This has been on my mind a lot the last few years. We’ve had dark times before, but what we’re experiencing now is unprecedented in terms of the erosion of basic civil norms, the rule of law, trust in institutions, and other things we used to take for granted even under the awful Bush years. My stories have certainly gotten darker as a result, and I had a lot of anger and fear to work out; but it also felt ultimately as though this kind of response wasn’t quite right for me.
Recently I read Cat Rambo’s post on Hopepunk in which she expands on Alexandra Rowland’s thoughts on fiction that defies dystopia. Cat says:
“Hopepunk is a reaction to our times, an insistence that a hollow world built of hatred and financial ambition is NOT the norm. It is stories of resistance, stories that celebrate friendship and truth and the things that make us human. In today’s world, being kind is one of the most radical things you can do, and you can see society trying to quash it by prosecuting those who offer food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, and shelter to those in need.”
I super love this. Many years ago, I got really tired of grimdark to the point where I can’t read it anymore. It seemed like there were antiheroes everywhere and the worlds were just unrelentingly unfair and dark and cynical. I especially hate stories that, as Cat points out, seem to mock the desire to do good, to be honorable. I get the impulse — sometimes the hero narratives can be too straight-forward, lacking nuance; sometimes those stories can be too upbeat, ignoring pain and trauma. I think for me the balance is that stories must acknowledge pain and trauma and injustice, but show that there are ways to heal and overcome. That sometimes, kindness and generosity and empathy can win.
I’m working on a novel now that tries to do that. The main characters in it are both teenagers, with trauma in their pasts. They are both trapped by where and who they are. Their primary conflict is to overcome those barriers and Do Good, in both small ways and large, and grow into honorable, courageous adults capable of boundless love and empathy. I think that’s what I’m most interested right now — how do you hold on to empathy in a world that seems determined to devalue it, and devalue YOU for having it?
The reason I write is to discover the answer.