One thing I struggle with as a writer is how much ranting to do. I have much ranting capacity, and so I’m always putting on the brakes (editing, revising, more editing) so I don’t annoy people. But the rant remains, lurking within.
The key for me is to find creative, entertaining, and weird ways to channel the rant. It’s a work in progress. The books I love the most manage that balancing act of having something of substance to say, mixed with something that is so much fun, or so beautifully crafted, or so creative, that you don’t even know you’re learning something. A few books that spring to mind, are All the Light We Cannot See, To Kill a Mockingbird, Fifteen Dogs and The Fellowship of the Ring. For younger readers, I love The Hunger Games, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, One Crazy Summer and The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963. The list could be a mile or two long.
While I can only aspire to write something as masterful as those stories, they inspire me to keep me at it, editing, revising, and editing the rant into something more.
An adrenaline filled world for sure :D
I think that's one nice thing with fiction. You can address things in fiction that people wouldn't be open to reading if you just went on a rant on your blog. Of course, even in fiction, you can't make your story all about an issue. Your theme/message needs to grow organically.
I've read most of the books you mentioned--they're some of my favorites!