An Asylum for Writers of Speculative Fiction

( Long ramble about my WIP cut for courtesy to member's friends' pages )

I've been giving myself an overdose of science fiction lately, and it has got me thinking about something I was told once, that this genre and horror are intrinsically intertwined. I wasn't told why, but since then I've noticed it to be true.

Here's my guess on the matter at hand: For starters, sci-fi deals with a technological what-if; in other words, if the things that happen in your universe don't have scientific bases, you're doing it wrong.

There's always Clarke's third law, of course, but we must proceed carefully to get under its wing. I think it's a bad move to play dirty with our audience so they can't tell where we're standing. It's either science fiction, fantasy, or even science fantasy, but we must not cheat on the reader. I mean, even the fantastique has its ways to make clear we're not supposed to know what in the world it's actually going on, by using an unreliable narrator --in drugs, drunk, schizophrenic-- or having the story being told by a friend of a friend of the protagonist, for example. Thus, when we take advantage of that third law, it's a good idea to have either at least one character or the narrator --though I don't really like this approach-- to tell at some point that a wizard didn't actually do it, that it was science that made the trick.

But what has that to do with horror? Simple: you can't have a story if you don't have a conflict.
Now, since conflict is easier to find in the worst-case scenario, that's where most of science fiction goes to. The developed technology is great, it can do lot of good to humanity, but to leave it at that would be no more than wishful thinking. Something has to go wrong --miscalculations, greed, madness-- and, when the more is a stake, the worse it gets. And the best it gets from the audience point of view, specially if the writer managed to make the reader to care about the character(s).

The horror comes precisely from there. It has everything to do with proportions. You gave lots and lots of decision power to a machine you thought perfect? Now you pay the consequences; you're under its control --because it's so going to develope artificial intelligence if it doesn't already have it, and it's going to take 'protect mankind' too literally-- unless you find a way to turn it off. Or, after going through a series of trials and distress, you understand there's nothing to do against it or that it won't be worthy, so you surrender.

There's the horror, in the lack of control, in the not knowing what is going to happen, not knowing what can be done.
For me, anyway.

What if is perhaps the question at the heart of speculative fiction, but when it comes to "Alternative History" there's no doubt about it. These stories ask what the world would be like if some key historical event had turned out differently or never happened at all.

From Joan Aiken's "Wolves" series - "what if James II had never been deposed in the Glorious Revolution" to Robert Harris's Fatherland - What if Nazi Germany had won the Second World War (this is perhaps the most common premise today) all these stories have a point of divergence where things change from real world history.

This is a genre that requires intense research into the real history and how it might have ended differently...

I didn't explain that very well Here's wikipedia on the matter and if anyone wants to explain more please feel free.

And now a plot bunny/prompt for anyone who wants to run with it.

So many people write stories where Nazi Germany won the second world war. Even stories that take Adolf Hitler out of the picture do this...

But I want to take a different tack - suppose Hitler never gets into politics (or not at the point he did in the real world, maybe later if you want to be really twisted) because he's a slightly better painter than he was and he gets into Art School in Vienna. Add to this that a second turning point where the Bavarian Soviet Republic survives more than a few days and takes over Germany in 1919...

There's the basis of a whole other universe for you. Anyone want to run with it?

Since I do have the ability to create polls, we have a poll!

Poll #246 Genres
Open to: All, results viewable to: All

What speculative fiction genres do people write? Comment if you want to be more detailed.

You know when I get paid on the 22nd I'm so buying a paid account for this so I can put up polls.

Anyway, what speculative fiction genres do people write? It's an umbrella term and I'd like to get a feel for what sub-genres we're trying our hands at.

Personally I write fantasy (traditional, contemporary, science and futuristic), paranormal.supernatural and occassionally horror. I may try my hand at other genres if inspiration strikes.

Also if you're only watching the asylum and want to participate you'll need to join the asylum.