Disjointed thoughts looking for a place to land

[ksmith]

Much said here, here, and here about the self-ghettozation of SF, the definitions of the genre, SF as literature...or not, and other topics.

My two-minute take? I look for character, but will read a book for ideas, or the puzzle. I reread for character, and the realization that I have read a book I can't reread makes me feel cheated. A little empty. Like, wow, that was a waste of time.

I think that with books, as with movies, some critics and reviewers will find greater value in the obscure, the overintellectualized, simply because it's different.

Two essays by malkingrey illustrate some of what I'm trying to say. One, on the problems with SF trying to become mainstream lit, and another on one aspect of the character-based vs idea-based argument. Both of which I reread every so often because, well, they make me laugh. I do get a little angry, though, when I recall a panel a friend/writer of character-based space opera sat on a few years ago during which two editors dismissed her work and the work of other character writers and proclaimed the New Space Opera of scope and ideas.

If a character doesn't stick with me, It's not a long-haul book. It doesn't have to be the protag, but someone has to strike a responsive chord.

Comments

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

Interesting links. I think that one of the "problems" of the current SF marketplace is a relative shrinking of the population of people who are interested in highly imaginative literature -- there are now sources of similar material in comics, video games, movies, and TV way more sophisticated than were available in the supposed Golden Age. So in some sense the fabulists have already "won," and it's only the decline of literature as a delivery system that people are bemoaning.

It does seem to be harder to find really imaginative work, but then that's always been rare -- I'm just more demanding than I used to be.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

So in some sense the fabulists have already "won," and it's only the decline of literature as a delivery system that people are bemoaning.

I've been thinking about this lately. Folks have discussed on other groups what they perceive as the growing need for writers to be flexible, to get away from the book delivery model and consider other ways to tell story for a living. RPG scripts and backstory? New types of web-based story presentation, like the build-your-own-book-experience thing you mentioned the other day? To some writers, this is how they've always functioned--it's old hat. But if your mindset is bound-page novelist, it's a leap.

The artist who did the covers for all my books was good enough to rec my name to a games company looking for an SF writer to write the story/backgrounds/etc. If I had been closer to retiring, I would have thrown my hat into the ring even though it probably would have meant moving to California. But they wanted an experienced games writer, and I have no experience. I am seriously considering getting some, although I wonder if a youth-oriented industry like that would hire a 50 year old writer.

I saw in the WaPo today that colleges are starting to offer course in video game design. I would be very interested in a class like this. Maybe it's a hint of where some creative writing degrees might be headed in the not-to-distant future.