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How Not To
Sep. 22nd, 2011 11:53 amI was going to write a How Not To post about worldbuilding and near-future SF, based on the first 60 pages of a book I read, but I ran out of time before leaving for Montreal, like, nowish.
So I thought I'd solicit pet peeves and favorite things about near-future SF worldbuilding from you nice people. I'll start: humans are ridiculous. We know this. But I get frustrated when it feels to me like an extrapolative SF writer is doing a "look at how ridiculous those people over there are" thing, pointing at Young People or Poor People or some other thinly veiled group, rather than recognizing their own ridiculousness as part of the human condition. I mean, sure, some groups are quite mockable. But mockery of Those People is often not as deep or as lasting as extrapolative SF writers hope.
Your turn.
So I thought I'd solicit pet peeves and favorite things about near-future SF worldbuilding from you nice people. I'll start: humans are ridiculous. We know this. But I get frustrated when it feels to me like an extrapolative SF writer is doing a "look at how ridiculous those people over there are" thing, pointing at Young People or Poor People or some other thinly veiled group, rather than recognizing their own ridiculousness as part of the human condition. I mean, sure, some groups are quite mockable. But mockery of Those People is often not as deep or as lasting as extrapolative SF writers hope.
Your turn.
