Story Thing! Primary vs. Secondary World?

[fantasyecho]

I've been considering what to do for my MA project. I asked my supervisor-to-be and the head of the English department if it's okay for me to incorporate creative writing into my project, and they like the idea. I'm gonna copy-paste what I wrote sometime last month about this on Silver Goggles:

Step 1: Identify postcolonial approaches on / readings

Comments

[ratmmjess]

My vote: #1. Because, yes, awesome. New and needed, because there's not enough--there can never be enough--alternate history written about non-US places by people from those places. (I'm much more interested in an alt-history Japan written by someone from Japan, frex, than one written by yet another white wannabe "otaku").

Are you possibly over-estimating how much history you'd have to put into the story, and how much research you'd do? I suppose that, with the emphasis on postcolonial schools of thought, you'll have to emphasize the world-building at the expense of characterisation and action...but perhaps not?

[fantasyecho]

Possibly! The difference between Francis Light and Frank Swettenham is that there're more local names involves with Swettenham than there are with Francis Light, because of Swettenham's involvement with the Larut Wars and such. Also, Swenttenham did a lot of good things for Selangor; I'm going to be critical of his actions but I don't want to do his memory injustice either. And since the point of this exercise is to center locals' actions, it means I have to do research on the locals which is way, way harder, with less information available except through the writings of the British colonials.

[ratmmjess]

"And since the point of this exercise is to center locals' actions, it means I have to do research on the locals which is way, way harder, with less information available except through the writings of the British colonials."

*slaps forehead* Duh. Sorry. Yes. Hadn't thought that through.

I still wonder if you're placing too much emphasis on research, though. If I'm wrong, tell me, but...couldn't you just do a reasonable amount of research, and then extrapolate from there? After all, the fiction part isn't going to be submitted for publication; it only has to be good enough to meet the standards of your MA supervisor (and, sure, your own internal critic) while also allowing for the various postcolonial approaches to be applied to it.

Really, you wouldn't even have to write an entire story--you could just do long passages/excerpts and then apply the approaches to them.

I'm sure you'll write a kick-ass story. But you shouldn't kill yourself for the fiction part of the project--the critical stuff will be difficult enough.

[fantasyecho]

I'm probably just freaking out since I'm at the planning stage. And because I also have to link it to the postcolonial theory, it means the story is subject to change any which way, which kind of twigs my control-freak-ness. I have delusions of grandeur that it might get a bigger audience than my MA supervisor and whoever picks it out from the cabinet where past CSCT projects are kept, too.

[ext_385975]

I also like the idea of a primary world with changes. Because if your world is based on the "real" one, then every piece of world-building has a Special Bonus Meaning: its difference from actual history. It's like going to a party with a strict dress code--it takes a much smaller deviation to make everyone's eyes go wide.

Plus, steampunk set in Malaysia would make some ears perk up, I think.