2) Continuing on violence, I never got round to finish my article talking about fantasy stories outside of fantasy literature inspired by the Mage: The Awakening actual play "The Soul Cage", written and run by Dave Brookshaw. It's one of the most sublime pieces of storytelling I've ever seen, made all the more impressive for the fact it was a game, decided in no small part by his players and the dice. And one of the quirks of Mage: The Awakening is that when a character commits an offence against morality, they roll the dice and see whether they've lost Wisdom. The consequences of violence are made as plain and simple as the attractions. It immediately changes the whole nature of the game.
That said - as someone who's played in and run a few such games of that nature - it doesn't automatically happen. It takes players who really buy into it. Reading Dave's players trying to make good their past flaws is arguably what makes the story, even more than the nefarious and brilliant plotting. This probably won't be the last time I talk about a story that I think has something interesting to say about violence, but it gave me a good opportunity to talk about something that had been on my mind.
3) I recently read that Thaddeus White, a fellow inmate of the good ship SFFChrons, was going to be concentrating less on his fiction so he could spend more time earning actual monies with his writing. While that's one of the best reasons for dropping the habit out there, it still made me a little sad. His Sir Edric books are good Blackadder meets D&D fun; among his more serious work, Bane of Souls remains one of the better fantasy-mysteries I've read. I doubt me telling people that will result in him suddenly getting enough sales to contract on fiction, but I figured at the least a good author deserved a shout out.
4) Wrong type of fantasy but there's something gutting about getting to the final of your fantasy football league only to have a bunch of players get injured before the final. Yes, I know nobody cares. I had to vent anyway.
5) Last and the opposite of least - another article that I enjoyed reading was Pendeja, You Ain't Steinbeck by Myriam Gurba. People often talk about cultural appropriation but its not often you see somebody painstakingly demonstrate exactly how it's happening and why it pisses them off. A lot of fantasy authors want to write worlds wider than the ones they know; a lot of them want to write worlds and stories where many people can see. None of them want to write stories that will provoke this sort of reaction; many do. Tricky isn't it? Which makes articles such as these crucial as well as interesting and enjoyable.
There's one bit in particular that I'm going to quote:
'Writer Alexander Chee has said that writers interested in exploring the realities of those unlike themselves should answer three questions before proceeding. These are:
“Why do you want to write from this character’s point of view?”
“Do you read writers from this community currently?”
“Why do you want to tell this story?”'
The whole thing's worth reading. It's more than just a guide to writing better stories about other people. But if it has no other interest to others, this at least needs to be considered by all writers.
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