It is my first time running a workshop, in fact, it's my first time running any form of workshop, talk or writing group, so I'm fairly nervous about the whole thing. Add to that the fact the science fiction is not and has never been a really popular subject and I'm beginning to become a little stressed about the whole thing. I guess the main problem is that the general opinion is that science fiction is a subject for geeks.
I have to admit I would like to know why? I will admit that some fans take it entirely too far, however that is true of any subject, any story, any art. Some fans are more than worrying fanatics. Isn't that the story of all religious problems? There are some people who, for some reason best only know to themselves, will take their intellectual interest entirely too far. It's almost as though they become addicted.
However for the rest of us science fiction is an interesting mental exercise in 'what if'. What if there was an energy field some beings could tap into? What if mankind could travel beyonds our solar system and meet other species of beings? What if some humans developed powers beyond the ordinary? So why does this make science fiction fans automatically a bunch of geeks?
We enjoy using our minds to discuss intellectual ideas and possibilities. We can use stories to illustrate political and social problems. We can tackle what is wrong with society in a way that makes people think, without having the radicals up in arms about what we say. As Terry Pratchett said, "If I wrote about white people hating black people or black people hating white people, people would go up in arms but if I write about dwarfs hating trolls or trolls hating dwarfs that's alright because it's only fantasy."
However the underlying message so how stupid racism is remains and those that can be reached will hear it and those who don't hear it, well, they probably won't get it even if you beat them over the head with it.
So how does that make us geeks? Perhaps its because we actually use our brains to think with? Maybe it's a myth spread by the ones who hear the messages against social wrongs hidden in the stories and don't like what they hear because to change the social wrongs would be to change their attitudes.
When it comes to the workshop, I'm not going to be trying to teach how to write science fiction because, as far as I'm concerned there are no hard and fast rules to write science fiction. Instead, I'm going to be suggesting ways and means, different story ideas and different styles. If any one is interested, the workshop is at:
7.30pm
The Assemble House
Theatre Street
Norwich
Norfolk
NR2 1RQ
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