Thread: 10 Writing "Rules" We Wish More Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Would Break

Interesting article:

10 Writing "Rules" We Wish More Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Would Break

1) No third-person omniscient.
2) No prologues
3) Avoid infodumps
4) Fantasy novels have to be series instead of standalones
5) No portal fantasy
6) No FTL
7) Women can't write "hard" science fiction.
8 ) Magic has to be just a minor part of a fantasy world
9) No present tense
10) No "unsympathetic" characters

Much more at the link above. Your thoughts?

I'll just note one of my favorite stories is Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life which is written in 2nd person Future tense.
(it's online here if you are interested: http://marianaeggers.com/files/tiechang.pdf)

You can break any rule you want, as long as you do it brilliantly. Most of those 10 rules are probably a great guideline for authors just entering the market trying to avoid tired stereotypes and plot devices. Even #7 has some merit if you look at it as a warning for any woman entering the hard scifi field; they can choose that path, but it's going to be a hard road on the way to acceptance with a serious chunk of the paying readership.

I don't like #8 though; magic can be integral to some fantasy societies, like technology is to ours, and be heavily regulated. So long as magic isn't an easy answer for any conflict it can be in the story to any degree.

Not sure if I read correctly. Are the ten you list the "rules" or are the ten you list the "breaking rules". Most SF books I've read are written third person omnicient.

Originally Posted by Capulet

You can break any rule you want, as long as you do it brilliantly.....

Agreed.

I break all of those on a daily basis, whats the prize?

Originally Posted by Mystery

I break all of those on a daily basis, whats the prize?

Don't know, but you can email the article writer at the link above.

1. I agree with this one.
2. I'm totally fine with prologues... there was a lengthy debate on them awhile back and for some reason many people here seemed to be vehemently against them. I'm not talking about "teasers" or just random stuff thrown in that doesn't have any bearing on the plot, but I honestly don't see the problem with the prologue.
3. Sometimes info dumps in fantasy/sci-fi are not very well done, but when I'm reading a novel of this type I'm not usually as critical of them as I am with other types of novels' writing styles. I do think that, like with pretty much every other type of fiction, they could be added in a more streamlined manner than some of them actually are.
4. I agree pretty much with this.
5. Not sure exactly what is meant by this one.
6. I have to disagree with this one. I know FTL is overused, but sometimes the gist of your sci-fi novel is not going to be about how the characters actually get there. I know it shouldn't be used as a crutch, but I've oftentimes found myself writing stories where people go to other solar systems, etc., and I don't really feel the need to invent a new way for them to get here and there.
7. I don't think there's any actual barrier to this, just seems like there are many more men interested in writing that type of fiction.
8. This seems pretty dependent on the story. I don't agree that it shouldn't as a general rule be used in a major way.
9. I haven't encountered too many fantasy or sci-fi authors who use present tense.
10. If I'm understanding this one correctly (that especially in sci-fi and fantasy there is a dearth of "nuanced" characters and that many of them are stereotypes or archetypes) I agree. Sometimes the authors of these genres are more interested in the concept or idea of their story than characterization, and it can be tiresome sometimes.

I see the article creator sees them as 'soft as water rules', not 'hard as stone rules'.

Originally Posted by VanishingSpy

5. Not sure exactly what is meant by this one.

Like Narnia, where an ordinary group of kids enter a cupboard to suddenly find themselves as heroes in another world. To a reduced extent, you might also classify Stargate as portal fantasy.

1) Third person omniscient is damn difficult to pull off in a serious story, in my experience. If you're Douglas Adams, though....
2) Prologues are fine. Even the "Flashback 3000 years to when the evil demon was stuck in his prison" type of prologues can work just fine. Ever read the WoT? Or what about those type of prologues where you get a one-off character POV, with that character dying at the end of the prologue? GRR Martin did it, and more than once.
3) You kind of need infodumps- all you can ever possibly do is disguise them well enough that people don't complain.
4) Eh. The thing is that if you sink all the effort into designing a whole world, it seems like a shame to just write the one novel. Especially if it's good.
5) Lev Grossman pretty much shot that one to pieces recently, in my opinion.
6) Vanishing Spy said it.
7) Ditto. You should go find Rose Fox's Genreville blog on PW, though; she's always jabbering about gender inequality in SF/F
Stupid rule. Without "magic" or technology advanced enough for us to think of it as magic (indeed, if it isn't even possible tech, isn't it magic?), what would genre be?
9) Present tense isn't something I find very easy to either read or write. It's fun in limited doses, but aside from The Hunger Games I can't think of any major works written entirely in present tense....
10) ASOIAF, anyone? Plenty of jerk characters, and it's the good ones who get killed early on!

Interesting set of rules, and there are a lot of things in that list that will make me put a book down if the author does them.

But...

I, nevertheless, agree with Capulet. It's not always about following the rules. Sometimes, it's about breaking them with style.

1) No third-person omniscient.
So long, Michael Crichton.

2) No prologues
So long, Michael Crichton.

3) Avoid infodumps
So long, Michael Crichton

4) Fantasy novels have to be series instead of standalones
Interesting one here! I'm not sure what the reasoning is though?..

5) No portal fantasy
*Gasp* You mean, no more Chronicles of Narnia, (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe) which was the first novel I ever read??

6) No FTL
What the heck is FTL? I'm thinking FooTbaLl. And I like FooTbaLl. So, no deal!

7) Women can't write "hard" science fiction.
I don't know what "hard" sci fi is, but I like the idea of "women" and "hard" being in the same sentence. ;P

8 ) Magic has to be just a minor part of a fantasy world
So long, Harry Potter.

9) No present tense
So long, The Hunger Games.

10) No "unsympathetic" characters
So long, villains.

It's the death of fiction as we know it!

!

You misunderstand me, Jim.

I'm a huge fan of Michael Crichton. Jurassic Park, Congo, and Sphere are in my top 100 favorite books.

My "cudgel" is aimed at the list of "rules sci fi and fantasy authors should break", not at the authors I used as responses.

I countered the list with showing the good fiction, and good authors, that would disappear if such rules were in place. I suppose my sarcasm was misunderstood. I didn't realize that until just now. I thought my defiant tone was clear.

But to make it clear, each author and book/series I mentioned is something I consider good.

"So long, Michael Crichton" was my way of saying, "if these rules were true, we wouldn't have Michael Crichton, or The Hunger Games, or Villains, or Harry Potter!" (all things I like)

I was attempting to show the death of good writing that would result from these rules.

Cheers

Originally Posted by KyleColorado

My "cudgel" is aimed at the list of "rules sci fi and fantasy authors should break", not at the authors I used as responses.

I was attempting to show the death of good writing that would result from these rules.

It's interesting you know. I got what you wrote, and funnily enough it was exactly what the blog creator was saying.

Originally Posted by Rustgold

It's interesting you know. I got what you wrote, and funnily enough it was exactly what the blog creator was saying.

Oh, really? *slaps forehead*

I didn't even look at the blog. Now I feel silly.