I have lamented publicly that a lot of panels at conventions are world-building panels in disguise. There isn’t really anything wrong with that, but I find that a lot of authors overbuild their worlds, or use world-building as a distraction from their writing.

The story lives in the heart of the characters. The reader’s ability to empathize with the characters and their plight is directly related to their overall enjoyment, whether the reader realizes this or not.

Let’s take The Martian by Andy Weir as an example. It is hard SciFi, with Mark Watney at the center. Mark has determination, humor, and resourcefulness that really pulls us in. We root for Mark because we like Mark. His victories are our victories. Andy Weir gets a lot of well-deserved praise for grounding his stories in plausible scientific ideas, and I don’t think he gets as much praise for his excellent characterizations, which enable strong empathetic connections.

This holds true for Project Hail Mary. We don’t need Ryan Gosling’s performance on the big screen to endear us to Ryland Grace.

Sticking with the same author, I think Artemis is not as popular because we don’t care for Jasmine Bashara as much as we care about Watney and Grace. There are good ideas in all three stories. The writing is excellent. I think the characterization of Watney and Grace is stronger and therefore, those stories are more beloved.

So in this essay where I’m asking the question about world building, I’m talking about character first, because I believe with all of my heart that character is more important than the world, which acts as set dressing and a vehicle for exposing aspects of the characters we are supposed to fall in love with.

Imagine if The Martian featured a different character. Maybe they’re a soft-spoken gentleman from South Carolina that gets by on the strengths of the people that came before him. Instead of “sciencing the shit” out of the situation, he falls back on what was prepared for him, and when communication is re-established, he uses charm and double-speak to get people to do things for him.

It’s a stretch, but I’m trying to get you to imagine what kind of story The Martian would be if Mark Watney had been based on Lindsey Graham. I don’t think we would root for Watney in the same way. In fact, as the audience, we might be actively hoping for a different outcome. We would see this Graham-Watney character trying to manipulate well-intended people from a position of solitude, and we might wish for those people to see through his lies and… I don’t know. Save his life while exposing him for who he is?

I don’t think this reimagining of the story would be very good, and I don’t think it’d be a great use of the reader’s time. Maybe we don’t need to immortalize Lindsey Graham by talking about him and keeping him alive in our stories.

Our world contains villains, and when some of those villains are no longer members of the living, the world will be lighter for it, and their absence worth celebrating. When Mitch McConnell has finally expired, I will drink a Scotch specifically, and not a Bourbon since that was Mitch’s favorite. When Trump dies, I’ll wheel the barbecue out into the front yard and cook up burgers for anyone that comes by. Putin’s death might also earn a small party.

Lindsey Graham doesn’t quite hit that same mark, for me. He was really bad, for sure, but he was also pathetic in a way that makes me think he’s not worth spending energy on. The best thing I can probably do is just forget about him.

I have already talked about him more than I would like, and I see his name in the news and on social media way more than he deserves.

To be honest, I really don’t like speaking ill of the dead. It doesn’t bring me much satisfaction. They’re gone. The mess they made is left for us to clean up.

At the end of my life, the greatest punishment you can give me is to forget me completely. I think Lindsey earned that, but not much more.

That is the kind of world I would like for us to build in our lives. Not one where we continue to suffocate on the fumes of those that embodied the banality of evil, but one in which we revere and try to live up to those that inspire us to be our better selves.

The world we build is based on the characters we remember, so in both fiction and fact, we should fill our worlds with people that inspire us.