How do I break out of those weird tropes but still write something with gnomes and shit? What does it look like when wizards control the means of production?
How do I break out of those weird tropes but still write something with gnomes and shit? What does it look like when wizards control the means of production?
I’ve been working on a fantasy novel over the last few months but ended up scrapping a lot of it due to running into a problem that I didn’t think too much about.
In my world there is a clear line drawn between the oppressed and the oppressor. There is a crumbling empire as the back drop of the entire thing that is kicking and screaming its way to death. There is no emperor and the empire itself is being ran by military factions. Fascism and nationalism runs amok as the military conscripts more and more soldiers for expansion, just to keep people loyal. This empire is getting dismantled piece by piece and I want to explore this concept as time moves on.
So where did my problem lie? I was humanizing the antagonists too much. I hope this doesn’t sound heartless and cruel but I was giving them too much humanity when the people of this empire give non to those they oppress. I was scared that I was going to shoo away “reasonable readers” and began to “both sides” the oppressed and the oppressors. I was going to attract reactionary readers as a result. (Just to be clear I’m probably overthinking everything lmao)
My solution last month was to go back to the drawing board and draw the lines in the sand even harder.A dying empire shows no mercy when dealing with its enemies and oppressed. They won’t be humanized as much as a result. However, I’ve written a character from said empire that will try to redeem himself on a very troubled path. I’ll be using him as a means to humanize something from the empire.
I guess my point is to be directly on the nose with your politics and you’ll be fine.
Sorry if my post seems incoherent, wasn’t really planning on writing about this early in the morning. Hope there is some insight somewhere in there lol
It is pretty much true that most people are sympathetic characters from their own perspectives. They just patch over villainy and hypocrisy with ideology. Maybe more exploration of what ideological structures the antagonists are operating off of and showing the reader how they are hollow or self-serving?
Reactionaries who'd read your book would sympathize with the empire no matter what. Our pop culture is full of fan favorites who are clearly characters you shouldn't sympathize with, from Eric Cartman to Zac Snyder's interpretation of Rorschach. If you'd like to have plausible villains with complex motivations, villains who are horrible human beings instead of one-dimensional monsters, i don't think you should ditch that just because it could be misunderstood. Somebody will always misunderstand your work, it's unavoidable.
Also, i think the best critique of a fascist empire is not to show it as a monstrous, superhuman threat (that's exactly how fascists want to be seen, they want people to be scared of them), but to expose how pompous, laughable and cringe nazis actually can be when they're not appearing in Star Wars or Indiana Jones.
Agreed, I tend to over react to weird things that I cling onto. I'm a pretty emotional writer so when the thought ran through my head, it stuck with me lol.
That's a really good point about critique of fascism. It's tough balancing an antagonistic entity like an empire and its people. Need to give them consequential weight in the story while showcasing just how pathetic their politics and violence truly occurs. I've been working on it. Your point definitely gave me more to think about.
I think this is what's been bugging me about the Stormlight Archive books. I read the first two books back to back, so I can't say whether it gets better after that.
This is the one series I haven't really read. Something about it never really interested me much. I do know there is a lot of fucked up aristocracy involved. Again, just a surface understanding.
Unfortunately in real life there seldom are super clean lines between classes like that. Sure, most people on either side are clearly on one or the other, but the lines themselves are blurry and diffuse. And there are “good people” on both sides, too.
Somehow, I know a lot of people that know a George W Bush personally (grew up in Raytheon Acres, VA) and they are always eager to jump to his defense because he’s such a “nice guy” in person. Well guess what, when a “nice guy” (btw I don’t actually think he’s a nice guy, he’s a gladhanding politician) is piloting an imperial death machine, it doesn’t matter how nice a guy he is, because the machine runs on blood.
Anyway, what I’m saying here is that it’s okay to humanize your antagonists. In the real world, all the villains are people too. Just make sure you illustrate what happens when a “good person” takes part in an evil imperial system.
I'm not going to sit here and write weird shit about refusing to humanize antagonists or anything like that. I generally hold the view that all people are redeemable in some fashion and deserve the opportunity to do so. Think I was just being a little edgy with my first comment lol my b
I just didn't want to fall into the camp of lending too much sympathetic language to this crumbling empire and the things that the people do to keep it held together. I just think there needs to be clear lines drawn when it comes to writing these things, especially in fantasy where truly wondrous things can occur and change the world on some grand scale.
I definitely agree with your last line. I'm really proud of this protagonist I wrote that comes from said empire and I wrote them specifically for this reason.
Well, I hope you finish the story, or others in the future, because I’d love to read it. :)
I once read a couple of strung together short stories on an old RPG board. Within them there was a cruel man who was feared and hated (rightfully in most PoV's). There however was also his PoV (which was only made clear later, how of course he is troubled but "economic anxiety" and it was also shown how others could NOT do as he did, thus it was made clear from all sides that he isn't a hero of his own story, but sucked (even though systemic pressures). Found that pretty well done. Also the scene where people would just watch him drown was kinda neat in terms of revenge (and a person who wanted to save him being put a hand of their shoulder by one of the tortured victims, to stop and not fetch him out).