So You Want To / Avoid Breaking Your Aesops

So, say you're doing a work and want to teach your readers something. Perhaps you believe that Science Is Bad. However, you need to avoid one dreaded pitfall - a Broken Aesop, when the heroes of your story break the rule you're trying to teach your readers. How to avoid it?

1. Make sure you understand what the general Aesop of your story is. If you don't know what you're writing about, it's just flat out not going to work.
2. Examine your heroes' actions in detail. With everything they do, repeat your Aesop and ask yourself - do they do as you tell them, or do they do the exact opposite?
3. Also examine your villains' actions in detail. If they are actually following the aesop, then ask yourself how you treat them in comparison to the heroes. Do you treat them as an Anti-Villain who the heroes admit makes sense, or do you treat them as a Complete Monster who is wrong about everything? The first example can add a layer of moral ambiguity to the story, while the second example breaks the aesop since villain or not, they are following the aesop, and makes it seem like it's only okay when the heroes follow the aesop.
4. For those characters who act against the intended Aesop and get called out on it, are there any factors within the story that would give them a justified reason for it?
5. If the aesop is about a real world issue, do the differences in setting break the aesop? For example, a fantasy story using Fantastic Racism as a metaphor for real world discrimination is easy to break because the people practicing Fantastic Racism in that setting might actually be justified in their fear of a specific race. If they have powers that are potentially deadly or have a tendency to enslave or kill other races, then the people fearful of them have plenty of reasons to fear them. Another factor to consider with this type of aesop is if you try to act like Humans Are the Real Monsters. If you portray everyone in your fantasy race as victims of racism and have all the bigots be humans, that makes it seem less like racism is bad in general and more like racism is good or bad depending on which group is discriminated against. In this case, despite trying to say racism is bad, you're fine with painting humans in a negative light just so your fantasy race can have the moral high-ground.
6. Especially when writing about real world issues or things that have a clear real-life equivalent, analyze what you're writing in terms of the problems you set up and the solutions you present. Unless there's a valid reason, avoid the following as they tend to send the wrong kind of message:
   • Problems that aren't problems:
     • Failure Is the Only Option: The problem and/or your preferred solution are only applicable because whoever is supposed to teach the Aesop works to make it so, not necessarily deliberately.
     • Informed Wrongness: The problem and/or your preferred solution are only applicable because you insist it is, with nothing in the story to actually back this up.
     • Debate and Switch: A plot twist leads to the problem becoming irrelevant, being erased or never having existed in the first place, without acknowledging what would happen if the problem really did exist.
   • Solutions that aren't solutions:
     • Deus ex Machina: The solution is something that comes out of nowhere and has no justification for existing in your story.
     • Space Whale Aesop: The solution has no realistic real-life equivalent.
     • Esoteric Happy Ending: There's some sort of happy ending, but it does nothing to solve the actual problem or simply has nothing to do with the original problem.
     • Author Tract: The solution is something you are strongly in favor of but which has no real bearing on this particular issue.
     • Only the Leads Get a Happy Ending: The solution only works for the protagonists, not for others who apply the same moral principles.
     • Aesop Collateral Damage: Side characters are sacrificed so the protagonist can learn the solution, and thus never get to learn or apply the solution for themselves.
     • Born Winner: The solution applies only because the protagonists are lucky or privileged, and doesn't help others who apply the same moral principles.
     • Lost Aesop: The plot is written without the Aesop in mind, so whatever you think your characters should do has no bearing on whatever actually happens to solve the problem.
     • Clueless Aesop: You don't properly research the real-life issue, so you have no idea what the problem is, what the solution is, or how either of these would actually work in reality.
   • Heroes that aren't heroes (or shouldn't be):
     • Satellite Character: The story relies on other people to be the solution or the reward (or even the motivating victim) for the protagonist, with no consideration for what they want or deserve.
     • The Complainer Is Always Wrong: The solution is something that no one could reasonably be expected to agree to, or that many people wouldn't, so that to most readers/viewers it barely feels like a solution at all.
     • What Measure is a Mook?: The solution is to save/redeem the main villain, but the same principle isn't applied to minor villains or underlings.

(work very much in progress)