Why I Write Science Fiction and Fantasy
Recently I was asked a question about why I choose to write science fiction and fantasy. I thought long and hard about the answer. I could have said I write it because I love dragons (who doesn’t), or to inspire the imagination. But no. It’s not to inspire imagination, though it may help. So why do I write this particular set of genres? Well, here it is.
I write science fiction to show, question, and fathom what the world could be. I write fantasy to show, question, and tell what the world is. You might say, “Well then write nonfiction, or make it a grounded reality in modern day without all the fantasy.” Well boyo, let me tell you, nobody likes to get beat with a club. The fact is that fantasy lets me reframe the truth as a metaphor, to show you the world as it is from a new perspective and not get bogged down in all the nitty gritty details.
For instance, let’s say that I decided to write about greed. This is a popular one that I am well aware has been overdone to the point that everyone’s rolling their eyes. But stay with me. I could write a story about how a politician, or a banker, or even a thief goes out of their way to amass as much money as they can and how it either brings about their damnation or they learn to change and set off on a new life. I could write that story grounded in everyday realism. But all it would do is get a: “Yeah man, I know, I live it too.” Or: “Dude, that is my life.” Or worse yet: “Yeah, everyone knows businesses and politicians are greedy.”
But if I change it, if I add a pinch of magic, a touch of otherworldly consequence, if it becomes the embodiment of a force or god, now you lean in.
This can be seen in the story of King Midas, in A Christmas Carol with old Scrooge. In comic books, even DC has an entire character that is the embodiment of greed. All of these stories tell what the world is. They focus on a single truth about the world and warn us all without beating us with a stick. And because of the way it is delivered, because we get to see it in a new light, it sticks with us. It keeps us up at night when we should be sleeping and makes us look at our own world in a new light. That is why I write SFF.
Tell me about a facet of “what is” that you have often thought about. What story that encompasses that fact sticks with you? Is it one grounded in everyday life, or one that adds a pinch of magic or larger than life science? Tell me in the comments.
