[Writingworkshop] SF as being about the present

[Neale Morison]

I don't know if I've seen an article about it, but it's a generally 
accepted notion. You can only write about what you know, so writing 
about the real future is out.
When we watched 2001 it was fun to see the late 60s fashions exaggerated 
into the future, but essentially it was a Cold War in Space situation. 
Kubrick did the same with A Clockwork Orange, intensifying aspects of 
the present and calling it the future. The ties in particular
40s Sci Fi largely involves fighting space Nazis in your space Cadillac. 
It helps a lot to realize that you're creating a world no matter what 
genre you write. Sci Fi seems to permit a more tailored, restricted 
world, with maybe a tweak to a physical law or two, maybe some 
interesting technology to offer a few more options to explore. But it's 
always about people doing that people stuff they do.

There's an essay here with a quote from Joseph Conrad to H. G. Wells:
http://www2.ku.edu/~sfcenter/tomorrow.htm

Giving humanity over to the impossible, but retaining the humanity.

Wells wrote "The Land Ironclads" in 1903 - envisaging a future in which 
tanks dominated land warfare. As usual, he was right, but the title 
tells you how he thought about it. When he write it sea ironclads, like 
the Monitor and the Virginia, had been around for half a century, 
playing leapfrog between armour and gunpower. The leap was to put the 
invulnerable gun platforms on land. So the future is present day 
concepts, connected in a new way.



Adam Holland wrote:
> hi, guys,
>
> Any tips on where I might find some writings on the notion that SF is 
> really always about the present?
> that is, a culture's vision of its future reflects how it sees itself 
> and it's potential?
>
> Adam
>
>
> Reason?  Remind to to tell you about my law article topic another time
>
>     / From the discomfort of truth there is only one refuge, and that
>     is ignorance.
>     I do not need to be comfortable, and I will not take refuge.
>     I demand to know./
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writingworkshop mailing list
> Writingworkshop at nealemorison.org
> http://nealemorison.org/mailman/listinfo/writingworkshop_nealemorison.org
>   
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com 
> Version: 8.0.173 / Virus Database: 270.7.5/1708 - Release Date: 10/4/2008 11:35 AM
>
>   


-- 
Neale Morison
neale at nealemorison.com
http://www.nealemorison.com
35 Frazer St, Leichhardt NSW 2040
+61 417 661 427

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nealemorison.org/pipermail/writingworkshop_nealemorison.org/attachments/20081006/94ca307a/attachment.html>