Well, I've been slacking off on this blog lately... I've been focusing on finishing a novel lately and haven't really gotten to editing stuff to post, and I really, really hate editing.
I have been contemplating certain aspects of writing lately, and I thought I would share them here, although, not too many people are reading these days, but who cares. I've actually been getting hits from Russia of all places. So, Hi my Russian friends, or comrades! (sorry, I'm being awful.)
What I've been turning over in my head lately has been why I write, or more specifically, why science-fiction and fantasy? Although, I do tend to favor Science-Fiction more.
Taking a more general stance to begin with, I started writing seriously in Grade 8, despite really have been writing my entire life without realizing it. As a kid, I would go play in the yard and disappear into my head making up fantastic settings and mentally turning sticks and whatever into runs and swords. But Grade 8 English, with a teacher named Mr. Fisher, changed all that. I handed in a creative writing assignment and when I got it back he told me I was crazy. He then proceeded to hand me a copy of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and told me, "Here, this will make it worse," and he was right! It wasn't the Hitchhiker's Guide that started the mess, it was the reaction I got; I loved it and realized how much I enjoyed creating worlds and sharing them with others. I'm still not good at writing, but one day I think somethings going to come out right.
But why was I drawn to Science-Fiction? I took a class in university focusing on Science-Fiction literature and the best they could tell me what the genre was about was that it involved technology, science, ideas and the future, but I think that there is something more to it than that simple deffinition.
We live in a world that is extreemly flawed; hunger, disease, war, bullshit advertisments or just soimply being dicks to one another, and we, as a civilization (remember I am a history major), have been stuck in a never ending loop of societies rising and falling based on our ineptitude to solve problems as they arise, or at least not solving them quick enough. Science-Fiction is about the the future and technology, yes, but it is often about socity pressing forward, inventing something new, or thinking something new in order overcome human hardship, at least in a general sense. At least this is what it means to me; Sceince-Fiction is about hope, it is about overcoming our own short commings and becoming somethig more, something greater... Now whether or not it is a good idea to let oneself be led on by hope is a philisophical disscussion for another time (my expereincesd have been, sadly, that hope is nothing more than an abstract carrot on a string leading one to the next heap oif dissapointment and misery, but that's depressing, so let's shy away from that direction). Hope is that human trait keeps us going, keeps us living, in order to reach the future and discover new technoloical inovations that hopefully make our lives and our world a better place. Without it, we probably wouldn't even have come down from the trees eons ago.
But that is why I write, not just to entertain, but to show people that, hey, it doesn;t have to be like this, it can be better, but its up to us. This world is a shit hole, but its the one we built, its the one we deserve. If we want to have a better one, its up to us to make one.
Anyway, this post sort of went in a path I hadn't origionally intended; I've been a bit down on things lately, I guess. But I hope I relayed the abre bones of what this genere means to me, and it may be different for some of you; we all have our own persepctive. Again, as usual, if you have an oppinion about what Science-Fiction means to you, feel free to share, I'd be intrested in hearing how others precieve this realm of literature.
Oh, and I've just realized that my laptop has not been telling me what I spell something wrong. I don't really feel like going through it again for corrections (I should have writen this on Word first), so please forgive me for any errors. Thanks for reading!!!
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