If a hero is just a soul in transformation, why is it so difficult to write outside culture conventions? I should be able to make up anything I want, provided the character grows in the course of their journey.
The problem has really hit home in relation to gender: I want to write a fantasy novel about a female hero, but I didn’t want her to succeed (a) by dressed as/acting like a male warrior, (b) only to then go on to claim her suitable marriage, (c) as a solitary female acting in defiance of her patriarchal society.
But it seems impossible!
With sci-fi it’s a lot easier, because you’ve more freedom, in a way, to create a whole new world. But for fantasy to be recognisable as such, and for it to appeal to a fantasy audience, it seems that you have to base your work in part on a period of human history.
Which means, of course, that the society on which you base it is almost certain to be run by males with women in subordinate positions.
Why?
Because that’s human history!
And if you alter it, your work risks being seen as irrelevant. Strange as it seems, fantasy must be strongly grounded in the real world to allow the reader to understand and sympathise.
Another issue: I read that a hero must stand out from the crowd in order to be seen as a hero - so if you altered history so that all women were strong, then the hero would shine less brightly as a result.
Actually, I think this must have been written by a women feeling helplessly oppressed: nobody brings up the issue when it comes to male heroes.
Perhaps I just need to feel less constrained by history; make a world seemingly like Italy during the Renaissance, but in which women and men both hold positions of power and dominate parts of the street. Then, of course, the class issue becomes more apparent, but I think that we need different classes in a way we really don’t need submissive and dominant genders!
On the other hand, it seems that the fantasy hero must always be fighting against something, and having that thing as gender inequality makes the novel relevant and perhaps offers a good role model for girls who think that they ought not to aim as high as men…
What a tricky issue…
