Why Are So Many Conservatives Turning to Writing Fiction?

I'm beginning to believe that fiction - and its close cousin, autobiography (as we all tell ourselves stories about our own lives) - may be the secret to converting succeeding generations.

It's the stories that shape the civilization. That's the part of our fight that, until recently, has been lost.

I grew up on stories:

• Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, both from the school library, and many other classics. The Pocket book was just around $ 0.59, which meant that I could pack a lunch for school, and buy a book with the money saved. Which I did. Often.
• Agatha Christie and other mystery/detective novels - John and Ross MacDonald, Mickey Spillane, Sherlock Holmes - all providing the moral underpinning that crime is WRONG, that victims and their loved ones deserved retribution, and that people had choices. Also, that cops could be smart and funny, or dull and corrupt - even to White people.
• Books about Communism that showed its flaws - Eighth Moon, Animal Farm, Brave New World, 1984 - all were assigned in Social Studies or English classes.
• To be fair, we were also assigned Arthur Miller's The Crucible. But, for the most part, our assigned reading was more pro-America, than critical of her.

Every culture has stories. Only in America is it seemingly a crime against sensibility to produce a book that does not promote disgust with the mother country. To get a non-PC, non-Progressive book accepted by a publisher has been an uphill struggle. Funny, since the American public has shown that they LIKE those books. An out-of-nowhere book that spawned an industry was The Hunt for Red October. Today, largely as a result of that book and those that followed, the military fiction market is thriving.

And, it wouldn't have happened without The Naval Institute Press, which is the publishing arm of a private military association.

That refusal to publish books that didn't tow the Liberal Line changed, since the gatekeepers are no longer in charge of publishing.

It started with the blogs. For the first time in years, you could read something that contradicted the Accepted Wisdom.

And, people did - enough to make a few bloggers wealthy, and many more to write without anticipation of wealth, but for the passionate love of writing. The diversity of thought and opinion expanded like hot gases after the Big Bang.

Oh, the Old Guard attempted to slap them down. They sneered at those Bloggers, calling them dolts producing their blogs in their pajamas.

PJMedia sneered back, and took that name for their own.

The newspapers and television news got skunked by many bloggers. They were trumped (!) on news, time and again. By the time the dust cleared, many newspapers/magazines were out of business, the number of jobs had plummeted, and former journalists were standing around holding the contents of their desks, hailing a cab.

Some left the business entirely; others retired.

And, a few decided that this was the time, finally, for them to write that book they'd always been meaning to. Some even managed to line up lavish advances on those proposals. We've all seen those books explaining how these Professional Leftist Journalists were the only ones you could rely on for the Unvarnished Truth. We've also seen that unsold product, lined up in large stacks on the remainder tables.

About that time, in part due to idiotic decisions to give lavish advances to those authors spouting the Liberal Truth, the publishing industry collapsed. You probably know the details, and it ain't pretty. So much for that post-journalism cushy writing life.

Which brings us to today.

Very few bloggers - Conservative, Liberal/Progressive, or Raving Lunatic (both sides have them) make all that much money. Heck, a blogger is lucky to make enough to cover their expenses. Most have found that, if they get too controversial or outspoken on behalf of non-Leftists, their advertisers will be hounded to drop them. Others have found that organized crowds (or bots) persuade their hosting companies, Twitter, and others entities susceptible to pressure, to block their publishing outlets.

The recent pressure on Patreon, an alternative funding mechanism that some bloggers use, is indicative of the fear those Leftists are feeling. They are terrified of a Voluntary Funding Apparatus being used by non-Leftists.

The Left is well-organized in their efforts to keep alternative voices from being heard. Leftist organizations pay LOTS of money to interns and foreign entities to generate Twitter storms, DOS attacks, bots pressuring advertisers to drop those sites, and doxxing, getting people fired, and even initiating SWAT attacks.

We're not at the point of imprisoning bloggers - yet - but the endless attacks have driven many from their blogs. Keep in mind, for most, this is a passion, but not a living.

Some of those bloggers have re-directed their efforts, and become indie authors. The sci-fi and fantasy offerings have exploded, and many of those imaginary worlds have heroes/heroines fighting back against oppressive governments. The indie heroes, unlike the trad authors protagonists, usually are fighting the Leftist Authoritarians, not Margaret Atwood's conservative religiously-motivated masculine oppressive society.

And, they are selling. Not generally in the hundreds of thousands, but enough to provide some return on the writer's efforts.

Again, it's a return to the Story to provide the narrative that gently leads people in the direction you want. It's primarily speculative fiction - past, present, future, urban, other-worldly - that provides the framework for getting people to ask - What If?

That question leads to greater flights of imagination:

• If a young boy on a 2-starred planet far from power can dream of overcoming mighty forces, why can't I?
• If some nobody can defeat the oppressive government, so can I!
• If a group of high school kids can lead the rebellion against a Superpower trying to invade their country, we can work to defeat heavy taxation, oppressive regulation, and an unjust court system.

Narratives count. Over the last 1/2 century, the Leftist controlled the narrative. As of today, they no longer can keep other voices from sharing their words. On YouTube, Twitter, Gab, Google+, Facebook, Blogger, and a lot of other media, the average person has the opportunity to be heard.

That's not even mentioning the Giant-Killer, Amazon Direct Publishing, which controls the field, BUT - does not impose - YET - a filter on who can publish a book.

There are alternatives, as well, although CreateSpace was just acquired by Amazon. Here's a list of some other self-publishers.

What are you waiting for?