Fiction has no obligation to be impartial, moral or ethical.

This week the subject of morals and ethics in fiction came up briefly during a seminar. To give context, the discussion was around prize winning books discussing slavery, apartheid and murdering your own children. There was a general consensus that what we produce should be, in some way, moral and ethical, and that even if our characters lack morals, the plot should address this: retribution by author.

I believe, absolutely, that fiction has no obligation to be impartial, moral or ethical. This is not Jane Eyre. Be unapologetic. You do not have to make anyone pay for their sins. Sometimes, the bad guy gets the girl, the money, drives off into the sunset and lives happily ever after. And that's fine. Likewise, you can show one (narrow) point of view and apply the same principle. We are taught from GCSE onwards to address and acknowledge what is missing from our writing, i.e. other points of view. That doesn't mean you have to include them.

Anyway, this week I've been mourning the British summer, and this mourning has manifested itself in both my writing and my Pinterest feed. The only bonus to summer coming to an end is that I will spend more evenings at home and therefore I should spend considerably more time writing, which can only be a good thing.

Finally, and on a different note, I'm going to see Editors play in Newcastle on Tuesday evening. I hope to come away having heard a lot of their back catalogue and feeling inspired to get behind my desk. But even if it's 90 minutes of the new stuff, I can't be disappointed. The new album, In Dream, is captivating. The urgency of the older albums has given way to something which is perhaps gentler in places, and which has been criticised as 'too synth driven', but it is both musically and lyrically alluring from beginning to end, with highlights in the shape of 'Ocean of Night' and 'Life is a Fear'. I'm trying to find a copy on vinyl, so if anyone comes across one, please let me know.

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Nikita Jane Garner

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