I've been blogging about how to make your writing more literary, regardless of genre. The main thing that sets literary works apart from writing that just tell a story is to instill it with meaning. For many people, these can just be general themes such as the importance of love or being true to yourself. Some people want to share more specific truths they have learned through experience or creed. A Christian writer this time of year may want to share something about the Christmas season this time of year. A Jewish writer may want to share their thoughts on something like Hanukkah. A disillusioned writer may want to share about the blahs they feel this time of year or their frustrations with commercialism or with some aspect of that same Christmas season. Someone who is in mourning may want to share their pain and struggles of dealing with people's expectations that they smile and be happy this time of year. Many people have Truths with a capital T they want to share about their inner life with people who understand or who want to understand. Regardless of the truths one wants to share, writing is a great way to do it.
In nonfiction, this is simply a matter of stating and explaining the truths you wish to share or illustrating them with experiences or anecdotes. It's rather more complicated in fiction because the moment you start overtly preaching with no prior emotional investment is the moment many readers put the book down and walk away.
So what do you do instead? You create a context in which the reader cares about your message. You create an emotional investment, characters who suffer and know what's at stake if they fail. You shape characters that will make choices within the world of your novel, and those choices or their consequences may be influenced by whatever truths you want to share. For instance, To Kill a Mockingbird has very specific truths to share about prejudice and hatred and their consequences for society and for individuals within it. These can be considered themes or specific truths the writer wants to share. What happens when law supports ignorance and hatred? Innocents are hurt and even die. There isn't a lot of preaching in the book, but the truths come through loudly and clearly through the harmful actions of the antagonist and their consequences. What happens when good people stand up for those who are persecuted by such a system? People learn, especially the next generation, who can carry that message forward and spread it. The reader cares about the little girl named Scout and her brother and, through their eyes, start to care about others within the fictional world, which can also start the reader thinking about issues and people outside of the fictional world. This is a strong and resonant way to share truths.
If you want to teach truth, make sure your reader cares about your main character. Make sure that what he or she learns, does, suffers, etc. help the reader broaden their mind without a lot of unnecessary preaching. Share what you want to share implicitly as much as possible. Have you done this yet? If not, carefully consider how to make it happen.
