FifthView
Vala
I've always pictured myself as someone who's into fantasy and who really enjoys it.
Today, I realised that of the books I've enjoyed the most this year, only one is actually fantasy - the rest are all sci-fi.
There's nothing wrong with enjoying sci-fi. It just struck me as interesting that I didn't picture myself as a sci-fi fan, when I'm quite clearly am.
It's been the same with computer games. I still identify as a gamer, but I don't really play that much games anymore. The writing takes too much time, and it's more fun. Similarly, even after nine published books, I don't really think of myself as an author.
I've been having a similar conversation recently. Most of the fantasy I've ever read, and all fantasy novels I've read in the last few years, have had medievalish worlds. So when I start conceiving a fantasy setting for my own stories, I default to that. I love reading that! But I'm beginning to realize I don't love trying to write that. This is a weird realization. The audience member inside me loves being taken away to medieval worlds, but the writer in me desires something else for my own stories.
The concept of Save the Cat is relevant here. When we first introduce a character, we can make them likeable and relatable, and the reader will assume they're a good guy. We can also show the situation from their perspective, so that the reader gets to know them better. Then, when the character starts behaving badly, the reader will accept it because they still believe the character is essentially a good guy, and because they know their background - just like they do with themselves.
A potentially related issue has occurred to me since the beginning of this discussion.
Let's take knitting. I was thinking about how bored I'd be if a deep POV character constantly used knitting metaphors, spent lots of her or his time knitting on down time, spoke of knitting constantly when having conversations. I've known knitters, and as a child I was mildly fascinated by knitting. I still am. But that doesn't mean I'd want a deep dive through that lens for a whole book. Then I started wondering about ways to make knitting interesting. A magic system? Yes, maybe. Or maybe some deep philosophical train of thought tied to all the complicated, complex knitting processes. Maybe something else.
This train of thought led me to the realization—which I've had before, but had forgotten—that sometimes I'm not the same person after I've read a book as I was when I began reading it. Identification with a character isn't always and only about encountering a character who is like us. Sometimes, we grow to become more like them as we progress through the story. We gain a new way of seeing and thinking.
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