[split] [I/OOC] Incidental Bits 2 - The Comebacks
04-30-2022, 04:53 PM (This post was last modified: 05-04-2022, 09:25 PM by Black Aeronaut.)
04-30-2022, 04:53 PM (This post was last modified: 05-04-2022, 09:25 PM by Black Aeronaut.)
"If you're just joining us now, this is All Things Considered with Alisa Chang. We are interviewing Benjamin Rhodes about his recent science fiction novel, Negative Return. Benjamin, some people have compared you favorably against George R. R. Martin, someone who is known for writing incredibly detailed and likeable characters, and then suddenly killing them off with little to no warning. Your stories, however, seem to be the very antithesis to this. Would you care to comment on that?"
"Well... it's like this. I'm the sort of person who is very much in touch with their emotions. And throughout my life, I've had terrible things happen to me. Things that have nearly destroyed me on the inside. And unlike with what Mr. Martin does, death had very little to do with my hurt. So when I write these stories, my desire is to make other people understand this feeling. The sorrow, the betrayal, the sheer unmitigated emotional hurt that makes you wish for death.
"When I write, I want to make you suffer. I want you to feel the pain that I have felt all throughout my life. And I do that by making these characters that, despite being unlike anyone you've ever met, you find yourself relating so closely to them that when they're hurt, you're hurt as well."
"That seems awfully grim. Is there a particular reason for that?"
"Two, actually. For one thing, I want people to understand what it is to be me. Even after my second childhood, I'm not fully recovered from my past traumas because the experiences of what I went through are still there. There's also Spider Robinson's rule that you should write what you know, and this is the kind of stuff that I'm intimately familiar with. Secondly, it's my hope that if more people understand what this feels like, then the more people will act when they see something wrong. When they get that sense that all is not right. Or even that they will reconsider their actions before they choose to inflict suffering."
"Well... it's like this. I'm the sort of person who is very much in touch with their emotions. And throughout my life, I've had terrible things happen to me. Things that have nearly destroyed me on the inside. And unlike with what Mr. Martin does, death had very little to do with my hurt. So when I write these stories, my desire is to make other people understand this feeling. The sorrow, the betrayal, the sheer unmitigated emotional hurt that makes you wish for death.
"When I write, I want to make you suffer. I want you to feel the pain that I have felt all throughout my life. And I do that by making these characters that, despite being unlike anyone you've ever met, you find yourself relating so closely to them that when they're hurt, you're hurt as well."
"That seems awfully grim. Is there a particular reason for that?"
"Two, actually. For one thing, I want people to understand what it is to be me. Even after my second childhood, I'm not fully recovered from my past traumas because the experiences of what I went through are still there. There's also Spider Robinson's rule that you should write what you know, and this is the kind of stuff that I'm intimately familiar with. Secondly, it's my hope that if more people understand what this feels like, then the more people will act when they see something wrong. When they get that sense that all is not right. Or even that they will reconsider their actions before they choose to inflict suffering."