Tag: genre inspiration

Retro Futurism

On By Dan HarrisIn Sci-Fi and Fantasy, WritingLeave a comment

Nice post on io9 here.

I’m drawn to the Anachronista category – the others don’t do a lot for me. I’m no good at history so hardly qualified to suggest alternates. Cheese is . . . well, cheesy. And I think there are enough people writing steampunk – the best example of it, China Mieville’s work, doesn’t even get called it because it’s so much more as well.

But anachronista, that I could do. The next book I’ve got planned is somewhat tinged with this – it’s a Chandler-style detective noir, but set in the same technologically advanced far-future universe of my current WIP.

It wouldn’t quite fit the anachronista mould the io9 article talks about, as it’ll be stylistically redolent of 1930s/40s/50s pulp crime lit, rather than actually containing any technology that you might have found back then. But still – that’s one of the things I love about SF, the scope to combine it with another genre entirely and come up with an interesting hybrid. I’m looking forward to writing it.

Writing for the Head vs. the Heart

On By Dan HarrisIn Sci-Fi and Fantasy, WritingLeave a comment

Another good read on Emma Darwin’s blog here.

It seems like every couple of months I’ll read some industry insider’s comment that the market for SF/F is decreasing, then another saying that it’s never been stronger. It’s hard to know what to expect when I do get to the point of actually pitching a manuscript – whether an SF thriller in today’s market can be said to ‘have a good chance’.

But I’m not sure it matters to me – as the article says, you need to write something that you care about, or it’ll be tough, and you’ll hate it, and even if you do finish it won’t end up with the kind of soul that you impart to something you love. I’m pretty sure I’ll only ever want to – or maybe even be able to – write science fiction. Where that will get me in future, who knows!