#SFFChat Q1: What's the significance of the body/bodies in SFF? I know this question sounds intimidating, but approach it however you like! Maybe there's some unique worldbuilding that involves cultural attitudes toward the body. Maybe your MC has a particular view/attitude to do with their body - ThreadSky

sffchat.bsky.social • 13 days ago

#SFFChat Q1: What's the significance of the body/bodies in SFF?

I know this question sounds intimidating, but approach it however you like! Maybe there's some unique worldbuilding that involves cultural attitudes toward the body. Maybe your MC has a particular view/attitude to do with their body

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shanmonster.bsky.social•13 days ago

Highly variable, depending on author and theme. It feels like an afterthought in "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams but is integral to "Bloodchild" by Octavia Butler.

sffchat.bsky.social•13 days ago

A great way of putting it! Also, I LOVE Bloodchild

sffchat.bsky.social•13 days ago

(or other people's). Maybe you have thoughts about how bodies are treated in SFF broadly, or in a specific author's work!

jasonstigliano.bsky.social•13 days ago

In my background worldbuildng, dragons are spirits of stone, air, and fire. Most of them were cursed and transformed into Draegar, mortal draconic humanoids. Draegar culture is pervaded by a sense of horror at being trapped in flesh. It's something I'd like to explore in future books. #SffChat

sffchat.bsky.social•13 days ago

Love that approach--it reminds me of a lot of real-world religious traditions and philosophies that think of the body as a kind of prison

jasonstigliano.bsky.social•13 days ago

Thanks! Yeah, it's always struck me as tragic for sapient creatures to be tethered to fragile mortal bodies. I suppose it's one of those core human issues that most religions want to address in some way.

sffchat.bsky.social•13 days ago

Definitely! One of the fundamental questions/anxieties I'd say we all deal with in one way or another

zuffyrobot.bsky.social•13 days ago

Touch. I like to weave in when characters can/can't/don't have the right/romantic/fighting/threatening by touching or not touching another character.

moritherapy.bsky.social•13 days ago

In one of my stories, a romantic couple is sneered at by some "because you're not even same blooded" i.e. one is a dragon, the other a wolfrabbit. Their bodies appear ill matched but they've been together for 1033 years.

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