Re: "The pen is mightier than the sword"

On Wed, 13 May 2009 15:10:01 +0000 (UTC), Remus Shepherd
<remus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
<news:guens9$m98$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> in
rec.arts.sf.composition:

Eric Ammadon <email_addr@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"Brian M. Scott" <b.scott@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

<remus@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in

Science fiction readers want the author to work for
suspension of disbelief, while fantasy readers give it
freely.

I really don't think that this is true. It would be better
to say that different kinds of suspension of disbelief are
typically required. And I'm not at all sure that the writer
of fantasy doesn't actually have to work harder in some ways
to get that suspension of disbelief, since there are fewer
externally imposed constraints.

I think the Fantasy writer has to work very hard to build any kind of
belief at all since Fantasy readers know from the start it's all
disbelievable.

I disagree; see below.

Sure, I know how to work google, so I can jimmy up some kind of hard
sci-fi that will pass the hardness muster.

No, you really can't. If you make it fit established science, it
won't be science fiction, just contemporary fiction.

This is not necessarily true: 'fit established science'
means 'not conflict with established science' and therefore
allows extrapolation.

If you use
speculated science, you have to make it believable to those who know
more than you about that field. It's a very difficult line to tow.

This part, on the other hand, is fine.

But how inna heck am I
going to get the reader to believe (even make-believe believe) in
vampires and werewolves and dragons and the like? Get outa here, I
know that stuff ain't real. To get me to read about vampires and
werewolves without throwing the book, that takes some work.

You get readers to *involve* themselves in fantasy works by making
the fantastic elements appealing and evocative. Fantasy authors work
hard to make their world a place that readers want to visit, understand,
and be entertained by. Fantasy's goal is to entrace the reader, not
convince them that the story events really could happen.

With the substitution of 'entertain' for 'entrance', I
consider that a primary goal of all fiction. And most sf
doesn't need to convince the reader that the story events
could happen.

I didn't mean to imply that fantasy authors don't work hard. :)
They just work at different things than sci-fi authors do. That may be
why 'hard' science fiction is often cited as boring by people who don't
like it -- the time and word count they use to justify their science may
come at the expense of creating an evocative, entrancing world.

A fair bit of hard sf doesn't actually include the
justification(s) in the story, and some of it creates
interesting worlds; a very common problem with it, however,
is a lack of appealing characters.

Brian
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: "The pen is mightier than the sword"
    ... to say that different kinds of suspension of disbelief are ... of fantasy doesn't actually have to work harder in some ways ... belief at all since Fantasy readers know from the start it's all ... won't be science fiction, just contemporary fiction. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Splitting the genres
    ... >about having to wade through fantasy to find what they want. ... >wade through science fiction books to find their favorites. ... The borderline cases are mostly of interest to science-fiction readers. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.written)
  • Re: "The pen is mightier than the sword"
    ... to say that different kinds of suspension of disbelief are ... of fantasy doesn't actually have to work harder in some ways ... belief at all since Fantasy readers know from the start it's all ... won't be science fiction, just contemporary fiction. ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Science-fiction world-building
    ... When you consider how much Science Fiction is really ... Science Fantasy with little or no connection to real ... The meaning of the term 'science fiction' is determined by ... so it's not just readers' taste, ...
    (rec.arts.sf.composition)
  • Re: Getting out of this world?
    ... you don't know in how much detail you have to explain to your readers. ... If you knew much science you ... scurried from creaking timber to rotting rope, reassembling the carts ... An older example would be Edgar Rice Burrough's stories about John ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)