Science Fiction Writers

[Rekka]

Back when I was taking a writing class in college, I had a professor who just about forbade us from writing any sort of genre fiction. For me, that was a huge blow, since I was writing a story at the time and wanted to use it for the class (to get feedback, help for improvements, etc). But I sent in the first chapter of my story anyway because nothing much science fictiony happened in that chapter.

While discussing it in class, my professor says to me, "This is genre fiction, isn't it?" I forget what all he said, but he basically made it sound like all genre writing is bad and should be avoided, especially science fiction--because it's not "real." I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. Just because you add a little fantasy into a story doesn't make it any less real, as long as you have compelling characters to drive he narrative.

Which is what brings me to a recent article I found with the executive producers talking about various aspects of Fringe and where it may be going in the future. This is the quote that I absolutely wish I could stuff down my college prof's throat:

Quote from Joel, Executive Producer on Fringe:

A lot of times people ask us how hard it is to write science fiction. And it’s not. To us, the better the science fiction is, the more about the human condition it becomes. We always look for the human element and that of course is reflected in our characters.

But isn't it true? The more "out there" you get, the more you need to be rooted in reality. That's what I like to try and write. Create this realistic world with everyday people in it and then throw them something totally foreign, totally fantastical, and see how the world reacts.

I'm just very glad that there are people out there that don't bash SF for being SF. It's lame. And am I alluding to my past college professor? You're darn right I am!!! hahaha

And just FYI, the layout of this page is all messed up!! I don't know why it's formatting my messages like this... Arg!

[collectivesoul]

Science-fiction is my favorite genre because it encourages the human mind to question the reaches of our existence. What is "real"; anyway? Fringe delves into that very question. Real in our minds, is what we think we know. Thing have each developed in our own individual lives. But as Head!Peter said, "Real is just a matter of perception."

Your professor's perception of what's real certainly differs from yours. Doesn't make it less real.

When I was taking a library science course in Reader's Advisory, I felt so alone because I was one of very few classmates that love the science fiction and fantasy genres. Aggravating...

[Rekka]

I was definitely in the minority. Everyone else was more interested in writing about sex and alcohol than anything else more meaningful, of course, I'm not saying that everything that utilizes these topics is meaningless.

I'm thinking this was before the Harry Potter craze, too.

[RETLAW]

As an English major I took courses on all genres of writing, including Science Fiction, specifically.

Science Fiction is actually a very insightful genre as it examines the human condition and deals with forecasting possibilities (or at least the greatest examples of it do). Science Fiction has been blurred in recent generations as more of our lives resemble the old school fantastical world of 50s-60s SF writers. In the 70s and 80s a new school emerged in cyberpunk and dealt with Hackers, Artificial Intelligence, multi-national corporations, etc. William Gibson among others come from this school.

Basically, modern Science Fiction is very different from it's halcyon day in the 1940s-60s where technology was in an ivory tower, and we didn't live it. Many modern mainstream novels and screenplays have elements of SF and the boundaries of the genre have blurred.

I still love classic Philip K. D_ick, Lem, Asimov, and others but prefer the more modern William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, James Patrick Kelly, etc.

[Rekka]

Alas, Western Michigan was lacking in any sort of genre type classes. I was an English (Creative Writing) Major, too.