General Writer's Block thread

Is there a term for stories that are like slice of life, except they take place in a fantasy or sci-fi world? For example, how a Harry Potter-style wizard goes about daily life in the magic world? Or a family of aliens on their home planet? Or a human 50 years into the future, surrounded by new technology and cultural quirks?

If someone wrote a modern Slice of Life set today, and sent it into the past, how would people in the past react? Just a random thought that occured to me.

edited 20th Mar '17 8:18:45 AM by hellomoto

@De Marquis: Did you mean to link this? Thanks, I'll check it later.

@hellomoto: I'm not sure there's a specific name for it, other than [Speculative Fiction] Slice of Life. Although I'm not sure people always notice the "Slice of Life" part. That's what I'm trying to learn how to write.

As for how would people react: realistically? No idea. Believably? They could laugh it off, be amazed, become afraid.

I get the feeling something's only truly thought of as Slice of Life if the topics it deals with are at least in some way mundane. A farmer that milks dragons could be the protagonist of a slice of life story, while a soldier that fights in a war against the Dankest of Lords would likely not qualify, unless the story details his/her coming home, Vietnam vet style.

Your second question is trickier. I can only shudder how the people of yesterday would deal with some of the darker modern works considering The Sorrows of Young Werther caused a wave of suicides.

edited 20th Mar '17 6:22:45 PM by ilili

I'm not sure Odysseus counts as Slice of Life

Extra Credits had an episode on Sci-Fi games mentioning "something something making the mundane fantastic, and the fantastic mundane."

Neither am I, seeing as I haven't read it .

Sounds about right, I suppose.

Sooo... How do you feel about making all your characters physically attractive? I've always looked down on it myself. That is, until I started writing this Sci-Fi/Fantasy story where everybody ages muuuuch slower and beauty surgeries are like going to the dentist.

...How did that happen?

Either pandering to an audience or reflecting your own preferences.

Besides what said, it can come off as perhaps too homogenous, unless saying something about beauty standards is the point of the story.

Depends on the genre. I write thrillers, a certain level of glamour is expected.

edited 2nd Apr '17 5:24:24 PM by DeMarquis

I like making attractive characters —shrug—. But I also don't really describe them as attractive, I just don't really describe anyone as ugly. The only times characters get the attractive descriptor is if the Narrator is specifically attracted to them.

That seems rather realistic to me. There's a rather sizeable area between "attractive" and "ugly" for any given observer, unless they have a strictly binary standard where you must be either "attractive" or "ugly" with no middle ground.

When I picture my characters, most of them don't really look 'attractive', per se- outside of a couple outliers, they either look mostly average, or odd in a way that could be attractive, ugly, or 'none of the above' depending on the person. And in thinking about this, I've noticed that I rely on personality as a factor in someone's attractiveness- in that if someone has objectively average features and is a bad person, that'll make them seem ugly in my mind. Kind of like taking this Roald Dahl passage◊ to heart.

I like doing the contrast thing- one of my protagonists is explicitly described as sexy in appearance, but she's essentially a jerk. The snark that goes on between her and the other main protagonists is part of the fun.

for some odd reason, i have average looking protagonist that turn into a bit more attractive alter egos for some reason. it's not wish fulfillment, since people mostly observe their actions rather than their appearance. that kinda explains why people still run away from Captain Victory/liberty, although he's pretty hot for human kaiju. that, and well...he likes to eat people although he's a good guy.

edited 3rd Apr '17 9:06:42 AM by ewolf2015

...whats that last bit?

my character nackie's alter ego. i really shouldn't give examples of characters since on one gets the context.

Two of my stories deal with The Fair Folk, superheroes, and assorted spirits, so it's hard to NOT have attractive people. But in the first story, said fairies are The Wild Hunt and very much antagonists. The Horned Hunter is low-key obsessed with my protagonist Alima's long black Rapunzel Hair, but he's also the embodiment of hunting and he wants to kill her and her family, so he'd be thinking more like "I'm gonna stick her head on my wall" than "her hair is so pretty and I want to take pictures."

Plus, actual fairy beauty is going to be a case of Society Marches On: Average fairies are "Special Average or Common Beauty") since they're a race of beings with clear skin, nice hair, and good proportions, but historians also point out that of COURSE ancient humans would think fairies were an Inhumanly Beautiful Race of godlike magicians if we kept hearing stories about fantastically wealthy royalty and super-powered warriors. Most average fairies make the same mistake about humans.

I give a lot of Moonflowers' spirits great looks, but weird inhuman traits that are supposed to trip the humans' Uncanny Valley alerts in-story. The Horned Hunter is tall and green-eyed, but he Casts No Shadow despite his love of wearing a ten-foot-wide deer skull mask, plus nobody really cares that he's hot because HE'S TRYING TO MURDER A FAMILY. Artio the bear-goddess is a Hot Amazon with huge-ass bear fangs, and the river-spirit Maidin doesn't wear shoes yet leaves no footprints, aside from the water he drips all over the place. Plus he's not quite all there and talks like Deadpool got water-powers, so he annoys a lot of characters because he's always going off on tangents.

And in the second story, the attractiveness will mainly come from a) the film-noir gangster outfits and my superhero's chest full of gangster tattoos, or b) their LACK of costumes. Plus I'm trying to take down the Asian and Nerdy stereotype by filling my cast with hot Asian-American dudes that AREN'T Bishounen or kung-fu artists.

edited 3rd Apr '17 2:11:43 PM by Sharysa

Sheesh, sounds neat. Fair Folk always make for interesting characters, if you ask me. They tend to prove that beauty does certainly not equal goodness, among other things.

Loving the "she's so pretty omg gonna nail her head to my wall" thing, that's my idea of some nice Blue-and-Orange Morality right there.

Thanks for all the input, I guess I'll just dial back the Author Appeal a bit.

On a related note, what do y'all think about Attractiveness Isolation? Plausible, or corny as hell?

edited 3rd Apr '17 1:34:34 PM by ilili

Yeah, there's a whole lot of fantasy Culture Clash in my fairy-tale. I made a point that other fairies are much nicer to humans and REALLY hate the Horned Hunter's creepster serial-killing, but it's hard to argue with a force of nature unless you have his mental AND physical prowess, and he basically set up the story.

Attractiveness Isolation CAN work well if pulled off—Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones is So Beautiful, It's a Curse because she attracts horrible men who only want her family prestige or a sexy wife, and she sparks a lot of Papa Wolf / Mama Bear instincts in readers because after losing her family and being held a political hostage for years, she's gone from a sweet and sheltered pre-teen to a lonely young woman who pretends to pray for hours because it's the only time people will leave her alone. If Attractiveness Isolation is written badly, though, it can definitely come off as Wangst.

edited 3rd Apr '17 3:23:34 PM by Sharysa

ilili, what are the themes of your story? Is it going to be about appearance and attractiveness?

I see. Thanks, I hadn't realized Sansa was an example before. So the way to avoid Wangst would be to have there be actual consequences due to the characters beauty?

I don't think so, no. In my story society is technologically advanced to the point that making yourself look younger/slow down aging (as soon as you're an adult) is commonplace. Sign up to become a Super-Soldier, and you'll stop aging period. All that is just background details though.

Concerning Attractiveness Isolation, it's about a character's childhood: "-Name- has always been attractive, partly due to her fondness for physical activity, but is also shy and introverted. Her attractiveness coupled with a reputation for being a Bully Hunter resulted in people, especially girls her age, somewhat avoiding her, and she lacked the self-confidence to approach them by herself." Is it just me or does that reek of a Mary Sue?

edited 8th Apr '17 10:11:12 AM by ilili

You should certainly shift things away from her looks and focus on other things that people may shy away from, either due to feeling intimidated or less noble reasons.

Maybe people find her too serious, judgemental or generally unfun? After all, many bullies and witnesses see bullying as natural despite the victim's objections.

edited 8th Apr '17 9:14:01 AM by EternaMemoria

Quick note: You can be introverted WITHOUT being shy, and a Bully Hunter is probably the OPPOSITE of shy.

General consensus is that "Introverts love their alone time, and they get drained by social interaction." After two hours at a party, a shy introvert will probably hide in the corner and wait for their friend to take them home. A non-shy introvert will probably just go "bro, I'm tired as fuck, I need to sleep."

I'm an actor who likes being around people—I just hate parties and social events, because I'll inevitably have to talk to people that I don't know and I'll have to make a Good First Impression and all that shit.

at this rate it's hopeless. i been asking every single thread on the internet on someone who knows dublin to no avail. at this rate i might as well cancel the project since i can't bare to set it in america. it feels dumb and stupid (no offense to anyone who lives in america).

edited 11th Apr '17 7:34:56 AM by ewolf2015

WHY does it feel stupid? Setting a work in a location you personally know can make it feel if not more real, at least more immersive.

reasons. granted, since my main character is an outsider, the lack of immersion makes sense. but even then, i feel like i want it take place somewhere else.