Inventing Reality: A Guide to Writing Science Fiction
Answering common criticisms of science fiction
You’ve heard it all before: You’re at a party or sitting with colleagues at others during lunch, and someone smirks when they discover you like to read and write science fiction.
Someone then dismisses science fiction as “unreal”. Another nods and adds “science fiction writers just make up a bunch of weird stuff”, that they “deal with stuff that doesn’t have anything to do with real life”. Someone else chimes in it’s because science fiction writers “can’t think of any stories to tell about real people”. Suddenly we feel like we’re the embarrassing uncle everyone avoids at family gatherings.
And if you’re not too thin skinned, you begin to wonder if science fiction should be taken seriously.
Yes, it should be taken seriously. If anything, we ought to pity those who just put down the genre.
They’re missing out on some great thought-provoking literature that often provides a good action-filled ride.
Granted, science fiction isn’t for everyone – and that’s okay. I’m no fan of the mystery genre, but I respect its authors for mastering the genre’s conventions and good storytelling techniques in general. And I certainly don’t look upon the lover of mysteries as a freak or put down the genre.
Science fiction probably will be met with a raised eyebrow for a long time to come. It’s a genre out at the edge of what is known, often exploring worlds that don’t yet exist, so on the surface it appears weird. In many cases, people just aren’t familiar with the genre and what it offers.
So here are some quick responses you can make to those at the party or lunch who’ve put down the genre you love to read and writer:n Criticism: Science fiction is “unreal” - Response: As biologist and feminist scholar Donna Haraway says, “The boundary between science fiction and social reality is an optical illusion.” Science fiction largely is just an analogy for the philosophical and ethical issues we face as a society.
n Criticism: “Science fiction writers just make up a bunch of weird stuff” - Response: No one can make anything that isn’t as weird as real life. The exotic – dark matter, black holes and the quantum level of existence - appears to be the rule of the cosmos. And honestly, what could be more weird and absurd than modern civilization?
n Criticism: Science fiction writers “can’t think of any stories to tell about real people” - Response: Really? It is natural for people to speculate about the future of humanity and human culture; it is a real, natural manifestation of our intellect, of our curiosity, of our effort to improve our lives. As author James Gunn writes, “Mainstream fiction may seem more ‘real’ because it reflects the reality that most people deal with in their everyday existence: the social world and our interactions with it and our feelings about it. But is the evolution of humanity [one topic of concern for SF] less real because it is quotidian?”
Of course, once people know you’re a science fiction writer, many will tell you that you should be writing something else: something that will earn money, something that will earn you fame, something that will earn you “respect”.
Ignore them. Write what you love. You love science fiction. Write science fiction.
You Do It
Here’s a writing exercise to help you get started. Choose one of the following common proverbs, adages, or familiar phrases:
n “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
n “Saved by the bell.”
n “Bury the hatchet.”
n “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”
n “Dot the i's and cross the t's.”
Now use at least three of the words below to change the proverb/adage/phrase you chose:
n alien
n crystalizes
n icetoid
n morphs
n orbits
n rocket
n scaly
n telepath
n warps
n winged
Now write a 250-word piece with this revised proverb/adage/phrase as the first line of your story.