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A story is like a scientific experiment. You have to isolate the subject of study from outside influences in order to focus on its properties. Setting is the main tool that novelists use to achieve...
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#2: Post edited
by
Mark Baker
·
2020-03-28T04:03:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Adding the inoculation argument.
- A story is like a scientific experiment. You have to isolate the subject of study from outside influences in order to focus on its properties. Setting is the main tool that novelists use to achieve this isolation.
- For example, the country house mystery is a simple device from cutting off a group of characters from the outside world so as to create an environment in which a killer, a sleuth, and a bunch of red herrings can operate with the intervention of a forensics team and a lot of yellow tape.
- Stories set in small towns in the wild west serve much the same function, but with a different set of mores and tools.
- Many stories are set at sea for similar reasons.
- Many stories are set in the past in order to force characters to confront situation that would be handled by the authorities today, or made moot by technology.
- But all such settings still include a significant base of ordinary human society, mores, and means. For some stories, isolation from this base is necessary also, and this is where fantasy and sci fi come in. They allow you to create a more radically changed set of rules for your characters to work under so that you can isolate some specific aspect of their behavior.
- Of course, there is a significant portion of the audience that just likes stories about horses or cowboys or rocket ships. If you write for them you may subvert conventions by creating worlds that are normal except for the presence of horses or rocket ships. Rather than create an abnormal world in order to isolate and study one aspect of the human experience, these stories take the reader's favorite plaything and locate it in the ordinary world to tell an ordinary story with their plaything added.
So, when it comes to creating exotic worlds to locate stories in, it is done for one of two reasons: Either to create a setting that isolates some part of the human experience for study, or to indulge the taste for the exotic in some part of the reading public.
- A story is like a scientific experiment. You have to isolate the subject of study from outside influences in order to focus on its properties. Setting is the main tool that novelists use to achieve this isolation.
- For example, the country house mystery is a simple device from cutting off a group of characters from the outside world so as to create an environment in which a killer, a sleuth, and a bunch of red herrings can operate with the intervention of a forensics team and a lot of yellow tape.
- Stories set in small towns in the wild west serve much the same function, but with a different set of mores and tools.
- Many stories are set at sea for similar reasons.
- Many stories are set in the past in order to force characters to confront situation that would be handled by the authorities today, or made moot by technology.
- But all such settings still include a significant base of ordinary human society, mores, and means. For some stories, isolation from this base is necessary also, and this is where fantasy and sci fi come in. They allow you to create a more radically changed set of rules for your characters to work under so that you can isolate some specific aspect of their behavior.
- Another factor is the author's desire to inoculate both themselves and their story from accusations of misrepresentation, appropriation, or prejudice. There are not two-meter tall blue people on Earth to object that you are misrepresenting their culture, or that you are appropriating their stories, or that you are simply prejudiced against them -- that you are infantilizing them, for instance when you represent them living is a idealize paradise without conflict.
- This is not just about protecting yourself from lawsuits and Twitter mobs. It is also about separating the story, and the universal issue at his heart, from contemporary politics, which might obscure it message or render it quickly irrelevant. Placing it in an exotic culture protects it from the distractions and temporary nature of current politics.
- Of course, there is a significant portion of the audience that just likes stories about horses or cowboys or rocket ships. If you write for them you may subvert conventions by creating worlds that are normal except for the presence of horses or rocket ships. Rather than create an abnormal world in order to isolate and study one aspect of the human experience, these stories take the reader's favorite plaything and locate it in the ordinary world to tell an ordinary story with their plaything added.
- So, when it comes to creating exotic worlds to locate stories in, it is done for three reasons:
- 1. To create a setting that isolates some part of the human experience for study.
- 2. To inoculate the author and the story from contemporary politics and sensitivities.
- 3. To indulge the taste for the exotic in some part of the reading public.
#1: Initial revision
by
Mark Baker
·
2020-02-11T12:59:06Z (almost 5 years ago)
A story is like a scientific experiment. You have to isolate the subject of study from outside influences in order to focus on its properties. Setting is the main tool that novelists use to achieve this isolation. For example, the country house mystery is a simple device from cutting off a group of characters from the outside world so as to create an environment in which a killer, a sleuth, and a bunch of red herrings can operate with the intervention of a forensics team and a lot of yellow tape. Stories set in small towns in the wild west serve much the same function, but with a different set of mores and tools. Many stories are set at sea for similar reasons. Many stories are set in the past in order to force characters to confront situation that would be handled by the authorities today, or made moot by technology. But all such settings still include a significant base of ordinary human society, mores, and means. For some stories, isolation from this base is necessary also, and this is where fantasy and sci fi come in. They allow you to create a more radically changed set of rules for your characters to work under so that you can isolate some specific aspect of their behavior. Of course, there is a significant portion of the audience that just likes stories about horses or cowboys or rocket ships. If you write for them you may subvert conventions by creating worlds that are normal except for the presence of horses or rocket ships. Rather than create an abnormal world in order to isolate and study one aspect of the human experience, these stories take the reader's favorite plaything and locate it in the ordinary world to tell an ordinary story with their plaything added. So, when it comes to creating exotic worlds to locate stories in, it is done for one of two reasons: Either to create a setting that isolates some part of the human experience for study, or to indulge the taste for the exotic in some part of the reading public.