Worldbuilding: People Like Us

I was watching an episode of Unfettered Shogun, many of whose episodes can be found here on Archive.org. And it struck me how many tropes we think of as modern were here in 1700s guise. Traveling entertainers who are actually seeking information on the whereabouts of someone who “mysteriously disappeared”. Said lost at sea guys actually being the kidnapped experts who created the Secret Formula! (How to make expensive white sugar from local brown sugar.) A dogged investigator tracking down details that indicate Foul Play has occurred. There was even a case of “impersonate the chauffeur”; a ninja knocked out a boatman and took over poling so he could listen in on the Evil Plotting.

It had, in short, everything you might want out of a heist or detective show. Just in Tokugawa Japan, with swordfights instead of a shootout.

And that’s the way stories should be. The setting and cultures may change, but whatever your story, people are still people. Ancient Egyptians tried baldness cures. Victorians had nipple piercings. I have no doubt that colonists in the next solar system we get to will be checking the news flimsies for the latest 3D vid star gossip, border skirmishes between Mars and the Belt, and their lucky numbers.

I think this gets lost in a lot of fantasy and SF. On the one hand, fair; if you’re writing a Heroic Story you may not want to get bogged down in all the petty details of people keeping up with the Joneses. (Or the Rameses.) On the other hand….

“The Fate of the World is At Stake!” only gets you so far. You can tell one, maybe a couple Grand Stories that way. And they can be great stories! Who doesn’t love Star Wars, or ID4?

But if you want to make a long series with recurring characters, the kind readers and viewers know they can kick back with again and again… you may want more human-scale problems. Jewel thefts. A family get-together that has to go right; or at least not so wrong the fire department’s called in. Illegally imported bunnies.

(That last is how A Swift Kick to the Thorax starts. Sample looks good; plan to get the book when I can.)

People love stories larger than life. But they also love seeing people like them – maybe a little prettier, maybe a little luckier – come up against the most annoying of life’s problems and find some kind of solution. Whether that solution is getting swept off your feet by a noble alien warlord or setting the boss’ car on fire is up to you.

I personally have a taste for “rewarding good and punishing evil”, which is clearly seen in Unfettered Shogun. But I’m also good with Zankuro, another jidaigeki where the low-ranking samurai so named scrapes out an unconventional living a la Harry Dresden or Jim Rockford, never able to do more than break even when the next bill comes due. But he has friends, and at least he does manage to break even. We should all be that lucky.

Make your worlds fantastic. Make your stories awesome. But never forget your characters are people. And when you deal with people, with all their drama and weirdness… you never know what might happen next!