today's question
Aug. 5th, 2020 09:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitFrom the question-a-day meme:
August 5: Would you rather be the main character in a fantasy story, a sci-fi story, or a horror story?
Well, I'm not going to pick horror story, and I would seriously wonder about anyone who did. (Much as I over-identify with Jon in The Magnus Archives, I don't want to be him and have all his trauma, thanks.)
I don't actually have much of a preference between fantasy and science fiction, though. On the one hand, magic. On the other, technology indistinguishable from magic. On the one hand, dragons; on the other, aliens.
I guess it would depend mostly on what subgenre, or what tone. Grimdark/dystopian? No, thanks. Something with wonder and joy and hope sounds better.
The problem is, I'm really not cut out to be a main character. I don't want perils and adventures. I really do like a quiet life. If I had my druthers, I think I'd be some very minor character in Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, living happily in the post-scarcity economy, blissfully ignorant of the nastiness the Culture gets up to in some places. (One of the Culture's appeals for me is that it's explicitly canon that people can and do change sex and gender, easily, routinely, without stigma. I can only think of one fantasy novel with magical transitions, namely Max Gladstone's Full Fathom Five. No doubt there are others, but none come to mind.)
August 5: Would you rather be the main character in a fantasy story, a sci-fi story, or a horror story?
Well, I'm not going to pick horror story, and I would seriously wonder about anyone who did. (Much as I over-identify with Jon in The Magnus Archives, I don't want to be him and have all his trauma, thanks.)
I don't actually have much of a preference between fantasy and science fiction, though. On the one hand, magic. On the other, technology indistinguishable from magic. On the one hand, dragons; on the other, aliens.
I guess it would depend mostly on what subgenre, or what tone. Grimdark/dystopian? No, thanks. Something with wonder and joy and hope sounds better.
The problem is, I'm really not cut out to be a main character. I don't want perils and adventures. I really do like a quiet life. If I had my druthers, I think I'd be some very minor character in Iain M. Banks' Culture novels, living happily in the post-scarcity economy, blissfully ignorant of the nastiness the Culture gets up to in some places. (One of the Culture's appeals for me is that it's explicitly canon that people can and do change sex and gender, easily, routinely, without stigma. I can only think of one fantasy novel with magical transitions, namely Max Gladstone's Full Fathom Five. No doubt there are others, but none come to mind.)
