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The Cult of Character

I saw a relatively prominent sci-fi writer tweet that ‘your character is your plot’ a little while ago. And, over the last few years, I’ve read a load of books/watched a load of films that describe themselves as sci-fi, I’ve either sat there thinking ‘I do like these characters, but nothing seems to be actually happening’ or ‘I like these characters, but the plot’s a fucking mess. Does even the writer understand what’s happening here?’

So, I’m not saying that characters aren’t important. Do I want sci-fi to go back to the days when the only person who can see themselves in a story is an able-bodied cis-het white man? No, of course not! Do I want sci-fi to go back to the days when sci-fi books only had characters so that the reader could experience the sci-fi concepts in the story through their eyes? I do love some of those stories, but no, I don’t want go back to those days. 

There has to be some balance, however. Can’t we have everything? Can’t we have the Moon on a stick? I want to see amazing characters who I can relate to, I’m invested in their lives and I’m rooting for them to do well. But I also want epic plots that have huge stakes and, crucially, make sense! Is that too much to ask for? No! Lot’s of people do it quite well; it’s just that I’ve seen an increasing number of stories so it badly.

I’m also worried that I’m a bit guilty of this myself; in the novel I’m currently writing, I’m worried that the magic system doesn’t work terribly well and that the plot is so convoluted, that the whole thing’s a bit of a mess. I’m going to try to work all that out in future drafts, so wish me luck! 

My Short Story collection, Talking to Lobsters is kind of guilt of going in the opposite direction; a lot of the stories are just concepts that I really loved and wanted to write about just like the sci-fi writers of old! 

There were a few that had decent characters in them, though, and I’ve chosen two of them to expand into full-size novels (The first one is going to be called Between The Canvas And The Stars and should be out before the end of the year!) I just hope they can bring that perfect balance of plot and character that I do so love to see!

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