With superhero violence and graphic action sequences prevalent on the screen and on the page, this book takes an alternative route to the mainstream, offering practical guidance, frameworks and tools for incorporating the principles of peace-building and non-violence into compelling fiction. Definitely the path less travelled but just as vital in divisive times, Gabriel Ertsgaard shows writers how they can enact non-violent heroism in their characters, model civil resistance in their stories and create worlds around a mythos that champions redemptive nonviolence. With concepts applicable to writing for fiction, drama, the screen and poetry, A Fiction Writer's Guide to Peace deconstructs the necessity for violence in popular works, explores key concepts in peace studies and helps writers establish their own peace poetics. Focused around the craft narrative techniques of character arcs, campaigns, duels, and worldbuilding, the book features creative writing prompts after each chapter and examples from key works such as the films Trading Places, Selma, Lago, Raho Munna Bai and Frozen and literature from A Christmas Carol to Asphalt Jungle and Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels.
A timely and important expansion to any writer's toolkit, A Fiction Writer's Guide to Peace allows storytellers to understand the complex dynamics of, and the damage caused by, violent perspectives and actions, giving them a way into considering non-violence as powerful and preferable.
