Taking control of reality
01/12/2007 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
The yin and the yang of it. Every year, says Uncle Geoff, our reality is changing. Some times too quickly. Some times not fast enough. If its not the weather effects of global warming then it's the advances in technology or even bio-technology now the human genome has been unravelled. A brave new world. Nascent and naive in some ways. Practical Science Fiction in others. Hello everyone
Every year our reality is changing. Some times too quickly. Some times not fast enough. If its not the weather effects of global warming then it's the advances in technology or even bio-technology now the human genome has been unravelled. A brave new world. Nascent and naive in some ways. Practical Science Fiction in others. Fearful and too fast for some. Others just adapting without looking back. Everything has its price. A lesson that has again been learnt from Science Fiction. Nothing is perfect and that there are black and white, right and wrong shades to everything. We left our naivety about the future in the 50s SF. Today, it's more a question of living with our knowledge and options and making the best of them. We're all too ready to exploit innovation, look at the rise of the mobile phone, but don't do enough individually or collectively to give respect to our environment to improve it. A perfect world won't last long if no one is here to use it properly.
A lot of people speculate as to whether the world is changing too quickly. Others that it's not changing quickly enough. Mind you, that only appears to happen with the western world. The poorer parts of the world still have a long way to catch up, both in social skills and technology. This year has had flash floods scattering across the world hitting not only my country but China, Africa and Mexico. We're reminded nowhere is safe. We lick our wounds and keep going, hoping the next disaster won't touch us. Global warming doesn't just mean warmer weather but unpredictable weather conditions everywhere. This year it's something that a lot more people have in common and where life-styles mean nothing when it's brought down to nothing. The frightening thing is that its not going to get any better any time soon and we all have a responsibility to stop it getting worse. In that respect, we have to take control of our reality. 2006 was remembered for the hurricanes but 2007 will be for the flash floods. It makes you wonder what surprises will hit us in 2008. More of the same or some other effect. The way the weather is changing, rampant blizzards. Famous last words. Global warming is not all about hot weather but erratic weather changes. At least modern communication is showing its not isolated instances.
Whatever I say here won't change the coming weather. All we can do is protest hard enough for our respective governments and the companies we work for to start to change our carbon emissions signature so future generations will survive our foolishness. If they aren't moving fast enough, then always remember we can always help ourselves by our own prevention. We need to show collective responsibility for the world we've helped to create.
Predicting the future is something we do all the time in Science Fiction after all. It might not be our future but it demonstrates the consequences of what we do. Getting it wrong if anything demonstrates we can't keep up. We should not be surprised at changes in our world. It's ironic that the more we control some aspects of it the more it charges out of our control in others. If ever there was a demonstration of yin and yang balancing itself out then that is it. The balance is moving away from us. What is odd is so little SF dealing with our immediate fate, even if it means incorporating into an adventure plot. As commented in previous editorials, fiction is so close to current reality that writers are scared to raise hope or think it will change anything.
Granted, Science Fiction has never been entirely about predicting the future but neither has it all been about space battles and empire building. It can be so easy to trivialise SF by it becoming the media the general population perceives it to be. SF encompasses all kinds of material. It needs more of the hard stuff to balance the lighter material. It needs to reflect what we are doing to the world. This doesn't necessarily mean global warming but our own advances as well. Granted SF has been there before looking at, say, the consequences of genetic engineering and cloning but that was with the ethics of decades ago not with what we can see today. The yin and yang rules still govern how we look at things. Thanks to SF there is a greater perception of the consequences as well.
Should fiction, especially Science Fiction, be used to raise our hopes that things can get better? After some consideration, I think if anything there is a need for something beyond doom and gloom. If we can show that there is a light at the end of tunnel, no matter how dim, then we will strive to improve rather than party on the last boat sinking. If we can convince ourselves things will get better if we will do something positive to ensure that the future generations will have somewhere they can call home.
Hope is a rare commodity. It has been perceived in different ways over the centuries. To the religious, it has always been seen as a lucky save by some distant deity. In this scientific age, I think we're going to have to help ourselves if for no other reason than the deity might be busy elsewhere. There is a need to be positive about ourselves and do the right thing. Better a few things we deprive ourselves now than have nothing at the end of the day. This can work at all levels.
This planet does not have infinite sources. Some we might never get back. Some will last a lot longer if we don't waste them. That word needs to be spread from without companies as much as from without. A current topic has been the amount of packing there is around products. Protect by not buying isn't going to be as effective as showing that reducing it is going to save companies money, a language which they are going to understand better. Sealing something in bio-degradable plastic has to save on trees. It might not look so pretty but it will show off the inner product better and can probably be made to stack up just as well as the traditional packing. A minor thing that could save
What is really lacking is practical solutions beyond restrictions. In that we can all contribute but first lets start re-scaling that balance.
Thank you, take care, good night, be safe and let me be the first to say, happy new year
Geoff Willmetts
editor: SFCrowsnest.co.uk
Observation # 1: God refuses to believe in intelligent design because it doesn't explain where he comes from.
Observation # 2: Being omnipotent means knowing when to let humans make their own mistakes otherwise they never learn from them.
Rumour mongering: Watch very carefully should Arnold S and Rupert M get together on a Sky Net venture.
Another real Zen thought but this time for potential writers: If you can express an opinion independently of others and aren't likely to bend to the masses then you might show potential as a writer.
zen for those who are scared by all the instructions below: Many of the instructions are things you should be doing automatically if you're developing your writing skills. If you do them already then focus on the ones that you don't get right. They are there to help you as much as me to get the best writing from you. If you think you're 80% there then I'll help you get the final 20%. Trust me, I'm an editor and I can get things right.
BOOK REVIEWS
Do you love books? Do you like curling up and reading a book? Do you have a preference for fantasy, SF or horror? Do you find it the greatest pastime you have next to being on your computer? Are you very vocal about what you like and don't like in what you read? Would you like to share your thoughts with others about books? Would you like an endless supply of books to do this with? Do you live in the UK?
If you've been nodding your head up to this point then link in below and see if you have what it takes to be a reviewer at SFCrowsnest. If you have that special knack to read and write or want to develop said skill then the only way you're going to find out is to take the plunge yourself rather than wait for others to do it first. Reading a lot of books is a requisite for any writer. Being able to say what makes them good or bad hones your own skills. It's got to be better than waiting for the sun to come out as the winter draws near. It's also amazing how much you can read in an hour a day. If you've survived this far in the editorial, let me reiterate something from the website newsletter and the above editorial. As you can see from the main page, we have one of the biggest SF/fantasy/horror monthly reviews columns on the Net. Our success has increased the number of books that comes in and our policy is to read everything and give it a roadtest before giving a review so you have some idea of what you're letting yourself in for. You want the bottom line about what you're going to choose to read. That means we need people actually willing to read the book and tell others they're opinion in reviews. For that, we're always on the outlook for more reviewers.
Do you think you have what it takes to review a book? It's a skill that can be easily mastered and we need a few more. If you love fantasy, we have more than enough to keep you busy for instance. Apart from the ability to put words into sentences, you also need to know how to précis, do a little research on associated subjects and can express opinions constructively about the good and bad points about the books you read. We even let you choose from our pile of received books rather than foster something on you that you wouldn't normally read. You'll even get a little editorial help in how to write good copy and that can always lead to other things. I did say you have to love books and willing to read beyond your favourite authors, didn't I?
If you like reading books in the genre and can average two or three a month, can really think and show you can write a decent review and, most importantly, live in the British Isles (sorry, expense, time and distance travelled mostly prohibits elsewhere), then use the link below and see our requirements. We can't pay you but a review for the price and regular supply of new books, this has to be a good incentive to see if you have what it takes.
Do you think you're up to writing a review? If you think you can, then you're really going to think you've landed your hands in the biscuit tin. It won't hurt to try and see if you have the right stuff by sending me a sample review.
Look up the Review Guidelines by linking here: with a press of a mouse button.
SHORT STORY SLUSH PILE We always have an interest in short stories which can be anything from one to thirty or so pages long. We're always willing to give short story writers a chance to be seen if they can withstand my scrutiny even if we can't pay for their efforts, your material will be seen by a lot of people. If you can get a short story written well then it'll make it easier to move up to novel-length. Look up the Short Stories Link by linking here with your mouse.
FLASH OR ONE-PAGE FICTION We've also a teaching ground of one page stories, so check out the rules elsewhere on the website. It's far too easy to just write and write and hope something good comes out of it. What writing a one page story does is test your ability to control your word count and still tell a story in a concise way. This doesn't mean we don't accept stories of different lengths - a short story can be anything up to 30-40 pages long after all - but opens up the means for really short stories from ideas that don't need as much space. Flash fiction stories by linking here: with your mouse.
NOVEL-LENGTH SAMPLES IN THE FIRST INSTANCE For those keeping track, I'm actually now caught up but don't tell everyone as I'm undecided as to whether to keep looking at novel-length story samples, move over specifically to short stories - which we do anyway for the website - or get a couple of my own book projects completed. The latter, I still intend to do anyway.
There might not be much of a wait unless I get a deluge, however those sending in ebook samples, please read the Guidelines by linking here with your mouse here or through the bottom line menu on the opening page of the SFC website.
They are there to help you do some of the right things and reduce the number of times I'm repeating myself over silly grammatical errors and spelling mistakes that you shouldn't be making if you're serious about becoming a writer. It makes editing a lot easier if any editor has less work pointing out poor English which you should have been sorted out in the first place and more focused on other areas of your work that deal with plot and the other serious elements of storywriting. As a writer, it is your command of the English language and its grammar that will show how serious you are about writing.
EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING BUT AFRAID TO ASK General advice for those who want to become writers of any sort: There's an old editorial adage, if you can't aim for perfection why should an editor nurse-maid you to that state? Nominally, my job is to catch minor glitches not total mishaps. If you're a writer, then you should understand the words, sentences and grammar of the job you're supposed to be writing or are you considering it as mundane and boring as any other job to get right? Fall in love with making every sentence the best you're ever written, read up and understand the rules of grammar. Put the time in researching any subject you're using in the story. Be prepared to put a story away for a few weeks and go back to it for a self-edit. Even I do that. You look good. I make you look better but you have to start off with good.
A lot of the time, errors will just stare you in the face when you didn't see them the first time round. Once you know where your weaknesses are, they can be sorted out and allow you to move a little higher up the ladder towards making your material look its best and more importantly, getting your material seen by readers.
The link here will show you the Common Problems Link page and what I see mostly with your mouse. It's the smart writer who doesn't get caught out with these.
Good luck. Geof |
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