Ever wonder why words like “ecology,” “ecosystem,” and “ecocatastrophe” all have the same prefix as the words “economy” and “economics?” To a lot of people, it doesn’t seem like the words would be related. Many people today might even argue that economics are inherently opposed to the ecology. So why do they both contain the prefix “eco?”
Turns out, the word “economics” come from Greek, and broadly meant “household management.” But the prefix “eco” refers to life, and the part of the word “-mics” refers to art, as in “the art of X.” So combined with the Greek definition, the word “economics” roughly translates to “the art of living,” which also fits well with “household management,” as how one manages their finances in the home also relates to people are able to pay for things like food, utilities, and other things needed to live.
Why is this important to writing? Well, when it comes to worldbuilding, lots of readers are going to want to know how people are able to cover the costs of living in your fictional worlds. Even people who don’t have a strong interest in economics will likely enjoy at least some idea of how your characters are able to pay their bills. This is an inherently relatable issue that everyone on Earth can connect with; everyone you know needs food, water, shelter, and a long list of other things like heating and medical care, and then there are things that aren’t necessities, but are still necessary for your characters to do things in your story, such as transportation, Internet access, and the like.
One thing that people have always found relatable about Spider-man is that he’s always poor. Crime-fighting doesn’t pay, so he works at the Daily Bugle to cover his costs, but he’s always behind on his rent, and takes side jobs delivering pizzas.
Conversely, in the anime/mange My Hero Academia, super-heroics are actually a career that people can go into, where they make money based on sponsorships, merchandise, and public appearances where they are paid to give speeches. We never have to ask how the heroes make rent or can buy some of the equipment that helps them do their jobs, because the show tells us how they can afford these things. This allows us to immerse ourselves better into their fictional world, because we don’t have some annoying little voice in the back of our heads asking how come we never see any of these heroes working at a deli somewhere or taking pictures for a newspaper when they’re not fighting crime.
Another series of books, video games, and a Netflix show is the Witcher. The idea of a monster hunter working as a paid exterminator, similar to a rat catcher, would make a lot of sense in a fantasy setting. The fact that there is an entire organization of Witchers who make a living this way explains not only how monster hunters make a living, but how ordinary people living in this fantasy world can continue to survive when monsters are part of their ecosystem.
Other examples of shows and media that do this well include The Boys, which takes a much darker look at the same hero industry as My Hero Academia, the anime/manga Spice and Wolf, which doesn’t involve much in the way of a supernatural economy but does get a lot of praise for its economics-oriented story arcs, and the Discworld novel Making Money, which does a good job of dealing with the issues of transitioning from coin money to paper currency.
There is one problem I have noticed in writers’ groups with economics: some people really hate economics, period, and don’t want it in fiction at all. This goes along with what I’ve said before about how you can’t please everyone, but these people can take it to a whole new level; they actually hated the inclusion of economics because it reminded them of real life. The immersive effect was what aggravated them so much. My best advice is to consider whether you want your audience to feel the immersion of the story. That might be the tradeoff of immersion in general: too much immersion ruins escapism.
I’m on GETTR now: https://gettr.com/user/sam_tate
I also tried to setup a Facebook page, but they locked the account for hate-speech before I could post any content.
