If This Goes On
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniBoring writing post follows.
This rumination is brought to you in equal parts by those who think that all ideas presented in a science fiction novel are "believed" by the author, and by considerations for the presentation I'm to give in February.
You have been Warned.
* * *
Science Fiction, for those of you who are tuning in late, is the literature that asks What If? What If we could harness some passing migratory birds and hitch a ride to the moon? What If there were giant, sentient, space-going turtles? What If I could download my personality into a starship?
As you can see, a lot of science fiction has its world-building and its storytelling firmly rooted in What If?
But What If? has a cousin -- the Second Principle, if you will: If This Goes On. . .
If This Goes On. . . is an extrapolation. The writer takes something -- a trend, an idea, a law, and explores it, takes it out to its limit -- or to a limit. If This Goes On. . . is a playground where we can test out these notions and possible outcomes, without. . .physical. . .danger. There is, I'll warn, some potential for discomfort, but nothing fatal should happen. It's just a game, right? A Thought Experiment.
In Fledgling, Delgado is designated as a Safe World -- a concept that has its roots very much in If This Goes On. . .. Let me see if I can retrace the thoughts that led us there. . .
Back in February 2003, the crew of the space shuttle Columbia died when their spaceship came apart around them on re-entry. It was a terrible thing. Seven bright, brave people -- gone from us, and horribly, foreknowing their deaths.
A lot of people were upset by this disaster -- I was, certainly -- and there was a great public sharing of grief. I expected the grief and the public lamentations.
What I didn't expect was the call of some people to end the space program, because the loss of life was unacceptably high.
Granted, the tragedy. Granted, the loss of seven brilliant lights, which diminishes us all. Seven heroes, the like of which we will never see again. Heroes, like Scouts, lead the way. They draw danger to themselves, and make the path safer for those who follow. They know that they might not survive.
Well. . .fair enough. We're not all heroes. Most of us, we just want to live our lives, love and be loved, write our books, do our work, raise our kids. We want to be comfortable. To be safe.
In search of comfort and safety, we form into communities: colleges, say; or SF fandom. Places where we can go about our work, our lives and the raising of our children without being concerned that some random danger will intrude upon us. When something goes wrong inside our safe places -- someone steals a bike, or breaks a window, or grabs somebody off the sidewalk -- that's a violation not only of our own safety and comfort, but of the integrity of the whole community.
We work hard to keep the boundaries of our neighborhoods safe; and those who venture outside -- the heroes, the rash or the mad -- they take their own chances, as adults, wisely or not. There is no safety fencing around Mount Everest; people still fight fires. Adults determine their own level of acceptable Danger. Or -- another way -- Acceptable Safety.
This seems reasonable, right?
Adults also decide for children. And children must, naturally and always, be safe.
"Oh," a friend will say, "I really want to go to that exhibition, but really, my kids shouldn't be exposed to such images -- they're too young."
Hire a sitter, you suggest.
"Oh, goodness, no. There are so many crazy people out there; so many things happen. My children wouldn't be safe!"
If this goes on. . .
And so, back to science fiction, and the planet Delgado. A Safe World, by intent, and desire. Its citizens value safety, and accept certain constraints and regulations, as the price of being perfectly safe. Let's look at that -- it's OK; we're going to do it in a novel; it's a game. You might feel, a little, uncomfortable. You might think the whole thing's swell.
You. Might. Think.
. . .and that, oh dearly beloved, is a Good Thing.
This rumination is brought to you in equal parts by those who think that all ideas presented in a science fiction novel are "believed" by the author, and by considerations for the presentation I'm to give in February.
You have been Warned.
Science Fiction, for those of you who are tuning in late, is the literature that asks What If? What If we could harness some passing migratory birds and hitch a ride to the moon? What If there were giant, sentient, space-going turtles? What If I could download my personality into a starship?
As you can see, a lot of science fiction has its world-building and its storytelling firmly rooted in What If?
But What If? has a cousin -- the Second Principle, if you will: If This Goes On. . .
If This Goes On. . . is an extrapolation. The writer takes something -- a trend, an idea, a law, and explores it, takes it out to its limit -- or to a limit. If This Goes On. . . is a playground where we can test out these notions and possible outcomes, without. . .physical. . .danger. There is, I'll warn, some potential for discomfort, but nothing fatal should happen. It's just a game, right? A Thought Experiment.
In Fledgling, Delgado is designated as a Safe World -- a concept that has its roots very much in If This Goes On. . .. Let me see if I can retrace the thoughts that led us there. . .
Back in February 2003, the crew of the space shuttle Columbia died when their spaceship came apart around them on re-entry. It was a terrible thing. Seven bright, brave people -- gone from us, and horribly, foreknowing their deaths.
A lot of people were upset by this disaster -- I was, certainly -- and there was a great public sharing of grief. I expected the grief and the public lamentations.
What I didn't expect was the call of some people to end the space program, because the loss of life was unacceptably high.
Granted, the tragedy. Granted, the loss of seven brilliant lights, which diminishes us all. Seven heroes, the like of which we will never see again. Heroes, like Scouts, lead the way. They draw danger to themselves, and make the path safer for those who follow. They know that they might not survive.
Well. . .fair enough. We're not all heroes. Most of us, we just want to live our lives, love and be loved, write our books, do our work, raise our kids. We want to be comfortable. To be safe.
In search of comfort and safety, we form into communities: colleges, say; or SF fandom. Places where we can go about our work, our lives and the raising of our children without being concerned that some random danger will intrude upon us. When something goes wrong inside our safe places -- someone steals a bike, or breaks a window, or grabs somebody off the sidewalk -- that's a violation not only of our own safety and comfort, but of the integrity of the whole community.
We work hard to keep the boundaries of our neighborhoods safe; and those who venture outside -- the heroes, the rash or the mad -- they take their own chances, as adults, wisely or not. There is no safety fencing around Mount Everest; people still fight fires. Adults determine their own level of acceptable Danger. Or -- another way -- Acceptable Safety.
This seems reasonable, right?
Adults also decide for children. And children must, naturally and always, be safe.
"Oh," a friend will say, "I really want to go to that exhibition, but really, my kids shouldn't be exposed to such images -- they're too young."
Hire a sitter, you suggest.
"Oh, goodness, no. There are so many crazy people out there; so many things happen. My children wouldn't be safe!"
If this goes on. . .
And so, back to science fiction, and the planet Delgado. A Safe World, by intent, and desire. Its citizens value safety, and accept certain constraints and regulations, as the price of being perfectly safe. Let's look at that -- it's OK; we're going to do it in a novel; it's a game. You might feel, a little, uncomfortable. You might think the whole thing's swell.
You. Might. Think.
. . .and that, oh dearly beloved, is a Good Thing.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
writing- what if... etc.
Date: 2009-12-02 04:02 pm (UTC)And I bet the trains run on time there too :)
Nanette
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 04:45 pm (UTC)What if??
Date: 2009-12-02 04:51 pm (UTC)Re: What if??
Date: 2009-12-02 07:17 pm (UTC)One of mine too...
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 04:58 pm (UTC)Where are you making your presentation? I'd be interested to stay tuned through a webcast or something.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 10:21 pm (UTC)Oh, sure. Nothing says that you can't mix things up, and most of us do. A little What If, A little If This Goes On -- it's all good for the stew.
Where are you making your presentation? I'd be interested to stay tuned through a webcast or something.
Colby College, February...18, a Thursday. I'm one of four panelists speaking about our avocations; the only non-academic. I don't think that there will be webcasting, but I'll post my part of the proceedings here, since I'm having to actually write a speech (http://rolanni.livejournal.com/496192.html).
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 05:44 pm (UTC)Safe! Are you blind Ump!
Date: 2009-12-02 06:14 pm (UTC)Humanity has had millions of years of practice in screwing it up.
That is probably OK.
Progress of any kind has never been safe.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 07:19 pm (UTC)It's OK, just to think, but it's not OK to do...
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 08:02 pm (UTC)Just ask Mercedes Lackey why she stopped writing Diana Tregarde novels.
http://www.mercedeslackey.com/features_laststraw.html
no subject
Date: 2009-12-03 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 09:36 pm (UTC)Delgado - a planet of cows
Date: 2009-12-02 08:07 pm (UTC)exception, if you are there on a mission.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 09:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 09:54 pm (UTC)This is what attracted me to your books from the start. I found that my worldview was challenged, and that I started to say "What if...?" and "Why not...?"
If This Goes On is an extraordinarily valuable way of thinking, not only for writers, but for those of us who are readers, too. I remember Heinlein's book of the same name that was a scathing critique of how a free country could become an oppressed, entrenched theocracy in a few short steps. Truly frightening, but it could happen...
Edited to fix html tags
Excellent post
Date: 2009-12-03 05:10 pm (UTC)Lauretta@ConstellationBooks
no subject
Date: 2009-12-05 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 09:24 pm (UTC)