Trace Elements Quotes

“Believing that real life has protagonists, but that you yourself are not one, leads to impostor syndrome, feelings of powerlessness, inaction, cynicism, and despair. It leads to the belief that if you personally don't resemble a protagonist (if you falter, have undramatic setbacks, mundane problems, job hunts, laundry, rent), then you can't be one of the special few whose actions matter. It leads to the belief that grassroots organizing, even voting, cannot change things, only heroes do.”
― Jo Walton, Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy

“One general signature of hopepunk is that its stories counter tales of emotional darkness or rottenness, not just grimdark with its characteristically violent, amoral, and often dystopian/apocalyptic trappings, but also stories whose settings may be less recognizably grimdark but whose plots and character choices either advance zero-sum narratives where achievement requires causing someone else's fall, or portraits of human nature in which, in the end, people will always be selfish, backstab, let you down, or look out for number one, and in which systems will always be corrupt and unsalvageable.”
― Ada Palmer, Trace Elements: Conversations on the Project of Science Fiction and Fantasy