robinbloke | (no subject)

If you like it, write it.

After ages of badgering by my good friend

musingsofallama I finally got around to reading one of the big pile of books he had lent me. Or rather, I started the first (of four) and worked my way through the first chapter. The book in question being Hawk and Fisher, Haven of Lost Souls by Simon R. Green who I've already enjoyed books by with the fantastic Deathstalker Sci Fi series and a fantasy book called Down among the dead men.

But this book? It just didn't grab me; the characterisations were strong enough and you quickly got a good sense of what they were like. The descriptions are strong and paint a good picture, one of Mr. Greens talents. But. But I had no interest in the characters at all, it all sounds quite good: A husband and wife team of mean fighters working for the city guard investigating things, but after the first chapter I realised that I had little interest in if the characters solved the worlds evil problems or stuck their heads in buckets and made bubbling noises.

So, that got me thinking, what do I want from a character? Or rather what sort of characters do I like? Different genres demand different styles perhaps, so I thought I'd break it down into what I like for each style.

Sci Fi
I was never really interested in Sci Fi until I read Ian Banks. The genre hadn't really held any kind of pull for me at all. But now it's firmly on my favourite genre of writing list.
That said, Mr.Banks (and Mr.Asimov who I have been reading works from of late) work the technology and the people very well together. It's not all about using fancy gadgets to fix problems, people have to think still. There’s intelligence displayed beyond "Oh use the weeble-o-meter to fix the wossname field in the inverse thingy flux" of Star Trek, the problems are real and the ideas and solutions and characters take a forefront rather than the technology.
I suppose what I'm saying here is I like the backdrop of hi tech, big ships clashing in titanic battles, blaster fights, nifty scanners. But in the end I like intelligent characters who work out problems with their brains despite having a bleepometer to hand.

Fantasy
Now I'm a fairly nice person, at least I think I am. What has this got to do with the Fantasy genre? Well, it was the first real genre I started reading from; and I was looking for something different. Characters in fantasy worlds I like to be a little bit, well frankly, of a b@stard. I like to see the gritty underside of humanity doing things for selfish reasons even if it's ultimately for a good end.
I like assassins, spies, thieves and tricksters. Paladins, heroes and goody two shoes frankly don't grab my attention. The 'horah' of Hollywood (amongst other things) has dulled my interest in out and out heroes, I want characters with flaws and selfish goals, sneakiness and backstabbing. Now I notice I haven't even mentioned the backdrop of the fantasy world here (I keep adding a second 't' to fantasy and it worries me) but again it's the characters that are important, not the world. It's just a base layer before the pizza topping is added.

Two prime genres will do for now, I may add horror, modern and cyberpunk later... who knows.

Eat more popcorn