This is Friday's post. Yes I know its not Friday. I'd planned to schedule posts but time caught up with me so there you go.
I have a good excuse though. I had university yesterday and the day before and on Thursday? Well okay there is an element of not getting round to it but I did have an alumni event in the evening. It was quite interesting more formal than I'd expected but it was enjoyable. I felt like the underachiever of the bunch. I'm not saying that anyone made me feel unwelcome, the opposite in fact, but I felt embarrassed saying that I'm working in a shop.
I suppose its not so bad. Making it as an author is difficult and I am still studying so it is understandable. In fact finding a reasonable job that pays okay money is probably the right course for me. If I had a hugely engrossing job then I might find little time to write. And I realise the irony of that statement coming as it does in a late blog post.
Anyway at the alumni event I got talking to someone who asked why I liked to write science fiction. Without trying to sound too big headed I think I was able to come up with a fairly cogent and well thought out answer. I can't repeat it to you verbatum but here is an aproximation.
Science fiction is incredibly versatile and allows us to explore so many things. It allows us to look at the world from an objective view point. If I set a story at a point in history then people have a preconceived notion of the events. They may have seen the event themselves, they may have lived it, or they may know someone who has. However if I use a science fiction setting then the ideas of 'us' and 'them' have vanished. There is no more reason to side with one side than the other. In so doing people can see their own stupidity and draw parallels between the events is the fictional universe and our own.
Okay. I'm sure I didn't speak quite that clearly but the point still stands. With science fiction you can entertain people and perhaps educate them too. But you can do it in a way that is subtle. Tell a man that his racism is unacceptable and he may not listen but show racism to, or between aliens, and he may see how he too is flawed.
I have a good excuse though. I had university yesterday and the day before and on Thursday? Well okay there is an element of not getting round to it but I did have an alumni event in the evening. It was quite interesting more formal than I'd expected but it was enjoyable. I felt like the underachiever of the bunch. I'm not saying that anyone made me feel unwelcome, the opposite in fact, but I felt embarrassed saying that I'm working in a shop.
I suppose its not so bad. Making it as an author is difficult and I am still studying so it is understandable. In fact finding a reasonable job that pays okay money is probably the right course for me. If I had a hugely engrossing job then I might find little time to write. And I realise the irony of that statement coming as it does in a late blog post.
Anyway at the alumni event I got talking to someone who asked why I liked to write science fiction. Without trying to sound too big headed I think I was able to come up with a fairly cogent and well thought out answer. I can't repeat it to you verbatum but here is an aproximation.
Science fiction is incredibly versatile and allows us to explore so many things. It allows us to look at the world from an objective view point. If I set a story at a point in history then people have a preconceived notion of the events. They may have seen the event themselves, they may have lived it, or they may know someone who has. However if I use a science fiction setting then the ideas of 'us' and 'them' have vanished. There is no more reason to side with one side than the other. In so doing people can see their own stupidity and draw parallels between the events is the fictional universe and our own.
Okay. I'm sure I didn't speak quite that clearly but the point still stands. With science fiction you can entertain people and perhaps educate them too. But you can do it in a way that is subtle. Tell a man that his racism is unacceptable and he may not listen but show racism to, or between aliens, and he may see how he too is flawed.
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