solarbird | Re: also (Reply)

From:

Unsurprisingly, one of my authors was a technical writer for years before she committed to fiction full-time. She had the same doubts as you as to her abilities, and while I think that's inherent in anyone who produces art, it seems amplified if one has a tech background. Where art has flow and interpretation, technical fields have right and wrong. Seeing your work in the light of one field after working in the other for years is difficult. TLDR: I think you may be short-changing yourself, you write sympathetic characters.

To clarify my yawn at Winston, he seems an interesting character,and probably well-written, given the apparent quality of the other characters. But making a verb, verb, noun non-human character in an SF setting isn't much of a challenge, imho. Creating a character who could be yourself, your friend, relative, associate, or lover right now, and then putting them believably into a fantastical scenario is more challenging. It seems like a weird cognitive reversal of the uncanny valley, in that we can sympathize with a genius gorilla who acts the least bit human, but will scrutinize and shred a character with autism for being unreal. I'm still not sure whether that's from a desire to see them portrayed authentically (I hope), or a discomfort at having someone who is 'other' in the mix. (I fear)
Tracer being the literal face of the game is awesome, I just spent a minute looking into the game and canon, and I have to say I'm pretty hopeful here. These wins accumulate until for some future generation it's just part of the background fabric of life.