Writing Politics

[Story_Marc]

Let's start this set of videos with the oh-so-popular topic of politics! And more importantly, what to consider when writing them.

 

[Rhaps]

No need for a video.
1 word : No.

As someone who love fantasy politics, YES

 

[Story_Marc]

No need for a video.
1 word : No.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Unless doing a comedy piece intentionally skewering popular figures, I would never touch real-world politics except tangentially (it may be "obvious" that a character is "based on" a real political figure but it would not BE that person, and their views would have some subtle - or perhaps not-so-subtle - tweaks). But I have no problem making up politics and political figures...

One minor quibble - some people actually get into politics for unselfish reasons, even moreso in fiction. In the real world, most get corrupted (often depressingly quickly), but in fiction some political characters can still be heroic/non-selfish, even after years in power. There should ALSO be pure evil political figures (and most should show both sides but lean towards the "selfish" side), because those make the best villains but not all in politics are bad guys. Heck, one story I am working on has an "evil politician" who is becoming one of the good guys ... but only in the virtual world he keeps retreating to, not in the real world.

My wife has gotten into Korean TV dramas lately and they highlight this a lot, especially in the historical fiction stories (one of the cooler aspects of the "zombie apocalypse" series "Kingdom" is how politics gets involved in the story, and usually makes things much worse).

 

[Ed.Spain]

Eh, my isekai story has politics, especially parts where the story touches on kingdom building and governance. Someone's offended by my take of politics? Joke's on them. Write their own work.

 

[Anon2025]

I don't need to write fictional politics when there is already so much fiction in politics now.

 

[Story_Marc]

Do any of you write about characters trying to gain or maintain power? Then you write politics.

None of my tips are exclusive to governance. XD Like controlling the narrative or to consider the tension between the public persona and private.

 

[SailusGebel]

Thank you! Btw, I'm still waiting for a video on stables.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Wait...

People DON'T have internal politics in their stories?

Thank you! Btw, I'm still waiting for a video on stables.

SaiilusGebel Is A Brony: Confirmed

 

[Story_Marc]

Thank you! Btw, I'm still waiting for a video on stables.

I'm still thinking of a unique angle to make it relevant to writers in general.

 

[QuercusMalus]

With politics and power struggles in story, I try to keep the 'one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter' concept in mind. So depending on what faction the character is from, their interpretation on the same events can differ wildly, especially when compounded by distance and the distortion that has on communication, especially in a low-tech world (hitech has the same distortion, if anything worse, just much quicker).

Well many people can be self-serving and two faced, there are usually some limits they won't cross, but what that is going to vary, even amongst the same faction, leaving the possibility of turn coats, quislings and betrayal/sabotage as potentially damaging issues to either be addressed or exploited.

 

[Aader]

I am about the closest thing you can get to a politician here, and let me tell you, politics isn't complicated, there are not conspiracies, it's just incompetence beating out worse incompetence.

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

Mfs will write about Isekai and regulated immigration whenever their MC goes to a city and gets asked for an ID...
Mfs will write about royal knights...
Mfs will write about going into dungeons freely (unsupervised natural resource exploitation)...
Mfs will write about Guilds of any kind and build intricately complex syndicates...
Mfs will write about Kingdoms...
Mfs will write about princes/princesses...
Mfs will write about selling stuff in a town...
Mfs will write about going to school...
Mfs will write about crime...
Mfs will write about life in civilized society...
Mfs will write about "monarchosocialist" countries...
Mfs will write tyrants...
Mfs will write about military...
Mfs will write about religion...

But noooo... politics? No thanks!

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I'm still thinking of a unique angle to make it relevant to writers in general.

Psst...

Just between you, me, and the internet, I think he is talking about a stable of women. ie Harems

But noooo... politics? No thanks!

Well, in the MFer's defense, it doesn't sell.

My Favorate Book I'm writing is VERY political, and it is my least popular story.

The way I have it is, the MC is an American in an European Ambiant Isekai setting where he Bull in a china shops through everything, but then every once in a while I have the FL have a chapter where she explains in horrifying detail how completely screwed everything is by the MC's actions. We're talking about how where you sit in an auditorium is a political statement.

I spent a chapter explaining all the nuance of serving TEA, why the Bad guy did what he did and expected to get away with it because of how rude the MC had been. How the King had to keep protecting the MC. How the side effects of the MC being an asshole resulted in someone innocent, completely unrelated to him, getting murdered.

I LOVE that shit. The ripple of society and how your actions have consequences.

But most people don't. They find it dry. They don't care.

 

[Story_Marc]

Psst...

Just between you, me, and the internet, I think he is talking about a stable of women. ie Harems

Well, in the MFer's defense, it doesn't sell.

My Favorate Book I'm writing is VERY political, and it is my least popular story.

The way I have it is, the MC is an American in an European Ambiant Isekai setting where he Bull in a china shops through everything, but then every once in a while I have the FL have a chapter where she explains in horrifying detail how completely screwed everything is by the MC's actions. We're talking about how where you sit in an auditorium is a political statement.

I spent a chapter explaining all the nuance of serving TEA, why the Bad guy did what he did and expected to get away with it because of how rude the MC had been. How the King had to keep protecting the MC. How the side effects of the MC being an asshole resulted in someone innocent, completely unrelated to him, getting murdered.

I LOVE that shit. The ripple of society and how your actions have consequences.

But most people don't. They find it dry. They don't care.

He isn't. I know what he's talking about since this goes back by months now.

 

[Biggest-Kusa-Out-There]

Psst...

Just between you, me, and the internet, I think he is talking about a stable of women. ie Harems

Well, in the MFer's defense, it doesn't sell.

My Favorate Book I'm writing is VERY political, and it is my least popular story.

The way I have it is, the MC is an American in an European Ambiant Isekai setting where he Bull in a china shops through everything, but then every once in a while I have the FL have a chapter where she explains in horrifying detail how completely screwed everything is by the MC's actions. We're talking about how where you sit in an auditorium is a political statement.

I spent a chapter explaining all the nuance of serving TEA, why the Bad guy did what he did and expected to get away with it because of how rude the MC had been. How the King had to keep protecting the MC. How the side effects of the MC being an asshole resulted in someone innocent, completely unrelated to him, getting murdered.

I LOVE that shit. The ripple of society and how your actions have consequences.

But most people don't. They find it dry. They don't care.

My brother in christ, every single thing I wrote is political. Everything. In. Life. Is. Political. You don't need to call it that way for it to be so. It simply is that way.

 

[SoaringMoon]

How tf am I supposed to write a fantasy war story without politics?