Non-villain rant

[limyaael]

Both digoraccoon and marumae asked for a rant like this. And, after all, there’s no reason that you need to assume a villain in order to have a story. Mainstream fiction and many “classic” novels get away quite handily with having no villain, or only one truly despicable character in a populated world where many other shades of morality exist.

The only thing I do

Comments

[acsumama]

Does this mean you need to get rid of gods? No. (Although I would like to see a fantasy that did that. Hint, hint.)

I've got two in the works. (One where there's no religion at all, just different philosophical schools that don't posit anything more divine than Platonic Forms, and one where religion is central but nothing in the story is unarguably supernatural.)

Gods actually acting in the story always strikes me as really really tough to do right, so most of my ideas end up a lot like the actual world -- plenty of people who believe in various religions, but no actual events that can't be explained away.

[chris_king_2005]

*sighs*

I love your rants, even if they generally leave me staring at my screen in a stunned silence.

You articulate things I sometimes sense, but simply don't have the...hmmm, the vocabulary to define. And I always learn something.

That's always a good thing, so thanks.

[kandelschwartz]

I don't comment much, but I'm a long-time fan of this journal.

I thought I should mention here that this advice has been especially helpful; I have been stuck on what to do with my current story (which has seen no updates in two months, alas), but now I think I can push on.

[deckardcanine]

Ever read Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams? I wouldn't say it's a good example for non-villains, but neither does it have any plain divine intervention. Characters worship different alleged (sets of) gods, and some struggle to reconcile their faith with the events around them, but we're left to wonder whether any of them is right.

I believe that goodness is objective. At the same time, I believe that real people seldom come across as full-fledged heroes or villains and that widely debated issues have good reasons for being widely debated. So I'd do well to take your advice.

[___sasuka]

Thumbs up as usual, darling. :)

Asking to be friended on two of your writing journals - Most Pitiless (Ne'maren) and Song of A Secret Bird (Sybereth's Wood) because they fascinate me a lot, especially since I heard a comment a long time ago about tirsel birds and I love the Eleven Worlds writing you've put up in Come Sun, Come Rain so far. I'd ask you to friend me on a lot more, but that'd just be bugging now. :P