  Fantasy
This week: You're Not That Sick Edited by: Satuawany  
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When a friend catches the flu, do you panic about the possibility of it being life-threatening?
So why does it seem, in so many stories, that an illness is or becomes a major conflict?
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In novels, when characters gets sick, it almost always spells doom. We have to worry about finding the cure, or letting them go. They're told to lie down, that whatever vital thing they were supposed to do can wait, so they can feel better about not saving the world on account of they're on their deathbeds.
"Just lie back; we'll take care of everything."
I remember reading all of one book where one of the main characters gets a cold. Not a plot-bending, panic-worthy illness. Just a cold. A sniffling, sneezing, aching, and-still-I-have-to-get-stuff-done cold.
Even heroes get the flu, right? Hay fever? No? Yes! It's heroic to even get out of bed when the head is filled with a congealed mess ready to turn liquid as soon as you want to be presentable. It's nice to see heroes overcome common obstacles along with the great ones.
"It's not enough that I have to complete the quest before the world ends, but I have to do it with a handkerchief glued to my nose?"
A little grippe is humanizing. Even your fantasy and alien creatures need a little humanizing when you want your (presumably) human audience to relate. Even if the characters don't get sick like we do, it's still nice to know they have these hurdles.
If they don't get sick like we do, how do they get sick? This can actually be fun, and world-building at the same time, especially in magic-based worlds. Then you can have a sort of flux of uncontrolled magic. Mag'or!ic the Wizard is sick; every time he waves a hand, streams of tiny flowers pour out through his fingertips.
The form of "common" illness could also show cultural attitudes. When most people of our modern world get the stomach flu, they stay at home where they can easily reach the toilet. Brought down by that sort of illness, I camp out on the couch and no one even suggests I do anything more. And there's only mild upset if I decide to sleep on the bathroom floor.
But imagine a world where contagion isn't a concern because of magic, medicine, or just plain ignorance. Sure, you feel bad, but the work's got to be done and it's outside work; the world is your toilet. That is, imagine a world where a digestive-system-clearing stomach flu is treated like a mild cold.
More than anything, though, a fact of existence is that you just run into sick people, especially in certain seasons. It seems like, in fiction, you rarely do unless it's a street urchin or a notable character in danger of actually dying from whatever malady they've contracted. If we're always looking for ways to make our stories and our worlds more "realistic"---and, even in fantasy, we're trying to do that so that the readers can believe this fantasy world exists---then where are all the people with the common cold?
Instead of the stereotypical "geeky" magician's assistant having hay fever, why not the big, buff hero? And how does he handle it? If he's like every man I've had the pleasure of knowing while they were sick, he does not handle it well at all. Definitely not as well as the women I've known. So maybe what you really need is a heroine.
Next month: addressing allegations of sexism in [the] fantasy [newsletter].
 A true note about next month: If you have a fiction item in which at least one character breaks a stereotypical speculative fiction gender role, I'd love to see it. (The character in question does not have to be the main character.) Also, if you have an article, discussion forum, or other nonfiction item that deals with stereotypical gender roles in speculative fiction, I'd love to see that, too.
If I manage to get ten, I'll give an awardicon to my favorite. All will have a chance to go in next month's "Editor's Picks." Please send a link to your item along in the form below (just above "Removal Instructions.") If you have more than one, you can send me the item numbers (or proper links) in a reply email to this newsletter or in the comment box. There is no limit to how many items you can send.
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#127170 by Not Available. |
| |  | The Visitors (13+)
A vignette showing what might happen if alien visitors landed in a Tolkienesque setting...
#1375901 by Mandragore  |
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#1774859 by Not Available. |
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#1424309 by Not Available. |
| | | ACKUHLOV (13+)
A man tries to find a cure for all sickness. The story of the birth of a legend.
#758948 by Mac Taurelai |
Because I have to:
NL-ID: 4372
"Sick"
Snot funny. (Comedy Newsletter - May 4, 2011)
by Waltz Invictus  |
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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In response to last month's newsletter, "Unusual Eyes" ,
 A.T.B: It'sWhatWeDo writes:
I have to commend you on a brilliant concept and naturally an excellent NL as a result. In all my research (some of it on Hawking as well) I've found more correlations between the eyes and the supernatural than I can remember, but all of which speak to some sense of "other" at the core. It seems a common contemporary device to use the 'blacked out' effect, but what interests me most is the way in which a lot of our favorite current authors deviate from certain colors pertaining to either good or evil, and the idea of blindness altogether spanning the spectrum from oracles to swordsmen. I guess, to put it another way more in context with your NL, I've found a lot of inspiration in what a character might gain from a lack of vision, or if a character's eyes are prone to changing, all the many possibilities that exist to show their conflicts or perspectives as a result.
Thanks for a great chance to revisit such a strong source of material and inspiration!
The possibilities are truly endless! And thank you for the inspiration to explore a few more.
bertiebrite hoping for peace writes:
Very informative, gave me reason for thought. Thanks for the article, it improved my abilities in creating characters for my new world.
Outstanding!
Arwen9 writes:
Cool newsletter and very true. I've a character in a sci-fi who cannot see the color blue (it's gray to them) and can see in pitch black bc of combo of a tapetum like a cat and eyeshine (bioluminescence) inside their eye. Things like that really help cement a character in readers' mind.
Oh, wow. That sounds very cool. Thank you for sharing that; gives us even more ocular inspiration.
Matt Bird MSci (Hons) AMRSC writes:
Very good NL. One of the latest theories is the Hologram Theory which (in a very basic way) theorizes that the world we see is a 3D projection of a 2D hologram. There are numerous moral views on this theory. For more info visit: tiny.cc/2sf03
Ha! Okay, that is interesting and I haven't heard it before. Thanks for sharing!
Jeff  writes:
Great NL this week! I always love puzzling over how stories set on other worlds can possibly work out from a logical perspective... glad to know I'm not alone! (And you're right; there are an awful lot of stories that give characters starkly unique eye colors!) 
And it's one of the best parts of staring off into space, that puzzling. At least, I always try to come up with something like this to say when my husband catches me staring off into space and asks me what I'm thinking.
Light writes:
Very thought inspiring news letter about vision. You may be interested to know that most stars that planets are around, that we know about, all give off about the same mix of wavelengths. But, there are other related objects that may have planets around them. Red dwarfs and blue dwarf stars have wavelengths that are a bit different. And then, there are neutron stars and black holes. They tend to give off more wavelengths such as X-rays. Large black holes that become quasars give off about every wavelength imaginable. But, they give off so much energy that you wouldn't want to be very close to one.
*nods respectfully at the fountain of information* Indeed. Which gives us more to think about when hunting ideas that have escaped the proverbial box.
BIG BAD WOLF is Merry  writes:
Always something to learn.
Yes there is! And thank you for your submission; I'll consider it for a future issue.
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Fantasy: September 21, 2011 Issue [#4626]
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