Comments on: Thinking about human characters in secondary worlds again

By: Matt’s Bookosphere 8/6/08 « Enter the Octopus

Matt’s Bookosphere 8/6/08 « Enter the Octopus — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 03:26:26 +0000

[...] Paul Jessup is thinking about human characters in secondary worlds again [...]

By: admin

admin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:00:19 +0000

Yay!

By: Natania

Natania — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:59:13 +0000

I’m actually polishing the mechanized mermaid–be glad to send it your way for perusal (that sounds weird, but I’ll leave it).

By: admin

admin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:28:31 +0000

You are absolutely correct about humanity shining in crisis. And you don’t see this in fictional wars. The humanity is missing. The biggest example of this is both the Lord of the Rings books and the movies. Combat is spectacle, inhuman, violence for the sake of violence.

By: Sam Taylor

Sam Taylor — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:26:32 +0000

The Great War (World War 1) had some truly beautiful moments. The big one was the Christmas Truce, where the soldiers just stopped fighting and crawled out of the ditches and celebrated together.

But there were small ones as well.

As a per a British soldier, on the last day of the war, after the armistice had been signed but before it went into effect, the German position across from them fired everything they had, giving them hell. Then at 11:00-sharp, the guns stopped and the German commander stepped out of the trench, saluted the British lines, and he and his men walked away.

I think humanity is most evident in a crisis. It’s not a new theory, I know. Out of the darkness shines a light and all that. But it has truth.

By: admin

admin — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:15:09 +0000

Exactly! But the problem is, too many people ignore this fact in SF and Fantasy. Genre fiction is full of excuses for cardboard characters- usually the old stand by that SF is the literature of ideas (which it’s not). But I don’t see the point in saving the world unless there is an emotional anchor set still, solid, in the heart of the world.

BTW- mechanized mermaid? You must let me read this story! That sounds awesome.

By: Natania

Natania — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:11:43 +0000

You know, I think that’s one of the reasons I have problems with World Building in general, because I don’t think on the macro level. For me, it all starts with the characters. Usually, they just sort of appear; Emry came in a dream, Cora and Brick appeared playing cards with one another, many of my short stories emerge out of random images or thoughts (one about a mechanized mermaid… no idea where that came from). I think character is the most important part of any writing, large or small, because it’s what makes a reader continue reading. I’ve said to myself a million times: “The writing’s not great, but I care about the characters.” It is about the human experience, and it is remarkable.