Why Do Writers Write Science Fiction At All?

[Zerth]

As a genre , what purpose, do you think , science fiction serves ? By writing a stories set in far off or near future times, places or alternate realities , what is it that these writers seek to do ? Are they trying convey a message about the human condition and where we might be heading good or bad depending on our choices ? Are they offering their vision of a tomorrow better or worse ? Are they in fact trying to teach us some profound lesson , couched in the form of futuristic fable ? Or is it all for the sake of the simple love and joy of story telling and entraining the readers?


What are your thoughts?

1st Year University Philosohpy exam, "define Philosophy"
My response, "philosophy is beilife withotu God.
I was supposed to write an essay.

Sci-Fi *is*modern philosophy, we have moved beyond the ideas of our paters, and we deal with issues they could never have been imagined.

Funny Thought; Think about Descartes trying to deal with the pilot ep. of Star Gate: Atlantis....

 

[BAYLOR]

1st Year University Philosohpy exam, "define Philosophy"
My response, "philosophy is beilife withotu God.
I was supposed to write an essay.

Sci-Fi *is*modern philosophy, we have moved beyond the ideas of our paters, and we deal with issues they could never have been imagined.

Funny Thought; Think about Descartes trying to deal with the pilot ep. of Star Gate: Atlantis....

I think, therefore I am? He'd have had a nervous breakdown.

Welcome to Chrons Zerth .

 

[psikeyhackr]

I think, therefore I am? He'd have had a nervous breakdown.

Only if you have genes from the Ancients.

 

[BAYLOR]

Because It provides the reader with a very inexpensive method of space travel?

 

[BAYLOR]

Exploring the human condition in novel and unique ways.

 

[Draven Vertigo]

As a genre , what purpose, do you think , science fiction serves ? By writing a stories set in far off or near future times, places or alternate realities , what is it that these writers seek to do ? Are they trying convey a message about the human condition and where we might be heading good or bad depending on our choices ? Are they offering their vision of a tomorrow better or worse ? Are they in fact trying to teach us some profound lesson , couched in the form of futuristic fable ? Or is it all for the sake of the simple love and joy of story telling and entraining the readers?


What are your thoughts?

I am not even entirely sure what I am currently writing is SF.
I've always been attracted to anything SF though maybe it's out of hopeful escapism? Though so far it's been rather disappointing, it's 2022! Where are all the f*king flying cars?

SF is attactive as it gives a glimpse of what is possible if people put their minds to something and provide new flavors to old problems.

 

[psikeyhackr]

As a genre , what purpose, do you think , science fiction serves ? By writing a stories set in far off or near future times, places or alternate realities , what is it that these writers seek to do ? Are they trying convey a message about the human condition and where we might be heading good or bad depending on our choices ? Are they offering their vision of a tomorrow better or worse ? Are they in fact trying to teach us some profound lesson , couched in the form of futuristic fable ? Or is it all for the sake of the simple love and joy of story telling and entraining the readers?


What are your thoughts?

More often than not I have more than one motive for anything complicated, I presume that applies to SF writers. Ray Bradbury said that he wasn't trying to predict the future, he was trying to prevent it.

For me SF was educational when I was in grammar school so I presume that is a motive for some authors in some books.

Compare Arthur C Clarke's
A Fall of Moondust to his
Childhood's End and
The City and the Stars

Way different. But what is really cool is that he talked about La Grange Points and Infrared in A Fall of Moondust.

Now we have the James Webb Space Telescope at Earth-Sun L2 point doing infrared telescopy. Clarke must find that funny and cool as hell.

Of course for social stuff there is everything by Mack Reynolds.
Voyage from Yesteryear by James P Hogan
Daemon & Freedom by Daniel Suarez for more recent cybertech.

 

[psikeyhackr]

The Movie is set 2022. and no sign go Soylent Green on the store shelves.

The food will just be too expensive to buy and we will simply starve. Or hunt people down and eliminate the corporation.

That should have been "Cybertech Socialism" in my previous post.

 

[stephaniedurome]

While these stories may be purely imaginative creations with no basis in practical reality, they can still provide valuable insight into real-world problems and inspire people to think about alternative solutions. that's my view of it

 

[cyprus7]

I enjoy writing sf because, to borrow Madonna's lyrics, "we live in a material world."
Peak enjoyment arises from observing what happens to a cast of imaginary characters set free in whatever science-based worlds I can conceive of.

 

[BAYLOR]

To capture readers imaginations.

 

[Swank]

To capture readers imaginations.

And do what with them?

 

[psikeyhackr]

Egomaniacs with delusions of intellectual adequacy.

Sorry, forgot to take my meds.

 

[paeng]

Reminds me of that scene from Galaxy Quest:

 

[Foxbat]

I think writing SF can be a way of getting a message across that is able to avoid the taboos in our own culture.

 

[JunkMonkey]

True, but that's for plants using C4 photosynthesis. For C3 plants it's all over about 600 million years from now. That means 97% of all plant species including all trees, but OK there are probably still plants on the Earth in 800 million years. Breathing however will be seriously problematic.

800 million years is a long time. I think over that kind of time scale, given the change will be gradual, evolution means life will easily keep up. The stuff living and growing that far into the future may look like nothing we know now but will still be living and growing. Hell, who knows, some of it may have achieved escape velocity and on its way to seeding other systems.

 

[BAYLOR]

Because writers know that d eep down , What fans rally to want to see are more books with big shinny covers with Rocket ships , Spaceman and Space Women in tacky retro space costumes armed with bulbous 1930's retro style ray guns doing battle with oversized tentacle alien monsters .

 

[BAYLOR]

To see what the movie posters of the big screen film adaptions of the stories will look like?

 

[Randy M.]

As a genre , what purpose, do you think , science fiction serves ? By writing a stories set in far off or near future times, places or alternate realities , what is it that these writers seek to do ? Are they trying convey a message about the human condition and where we might be heading good or bad depending on our choices ? Are they offering their vision of a tomorrow better or worse ? Are they in fact trying to teach us some profound lesson , couched in the form of futuristic fable ? Or is it all for the sake of the simple love and joy of story telling and entraining the readers?


What are your thoughts?

I've been gnawing on this since you first posted it. Here's what I think: Your questions indicate about half the answer.

The ones who are serious writers write s.f. or fantasy (or mystery or horror or what we might call mainstream or literary fiction) because that is how they think. Most genre writers write their genre because their preferred genre reading offered them a place to exercise their imaginations and inventiveness and, often, a story structure to hang their tales on. That's why Raymond Chandler wrote mysteries: As much as he chaffed at perceived restrictions, the "limitations" of the genre gave him something to play with, to riff on, to work off of. He may have been an extreme case, but I bet most writers would recognize the impulse to work within the genre they feel best fits them -- notably their way of perceiving and thinking about the world, maybe even their interests outside of writing, and so on.

A lot of writing comes from addressing an aesthetic or artistic challenge. Here's this stuff I love. Here's what others have done with it. What can I do with the raw material? How can I make something different, something my own?

Later the writer may look at it, recognize what s/he is trying to say, insofar as the writer has a statement to make, and then go back and mold the material into a better, stronger statement (or try to -- hey, no one's perfect). But that initial impetus to write probably has something to do with challenging her-/himself within the range of writing that appeals most to that writer.

Actual writers, feel free to tell me I'm fulla baloney.

 

[CultureCitizen]

As a genre , what purpose, do you think , science fiction serves ? By writing a stories set in far off or near future times, places or alternate realities , what is it that these writers seek to do ? Are they trying convey a message about the human condition and where we might be heading good or bad depending on our choices ? Are they offering their vision of a tomorrow better or worse ? Are they in fact trying to teach us some profound lesson , couched in the form of futuristic fable ? Or is it all for the sake of the simple love and joy of story telling and entraining the readers?


What are your thoughts?

It can be several reasons: the simple thrill for the future. A fable about some current situation going on or one that happened. And even to explore philosophical and ethical matters in an entertaining way.