Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.
The morality of fantasy and horror is, by and large, the strict morality of the fairy tale. The vampire is slain, the alien is blown out of the airlock, the Dark Lord is vanquished, and, perhaps at some loss, the good triumph – not because they are better armed but because Providence is on their side.
Why does the third of the three brothers, who shares his food with the old woman in the wood, go on to become king of the country? Why does Bond manage to disarm the nuclear bomb a few seconds before it goes off rather than, as it were, a few seconds afterwards? Because a universe where that did not happen would be a dark and hostile place. Let there be goblin hordes, let there be terrible environmental threats, let there be giant mutated slugs if you really must, but let there also be hope. It may be a grim, thin hope, an Arthurian sword at sunset, but let us know that we do not live in vain.
You want fantasy? Here’s one… There’s this species that lives on a planet a few miles above molten rock and a few miles below a vacuum that’d suck the air right out of them. They live in a brief geological period between ice ages, when giant asteroids have temporarily stopped smacking into the surface. As far as they can tell, there’s nowhere else in the universe where they could stay alive for ten seconds.
And what do they call their fragile little slice of space and time? They call it real life. In a universe where it is known that whole galaxies can explode, they think there’s things like ‘natural justice’ and ‘destiny’. Some of them even believe in democracy…
I’m a fantasy writer, and even I find it all a bit hard to believe.
Diversity in the modern world is more than just skin color – It’s gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, social background, and – most important of it, in my opinion – is diversity of thought. If you have genuine diversity of thought among people making TV & film, then you won’t accidentally shut out any of the groups I just mentioned.
If you are writing any book about the end of the world, what you are really writing about is what’s worth saving about it.
I think that’s what all artists do, you know? ‘What is the thing that only I can contribute?‘ It’s not about having the confidence to say HELLO WORLD and HERE IS MY IDEA THAT’S NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE, it’s about, this is in my brain, and unless I express it, it’s going to stay in my brain.
It’s not about imposing my will on the world, it’s about personal expression. It’s about… if I don’t get it all out, it’s going to die with me.
‘Rincewind, all the shops have been smashed open, there was a whole bunch of people across the street helping themselves to musical instruments, can you believe that?’
‘Yeah,’ said Rincewind, picking up a knife and testing its blade thoughtfully. ‘Luters, I expect.’
