"I also wanted the stories to reflect life in 2010 so they would interest readers in 2110, in the way that Wells' stories do."
Yeah, because everyone knows that there's a 100 year cap to the relevancy of a good story.
I can't help but wonder what would happen if fiction functioned in the way he thinks it does; 100 years from now, somebody reads an awesome story that won a prestigious contest named after an author, H. G. Wells - They wonder who H.G. Wells is, and why he had a contest named after him.
Though, I will ask, on a related but different subject... How much relevency do stories, speculative fictions in particular, have in the long run. I know that I've had trouble reading sci-fi from the "golden" age, and I've thought before that it was only because the fiction hadn't "aged" well. Is all fiction doomed to this fate?
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oh this is the guy who wrote that radio show about teh war of the worlds with the alien tripods, starring tom cruise, right?
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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The fact that he misses the point of H.G. Wells's works is funny, too. War of the Worlds is science fiction, not contemporary 19th century life! There were no alien invaders at the turn of the previous century, IIRC.
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Nobody entered? You mean I can send that guy a crappy handwritten story talking about how I play games for a living and get a thousand quid for my efforts?
I'M DOING IT. nobody else join or I'll break your knuckles. I called.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Emreecheek: Though, I will ask, on a related but different subject... How much relevency do stories, speculative fictions in particular, have in the long run. I know that I've had trouble reading sci-fi from the "golden" age, and I've thought before that it was only because the fiction hadn't "aged" well. Is all fiction doomed to this fate?
I don't think all fiction is doomed. I think some will fade out because they become irrelevent. Tom Clancey or Orwell will probably not last because they are really only relevent in specific political climates (i suppose i can see why Orwell would be accepted even if communism was completely irradicated though.) I do think most fiction is probably safe as long as they don't rely on current events or don't tie themselves with a future event/date too closely. Star Wars and LoTR are good examples of what i think would be lasting fictions (although admittedly i could see future generations being turned off by the age of the star wars films. We seem to equate pretty effects to good movie. Of course im sure in 10 or 20 years they'll do a complete remake of all the star wars just to keep a younger audience engaged.) The terminator movies on the other hand dont really have much zing to them after 1994(?) passed with no sizzle. I think stories that rely on themes and archetypes last longer than stories of personal developement and interactions with specific people/situations.
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i suppose another problem could be that people are reading less and watching more. When you have written stories the new audience always creates new images of the stories, in other words: the stories upgrade themselves.
When it is shown in film its always the same imagining, the only way to adapt it to the newer generations is to re-make it from a modern perspective, the story therefore is manyally and activly upgraded and must be maintained for it to stay relevant.
Posts: 467 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Emreecheek: Though, I will ask, on a related but different subject... How much relavency do stories, speculative fictions in particular, have in the long run. I know that I've had trouble reading sci-fi from the "golden" age, and I've thought before that it was only because the fiction hadn't "aged" well. Is all fiction doomed to this fate?
First of all I'm dismayed to learn that "relevancy" is actually an accepted alternate form of the noun "relevance." :nitpick:
In short, yes, all fiction is doomed ultimately to become extinct, either through success or failure. A piece of fiction or a particular trope of fiction can become so universal and well known that it no longer functions, as it originally did, to be relevant to an audience that is already well aware of its enormous effect on fiction at large. That is how great success eventually leads to obsolescence. Dante, Chaucer, Homer, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, and many more are examples of this, and there are more recently localized examples in popular fiction and in film and television.
Or a work becomes obsolete for being dated. If it depends too much on the particular zeitgeist of a time, appeals too specifically or too anachronistically to local and contemporaneous concerns, then it dies away, or slackens in its influence. Wordsworth, Dickens, the sisters Bronte, and Shelley (Mary, and even more so Percy), are examples of authors who despite being powerful writers and highly influential, become less relevant due to their particularly localized styles. And these are in fact writers who remain big influences- you haven't heard of the ones who aren't, and few ever will- yet in many particulars, diction, prose style, pacing, their influence wanes.
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: Nobody entered? You mean I can send that guy a crappy handwritten story talking about how I play games for a living and get a thousand quid for my efforts?
I'M DOING IT. nobody else join or I'll break your knuckles. I called.
Shotty! I get second prize.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Ecthalion: [QUOTE]Originally posted by Emreecheek: [qb] I don't think all fiction is doomed. I think some will fade out because they become irrelevent. Tom Clancey or Orwell will probably not last because they are really only relevent in specific political climates (i suppose i can see why Orwell would be accepted even if communism was completely irradicated though.)
Toooootally disagree on this one. Clancy will be around until the publishers invent somebody else to sell the same stories again under another name. Orwell will last a thousand years- he's one of the most prescient political writers of the modern age. I believe if 5 books from our century are known in the year 3000, Orwell will be the author of one of them.
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Y'know, if you bother to follow the link to the actual article, you find out that this is outdated.
quote:The closing date has been extended and sci-fi stories will now be considered. Handwritten stories will get extra marks, but are not obligatory.
(Also, Wells wrote a great deal more than science fiction. I don't see anything wrong with trying to highlight the currently neglected aspects of his work.)
Posts: 884 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Samprimary: Nobody entered? You mean I can send that guy a crappy handwritten story talking about how I play games for a living and get a thousand quid for my efforts?
I'M DOING IT. nobody else join or I'll break your knuckles. I called.
Not if I submit my captivating story about the time I spend walking my dog first! HA!
quote:The closing date has been extended and sci-fi stories will now be considered. Handwritten stories will get extra marks, but are not obligatory.
D'OH!!! Never mind...
Handwritten? Seriously? Do people still use pens? Heck, do people still OWN pens?
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Handwritten? Seriously? Do people still use pens? Heck, do people still OWN pens?
Yes, of course some do. Many of the documents I fill out and print from my computer still require a hand signature. No digital signatures allowed. Posts: 891 | Registered: Feb 2010
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quote:i suppose i can see why Orwell would be accepted even if communism was completely irradicated though.
I think you're off the mark here. Especially because Orwell wasn't writing about (or against) communism. Orwell was actually a lifelong democratic socialist. Orwell's messages had to do with totalitarianism, corruption, propaganda, etc...and these issues will never go away, regardless of the state of communism!
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