The Moral Compass in Writing

"Morality is a hindrance. We limit ourselves because of our perception of social norms, of believing in fair play. The greatest magicians are those who are willing to accept the consequences of their actions. They do not believe in accidents, in randomness. They believe that they are forever at the center of their existence, in control of their fate." The Red Queen, ENCHANTRESS ON THE EDGE (M Cid D'Angelo)


It was Machiavelli who illustrated well the philosophy of unreserved action without troubling oneself over consequences. He argued that the Prince should show no mercy when applying his will; that he should accept everything that he does and desire as so long as the Prince understands and accepts the consequences of his actions.

In this argument, morality is abstract; it is but a quaint invention of human society. Nature is cruel, but not cruel by intention if by design. Social animals and insects rarely thrust their individual needs before the group; their instincts hardwired into their behavior for the good of the hive, pride, what-have-you. These social structures in nature become one unit, acting at the will of what that society deems necessary to survive.

Human beings are individualistic social animals. We perceive ourselves with self-identity, yet, we also desire the survival tactic of being stronger en masse. The self-identity then becomes a random factor in what would be a true communistic society if everyone shared the same ideals and goals. We have those who show a great deal of altruism instead of selfish pursuits; we have humanitarians and murderers.

In Dr. Joshua D. Greene's essay, "Fruit Flies of the Moral Mind", the philosopher proposes several well-known scenarios to illustrate the moral dilemma that human beings can face from day-to-day, offering altruistic or utilitarian choices.

The Crying Baby Dilemma

You have an infant in your arms while with a group of people. There are enemy soldiers nearby looking for your group. If they find you all, they will kill you. Suddenly, the infant begins crying, so you place a hand over its mouth. You then are faced with a moral problem: if you keep holding your hand over the baby's mouth, you will end up suffocating it; if you do not, the infant's cries will alert the soldiers and they will end up killing you all. What do you choose to do? Kill your baby, or face the wrath of the soldiers?

The Switch Dilemma

There is a group of people near a railroad track. At that moment, a train loses control and will jump the track and kill everyone unless the far switch is activated. However, there is no time to hurry over to switch it. The only recourse is to push an unsuspecting fellow into the switch as hard as you can, throwing him into the train's path and killing him. The upside? You save the many people across the track. The downside? The man you push dies. What is the best option? The life of one for the life of others? Or is the choice of murdering the unsuspecting fellow too much for you to take on - at least if the group of people die, it was not at your hand?

In my Artemus Dark novel, Dark Running, one of the hero's adversaries is a cold, calculating fellow who will stop at nothing to gain his objectives. He has no social moral compass, but he does possess the capacity for social efficiency, i.e., he does not kill or hinder anyone just for the sake of causing harm. This moral question is brought up again in my other novels, Darkness Becomes You and Enchantress on the Edge. In both we have "villains" who understand the need for social norms and morals for the group to survive, but, individualistically, they are quick to take the road of self-interest in furthering their own goals.

The moral compass of a character in a story, even beyond the dilemmas of the hero/heroine, creates a vortex of inner strurggle and turmoil. Are we altogether altruistic by nature, or just a society of individuals bounded by our own self-interest? After all, we live our lives subjectively. No one travels our same road. Whether we live for others or live for ourselves, we all reach the final fate.

"Adagio in the Dark" now in hard copy!

I wanted to kick off this new blog with an announcement: Lady Jane's Miscellany (a literary magazine published by San Francisco Press) has now published my literary short story, "Adagio in the Dark" !

http://sanfranciscobaypress.com/ladyjanesmiscellany

Accepted for publication in April 2010, ADAGIO is a story about two violinists finding elusive love in rainy-day Chicago. The piece itself was submitted in October 2009.

"Adagio in the Dark" was inspired by listening to KD Lang/Tony Bennett duets, of all things. Yet, the story was a hard sale and had to undergo several major revisions since its first conception in Fall 2000 (as you can see, some period of time has passed since the first draft being penned and its first publication).

Even though set in Chicago, I had written it while living in a small studio apartment in Reno, Nevada. The first draft had a liberal twist to it, meaning that the object of the main character's (Julian) love, Amber Lewinski, was gay. This was the great barrier that kept the straight male from realizing romance with Amber, an insurmountable obstruction to his personal life coupled with his struggle to make it as a professional violinist. The homosexual twist to the story was an interesting topic, introducing how two very different individuals could still find a romantic love that was not physical, bound together by their mutual devotion to music. However, I changed the later draft to reflect that Amber had given her love already to a man and was now married - yet, as one can read, there seems to be a melancholic, lonely view of this marriage. Both violinists are lost, lonely, despite their finding each other in the gray wet of the Windy City.

A reader who enjoys moody, artistic stories should enjoy ADAGIO very much.

Lady Jane's Miscellany is a new literary magazine, with Jeff Hewitt as the Editor-in-Chief and Mac McKinney as the managing editor. Issue #2 is on sale now for $14.99 and is well-worth the cover price for quality literary fiction and other features.