[bittercon] Non-SF Influences
I've never been to a convention, but if I could have managed it, I would have started by attending the Fourth Street Fantasy Convention this weekend. Since I'm not there, I'm hosting my own panel here for today. I won't be able to check in until tonight, but I hope there will be lots of interesting discussion while I'm out.
Non-SF Influences For SF writers
What moved you as a child? What sets off your creative flow as an adult? Which books seem magical without actually being about magic? My answer is under the cut, so you can pause to think before it sways you.
I've been reading a lot of YA lately, and it's gotten me to think about books I loved as a child. I read my fair share of SF for kids, but I also devoured non-SF. Following are 3 examples from my own past.
1. Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare: I must have read it 5 or 6 times when I was 10-12. It doesn't have any SF elements, but it spoke to me the same way a lot of SF did. Something about the values of survival, emotional strength, adaptability, and using one's wits to get by resonated with me. As an adult writer, I notice that these themes creep into my own work sometimes, and usually those pieces turn out to be my better ones. Plus, I think that Miriam's awesome dress design skills probably tipped off my habit of imagining clothing designs in my head.*
I know I also read My Side of the Mountain for school, and that I liked it all right, but it wasn't a favorite. I think I must have read The Witch of Blackbird Pond as well, but I have absolutely no memory of it. I'd like to pick the latter up now, but I'm a bit afraid to re-read Calico Captive, because even though I can definitely cite it as a beloved influence, I worry that it might not be everything I remember. Is that silly? Perhaps. I do, however, know more than one person who loved A Wrinkle in Time as a child only to find it terribly disappointing later. I would be sad if that happened to me with Calico Captive
2. Susannah at Boarding School by Muriel Denison: I don't know where this came from. Perhaps it was my mother's when she was young? It is most certainly no longer in print, and it's a middle book in a series. Of course we didn't have any of the others, so I had to imagine what Susannah must have done in the Yukon with her Mountie Uncle before going to boarding school. Here again though were the themes of adapting to a new environment by necessity rather than choice, and furthermore learning to thrive there. I read this one dozens of times, and I can remember being surprised when a previously mysterious bit became clear because I'd expanded my vocabulary between readings. Portmanteau, for instance.
3. Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series: My mother read these, and I picked them up when she wasn't looking. This would often result in arguments featuring outraged cries of, "Hey, I was reading that!" Ah, good times. I loved Emily Pollifax for her wits, her grit, and her willingness to display humor and kindness, even in dire situations. I also loved that she was a very non-traditional spy. She wasn't young, beautiful, or athletic, but she did it anyway because she felt like it. As a writer I feel especially happy with my own work when the characters have to reach outside their expected boundaries to get things done.
In Conclusion
For me, courage, determination, adaptability, and emotional resilience are important in stories. These themes come up again and again as I write new pieces, and my early influences use them, too. The other thing I cannot do without is humor, though. That might not come across too clearly wit these examples, but Mrs. Pollifax is a good start. I just can't be solemn and serious all the time. I must temper the emotional weights with laughter. I hope that in my own work, I'll be able to pull it all off and give someone somewhere a bit of insight into what makes them tick, and a bit of comic relief to help them put it into perspective. If I ever manage that, I will consider myself a successful writer.
So, what about you?
*Unfortunately, I have zero drawing skills, and the touch of my hand is like unto the kiss of death for every sewing machine I've ever encountered, so I have to stick with imagining. Alas.
Non-SF Influences For SF writers
What moved you as a child? What sets off your creative flow as an adult? Which books seem magical without actually being about magic? My answer is under the cut, so you can pause to think before it sways you.
I've been reading a lot of YA lately, and it's gotten me to think about books I loved as a child. I read my fair share of SF for kids, but I also devoured non-SF. Following are 3 examples from my own past.
1. Calico Captive by Elizabeth George Speare: I must have read it 5 or 6 times when I was 10-12. It doesn't have any SF elements, but it spoke to me the same way a lot of SF did. Something about the values of survival, emotional strength, adaptability, and using one's wits to get by resonated with me. As an adult writer, I notice that these themes creep into my own work sometimes, and usually those pieces turn out to be my better ones. Plus, I think that Miriam's awesome dress design skills probably tipped off my habit of imagining clothing designs in my head.*
I know I also read My Side of the Mountain for school, and that I liked it all right, but it wasn't a favorite. I think I must have read The Witch of Blackbird Pond as well, but I have absolutely no memory of it. I'd like to pick the latter up now, but I'm a bit afraid to re-read Calico Captive, because even though I can definitely cite it as a beloved influence, I worry that it might not be everything I remember. Is that silly? Perhaps. I do, however, know more than one person who loved A Wrinkle in Time as a child only to find it terribly disappointing later. I would be sad if that happened to me with Calico Captive
2. Susannah at Boarding School by Muriel Denison: I don't know where this came from. Perhaps it was my mother's when she was young? It is most certainly no longer in print, and it's a middle book in a series. Of course we didn't have any of the others, so I had to imagine what Susannah must have done in the Yukon with her Mountie Uncle before going to boarding school. Here again though were the themes of adapting to a new environment by necessity rather than choice, and furthermore learning to thrive there. I read this one dozens of times, and I can remember being surprised when a previously mysterious bit became clear because I'd expanded my vocabulary between readings. Portmanteau, for instance.
3. Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax series: My mother read these, and I picked them up when she wasn't looking. This would often result in arguments featuring outraged cries of, "Hey, I was reading that!" Ah, good times. I loved Emily Pollifax for her wits, her grit, and her willingness to display humor and kindness, even in dire situations. I also loved that she was a very non-traditional spy. She wasn't young, beautiful, or athletic, but she did it anyway because she felt like it. As a writer I feel especially happy with my own work when the characters have to reach outside their expected boundaries to get things done.
In Conclusion
For me, courage, determination, adaptability, and emotional resilience are important in stories. These themes come up again and again as I write new pieces, and my early influences use them, too. The other thing I cannot do without is humor, though. That might not come across too clearly wit these examples, but Mrs. Pollifax is a good start. I just can't be solemn and serious all the time. I must temper the emotional weights with laughter. I hope that in my own work, I'll be able to pull it all off and give someone somewhere a bit of insight into what makes them tick, and a bit of comic relief to help them put it into perspective. If I ever manage that, I will consider myself a successful writer.
So, what about you?
*Unfortunately, I have zero drawing skills, and the touch of my hand is like unto the kiss of death for every sewing machine I've ever encountered, so I have to stick with imagining. Alas.