Any Plot But "Save the World"

[Blackrook]

I find it a problem when "Save the World" is such a common plot in science fiction and fantasy that it is a surprise when that is NOT the plot.

I think we as aspiring writers can do everyone a favor and endeavor to come up with stories that have some other plot than "Save the World."

We should give our heroes and heroines lesser goals that are nevertheless, still interesting enough to make compelling stories.

Gattaca was very good with a hero whose only goal was to take a trip to Saturn. The interesting part was all the difficult things he needed to do to accomplish that goal.

In Bladerunner, the hero's goal was to kill four androids. Not a very noble goal, but we understand he had no choice so we go along with it.

In Firefly, the hero's goal is merely to survive in a hostile universe. This goal was difficult to achieve with a hostile government, unsavory criminals and cannibalistic Reavers showing up in every episode, usually simultaneously.

I could write all night listing examples where "Save the World" was the plot, or the variant "Overthrow the Evil Government" which is just as tired and overused.

 

[HareBrain]

I think that the longer a story, especially if taken over several volumes, the higher the stakes deemed necessary to justify it. Gattaca and Bladerunner, if in novel form, would have been quite short. Firely was longer, true, but though I never got round to watching it, I thought there was a larger, higher-stakes plotline coming in towards the end, to do with the girl?

Another possibility is that young adult readers particularly enjoy identifying with world-saving characters, for psychological reasons.

 

[reiver33]

I wipe out all life on Earth in the first part of what becomes my 'three personas in one body' story (currently in not-enough-time limbo). Everything. Not even bacteria survives. Does that make me a bad person?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Is the Earth itself the protagonist, then?

 

[ctg]

How about that you let the world go to hell in a hand-basket and you write a character story situated in the settings. And if at the end you feel that you need to save the world, or at least be part on the saving effort you can do that, but so far what I've read, there are numerous stories out there that doesn't involve around the saving-the-world plot.

In my own efforts I can tell you that in book 1 to 3, I let the world(s) (yes, whole lot of them) go down in the drain, and then I let the main protagonist to provide an alternative solution to the desperate situation.


PS. I think what we are talking here is the general galore of escapism, and the writer ability to offer a good outcome to a bad situation, i.e. hope.

 

[Primitius]

It's probably something to do with the 'heros journey' which is known to be one the most consistently reoccurring themes throughout the whole of human story telling since time immemorial. It's a deep and complex subject, but basically, people just love stories where a hero saves the world; it's an deeply ingrained pyschological thing within most people.

 

[Toby Frost]

Depends how it's told I think. If it's of the "OMG Jim Strong, only you can wield the Blade of Destiny against the Communazi horde!" type it does seem a bit crude and boring. Personally, my dislike is more of Chosen One heroes than world-saving. I'd rather read about a man than a superman.

But it can be done more subtly. Stories where the hero isn't head-and-shoulders better than everyone else, or where the success is just "my part in his downfall", or where the way the hero does it is not obvious work better for me. Or where the hero's personal world - his family or surroundings - are threatened. These latter are often the most affecting as people can admire the heroism but readily identify with the problem. Or what about the guy who suddenly finds he has to deal realistically with his world-saving power?

I do however agree that a straightforward "Epic quest to save the world" needs to be done well these days not to look a little bit tired.

 

[Sapheron]

It's the sense of importance. No one wants to read about a guy stopping his neighbour stealing the newspaper. It just isn't important. Who cares? On the other hand, when the country/empire/planet/galaxy/multiverse is at stake, things seem to have a bit more meaning. Do you do this or that? One dooms everyone, the other leads to a happy future of flowers and frolicking bunny rabbits. Of course you can write a meaningful plot that doesn't have such epic eventualities, but in that case you have a greater challenge to make the reader care about the characters and the dilemma (a moment of doubt- one L or two, anyone?) they face.

In a way it's similar to calling characters something to do with their nature. 'Shadow the assassin', for example is a stock character in amateur writing. This is another shortcut; it puts across a dark, stealthy character in the same way that the aim to save the world gives a sense of epic importance. Admittedly Shadow is a sillier name than saving the world is a plot and often appears even in stories where everyone else is called Fred and Peter, but I hope you get what I'm trying to get across.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I prefer it when the stakes are lower - simply survival of a hostile environment , or simply trying to get by (a la HHGTTG) .Makes it easier to associate with oneself.

Now , where's that towel...

 

[Arthur_Connelly]

I agree, but it might just be because I haven't read any good books about saving the world lately. (Excluding the Codex Alera series) A certain disconnect seems to happen in many of the save the world type stories. Sometimes they become more about the plot than the characters, not that there's anything wrong with it, but it's harder for me to stay immersed in the story when that happens.

The WORLD becomes an abstract thing, but when it's Bob and Alice trying to save themselves and their sleepy Ruritanian village, it actually means more to me because nine times out of ten, the author spends time making that village come to life. It becomes a character in and of itself. But the world is always going to be abstract to me unless the author makes me care about it. True, this is mainly because I'm a jaded individual, but I have to feel something or I'm not going to keep reading. If I want something cool with no emotional value, I can just play a video game; a story should be more than that though.

I also think it's possible for a series to grow. It can start out in that sleepy village and the heroes save it from the rampaging nomads. In the next book, the heroes are transformed by the events in the first and venture out of their village to discover the places around them, perhaps their village's place in the larger community/country and perhaps they have to save it to. Perhaps from whatever caused the nomads to go on a rampage itself. It can keep growing like that and eventually I will care about the world, because the author's given me a reason to care i.e. all the characters I've met.

 

[Boneman]

And also, it's invariably a character trying to save 'their world', albeit a house, a village, a family... I have absolutely no objection to a character trying to save the world if it's well-written, engaging, and has character arcs that are primary to saving the world, rather than secondary.

Name of the Wind, by that bloke, is an excellent example. Kvothe is setting out to find the mythical characters who killed his parents, and in doing so (rather than it being his prime motivation) saves the world from some very bad people...

What was it Dale Arden said to Flash Gordon? "I love you, Flash, but we only have 14 hours to save the earth!"

 

[Gamblor]

I do enjoy the save the world plot because it gives a lot of space to be filled with epic stuff. I like epic. I think though, rather than the usual good guy/side defeats the bad guy in large scale battle, something new would be refreshing. I am writing a story where the good guy wins by getting everyone to just chill out : )

Obviously in quite a dramatic, spiritual way - not by rolling a massive joint or anything like that

Hold on a sec....

 

[badjoke]

I'm with Tobytwo...the chosen one thing drives me crazy.

I think that the longer a story, especially if taken over several volumes, the higher the stakes deemed necessary to justify it. Gattaca and Bladerunner, if in novel form, would have been quite short. Firely was longer, true, but though I never got round to watching it, I thought there was a larger, higher-stakes plotline coming in towards the end, to do with the girl?

Another possibility is that young adult readers particularly enjoy identifying with world-saving characters, for psychological reasons.

I haven't actually seen the movie version, but Bladerunner is based on a novel...Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick, which clocked in at a couple hundred pages and, in my opinion, kept it up throughout.

 

[Blackrook]

It occurred to me that one way to avoid the "Save the World" plot and still keep things interesting is to handicap the hero. That way he is still a winner even if he's doing something less glamorous than saving the world.

See my thread on the "inferior hero".

 

[starrypawz]

I do remember in a project of mine that has now been laid to rest the four main characters (five if you include the dog) did ultimatley save the world from a evil 'dark lord and his demeted army' type but it wasn't the main thing they set out to do.

It started of with character A and B setting off to find out who character A's parents were, they then met character C and D as they adventured on who joined them for various reasons, C did so to save their own behind, D did so for the sake of 'atonement' for a past life. Whilst in the background this 'evil' is rising and then they eventually got invovled in a big battle to defeat the dark lord.

I did once have 'The Chosen One' in a story but yeah, that's a bit annoying. I kind of prefer what I deem 'accidental hero' characters where they're not the chosen one and they end up saving the universe/princess/everyone's lives by accident, (In a way the Oblivion main quest is 'accidental hero' style as to be fair you've been chucked into jail and it was just convient it happened to be the escape route) . The only thing I can think of that did 'chosen one' quite well is in fact from the 'Fable' games as at the same time the story behind your character is painted up quite well.

My current project though features a 'protagonist' that's only interested in themselves and is doing what they're doing for their own sake, they have no lofty 'save the universe, save others' goals they just want to get rid of an item that is cursing them.

 

[Chel]

I have this hate/love relationship with cliches. On one hand, I loathe them. They've been done to death and back in so many different ways that it's hard to find anything fresh with them at all.

But on the other hand, I love them because they inspire me and challenge me to come up with new ideas, not only ideas that are not cliches, but ideas where these cliches are the backbones of the story.

My own pet peeve is the farmboy/prophecy cliche. I don't mind saving the world so much, if it needs saving, but I do mind when a farmboy is prophesized (is that a word?) to somehow rise to the challenge and defeat The Great Evil Dark Lord.

Fear not, for I have a cunning plan... it might become my next project, so I had better go write down a few notes before I forget the idea.

 

[goldhawk]

My own pet peeve is the farmboy/prophecy cliche. I don't mind saving the world so much, if it needs saving, but I do mind when a farmboy is prophesized (is that a word?) to somehow rise to the challenge and defeat The Great Evil Dark Lord.

What's even worst is the "Lost Prince" farmboy who is prophesied to defeat the Evil Dark Lord and then have 1,000 years of benevolent rule.

 

[Boneman]

Somebody remind me to put a line in my book: "I don't want to save the world, I just want to go home..."

 

[Langadune]

Somebody remind me to put a line in my book: "I don't want to save the world, I just want to go home..."

Dang! I like that!

Oh... this is your reminder to put that in a book.

 

[starrypawz]

Somebody remind me to put a line in my book: "I don't want to save the world, I just want to go home..."

*mystic voice and hand movements* You wiiiiiilllll reeeeemeeember.... OooooOooooo....

Actually, I can't remember the name of the series but there's some kids fantasy book I found in a discount bookshop that had something like
'What would you do if a mysterious stranger told you, you were the only one who could save the world?
Would you
A. Go with him
B. Pack some socks and then go with him
C. Stay on the farm and carry on looking after your uncle's pigs
*hero name* chose C, he didn't want to go on an adventure...'