I want to feel like the characters and story doesn’t really matter to the world. I want everything to feel small and inconsequential while the real story is taking place off page.
Like the characters live in the garbage chute of some intergalactic civilization, or in some backwoods while they watch armies pass by to war but never know the outcome.
Shadow & Claw touches on this a fair bit, with (SPOILERS) talk of people leaving the planet, spaceships, etc, among literal medieval peasants. So that feeling but more focused.
Thanks!
by Applesauce_Police
2 Comments
*I who have never known men* by jaqueline harpman
One that comes to mind is “Roadside Picnic” by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The characters are just tiny, struggling figures in the aftermath of an alien event that’s so far beyond human understanding it’s never really explained. The whole vibe is that the universe is indifferent, and people are just trying to survive around the edges of something way bigger than them.