Merilyn Ruth Liddell
...writer of speculative fiction, poetry, essays and the occasional short story...
Reflections ... on writing
2018.11.16...Why write?
2018.11.28 ...Why science fiction?
I have been writing since I discovered I could – in Grade One – starting with lists of words I had learned how to spell, or thought I knew how to spell. I captured them on paper and they became mine. I have been writing ever since to...
...make sense of my thoughts and my emotions
...make sense of the world
...record my thoughts
...share my thoughts
...communicate with friends and family
...entertain myself … and maybe others
...persuade … or try to
...vent
...tell stories
...make permanent the stories that are always in my head.
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If all writers followed the advice attributed to Mark Twain to “write what you know”, most science fiction would never have been written and shelves in my personal library would sit empty. Fortunately most writers, including Mark Twain, ignore the literal message in that recommendation.
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I write science fiction because I enjoy reading science fiction and appreciate the freedom that writing allows me to shape the future and explore what I don’t know.
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I write science fiction because it shields me from some potential critics:
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If the events of my story occur far enough into a future where time travel is not an option, no one can claim one of my characters is someone they know in disguise.
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If my story is set in a mythical community on a mythical planet in a mythical future, no one can berate me for placing a building on the wrong side of the street or for not having streets at all or for getting the directions wrong, something I’m guilty of in real life.
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I create the setting and those who inhabit it.
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I am in charge . . . I think.
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