Do you know how you can tell you’re writing Fantasy (whatever genre you really think you’re in)?
—-Your world has competent lawyers and limited government.
One of the temptations when writing fiction is to exercise the author-as-god opportunity to fix things that irritate you in real life. I’m not talking about stuff that matters to the story itself, but just those little touches in passing that you think really ought to be tidied up, in a well-run universe.
Partly, you tell yourself that you’re just clearing the undergrowth of unnecessary conflict or distraction (not relevant to story), so that the parts that matter can stand out more clearly, and partly (now, you know it’s true) it’s just wish-fulfillment — because you can.
Believe me, I sympathize. I do it, too.
For one thing, it’s hard to turn down just the perfect Easter egg that occurs to you in passing — an inside joke or a nod to current events that no one will mind — maybe some gag that only your spouse will spot, or a taunt targeting an old rival.
And, then, there’s the dystopian version of this activity… a world with even stupider situations than your real one, just to make a point about things that could be better, even if it has nothing to do with the actual story.
Well, who am I to stop you? It’s a temptation for a reason, and a potential source of humor. I try to make such impulses part of the actual story (however modest) rather than a superficial reference, but then I’m writing SFF which is a much more welcoming environment for this sort of thing than some other genres.
However, I appeal to your modesty. There are only so many Easter Eggs that can hide in your story without calling disruptive attention to themselves, as readers notice and start looking for the next one instead of paying attention to your real story. It’s one thing for your mother to look for a buried mention because you tell her to; it’s something else when your readers are made to wonder who that is.
You can consider literal satire as one way to get this sort of thing out of your system, since satirical stories can carry quite a bit of legitimate weight. Lots of stories with magical components do this as part of their style (Pratchett et alia). It takes real work when you try it in genres that are more hostile to whimsy.
Is this something that resonates with you? Got any instances of it in your own work, or someone else’s?
Mad Genius Club 
18 responses to “Indulging in Better Worlds. (Or Maybe, Worse)”
I do a lot of this, but ultimately the Easter eggs are for my amusement, not the readers. My job is to make the whole thing stand up well enough on its own so that other people don’t need to get the Easter eggs to get something out of the book.
Most governments have been limited for the simple reason of lack of resources.
Also, appropriate application of magic can help limit government. Imagine a world with truth spells. The government regularly imposes them on all officials to check whether they do their jobs justly.
“Justly. You keep using that word…..”
Do you really think that Hakeem Jeffries has the same definition as Donald Trump? All a truth spell can measure is whether the subject is telling the truth as he knows it. Useful for solving a murder. Less useful the more subjective the topic, and “justly” is really subjective.
Of course, in a magical universe, the “gods” can set an external standard. Or Arisians. Or Organians. YMMV.
When it’s set to the task the official is to carry out, yes, it can. Are you acquitting the innocent and convicting the guilty? Setting weights and measures to standards? Sending people to jail for offering bribes?
What if the official believes that Blacks are the Oppressed and thus are Always Innocent, and Whites are the Oppressors and thus are Always Guilty?
They filter those out by questioning beforehand.
So sort of like Lensmen get screened.
Anyone else remember the “King’s Messengers” in the Lord Darcy books?
Yes, I remember those “King’s Messengers”.
Oh, I’ve always suspected that the Lens kept Smith’s Lensmen on the straight-and-narrow.
Your last two are not the same as the first. All murders are homicides, but not all homicides are murders. “Did you kill this man” vs “Did you murder this man”.
The others are already categorized.
That’s why you ensure you appoint reasonably prudent men.
Those truthspeaking spells will only work until someone figures out how to spoof their way past them. And someone would be working on it.
Whether they can be spoofed depends on the decree of the author.
Got any instances of it in your own work, or someone else’s?
Oh, my ghod. So many. I try to avoid going on big long rants about things that bug me, because I skip those in other people’s work.
But I will do this sort of thing. From Secret Empire, Angels Inc. has a photo-op at Parliament.
#
Brunhilde left the proceedings and wandered over to the two giants. “Hey troops, what’s up? Hiya Sergeant, are my girls treating you right?”
“We were just discussing things, ma’am,” said the Sergeant formally. Brunhilde was dressed in a snappy business suit and overcoat like Charlotte’s, it fairly screamed ‘VIP’ to his well-practiced eye. She also carried a large sword in a baldric over her suit, the hilt protruded from her overcoat and the point stuck out the back. The incongruity was rather shocking, and here she was strolling around within striking distance of the Prime Minister and some other people who were arguably more important. “Do you have, uh, clearance for that weapon, ma’am?”
“This is Brunhilde,” said Göll helpfully. “Queen of the Valkyries. She doesn’t really need clearance.”
“The gentleman is having trouble with the concept ‘armed civilian’, Brun,” said Sigrun. “He doesn’t want to take our word for it that we’ll behave.”
“Pity,” said Brunhilde with a grin. “You’re going to have to accept that there’s nothing you can do, Sergeant. The VIPs have to take their chances just like you do. It’s a brave new world. Did you get briefed on who we are and why we’re here?”
“I was told robots, big spiders and a dragon, for a photo op. That’s pretty much it, ma’am. Nobody said anything about giant women carrying chainguns under their arms like purses. A gun like that is supposed to be vehicle mounted. If they had told me, I’d have brought a Leopard and the Prime Minister would be at another location right now.”
“Wouldn’t help,” said Göll smugly. “I can take a direct hit from a Leopard.”
“What are we supposed to do then? Go home and leave you to it?” demanded the Sergeant in disgust.
“Do your duty,” said Brunhilde. “I’m doing mine, I don’t see why you should get a free ride. We, the Valkyries, guard the entire Earth. Today we are guarding it against those gentlemen over there who are all smiling and shaking hands. Have you not been wondering why we brought half a company of Her Majesty’s Black Bag Brigade along under guard, and why they got hauled off in irons by the MPs?”
“Above my pay grade ma’am, I focus on protecting Parliament. Right now, I’m focused on you, because your people are breaking every weapon law on the books. You all need to disarm, right now. I suggest we make a pile in the middle of the lawn, my men will secure these weapons, and then we can talk about diplomatic immunity as it applies to robots and space aliens.”
“Okay!” said Göll brightly. She dropped her chaingun on the ground with a crash and deposited the backpack carrying 500 rounds next to it. “There you go.”
Mills examined the weapon sourly. It was roughly the size of a motorcycle. He wouldn’t be moving it alone.
Not gonna lie, I thought this was funny.
Thank you ma’am. ~:D This is how the smart-asses of Angels Inc. stick-handle their way through adversity.
If you think this is funny, you need to see what they do with a Mobile Infantry orbital drop at the end of Secret Empire. MI tactical deployment from Bussard ramscoop starship, used as comedy. And they drop a Bolo. It’s an “air show”.
Off topic but overall relevant to the blog, I saw this article at Marginal Revolution and thought it would be of interest to the community.
https://kk.org/thetechnium/everything-i-know-about-self-publishing/
Pablo K
TXRed as Mod: The linked article is a nice summary of some of the topics discussed here, with additional information about marketing to certain markets.
At some point it hit me that the least realistic part of the fanfic was a judge both admitting they’d made a mistake and apologizing for it.