Have you ever had your story interpreted in a way you didn't like?

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   M. T. Dremerposted 11 years ago

   Have you ever had your story interpreted in a way you didn't like?
   
   One of the great things about literature is the lenses through which we can interpret any given story. Below the surface it could be a coming of age narrative or a struggle with a changing country. I generally find these interpretations fascinating, but as writers, have you ever had one of your stories interpreted in a way you didn't like? Maybe your reader thought it was religious, when it wasn't, or maybe they thought the character was sexist when they were written to be. If this has happened to you, how did you react to it? Did you change your story?

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2. 73

   d.williamposted 11 years ago

   This seems to happen frequently here on Hub Pages.  Especially with mine when i write about the evils of man kind.  It doesn't matter what the subject is, there are those who always make it about religion in some way.
   I find that fact, in itself, fascinating. 
   I cannot imagine being so narrow minded as to build one's whole existence around a flawed concept such as religion.
   When they attack my writing for some ill perceived idea based on their religious upbringing, i simply try to point out to them that their interpretation could not be further from the reality of the subject matter.  That in turn, is taken as an attack on them personally AND their religion. 
   It makes for an amusing exchange of comments and i must confess i am guilty of egging people on to show their narrow mindedness.  L.O.L.
   But, on rare occasions when i see that my wording may have the ability to be interpreted in that way, i do go back and change the wording so there will be no further misconceptions about the meaning of the words.
   In which case, i will thank them for pointing it out to me.

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   1. 0

      Mklow1posted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Talking negatively about some1's beliefs is like talking about their weight. If u perceive a stranger on the street as fat, would u go up 2 them and tell them? u might be correct, but it is just not polite. so why do that on the internet?

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3. 73

   Thomas Swanposted 11 years ago

   I haven't had a story of mine interpreted that way, though I've had comments interpreted as sexist or racist when I never meant it that way. One example was when I presented some scientific research about how women are (on average) more religious than men. A female atheist decided to start slamming me for being sexist. I gave her the link to the Oxford journal that performed the research, but that didn't seem to help. People just love to condemn each other. It's funny because anyone other than an atheist wouldn't have seen it as sexist.
   
   On a forum topic here, I talked about how I've noticed that many of the spammers on this site come from Asian countries. Big mistake! I spent the next 3 days batting of accusations of racism from moralizers and resident forum trolls. What I stated was a fact, but I was given absolute hell for it by the PC brigade. I'm someone who actually fights against racial prejudice, but I won't let that skew my definition of truth.
   
   These moralizers will avidly learn politically correct language and opinions to bash people over the head with. They will twist everything you say to make it seem politically incorrect. I believe they want to think of themselves as good people, especially in the eyes of others; so they try to prove it by constantly demonizing other people.

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