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Things not to say to an SF/F writer. Ever.
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irysangel posted some annoying questions she gets as a romance author, and it made me think of the annoying things people say when they find out I write SF/F books.
My biggest peeve? When someone says: "I don't like science fiction because I like more realistic books."
Because my immediate mental response is: "Bitch, you are stupid. That word does not mean what you think it means and now I have to smack you down with my learnings." I generally try to say something a little more polite, but that's what I'm thinking.
I don't mind people telling me what they dislike about the SF/F genre. It's valid. But do NOT bring out the r-word in front of me.
Realism was a literary movement in the late 19th century, and 99.9% of fiction in stores today does not qualify. Even the really hoity-toity literary fiction with pretty covers that get $500,000 advances and sell twenty copies.
What people mean by "realism" is "plausibility". They're actually saying, "I don't find SF/F plausible." I have no problem with this statement. Fair enough.
I object, however, to someone pretending that their idea of what's plausible is somehow superior to mine. Because it's not.
The events that unfold in the books they're so proud of aren't any more probable than the events in my SF/F books. Some are, scientifically speaking, less likely. Future space colonization is more plausible than a lot of the crap spies do in Tom Clancy novels.
Furthermore, as the fiancee of an NYPD forensic scientist, I can tell you nobody who enjoys crime novels can get snooty. I know the precise crap-to-fact ratio in those books, and it's running about 30:1 on a good day.
My favorite piece of Completely Made Up Stuff? When a forensic scientist tells a cop that they know the exact shade, color, and manufacturer of someone's lipstick (e.g., "The killer was wearing Revlon #25 Cha Cha Cherry!"). There is no way to test for that in a lab. The best you can get is a GC readout telling you what elements and chemicals are in it. Which will tell you that it contains wax, oils, and dyes and that it's probably lipstick.
Furthermore, neither my fiancee nor his coworkers would waste the time or taxpayer dollars on finding such useless information. Unless someone asks them to identify a substance specifically, they don't bother.
But if such forensic farces tickle your fancy, have fun. Just don't tell me that it's more plausible to solve a crime based on information that scientifically is not obtainable than to fly a spaceship or cross swords with elves. The objective probability is exactly the same for all the given scenarios. It's just the scenery that scares you less.
In the end, all fiction is fantasy. Some people fantasize about cops, some about spies, some about handsome men who sweep them off their feet, some about meandering meaningless journeys of self discovery, and some, yes, about aliens, elves, vampires, and mutants.
So, for the sake of my sanity and your safety, don't use the word "realism" and don't look down on SF/F. Just accept that it's not your cup of tea and leave off the commentary.
irysangel posted some annoying questions she gets as a romance author, and it made me think of the annoying things people say when they find out I write SF/F books. My biggest peeve? When someone says: "I don't like science fiction because I like more realistic books."
Because my immediate mental response is: "Bitch, you are stupid. That word does not mean what you think it means and now I have to smack you down with my learnings." I generally try to say something a little more polite, but that's what I'm thinking.
I don't mind people telling me what they dislike about the SF/F genre. It's valid. But do NOT bring out the r-word in front of me.
Realism was a literary movement in the late 19th century, and 99.9% of fiction in stores today does not qualify. Even the really hoity-toity literary fiction with pretty covers that get $500,000 advances and sell twenty copies.
What people mean by "realism" is "plausibility". They're actually saying, "I don't find SF/F plausible." I have no problem with this statement. Fair enough.
I object, however, to someone pretending that their idea of what's plausible is somehow superior to mine. Because it's not.
The events that unfold in the books they're so proud of aren't any more probable than the events in my SF/F books. Some are, scientifically speaking, less likely. Future space colonization is more plausible than a lot of the crap spies do in Tom Clancy novels.
Furthermore, as the fiancee of an NYPD forensic scientist, I can tell you nobody who enjoys crime novels can get snooty. I know the precise crap-to-fact ratio in those books, and it's running about 30:1 on a good day.
My favorite piece of Completely Made Up Stuff? When a forensic scientist tells a cop that they know the exact shade, color, and manufacturer of someone's lipstick (e.g., "The killer was wearing Revlon #25 Cha Cha Cherry!"). There is no way to test for that in a lab. The best you can get is a GC readout telling you what elements and chemicals are in it. Which will tell you that it contains wax, oils, and dyes and that it's probably lipstick.
Furthermore, neither my fiancee nor his coworkers would waste the time or taxpayer dollars on finding such useless information. Unless someone asks them to identify a substance specifically, they don't bother.
But if such forensic farces tickle your fancy, have fun. Just don't tell me that it's more plausible to solve a crime based on information that scientifically is not obtainable than to fly a spaceship or cross swords with elves. The objective probability is exactly the same for all the given scenarios. It's just the scenery that scares you less.
In the end, all fiction is fantasy. Some people fantasize about cops, some about spies, some about handsome men who sweep them off their feet, some about meandering meaningless journeys of self discovery, and some, yes, about aliens, elves, vampires, and mutants.
So, for the sake of my sanity and your safety, don't use the word "realism" and don't look down on SF/F. Just accept that it's not your cup of tea and leave off the commentary.