Re: SF writers vs. Fantasy

Patricia C. Wrede wrote:

"Lucy Kemnitzer" <ritaxis@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

Also, I think posthuman construction of this kind makes boring and
irritating stories. Even when authors I love are playing with this
idea, it's always this part of the story where I start tapping my
foot and turning the pages faster seeking the next good part.

Having just been rereading it for another thread, I am reminded of
Heinlein's comment that his preferred sort of science/speculative
fiction story is one in which "...accepted science and established
facts are extrapolated to produce a new situation...As a result of
this new situation, new human problems are created -- and our story
is about how human beings cope with those new problems. The story is
not about the new situation; it is about coping with problems arising
out of the new situation."

The problem I so often have with clever futuristic projections is the
same one I so often have with extensive fantasy worldbuilding -- the
author ends up being so busy displaying his/her cleverness at
extrapolating/designing the world and/or technology that it gets in
the way of the story. If it gets in the way enough, I quit reading.

I recall one fantasy novel in which the nature of a pre-industrial
household device was thoroughly explained, through a scene in which a
character used it. In the first place, I already knew how to use a
chamberpot. And I didn't think the scene added anything to the story.

That writer has gotten less terse since then.

I just had this happen with a writer whose stuff I've enjoyed
mightily for...eight or ten books-worth of the series now. The books
have always had a bit of a tendency to go into more-than-necessary
detail about the clever future technology (what various friends
describe as "techno-porn"), but it's been getting worse and spilling
over into unrelated areas (like the point when a major character
needed to escape from a detention cell, and succeeded because the
guards were classic low-life-thug dimbulbs -- having shown, perfectly
adequately, that both guards were about the dimmest sparks in space,
the author proceeded to provide *three pages* of backstory involving
the culture that produced them, for no story purpose other than to
explain, unnecessarily, why they were dimbulbs). When I picked up
the latest and realized that I'd skipped over a good two-thirds of
the book, I decided it was time to stop. Either the author is paying
too much attention to fans, or not enough to the editor, or the
editor has decided that since the books sell like hotcakes, there's
no point in tidying them up. I don't actually care what the "why"
reason is; it's the effect that has caused me to decide my dollars
and my time can be spent far more enjoyably elsewhere.

The unfortunate thing about this sort of problem is that, quite
often, rabid series fans have a lot of staying power. They'll hang
on for four or five or even ten books, making do with the crumbs of
whatever drew them to the series in the first place and hoping that
the author will shape up. (And of course, there are always folks who
like the newer stuff better.) So the author gets really set into
his/her bad habits, and frequently can't manage to recover when their
sales/reputation eventually takes a nosedive.

I recall two writers who in the last few years were indignant when told
"We'll give you a bigger advance if your next novel isn't in your
best-known series.

Those were the ones who went public about it.

There are other things that happen, of course -- golden handcuffs,
and the author moving in a different direction from his/her fans, and
probably a bunch of other stuff that I can't call to mind right now
because my a/c is out and my brain is too overheated to think clearly
(I'm from Minnesota, all right?

Terminology difference: I live in Minnesota, but where I'm from is the
area where I grew up.

85-90 F for three days straight
makes me melt). But getting into big-shot-author bad habits
is...something that happens too often, unfortunately, IMHO.

Someone who used to be among my favorite writers has realized it's his
duty to Educate Readers About Politics.

--
Dan Goodman
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
John Arbuthnot (1667-1735), Scottish writer, physician.
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood
.

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