Lately, I’ve been exploring the idea of hope in literature, particularly in fantasy and science fiction. They seem to be incredibly common themes and I’ve been mulling that over. I wanted to get some other opinions on hope in the fantastical and, luckily for me, several guest authors were willing to oblige me.

Today I’m sharing a guest piece written by JCM Berne, author of the Superhero Space Opera Wistful Ascending. Wistful Ascending is available now, so be sure to pick it up!

Plotting the Path to Happiness: Hope in Fantasy

Like almost everybody, I’ve been through some dark times – not more than the average person, and perhaps fewer; but I’ve been bullied, lost people, and had periods where I felt helpless, hopeless, powerless, and alone.  

That’s a lot of bad feelings.

I shouldn’t speak for everybody, but I will anyway. Everyone goes through dark times. When they do, I’m sure they also feel all those things, in various proportions, at various times. And that’s all a normal part of life.

What I’ve found is that while everybody’s the same, everybody is also different (yes, my birth name is Yoda). Bad feelings don’t follow rules—not everybody who loses a parent feels the same way. Ditto people who are bullied, or suffer breakups, or watch the news. All people suffer in these situations, but we all suffer differently.

The feeling I suffered from most, in the long term, is the sense of powerlessness or helplessness. The sense that I had bad feelings I couldn’t control or bad circumstances I couldn’t affect. That was what bothered me—specifically me —the most. 

And when your world is dominated by feeling powerless or helpless, what kind of narrative do you want to hear? In my case, and in the case of many others, it’s a narrative about someone gaining efficacy and changing their life. Kung fu movies where our plucky hero trains hard and avenges his fallen master. Fantasy stories where our plucky hero trains hard and slays the dragon that wiped out his village. Science fiction stories where our plucky hero trains hard surrenders to the Force, and destroys the Death Star. You see where I’m going with this.

When I feel bad, what I need is a story that tells me (even if it’s a lie—no, especially if it’s a lie) that with the right attitude, courage, and hard work, I can overcome whatever crappy situation I’m in. That’s what helps me cope. And that’s what a hopeful fantasy story provides!

I’m not saying that everybody in a dark place needs, or wants, that type of story. If you’re suffering and feeling isolated and alone, perhaps what you need is just a story about other people who feel the same way to alleviate that sensation of loneliness. If you’re a fatalist, maybe you need a story where things turn out badly, because otherwise you can’t suspend disbelief. If you feel like you’re in the lowest possible place, maybe you need a story about people who are in a worse situation than you.

And if you think humans are garbage, maybe you need to read stories where all the characters are garbage, else you toss the story away in disgust.

Let’s be honest – if people didn’t often gravitate towards stories with happy endings, romance wouldn’t be outselling SFF by such a huge margin. And if everybody always liked happy endings, there wouldn’t be such a large market for grimdark.

Different people need and respond to different types of stories. Sometimes the same people need different stories at different times. That’s okay! 

Because I like to read hopeful books, that’s what I write as well. In my books, the heroes will always win (you might not be sure of how they’ll win, but you can be confident they will), good will triumph over evil, and while things might get bad along the way, they won’t get too bad. That’s my brand.

That brand clearly doesn’t work for everyone. I’m sure some readers would read my book full of generally nice people who are generally trying to do the right thing and be totally turned off by it. And as I’ve said before, that’s okay! There are other books.

But if you’d like to spend some time in a world where things are mostly better and turn out better still, feel free to give Wistful Ascending a try.

About the author:

JCM Berne codes by day. By night he retreats to his secret lair and fights the deconstruction of the superhero genre by writing stories where the heroes are trying to do the right thing and, for the most part, succeed. He spends far too much time on Twitter, discord, and Instagram, whispering to himself that scrolling through one more set of pictures of expensive watches will somehow further his writing career.

Purchase Link:

Wistful Ascending