Anna Staniszewski

Now that I’ve finished Take Joy, I’ve moved on to Orson Scott Card’s How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. I love Card’s fiction, and I find his insights on writing extremely inspiring. Even in the introduction to the book, he starts off with something that really makes me think:

In many ways [the science fiction and fantasy audience] is the best audience in the world to write for. They’re open-minded and intelligent. They want to think as well as feel, understand as well as dream. Above all, they want to be led into places that no one has ever visited before. It’s a privilege to tell stories to these readers, and an honor when they applaud the tales you tell.

Now I’m not sure if this is entirely true. There are all kinds of readers out there and many of them enjoy being challenged emotionally and intellectually by what they read, but I do think there’s something a bit different about science fiction and fantasy audiences. They often want the stories to be dark and complex, and they read not only for the characters but also for the world.

In fact, I was just having a conversation with a friend of mine about The Forest of Hands and Teeth. We came to the conclusion that we look for different things when we read. She commented mostly on the characters and their relationships, whereas I was much more focused on the world. She found the post-zombie apocalypse setting to be hopeless while that setting was exactly what made me like the book so much. For me, imagining that dark, bleak world is thrilling, while for her it’s sad and depressing.

In a sense, this is one of the reasons that people write speculative fiction, to show how bleak the world can be. I can understand why this wouldn’t be every reader’s cup of tea, especially if those readers are more interested in character than in imagining ways in which the world will crumble.

This isn’t to say that character is less important in science fiction and fantasy, especially these days when the genres are more prevalent than ever and have become increasingly character-driven. But I must say that some books, especially series, I’ve enjoyed despite their weak writing or thin characters; I enjoyed the world and the ideas so much that I was willing to overlook some of those things. In realistic fiction, I think there’s a bit less leeway. If your characters are thin and the writing isn’t strong, the situation has to be very interesting and the stakes very high for the reader to want to keep going.

Hm, I didn’t intend for this to be a fantasy vs. realistic fiction post, but somehow it’s gone in that direction. Going back to Card’s quote, what really resonated with me was that he’s right about us being lucky to have an audience that is so willing to go wherever we take them. We have to work hard to make the story believable and interesting, but readers want us to show them the places in our imaginations. They want to be convinced. The fact that they give us this opportunity, this benefit of the doubt, is pretty amazing.