AuthorBrandon Sandersonis best known for his immersive sci-fi and fantasy novels, but he has also become recognized for his strong opinions about superheroes, including his take onSuperman’sability to fly, which Sanderson stated he might want as his own power, but that he doesn’t think is too much fun to write.
Sanderson sat down with fellow superhero enthusiast Wren Weichmanto discuss their “five favorite superpowers” and flight made Sanderson’s list, but he also gave the caveat that “flying is not that interesting to write about.” He went even further, citing Superman as a hero that, effectively, makes flying look too easy.
“I don’t get skill involved when Superman flies” Sanderson noted, though he did make a point of offering some possibilities for how to make flight more of a narratively impactful ability.
Author Brandon Sanderson Feels There Isn’t “Skill Involved” In Superman’s Flight, To The Character’s Detriment
Sanderson Named Flight A Top 5 Power, But Called Out Its Creative Drawback
According to Brandon Sanderson, for many superpowered characters, flying is simply too easy. No character embodies a better example of this thanDC Comics' Superman, who originally could only “leap tall buildings in a single bound,” but subsequently involved into someone who can soar tirelessly through the sky, or through space, at supersonic speeds, with virtually no impediment. In other words, it is not a challenge for the character, and by Sanderson’s standards, this makes it “uninteresting” to him as a writer, if not as a fan.
Sanderson put it this way, in his conversation with Wren Weichman:
If someone said, ‘would you like to be able to fly?’ then I would say, ‘yes, I would love to be able to fly…tell me what the limitations and costs are, but yes, I would love to be able to fly.’
The thing about it is…it’s not very interesting to write about. Because…how do you make it interesting? You make it not flying…
The author cited several elements from his own work that he describes as “attempts to [do] something like flying,” but in ways that make more creatively satisfying, for him as a writer, and as a result, for the audience.In Sanderson’s opinion, this is a way of using superpowers to create narrative tension, as opposed to, essentially, serving as a shortcut.“Let’s make it so there’s skill involved,” Sanderson stated, making his case by adding, “I don’t get skill involved when Superman flies.”
There’s A Reason Flight Is A Fan-Favorite Superpower: Everybody Wishes They Could Do It
Especially When Superman Makes It Look Easy
In Brandon Sanderson’s view, there is a way ofwriting flight, or flight-adjacent powers, “that gives the advantage of being able to have this fantastical adventure in the sky, where you get this sense of wonder,” while still being more engaging than the standard scene Superman flying. Sanderson himself alluded to the charm of flight as a superpower, which is that it is a classic form of wish fulfillment; there is an innate thrill to watching a fictional character do, or experience, something that is physically impossible in real life.
Sanderson’s position…calls back to the earliest days of Superman, when he could leap to extraordinary heights, but was still subject to gravity.
Flying is, strictly speaking, the definition of “superhuman.” That is, it is something above, and outside, the abilities of human beings. Consequently, there isa nagging “sense of wonder,” even for contemporary readers, that Superman taking to the sky can still evoke. However, from a creative standpoint, Sanderson’s position totally has merit; there are ways to “target” that sense, so to speak, that are more dramatically potent than uninhibited flight. Again, this calls back to theearliest days of Superman, when he could leap to extraordinary heights, but was still subject to gravity.
Readers Wish They Could Fly Like Superman, But For Writers, There Are More Challenging Alternatives
According To Brandon Sanderson
It is perhaps worth making a distinction, when it comes to flying as a superpower, between the “full fantasy” depiction of a character like Superman, whose ability to fly is unlimited, and the more grounded fantasy that is characteristic of Brandon Sanderson’s work. As an author, Sanderson is interested in building complex systems, and putting in place certain mechanics of his fictional world, which might exceed what is possible in the real world, but nevertheless mimic it in terms of the dramatic limitations this places on his characters.
There are merits to both approaches of course, and it is also important to stress, once more, thatSanderson’s comments came from a creative perspective. His intention was not to diminish the appeal of Superman, as it stands, but simply to express his opinion about what makes for more “interesting” writing. It does, however,raise the valuable question of whySuperman’spower of flight has become such an essential part of his character, for better or worse, in the near-century since his introduction as a hero.
Source:Brandon Sanderson and Wren’s Weichman Five Favorite Superpowers!
