elements of a story on the altar of ideology. If you have a great ideological point but it is so strong that your plots start to fall apart, or your characters feel stale, step back and edit. This is a bit of a stretch, but I think it might be a critique I have for GRRM's work. He is not an ideologue, but sometimes I feel he is so committed to "the European medieval period was horrible, actually," that it gets in the way of his telling a compelling story.
In the game I'm writing now, which is heavily about class struggle, I find myself dealing with this problem to an even greater degree, because of the element of player choice. I well remember, and have taken to heart, our many conversations about moral choices in RPGs all the way from KOTOR, that basically boil down to "eh, I'm a normal person" vs. "I kill puppies for fun!" There are some ideologically motivated, tear-down-the-system type choices in my game; but it's very important for them to not feel as the default, with puppy-killing as an alternative. When you destroy a noble family's evil magical mansion, what is the collateral damage? Both in the immediate, physical sense, and in the social / economic shockwaves that reverberate through the society.