Analog SFF, January-February 2012 by Dell Magazine Authors

Author:Dell Magazine Authors
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Dell Magazines

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Special Feature: THEME: THE ART OF WRITING “ABOUT” SOMETHING

by Richard A. Lovett

“I just write to entertain.”

It's a line you often hear when writers meet fans. After all, who wants to write dull stories or appear to be pushing a political agenda, preaching, or trying to do something incomprehensibly artistic? If you want those, you can listen to talk radio, read the Op-Ed page, or subscribe to the literary quarterly of If You Can't Understand It, It's Because You're Stupid.

But this fear of coming across as elitist does a disservice. Sure, there's a place for stories whose only goal is to make you laugh—or to be swashbucklingly good adventures. It's just that the very best stories rarely confine themselves to that. A lot of writers don't want to confine themselves to it.

One is Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer,Angel, and Firefly). Although I can't find the original source, I've been told he once said that when he was beginning to write, all he wanted was to tell entertaining stories. But as his career progressed, he found this wasn't enough. He also wanted those stories to be about something.

What does he want those stories to be about? That undoubtedly varies from episode to episode, but one thing many interviewers have noticed is his desire to populate them with strong, independent women. “Why do you write these women?” he asked himself in a 2006 speech, accepting an award from Equality Now:[1]

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