Speculative fiction

I'm really tired now, but I need to write something.

I spent the entire weekend in a scifi/fantasy convention, and it was superb.

I need to read more scifi. I used to read it when I was a kid, but then I found fantasy, and then I found "normal" books, and lately I've been reading just randomly everything, because I want to widen the scope of genres I know. Still, this weekend at Finncon, I felt kind of out of place. Sure, it was nice being among scifi geeks again, and it was awesome, but as I was going through the book sales etc, I realised that I haven't actually read the "basic" science fiction. No Arthur C. Clarke, no Isaac Asimov...

Could be that I never really liked the space ships and technology parts in scifi. I think I prefer science fiction without the science. I want stories set in alternative universes with the focus not on the technology, but on the actual story and people.

When it comes to fantasy, I tend to like fantasy stuff that doesn't include dragons, elfs, magic swords etc. I kind of got fed up with high fantasy ever since I read Neverwhere the first time.

Ok, real fantasy, as they called it in the convention in the discussions... Set in a world similar to ours, but something's off. Just like in Neverwhere, there might be an other world we do not know unless... Fine, Neverwhere and other Neil's stuff is pretty fantastic, but I don't blame him for that.

Still, he's recognized as a fantasy author.

My other favourite author, who writes weird dystopian stories about odd stuff, but which does not include magic or other really fantastic elements... Chuck Palahniuk. Where would I put Survivor? Or even better, Rant? Both texts are twisted in some way, but they are not fantasy. They are real, but still they are not. Are they real fantasy or is Neil Gaiman with his mixed mythologies real fantasy? Where would Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 go? Scifi, dystopian, real fantasy? Ray Loriga's Tokyo Doesn't Love Us Anymore? Classified as scifi (occasionally), but other stuff by Loriga isn't scifi, it's just weird. What is weird? What is fantasy?

Why do we need to define what we read?

Some people say they never read scifi. Some people say they read only scifi.

As a future author, I would not mind being called a scifi author. I would not mind being called a fantasy author. But I would love being called an author. Just an author. Being an author means you write stuff. You make stuff up. You make stories come into life. Some stories are science fiction, some are fantasy, some are realism, some are romance. All of these are stories that are equally fictional. If it wasn't fiction, it'd be non-fiction, which means it'd be on the other side of the library. Why do we need to define what kind of a fiction it is? Why is an author strongly labeled for just one genre?

To escape from fantasy and scifi, new genres, new cages come up. New weird, real fantasy, paranormal romance.

Ok, I'm a writer, I write stuff. Different stuff. Romance, erotica, scifi, "normal prose", satire, fantasy, new weird, real fantasy, STUFF. It's all fictional, and if a label scares you away, it's your loss.

ALSO, regarding my previous post about being a short story person... I was listening to Pat Cadigan and Ellen Kushner on Friday, and both agreed that there were two kinds of writers: writers with short-story brain, and writers with novel brain. I think I have short-story brain. I'm happy to be diagnosed :3

An entry with a boring title

I tread here every now and then, and I have a lot to say, but when I get this tiny screen in front of me it is all gone like it was never there. It's like when you stand up from your chair and walk to the kitchen, and when your hand touches the handle, you forget what you were looking for. Was it a cup? A specific old dish you wanted to examine? Was it food? Tea? Cookies? Some can you suddenly remembered, and wanted to read the label for some weird reason that emerged in your subconscious?

Now I do remember. At least one thing.

About length of stories. It seems that when I get an idea, I instantly know whether it is an idea for a short story, a poem, a drabble, or a full-length novel. Most ideas are shorts stories, and they are easy to handle. I would like to start working on a novel again. It's just the genres of writing that disagree with me. I can write short stories of things that are close to me, because I know I don't have to explain too much. Therefore most of my personal angst goes to short stories. Longer stories are a different case. It is good to have one's imagination run wild, yes sir I can boogie, and getting started is easy. Creating new worlds, new characters, difficult relationships between characters... I love all that. The question is: Why don't I do it all the time? Why am I not working on a story? There is an idea of interlocking stories that would melt into one eventually. It's been written on the pages of my notebook for months. For more than 4 months. It's still only 6 handwritten pages in bad handwriting. It's kind of science fiction-ish mix of different stuff. I can't write too ordinary stories. I mean, short stories can be about going to buy milk and finding the love of your life, but long ones need a better story.

Truth is, I've been thinking that I'm after all a short story person. Still I would like to give a go, write a full novel. Why am I not writing it now?

I am a lazy person. I get nothing done and still I am worried that I get nothing done. I should just get something done. A part of me feels that I am not ready yet. The puzzle isn't complete. I am not complete as a writer. I am not complete as an experiencer. I need to wait because...something is coming. I don't know what it is, but it is coming. Maybe. I think. It could be. If it isn't, I've waited in vain.

How can I make a difference as a writer?