Writing Blog Number 2

20240410 Speculative Fiction Potential Mistakes

Things To Be Wary Of In Speculative Fiction

So… I was asked what things a writer should be careful of when writing fantasy, and how to tell if these things are in your writing.

Wow, way to ask the easy questions!

So, anyway, I looked at a few resources, and came up with this brief list that I have seen wa-a-a-a-ay too often in writing, from amateur pieces to books from the Big 5 Publishers.


1. Expository Dialogue

This is one of my big bugbears in writing – exposition dumps in all their forms. In general narration writing, it’s bad, but when it comes in dialogue, then it breaks the immersion of the story.

Look, there is information the reader really should know to get an understanding of the world, and relating that info can be difficult. I get that; I recommend the drip-feed method, bits here and there coming in as the story progresses.

But too often (especially in movies), you get the expository speech, when someone tells another something simply so the reader/viewer gets the information. How can you see it? When the dialogue starts with, “As you are aware,” or, “As you know,” or, “As you will recall,” or anything along those variations, then it’s most likely a lump of expository dialogue.

It does, however, work in comedy.

How could you get around it? A newbie who needs things explained to them is lazy, but works. Something breaks (we only notice things when they break; when they work, we don’t) and explanations are needed. But even these can be overused.


2. Vague Writing

This is very common in speculative fiction of all colours. Things are “almost” something, or there are “half-things” (I am shocking with the “half-smile”), or “sort of” creeps in. These are vague; be precise and trust the reader to fill in the details you can’t.

More words to watch out for include “seem” and “appear” (and even “looked like”), which also indicate a vagueness of description.


3. Metaphorical Confusion

Now, metaphors are all well and good. They can colour your prose, and capital-L literature uses them all the time. But in speculative fiction you need to be aware of the fact that a literal meaning of a metaphor can be a viable alternative.

Okay, I’m going to steal this from Samuel R. Delany, who coined the term “Subjunctive Tension” to describe this. He gave these examples:
         His eyes fell to the floor. (Boing! boing!)
         She screwed up her face. (To the ceiling? Owie!)
         He ran through the door. (Able to penetrate strong oak in a single bound! Might one possibly mean the doorway?)
         She strained her eyes through the viewscreen.(Yuck!)

Be careful with your turns of phrase is all I’m saying.

This leads to a discussion of Literal versus Figurative.

Look, I know some US dictionaries now claim that literal and figurative are synonyms. They are NOT. We are writers; we should be protecting language. And this is made worse in science fiction.

In some tacky teenage romance novel, saying, “Her mind literally exploded,” is a lousy metaphor, and should be avoided, but we know it is a metaphor. In a science fiction novel, it is an occurrence that results in blood, brain matter and bits of skull covering everything messily.

Literally comes from the word “literal” which means “as written.” If the head is not going to explode and leave a vacant space above the neck, then use the word figuratively. It is correct and stops confusion.


4. Capitalise Everything

Capitalising every single Noun to make them seem important is wonderful, but makes the Reader wonder what is important and what is an Irrelevancy.

This is so common in fantasy. If you name something, sure, capitalise (the Castle of Bodmin on the Moor of Doom), but otherwise… why (the Castle on the Moor)? Unless you’re writing in a Germanic language, of course…

It can be a way of hiding a lack of intensity in the writing style. And it can give importance to things not important. I have been known to do this, but is there a difference between Firehunt and firehunt? Really? Get importance through character reactions.


5. Names & Titles

Yes, it’s a world that is not modern Earth. We get that. Awesome. But why name your character Zfgdr’g’’ykl’m? Vowels are your friends! But, really, have names people can pronounce. Long names are fine, but make them sayable! And do not use names like that in the title because it will make the potential reader think the book is impenetrable.

From a book called Ghastly Beyond Belief by Gaiman & Newman, here’s McIntyre’s Laws of Titles:
         ”Never use a title that is (a) impossible to pronounce or (b) embarrassing to say. Doing either causes people to find it awkward to discuss your book.”


6. Are Neologisms Necessary?

I have mentioned this is the past. It is commonly referred to in science fiction writing programmes as “Calling a Rabbit a Smeerp” (^TM Damon Knight).

Now, some writers are great at inventing new words or acronyms. Heinlein was awesome. Not to toot my own horn, but a few of my publishers like my made-up words because I use logical language bases (especially Latin and Greek) for them.

But not everyone is a linguistic or etymology nerd. And there is no particular reason to rename perfectly fine words for time, distance, and food. And, yes, these are the most common things renamed. For example, your characters are drinking a hot beverage made from an infusion of the bean of the coffea aribica plant. This is “coffee.” It is not “jav” or “kaf” or (and I’m looking at you, Lionel Fanthorpe) “bevvo.” Why confuse your reader?

And, really, most people who make up words just use gibberish or turn English words into something vaguely different (and, yes, I am looking at JK Rowling’s so-called “Latin” for her spell-casting language).


And there we are. Some things I personally think you should be wary of when writing spec fic.

Oh, and for the record, spec fic is any genre that relies on unreality – horror, science fiction and fantasy. If I was being sarcastic, I’d add politics to the list, but, you know… this is about real writing.