Sometimes when I open this page to write a blog post there are so many scattered ideas flitting around in my mind, that I'm not sure what to write about. At the moment I have two stories in progress, one is only partly written, the other is being revised from some crits and almost complete. The stories are total opposites, one a sort of coming of age story, the other a sci-fi story that I'm not quite sure what the central theme will ultimately be as the characters are still evolving.
The sci-fi story is a project I'm working on for an editor and my brain has been concocting scenes and either tucking them away for future use or tossing them in the waste can. I have pages of jotted notes, I've been learning about world building and reading sci-fi stories and essays. Immersing myself in the genre, so to speak. But what does a sci-fi story all boil down to? Is it about the science, the characters, or the scenery?
I recently read "Time Storm" by Gordon R. Dickson which is about, yes, a storm that changes time across the face of the earth. Each area the main character passes through has been affected in some way by the storm. He drives into the past and the future but ultimately he's searching for the center of the storm so he can stop it. Earth will never be the same, but if he can stop the storm, people can get on with their lives. Now, I'll admit that the hard science of the storm went way over my head, and I skimmed through most of that but what really kept me reading was the man's journey, not just to find the storm center, but in the end to find himself. And I guess that's what I look for in sci-fi, the "human" journey of discovery. It doesn't have to be dressed up in rocket ships and planets, it just needs to be a journey where the characters ultimately learn something, either about themselves or their world. The basis of all good stories, no matter the genre.
And yes, I'm rambly today and probably not making too much sense, so here's a pair of links to some essays I read this morning that explore the basics of sci-fi more intelligently. And while they are about sci-fi, the wisdom can be used for any genre. And the first one, by Gary Westfahl, is just as much about living with a writer as about writing.
http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2010/08/notes-from-a-mixed-marriage-or-the-lady-and-the-monster
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/08/why-science-fiction
2 comments:
There seems to be a couple (maybe more) opinions concerning the science in these stories. Like you, I'm interested in the human element and the sci-fi details are not that important. For some, it's just the opposite. They will stop reading if it looks like the author is only scratching the surface. Different strokes.
Yep, if I put a girl in a space pod I don't need to know how it works, only that she gets to her destination, the same as if she'd taken a car, bus, or trolly train.
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