Just so I know who's who

[mrissa]

I am scheduled for a panel on Sunday that talks about women who write science fiction, and it is using science fiction as a specific term rather than an umbrella term that includes all speculative fiction. I would prefer not to publicly say, "Oh, so-and-so is a science fiction writer, and she's awesome!" and have you come around later saying, "Err, actually no, I only write fantasy/horror/mysteries/interstitial non-science stuff/whatever."

I have no problems with you coming around later telling me that you're not awesome. By which I mean I have big problems with it, but I don't expect this poll to fix them.

[Poll #1544771]

Comments

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

hi! Diss is kicking my butt but I think about you :)

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

Though, to be fair, the SF I write is rather soft, even when it has space stations, so while I think of some of my stories (such as the EV story) as being sociological SF, I am not surprised that others consider them Fantasy or Dark fantasy.

[cpolk.livejournal.com]

I must note: I write science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and porn.

I get paid for the science fiction.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

The minute somebody brings up Catherine Asaro as a science fiction writer, the very softest and squishiest SF you can think of is fair game for this discussion.

[genevra.livejournal.com]

Thank you for including non-writers in the poll! :)

[papersky.livejournal.com]

The other way of doing this, for writers you don't know personally, is to look if their books have been in the Locus Recommended List (this only works for novels, not short stuff unfortunately) and if Locus class them as SF or Fantasy. Locus is the genre magazine of record. I had a bit of a squee when they listed Farthing as SF...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

That is a good resource indeed, and a good place to start. However, short story writers in particular can be extremely varied due to shorter project times, so I don't want to say, "Oh, not so-and-so, her books are all fantasy," when some of her short stories are SF.

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

I am a "person who writes for fun" rather than "a writer" at this point but some of my dabblings are SF.

[sazettel.livejournal.com]

I'm a working novelist. At the moment, I have published or sold: science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, and romance. I hope to soon add children and young adult fantasy to the list. What will I write next week? Stay tuned. Calling me an SF writer is perfectly accurate, but that's only one thing of the things I do.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

"Why are women writers so gosh-darned versatile and multi-talented?" is apparently less controversial as a panel topic.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I was a bit unsure how to answer the first question (the second question was easy: boxes!). I have written and sold science fiction. Also fantasy and horror and indefinable/literary stuff. So I guess I am a non-exclusive science fiction writer--I've definitely more than "touched on" science fiction.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, that's why I hedged the living daylights out of the first question with "at least some of the time or in some of your work." No one would ever respond to, "Are you someone's sister?" by saying, "Well...I don't know...I mean, I guess I am, but I'm someone's aunt, too, and also I am friends with some people...." But for some reason "are you a science fiction writer?" tends to get answered as, "Are you ONLY EVER a science fiction writer?"

Several people answered that they were both a science fiction writer and a speculative writer whose work sometimes touched on science fiction. That's why I used checkboxes instead of radio buttons.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I apparently got the "female, check" and then proceeded to ignore the rest. Sometimes I'm a goof.