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OdiousOutlaw wrote

I would want to write fiction that focuses on character interaction and development, while subverting, parodying, and deconstructing various tropes seen in fiction, particularly when it comes to morality; I'd really like to write a protagonist with an utterly alien moral framework and how that affects them and the people they come into contact with. Sometimes I entertain the idea of writing a story that spans entire generations; but whatever ideas I get for those don't really "stick".

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[deleted] wrote

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GlangSnorrisson wrote

Same here. This sounds wonderful.

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OdiousOutlaw wrote

And I'd love to write it; but between all of the worldbuilding, making sure that other characters aren't overshadowed, and my general incompetence when it comes to writing interactions that feel "organic", its execution would make it a convoluted mess.

But I appreciate the fact that you and /u/bloodrose like my idea.

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NeoAnabaptist OP wrote

I find projects like this are always worth trying out for as long as you stay interested enough to put the effort in. Even if you never reach any kind of concrete goal, it builds your skills (maybe the next project will take off) and helps make life just that little bit more fulfilling.

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OdiousOutlaw wrote

You aren't wrong.

Fuck it, I'll try.

Not like I'm looking to publish it or anything, so if the end result comes off as luckluster, I could just delete it.

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thelegendarybirdmonster wrote

L'étranger of Albert Camus is a bit about that.

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OdiousOutlaw wrote

Yeah, I've read that one; but the protagonist in it is more amoral than anything else. The protagonist in my story would have a moral compass, it would just be really fucking weird; it also doesn't really work for it to be told in first person and the setting would more along the lines of "modern science-fantasy".

There would definitely be some sort of absurdist angle to work with, though.

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HelpOthers wrote

Can you elaborate on the moral compass you have envisioned for your protagonist?

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OdiousOutlaw wrote

Sure, why not.

Rather than go through the trouble of making new moral concepts outside of the binary of "good" and "evil", I've decided to keep the overall structure of a "normal" sense of morality so that there is a sense of "right" and "wrong"; this has the added benefit of making the protagonist seem human enough (which works well with both the setting and what the character is)and makes her significantly easier to write. With that structure in mind; rather than randomly pick what the protag considers "right" and "wrong", I decided to give her two "virtues" (pride and courage) and two "vices" (mercy and humility) to act as counterparts of "good" and "evil" respectively. Here's where it gets fun; she applies both her "virtues" and "vices" to both herself and everyone else, she would see both arrogance and recklessness as moral pinnacles while seeing modesty and leniency as depraved.

With that being said, I want to write her in a way that makes it so that she doesn't come across as "weird, but still kind of evil"; so her personality would have to be as far from malevolent as possible, which is means her personality also has some bearing on how she "operates": after all, "values" are not the be-all and end-all of whether or not someone is "good" or "evil"; so I envision her as pretty laid-back. But I wanted to add some friction between her and the other characters, so I also envision her as being completely incapable of hatred; which conflicts with the hatred that her allies feel towards their enemies.

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