Many years ago, the magazine I worked for decided to do a special issue on “Values,” and we chose a handful of key values and interviewed people who exemplified those values. Chris Fields, the firefighter who tenderly carried the baby killed in the Oklahoma City bombing out of the rubble, talked about COMPASSION; Cal Ripken, Jr. (who broke Lou Gehrig’s record for most consecutive baseball games played) talked about PERSEVERANCE; Mary Fisher, an artist (and later activist) who contracted AIDS from her husband, spoke about TOLERANCE. Everyone who worked on that issue, from the assistant photo editor to the sales reps, said something to me about how good it made them feel to be part of that project, what it meant to do something that felt meaningful and true.

And I find that the stories that resonate with me most in fiction—from The Story of Paddington Bear to the Lord of the Rings trilogy to the brilliant BBC series “Shetland”—are those with characters who exemplify strong values, who struggle to live by a code of conduct that rings true whether you’re a dwarf or a recently widowed police inspector. Figuring out the values that you want your work to convey can be as essential as developing plot or character or a climactic scene. A value system is an essential part of the fictional world you create, and it’s worth it to take some time to understand the values that matter in that world.

With each of the novels I’ve written, I’ve tried to explore essential values. In my third novel, one of the major characters has an affair with her best friend’s husband. It’s a terrible betrayal, and one that I tried to use to get at the heart of what it means to have integrity—not just in the sense of being honest, but also in the original sense of the word, what it means to be whole. Exploring THAT helped me get at the universal experience of why we all make mistakes, or do things that violate our own moral codes.

How do you figure out your novel’s value system? [Read more…]