Here's the most illuminating scene about what really goes on after a writer finds the elusive success. It's from "The Velvet Alley" Written by Serling and so damn true. http://youtu.be/Mc7X12nTW68 "So In 24 hours you can develop a a taste for caviar...and in 48 hours fish eggs are no longer a luxury, they're a necessity."

I would think, to some regard, the answer is it's imperative that you inject your own philosophy into a piece of work - it's part of your voice, part of your perspective and what makes the story unique is that it's coming from a place that's unique. You.

"A good story tells the truth about it's hero. A bad story tells the truth about it's author" GKC

That is great. And it happens. The next shoe to drop: The writer gets cynical.

That's more my mindset. I know there are writers who say that all characters are a reflection or extension of that writer's self / psyche / whatever. I guess there's some truth to that. But then that doesn't help my creative process which is to think of my story universe and its characters over THERE, not inside ME. And so I travel OUTSIDE myself to go into the story. It exists. The characters exist. Thus the truth of the story SHOULD be about the hero [in relation to the other characters]. But if a writer needs to plumb the depths of their Self to write stories, more power to them. Again: No right way to write.

"Cynicism is an unpleasant way of saying the truth." Lillian Hellman

If you have a "Like" button I'd be clicking it right now. I think what you just described is so complicated yet seems simple. You really do have to pay with a pound of flesh to get that knowledge.

Cynics are just Romantics who've had their eyes poked out with a sharp stick.

Why so cynical, Pliny? : )

From the Devil's Dictionary. Cynic (n.) A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision.