Invading dreams

[Benjamin Clayborne]

In the most recent issue of The New Yorker is an article about certain kinds of (usually genre- or genre-driven) shows that inspire extremely passionate and dedicated fans, such as Doctor Who or Community. It ends with this paragraph:

On the verge of débuting his late, lamented sci-fi series “Firefly,” which was cancelled after less than one season of Fox mismanagement, Joss Whedon remarked that his goal was not to create “grownup” TV but to “invade people’s dreams”–to create mythologies, which last so much longer than the mortal form of a TV series. Cult shows, such as “Doctor Who” and “Community,” often have this quality: they shrug off the condescension that people have toward their “lower” genres, using their constraints to find a greater freedom. When you look at a show like that from a distance, it might seem too narrow to contain much of interest. But it’s so much larger when you’re on the inside.

It's this "invading people's dreams" that I think is my ultimate goal for writing. I don't think I'll ever be a tenth as talented as Joss (or experienced; he started doing this much earlier in life than I did, and had the benefit of growing up with a father and grandfather who were also screenwriters), but I hope that some day I can write something that inspires people to fandom just as much as he does with his work (witness the amazing following among Firefly fans, a show that ran for a whopping 13 episodes ten years ago and got cut down before it could really even develop much in the way of mythology).

How about you? Do you think your writing tries to be iconic in this way? Do you prefer more down-to-earth, personal stories?

 

[Devor]

How about you? Do you think your writing tries to be iconic in this way? Do you prefer more down-to-earth, personal stories?

I like Joss, but I'm not really a fan of Firefly. But I get it. It's got this dream-invasive quality of being a western set in space. That's just cool.

That sort of strange combination is exactly the type of thing I try to do in my writing. For instance, just this week I created a group of warriors for my world. They're like knights, but since their "king" issues a lot of loans, they're also foreign debt-collectors. I haven't yet given them a large role in the story - they're just a worldbuilding element right now, though a necessary one - but I had a lot of fun finding ways to combine those elements.