Sunday, August 9, 2009

temporal displacement

I'm at Worldcon. I'm not sure what sort of geek cred one racks up for hitting both the premier SCA (historical re-creation) event and the premier SFnal event in rapid succession, but it may take me a while to run through my amassed capital.
Online access is still a bit spotty, as the wifi and the power outlets aren't in the same spot, and my EEE seems to take about 5-8 tries before a successful connection. Urgh. But here I am.

VPish news - have met up with or hung out with Evelyn, Mur and Nikki so far, but missed the VP get-together Friday night. Going for dinner with Doyle, Macdonald & Pippin tonight, and briefly shared a taxi with TNH and Nikki last night.
Went to panels & a couple of readings, bought a few books, ate doughnuts. Insufficient sleep. Will attempt to write more coherently later.

However, in the writing workshop, I had a small revelation about one of my themes (omigawd I have themes!!) which is that in Foretold, Godsmeat and Bluebeard Contented, the story is about a character refusing the narrative. Someone who's supposed to do the expected next thing, to fulfil the prophecy, to break the rule, to step aside, and who does not do what the narrative demands.
Not that I know what this means. Mostly it brings home that it's a challenge to show that character as having agency, even though in a way they have more agency than the apparently active character who's submitting to their role. Hm.

3 comments:

avo said...

Worldcon sounds wonderful! Enjoy the rest of it, dead dog and all.

What does it mean when the protagonist resists the narrative? Probably the same thing as when an author makes a habit of subverting older narrative patterns -- it means the author knows her story shapes very, very well, and is not content (or possibly able) to follow them blindly.

-- Bart

Philippe de St-Denis said...

Yes, I'm with Bart, and pardon my lack of understanding: do you mean that the story is ABOUT a character who refuses the narrative, or that, as you are writing, the character refuses to follow the plot you've assigned him/her?

Cool stuff, whichever way your look at it!

batgirl said...

Oh Bart, you sweet talker, you. Thank you! I'll try to post something coherent about Worldcon today.

Kali, yes, the first option. The story is about a character who refuses to participate, and what happens from that refusal.
I once listened to a fascinating panel (at VCon) on the second option, specifically the relationship of characters to writers. Very different takes on how it worked, there.