After the amazing and funny conversations with Kevin Conroy and the actors who voiced GTA V characters, the last panel I attended dealt with an interesting topic. The authors Brian McClellan (The Gun Powder Mage series), Jen Williams (The Copper Cat trilogy), Wesley Chu (Time Salvager), Lucy Hounsom (Worldmaker trilogy), and Sam Miller (Blackfish City) were in conversation at the Comic Stage on how the reality which we live in inspired and influenced their works.
The writers arrived together; Chu led the group to the stage. The audience welcomed them clapping loudly their hands. As the round of introductions concluded, the authors plunged into the core of the conversation. “What influenced my novel was the importance of the climate change,” Miller started off. “Besides a lot of people in the United States claimed that immigration ruined our country, so I thought that it would be original to make them be the people who emigrate.” “My novel, too, deals with the issue of climate change,” Chu interjected, “but I wanted my characters to fight for a solution, which happened to be time-travelling. In the world I created, people can travel back in time to get the resources they need.” McClellan said that he had always tried to avoid social problems, as he has recently tried not to read the news. “Fiction is an escape from the real world and worries,” the author explained. “I don’t think we should include them in our works.” The audience silently heard the writes’ interesting points of view. Lucy Hounsom has always observed the genders and races. “I wanted to create a ‘trans-character’ who could point out the numerous differences in the human beings and society,” she said. “My main purpose was to stimulate discussion in my readers.” “I agree with this opinion,” Williams interjected. “I think that sci-fi is supposed to deal with the questions of the society. In fantasy, the ideas aren’t as explicit and as clear as they might be.” Hounsom created a unique world in which women were able to set on fire things – deliberately or unintentionally – and the authorities persecuted them. Their main characters were strong and powerful women. The writer’s explanation brought the conversation to discuss the problems of genders. “The first book I published had a lot of criticism because it was considered male centred,” McClellan said, “but women were as powerful and influencing as men were. In the third book I wrote, I, however, worked on reducing the male predominance.” “Criticism is what makes us improve,” Chu agreed. “We learn from our mistakes and we start observing the world from different perspectives.” McClellan added that the problem was cultural; authors had to explore different point of views, but the bizarre educational system tended to provide mainly male main characters. “That’s why my first character was a male,” Hounsom agreed. “I’ve always read a lot and I was used to having main male characters.” “Although female writers have recently started using female points of view,” Williams said. “It’s a duty of the writers to examine different views.” In Chu’s opinion, writing about fantastic creatures might be the safest way to avoid making mistakes and misunderstanding. “Even though your cultural background will always come out,” the author went on. “It’s inevitable that sooner or later you’ll offend somebody.” The conversation came to the end; the authors provided their opinions clearly and efficiently, answering the few questions the audience had for them. “Creating your fictional world is not easy because it will always reflect your cultural background,” Williams concluded, “but it’s our responsibility to do it as proper and real as we can, respecting the numerous and beautiful differences our society provides.”
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November 2020
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