If you're a fiction author wondering if what you do matters, it certainly does. Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in 1852. According to some, Stowe's portrayal of life as a slave was more responsible for ending slavery than any other historical factor or person of influence. After her book came out and thousands of Americans read it, the thought of slavery became untenable for many people and helped precipitate the abolition of slavery and Civil War. A.J. Cronin's book The Citadel (published in 1937) is credited for the formation of the UK's National Health Service because of its account of the deplorable medical conditions and unethical medical treatment in a Welsh mining town. Similarly, Upton Sinclair's book The Jungle (published in 1905) is said to have paved the way for the creation of the FDA thanks to Sinclair's depiction of the unsanitary meat production practices in early 20th-century America.
As you can see from these examples, fiction matters and the fictional stories you tell can potentially influence history. It's okay to feel like writing novels, short stories, or novellas is a frivolous endeavor when wars are happening and first responders are out there saving lives... But as you describe what your characters are wearing, eating, or scheming to do, just remember that those first responders need your books to retreat to at the end of a long day and society needs your imaginary worlds to compare itself to so it can keep evolving in better directions. Your next book could end all wars for all we know.
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