I have always loved reading science fiction and fantasy, starting with Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H.G. Wells when I was in grammar school. Then later A.E. van Vogt, and Ursula K. Le Guin.
In the 1950s, The
Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, originally written as one
super-long book, broken into three parts by the publisher, led the fantasy
realm into what has been dubbed “Epic Fiction” and “Myth Arc” books.
The 1960s and 1970s exploded with
myth arc. It is similar to a standard story arc but is larger than can fit in a
single book. It demands sequels. Think the Shannara series by Terry Brooks, the
Foundation
series by Isaac Asimov, the Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven, or the
Well
of Souls series by Jack L. Chalker, all of which I have read and
enjoyed.
The 1980s and 1990s saw more
character-driven stories. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling is an
example. An epic battle between good and evil is the overall myth arc plot, but
how the characters, like Dumbledore, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, change
and grow are what make each book interesting.
Okay, So if I like the sci-fi genre,
why haven’t I written it?
Science fiction and fantasy
usually involve some epic theme: save the world or the universe. I don’t write
big themes. My stories tend to involve a small slice of life. In my mysteries,
the protagonist solves a murder or saves a friend, but not much more.
As Carl Sagan wrote, "To make an apple pie, you need wheat,
apples, a pinch of this and that, and the heat of the oven. The ingredients are
made of molecules—sugar, say, or water. The molecules in turn, are made of
atoms—carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and a few others. Where do these atoms come
from? …the Big Bang, the explosion that began the cosmos. If you wish to make
an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."
I feared writing science fiction required
me to invent an entire universe.
Other types of fiction don’t have
those requirements. If you’re writing about the old West or the Civil War, the
terrain and characters you’ll meet are well known. If you’re collecting
characters from present day, you need only to look to the personalities around
you. But if you’re making a futuristic universe and populating it with alien
species, you need to make all up. Or so I believed.
In our weekly critique group, one
of the authors started a young adult science fiction novel. She had questions
on how to portray certain events or define an alien landscape. I was able to
help her with examples of how other writers handled similar situations.
I realized, as Joseph Campbell said
of the hero’s journey, “…we have not even to risk the journey alone;
for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly
known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path…”
So it is with writing sci-fi. I write
my own story, told in my own words. But the concepts of time-travel,
faster-than-light spaceflight, or alien encounters are well-known. Readers are
familiar with them. I need not re-invent everything.
I’ve finally started a sci-fi story,
but in mine, the protagonist sets out to save his kidnapped brother. Another
character finds a family. And neither saves the universe. Now I find I’m
enjoying writing science fiction as much as I have enjoyed reading it.
