It's a Story: Storytelling, Science, and Reader Expectation
Tuesday, September 21st, 2004 10:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniI've been doing this space opera thing for a good while now. When ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kinzel and I were first plotting out the Liaden books, back in nineteen-aught-eighty-three, we made some deliberate worldbuilding choices.
First, that the stories would be fun. That would be, fun for us to write and fun for our -- hopeful, at that point -- audience to read.
Second, that love, companionship, and partnership are more often than not survival traits. Without a reason to hang on one moment longer; or to make the last, desperate, gamble, most people will fail. (N.B. the crew of a US plane that crashed on the wrong side of the line during the Cold War, and were in exposed conditions (weather, as well as military) for some days before they were rescued. Many had already perished of their experience. Every single man that lived -- was married.)
Third, that the Liaden Universe(R) would be an Equal Opportunity Universe, bearing in mind that not all people are equally talented at all things.
Fourth, that the worldbuilding would be as tight as we could make it, and that we would not contravene the rules of our universe as stated.
******
Digression:
We were slightly ahead of the curve with the whole "romantic SF" thing, our publisher at the time killed the series after three books, and we slid into obscurity for ten years, during which time an entire generation of "romantic SF/F" writers grew up, some of whom like to think that they created the whole sub-genre single-handedly, and without chipping their nail polish. They didn't -- and neither did we. Look thou to Doc Smith, to C.L. Moore, to Katherine MacLean, Ursula LeGuin, C.J. Cherryh, Vonda N. McIntyre... As readers, we are what we've read. As writers, we are what we make of what we've read. Each generation builds upon the works of the generation preceding.
******
Back to the point:
Since we returned from the dead, we've had the opportunity to talk with -- and listen to -- quite a number of readers. Sometimes, we're asked questions, like:
1. How did "we" get to the conditions described in the Liaden Universe(R) from the conditions extant in our world today?
2. Why isn't there any mention of nanotech in the Liaden Universe? Surely a civilization so evolved would have worked out the overheating problems!
3. Whyever do the Liadens adhere to their outmoded breeding customs? Surely a civilization so evolved would realize the benefits of vat-grown children!
4. And so on...
These questions are interesting for the assumptions they make. For instance, there appears to be a touching belief extant among even very sophisticated readers that it is the job of science fiction to predict the future.
In fact, it is not the job of science fiction to predict the future. Science fiction has two responsibilities, as a literary form. First and foremost, science fiction is the literary form that asks the question
WHAT IF?
WHAT IF it were possible to have a star-spanning civilization?
WHAT IF the aliens aren't bug-eyed monsters, but people who look pretty much like everybody else?
WHAT IF the danger-points in alien contact after all aren't different biologies, but slightly different cultural assumptions and mores?
WHAT IF that cataclysmic event that spawned this universe wasn't an act of "Nature" at all?
The second responsibility science fiction has as a literary form is extrapolation. Science fiction is the form that says:
IF THIS GOES ON...
IF WE CONTINUE to rape the resources of our planet...
IF THE POLAR ICE CONTINUES to melt at an accelerated pace...
IF CLONING BECOMES commonplace...
IF. THIS. GOES. ON...
...what might the universe possibly look like? What are the possible ramifications of these events and/or actions? What possible solutions/defenses might be mounted? What possible repercussions might such solutions create? What change might possibly occur and might that be a good thing, a bad thing, or a null-value?
Science fiction is a literature of exploration, not prediction. And while it's an amusing game to point out all the times science fiction has been "right" -- Jules Verne's positing of Florida as the best location for a rocket launch to the moon, for instance -- the fact is that science fiction's prognostication batting average is pretty dismal.
More later...
kinzel and I were first plotting out the Liaden books, back in nineteen-aught-eighty-three, we made some deliberate worldbuilding choices.First, that the stories would be fun. That would be, fun for us to write and fun for our -- hopeful, at that point -- audience to read.
Second, that love, companionship, and partnership are more often than not survival traits. Without a reason to hang on one moment longer; or to make the last, desperate, gamble, most people will fail. (N.B. the crew of a US plane that crashed on the wrong side of the line during the Cold War, and were in exposed conditions (weather, as well as military) for some days before they were rescued. Many had already perished of their experience. Every single man that lived -- was married.)
Third, that the Liaden Universe(R) would be an Equal Opportunity Universe, bearing in mind that not all people are equally talented at all things.
Fourth, that the worldbuilding would be as tight as we could make it, and that we would not contravene the rules of our universe as stated.
Digression:
We were slightly ahead of the curve with the whole "romantic SF" thing, our publisher at the time killed the series after three books, and we slid into obscurity for ten years, during which time an entire generation of "romantic SF/F" writers grew up, some of whom like to think that they created the whole sub-genre single-handedly, and without chipping their nail polish. They didn't -- and neither did we. Look thou to Doc Smith, to C.L. Moore, to Katherine MacLean, Ursula LeGuin, C.J. Cherryh, Vonda N. McIntyre... As readers, we are what we've read. As writers, we are what we make of what we've read. Each generation builds upon the works of the generation preceding.
Back to the point:
Since we returned from the dead, we've had the opportunity to talk with -- and listen to -- quite a number of readers. Sometimes, we're asked questions, like:
1. How did "we" get to the conditions described in the Liaden Universe(R) from the conditions extant in our world today?
2. Why isn't there any mention of nanotech in the Liaden Universe? Surely a civilization so evolved would have worked out the overheating problems!
3. Whyever do the Liadens adhere to their outmoded breeding customs? Surely a civilization so evolved would realize the benefits of vat-grown children!
4. And so on...
These questions are interesting for the assumptions they make. For instance, there appears to be a touching belief extant among even very sophisticated readers that it is the job of science fiction to predict the future.
In fact, it is not the job of science fiction to predict the future. Science fiction has two responsibilities, as a literary form. First and foremost, science fiction is the literary form that asks the question
WHAT IF it were possible to have a star-spanning civilization?
WHAT IF the aliens aren't bug-eyed monsters, but people who look pretty much like everybody else?
WHAT IF the danger-points in alien contact after all aren't different biologies, but slightly different cultural assumptions and mores?
WHAT IF that cataclysmic event that spawned this universe wasn't an act of "Nature" at all?
The second responsibility science fiction has as a literary form is extrapolation. Science fiction is the form that says:
IF WE CONTINUE to rape the resources of our planet...
IF THE POLAR ICE CONTINUES to melt at an accelerated pace...
IF CLONING BECOMES commonplace...
IF. THIS. GOES. ON...
...what might the universe possibly look like? What are the possible ramifications of these events and/or actions? What possible solutions/defenses might be mounted? What possible repercussions might such solutions create? What change might possibly occur and might that be a good thing, a bad thing, or a null-value?
Science fiction is a literature of exploration, not prediction. And while it's an amusing game to point out all the times science fiction has been "right" -- Jules Verne's positing of Florida as the best location for a rocket launch to the moon, for instance -- the fact is that science fiction's prognostication batting average is pretty dismal.
More later...
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Re: That Really Good Read...
Date: 2004-09-25 02:09 pm (UTC)I usually ask if they prefer to read things in "universe" or in publication order, and go from there. OTOH, veteran Friends of Liad seem pretty adamant that the Core Three (_Agent of Change_, _Conflict of Honors_ and _Carpe Diem_) must be read first, but even there some disagreement creeps in between those who think it best to start with _AoC_ and those who favor starting with _CoH_.
The controversy over where to begin reading Liaden books started immediately upon publication of _CoH_. There are a good number of readers who just plain like Shan and Priscilla better. (Including one fan who cornered me at a con for a time that probably wasn't nearly as long as it seemed,demanding to know why we had gotten "sidetracked" into writing about Val Con and Miri, who this particular reader felt were a cruel and malicious waste of trees. I pointed out that Val Con and Miri move the action; I pointed out, dern it, that we wrote them first and that _CoH_ was an afterthought, an accident; I pointed out that it would have been a Whole Different Story Arc with Val Con and Miri excised. Nothing I said made the least impression...)
Ace thought it was a good idea to start reissuing the series in mass markets with _Local Custom_, so they'd begin with something "new" and also, I think, to try to entice the Romantic SF and SF Romance readers to try the series. With the result that we've been told that (1) _Local Custom_ is the weakest book of the series (2) _Local Custom_ is wonderful (3) Did we know that _Local Custom_ and _Scout's Progress_ read like Romances? We did it on purpose? Why in Ghu's name would we have done that?
Not to mention the woman who wrote me a raging email because we had killed her Favorite Character Ever in the second book, which she felt to be a Betrayal of the highest order, and she Absolutely Refused to read anything else in a universe from which this character had departed.
Funny, how we all have different tastes and opinions *g*.
Re: That Really Good Read...
Date: 2004-09-25 10:43 pm (UTC)Okay, I am totally brain dead from meds, LBb and conference. Which book does she consider the second, and whom is she so upset about losing?
I mean, all the cats and the Tree are all right, as well as the turtles... %^)
Re: That Really Good Read...
Date: 2004-09-26 06:29 am (UTC)It was kind of a wonderful compliment gone horribly wrong. I mean, we want readers to connect with our characters and believe them to be real people, right? This reader had obviously bonded closely with the character, or she wouldn't have felt so betrayed and angry. But her reaction -- that she refused to continue having a relationship with a universe from which that character was absent was -- upsetting. To the extent that fiction is "practice" for so-called Real Life, you gotta wonder if she'd ever lost a "real world" friend; and, if not, how in Ghod's name she was going to handle the loss when it came...