I’m slowly honing in on the plot for Suns. Er, sort of plot. Here’s the problem (and this is always the problem): I have characters. I have a world, or at least part of one that I can later flesh out. What happens? What’s the conflict?
Um. Conflict, right. I’m more interested in what’s going on inside people’s heads than I am in the external events. Which makes for fascinating reading for me, but not so much of a novel.
I’m thinking some sort of coup or radical political disaster because, hey, that’s how I lean. Which brings up another thought that gives my brain something to play with: is it possible to write, for an American audience, the tale of a coup that does not succeed? That is, could I write a book that has the established order challenged by an outside force that’s not necessarily evil, and have the established force prevail? How much moral ambiguity do I get to play with there?
Reading the books that I do, they tend to fall under one or the other type: an evil (something) is looking to overthrow the Good Guys, generally with nihilistic intent, and Our Heroes need to stop them. There, that’s most of fantasy. Then, there’s the Evil Corporation/Government/Society that’s repressing the individual, and Our Heroes must overthrow them. That would be science fiction. Can you actually write a book that’s Our Heroes are part of the established regime, and they’re fighting against Someone Else’s Heroes (maybe misguided, but not evil) and Our Heroes manage to keep the current government, etc, etc in charge?
Are we wired now to think that all governing bodies are corrupt and should be overthrown? Or that all that oppose us are necessarily evil and must be repelled? How does that work?
Fantasy may not be the place to explore that … but it might be. And Egypt, where most people were pretty satisfied with the social structure – satisfied enough that it managed to survive mostly intake for nearly 3000 years – might be the place to do it. I can’t work out precisely how that would work, but it’s an idea I’ve been kicking around for awhile. Indeed, it might work better if I ever revive the Mythic Heights project.
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"Are we wired now to think that all governing bodies are corrupt and should be overthrown?"
ReplyDeleteOne thing I'll interpose here is that this is primarily a western thought/belief. It's even stronger here in the U.S. as almost everyone in the U.S. is either a person that came here fleeing repression, or descended from someone that came here fleeing a repression.
"that all that oppose us are necessarily evil and must be repelled?"
This is pretty deeply rooted. It goes back to my theory that many of our thoughts and feelings come from "hard wired" portions of our brains that are really about 10,000 years out of date, and are a hindrance in modern society.
10,000 years ago we all lived in small tribal groups of no more than a couple hundred people. Back then any one opposed to your or in competition with you wasn't just an opponent, but a threat to the survival of you and everyone you know. Not to mention from a Darwin point of view your much more likely to pass on your DNA if you instinctively eliminate any possible opponent.
It also has to do with the fact that the human mind has some wonderful emotional defenses. It's is much easier to eliminate an opponent if you believe they are evil and deserve it. It's much harder to do it our of pure selfishness.