Lessons

F & SF Assignment 3

Short Answer: This week I’d like you to again take a little research stroll, either through WDC (in which case, do please provide the item links for the stories) or in your own outside reading (for which I will ask the title and author,please). I want you to find a story, or novel chapter, that qualifies as “Hard” SF, and one that qualifies as “Soft” SF.
Then I want you to write a paragraph for each of the stories you’ve discovered, explaining WHY you think it qualifies in the category. That’s one for Hard SF, one for Soft SF, AND:
If you choose to do a little further research, and can find me a story that qualifies for “Science Fantasy” (see Rod Serling’s comments above, also the link I gave you above: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fantasy for assistance in identifying the nature of this category) I will give EXTRA CREDIT of 50% added to your grade for Lesson 3. You must provide the item link if it is found on WDC, OR the title and author if it’s offsite (it does not have to be found on the Internet though) AND you must add a paragraph explaining your decision to count this as “Science Fantasy” according to Mr. Serling’s criteria.

For my "soft" science fiction choice, I would like to nominate George Orwell's 1984. It has elements of advanced technology, but its focus is on social science and psychology, and perhaps more importantly, politics. The story revolves around a single man who has discovered he has opinions and desires not sanctioned by the present political regime. All people are monitored constantly by the government and even having thoughts that are contrary to those that are acceptable are punishable by death. It's socialism in the extreme. (And I'm afraid that might be the direction we're headed in now in real life.)

For my "hard" science fiction choice I offer Midnight by Dean Koontz. While admittedly it is generally considered horror, it is nanotechnology gone awry and the horror that ensues from a glut of technology that make it horrifying. Everything that happens is a direct result of misuse of advanced technology. It was written in the early years of nanotechnology, but as speculative fiction, it raises valid questions as to the safety and sense of using certain technologies.

Then we consider science fantasy, probably my favorite of the genres. For this I chose Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. It is fantasy because it has medieval-like settings, and tends to hint at the Arthurian legend in many respects, and because there are princesses and groups that perform "magical" acts through use of the elemental ether, which is certainly not hard science, but is rather somewhat folkloric. Conversely, it also gives a nod to extremely advanced technologies with lasers and stasis boxes, with experimental biology in some of its creatures, and dimension hopping. These things are brought about by use of the "ethereal" power, but as stated in the lesson, Arthur C. Clarke declared:
"any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"

As a writer, do you (or do you expect to) write Science Fiction? Fantasy? Both? A combination?
As a reader, what do you just love to read, what impels you to buy or checkout or borrow a book or e-book? One of these genres? Something different which we are not presently covering in this course?
Finally, please give me a paragraph on your reasons for enrolling in this course, and if you think your objectives are being met by this point, ¾ through the term.

I expect to write a bit of everything. I have no plans to settle down into one genre and stay put at this time, but it usually includes and leans toward some element of either science or fantasy. I suppose it's just that I haven't yet found my niche. My reading choices have always leaned toward the science fiction/ fantasy realm, and believe me, when you grew up in a fairly rural area, the selection in the school library was dismal at best. When in the bookstore, I go directly to the F&SF section.

This course interested me because this is the genre I usually read, so naturally, I would probably be most likely to write in it. I think it has been very informative so far, as I had never really thought through the topic of world-building, since I've sort of been instinctively muddling my way through. At first, I thought there was a bit of overkill in that area, but what I am learning is that world-building may be the most important aspect of writing if you're writing from a perspective other than the present-day current location. All of your characters rely upon what their world-view consists of in order to respond to it believably.

IdaLin



IdaLin