Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Genre Expectation and Speculative Content

This is topic Genre Expectation and Speculative Content in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by PaulUK (Member # 7906) on :

Hi all,

Last week, I finished a story (around 9000 words) which turned out to be a kind of dark urban fantasy. As it stands though, there is no speculative content until about halfway through, when it becomes quite apparent.

My question to you all is this: do you think that a speculative story should wear its genre intentions on its sleeve, so to speak? My problem with this particular story is that I can't think of how to introduce the fantasy element earlier, without compromising dramatic integrity. I mean, if you picked up, say, 'F&SF' and found this story in it (wishful thinking!) you're going to know it's a genre piece…aren't you? I don't know!

Any thoughts will be voraciously assimilated!

Best regards,

Paul

Posted by Bent Tree (Member # 7777) on :

It is my belief that reader of genre fiction desire the speculative element present and forthright. I might read 2.5k into a story if their was an interesting story without a hint to speculative before slamming it shut, but the prose better be good. I wouldn't recomending it though. Short fiction readers have a short attention span. Short fiction editors are even more quick to dismiss.

Posted by Wolfe_boy (Member # 5456) on :

A lot of editors like to know that there is a speculative element pretty quickly - at least, this is the advice I've heard a lot. I understand the difficulty in working in a speculative element too early, since it's something that a great many of us have struggled with at one point or another.

I suppose at this point you have three options:

1. Rewrite to move your opening closer to the speculative element.

2. Maybe use some hints or foreshadowing to give an astute reader a nod that there could be a speculative element contained within.

3. Indicate that there is a speculative element in your cover letter when you submit, and how that the reader of the cover letter is the same person who will read the story.

I think the difficulty here is in not betraying your reader by explaining something logical with a speculative explaination. Hold true to the tone and the characters and the plot you developed in the first bit, and then work in the spec element.

Jayson Merryfield

Posted by smncameron (Member # 7392) on :

" I might read 2.5k into a story if their was an interesting story without a hint to speculative before slamming it shut, but the prose better be good."

I'm picturing you crying "What 2500 words and no speculative content!" and slamming down the book you had been enjoying 10 words previously. It's an entertaining image.

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

I dunno...I figure about three-fourths of the SF stories I really like are what they used to call "Bat Durston" stories, dressed-up items from other genres like westerns or mysteries or romances, where that's what's central to the story and the SF stuff is essentially window-dressing. (For example, I think a lot of Asimov's SF work, despite his protestations and scientific pedigree, falls into this category.)

I really don't have a clue as to what editors think, though...and at this point in my career I'm not sure I either care or would want to know, though...I do know that I've not put the final finish on or tried to submit a story I I've written that I like, where the fantasy element (ghosts, actually) seems so weak compared to the rest of the story.

Putting "speculative content" into a story risks losing the "story" part of the story, though...

Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :

I felt the need to provide an example...Asimov wrote extensively of robots. He called them "positronic" robots. But why "positronic?" It only reflected that Asimov knew what a "positron" was and needed something to "dress up" his own robots, make them different from the other robots SF was infested with. Scientific window-dressing, that's all, nothing relating to the actual construction of intelligent mechanical men...

Posted by Gardener (Member # 7948) on :

Here's my 2 cents.

I think you should definitely put something in sooner. Even if it's just a hint. You are obviously setting this in the real world. We know the real world. Tell us what the unreal setting is.

Can you write a paragraph of what is occurring in the speculative bits and insert it in a place that could use a pause? Like a mini chapter in the short story.

Because something that doesn't happen until halfway in shouldn't be all that important. If it's a main element, it needs to show up sooner.

Posted by Jo1day (Member # 7800) on :

Here's my feel for things: if you want the current speculative elements that appear half way through to be a surprise, either use something to foreshadow those things, as suggested before, or find something else to put into the story to make it obvious that it's speculative.

I know how you feel, though. I have a somewhat similar story that I'm working on right now, trying to figure out how to make the speculative element apparent.

Posted by slocum (Member # 7925) on :

In the right circumstance, it would be okay to me to have a delay before speculative content comes into play.

I could certainly see going along, setting up the characters, and then suddenly "OMG! Alien Invasion!"

If the fact that things are normal before 'something happens' is important to the story, I see nothing wrong.

I'm not an expert on Stephen King, but how long into say, The Stand, does he go before the super-flu appears? Or 'It' before the spooky stuff happens?

Probably I'd be less comfortable in a short story, if half was setup and then the surprise occurred.

Posted by mitchellworks (Member # 6779) on :

The things is, a short story doesn't have a book jacket to hint either by word or picture that there is something out of the ordinary going on in this story. If it appeared in the middle of a SF mag that would be a hint, but too generic a one, IMO.

In a short story if I don't know what the spec element is REALLY quick I don't know if it's one I'll enjoy. What if I like dragons but not aliens? What if I like particle physics but not astronomical events? Or you get the idea.

Posted by KayTi (Member # 5137) on :

Spec fiction readers like to read speculative fiction. If there's no hint of anything speculative, anything out of the ordinary, anything weird or different, I'm not sure why a spec fiction reader would pick up the story.

Writing for a speculative fiction audience is an interesting challenge, because spec fiction readers take things more literally than other readers, because they are accustomed to having unusual things happen in the stories they read. So, for instance, if you said "Sarah slid through the door just before it closed." - and then followed it with some line about her dropping her Skishoes by the mat and padding her way to the kitchen for a snack, that wouldn't throw a spec fiction reader at all. They'll connect the dots and assume Sarah slid through the door on some sort of ski-like shoe.

Means that sometimes you have to be really careful. Because a spec fiction reader is ALWAYS looking for that speculative element. "ooh, I know - the neighbor's an alien! or the bike the kid is riding can fly, or the mom is a sorceress/heiress to the throne of Tartufa." You get the idea. If you don't give a reader who is expecting spec fiction some speculative ideas to hang their brain on, I fear they will start creating expectations about your characters, environment, and events that are not what you want them to create. Just something to think about.

Posted by PaulUK (Member # 7906) on :

Hi All,

Thanks so much for the words of wisdom and sound advice. I guess I've got a bit of a rewrite to do :-) I'm going to try to subtly work the spec elements in much earlier(probably from the very first line), and I've a pretty good idea how I can do that, and hopefully maintain the tone and effect I'm striving for...he said hopefully.

quote:
If you don't give a reader who is expecting spec fiction some speculative ideas to hang their brain on, I fear they will start creating expectations about your characters, environment, and events that are not what you want them to create.

This is a crucial and very well made point and it's certainly something for me to bear in mind in relation to this particular story!

Many thanks again for all your help,

Cheers,

Paul

[This message has been edited by PaulUK (edited May 01, 2008).]