Posts Tagged ‘limits of power’

Elizabeth Moon on Grit vs. Glory in Fantasy Writing

By Elizabeth Moon

When my first novel came out in 1988, SHEEPFARMER’S DAUGHTER (UK|ANZ), some readers commented favorably on its “gritty reality.”  People died in war, some gruesomely (one of a suppurating gut wound, a baby accidentally trampled, civilians made an example of by one or another mercenary force), and that included characters readers identified with as well as those they didn’t.  Later in that group of books, the protagonist suffered more wounds, unjust and cruel reactions as an aftermath of “treatment” for mental invasion, and torture.  Some readers were horrified that a woman would write such graphic violence; others admired an honest appraisal of the costs of both war and heroism.

“Some seem to believe that the good are just stupid, too stupid to realize that you have to be bad to survive”Yet the point of the story was not that war is hell, that people are capable of cruelty, that violence has unexpected costs that land unfairly on the innocent.  That’s common knowledge.  The point of the story was how people – as characters – deal with this reality.  How some become bitter, angry, resentful, and willingly participate in the cruelty.  How others do not, and instead work against the cruelty – sometimes violently and sometimes by choosing to stand with victims, without resisting.

"LIMITS OF POWER is part of a series that challenges adults – not kids becoming adults – to change repeatedly, to become more than they were."Gritty reality has been associated, in some other writers’ works, with a determination to deny the possibility of glory – of redemption, of steadfast adherence to good, of achievement.  Some even seem to believe that the good are just stupid, too stupid to realize that you have to be bad to survive.  That’s not my perspective.  I’ve known too many good people who were also intelligent and street-smart, surviving well without knifing everyone else in the back.  I’ve known too many other people who used the “good = stupid” argument to defend their own cowardice and complicity in evil.

“Some readers were horrified that a woman would write such graphic violence”Does good win easily?  Of course not.  Does good always win?  Of course not.  Does one battle win a war, or one war win anything forever?  Of course not.  But I stand on the side of those who think that good can win . . . if.  If what?  If those trying to make things better don’t give up, don’t sell out, don’t lose hope that their efforts are worthwhile.  If they learn enough about themselves to recognize where they are part of the problem . . . and then have the courage and will to change.  LIMITS OF POWER (UK|ANZ) is part of a series that challenges adults – not kids becoming adults – to change repeatedly, to become more than they were. (more…)

“Weapons, Weapons, Weapons!” Elizabeth Moon on Research for Epic Fantasy

Limits of Power – released today

Elizabeth Moon publishes LIMITS OF POWER (UK | ANZ), the penultimate volume in her epic fantasy series Paladin’s Legacy, today. As an author who’s returned to the classic fantasy world she first created in the Paksenarrion series again and again, we asked her how she keeps the details about this world realistic, and consistent . . .

My first visit to New World Arbalest wasn’t a quest for crossbow knowledge, but a chance to see a period (real, not modern make) rapier . . . to hold and flourish a sword that had been used, several hundred years ago, either to mark someone’s rank or kill someone’s foe.  I had met “Master Iolo” (David Watson) and his wife Kathleen – both fencing instructors – at a convention.  But in that first visit I saw the shop at the back of the house, full of wood, sawdust, shavings, antlers, arrays of tools, and crossbows in every stage of construction.  I knew very little about crossbows then, except that I wanted to learn more.

Writers are often research junkies.  We need to find out about all sorts of things in order to write stories that go beyond our own personal experience. Whether it’s a thriller or a mystery or a contemporary slice of life story – or epic fantasy – there’s always something we need to learn.  So we haunt libraries, have overstuffed bookshelves in our own homes (or, now, overstuffed e-readers, or both), spend hours hunting down facts (we hope) on the internet.  When we meet someone with first-hand knowledge of something we know we’ll need for later books, that poor soul hasn’t a chance.  A writer in full research mode is like a hungry vampire: we will get what we want . . . (more…)