I enrolled in the Writing Fiction course offered by ACS Distance Education. As I started submitting my assignments, I found myself wanting to show people what I’d written — yes, I’m just as hungry for approval as any other (wannabe) writer. So rather than having to pull up my OneDrive documents, and zoom and pinch to make the documents readable on my phone, I thought I’d add the relevant segments to a special category of my blog.

Question 1

This was an analysis of a short story that is available here: http://www.intergalacticmedicineshow.com/cgi-bin/mag.cgi?do=issue&vol=isample&article=_002. It’s “The Sound of Distant Thunder” by Mike Barretta. Because it does not require me to come up with any thing new, I’ve not included the answer here.

Question 2

This question asked how I would turn this story into a story from a different category. I chose to say how I would turn it into a suspense story.

The last segment of this story explains the origin of the Tutors, and their reason for being. To turn this into a suspense story, I would introduce the man (and the shadowy organisation behind him) at the start of the story, but withhold his motivation. I would gradually reveal this motivation at various stages of the story. The man would be perceived as a puppet master who casts the Tutors into the world, seeking children with great potential for him to exploit for his own (possibly nefarious) ends.

The reader would be given a glimpse of this man as Tutor DX113-044 reports on Diallo’s progress at the beginning. He steeples his fingers and murmurs sotto voce, “Ah, Diallo. Come to me. See what I can do with you.”

He is controlling the Wraith, and is Diallo’s real (but unseen) opponent. He admires the boy’s skill, but predicts future trials and wonders at his ability to overcome.

The author mentions brain farms … the reader would be encouraged to consider whether the man wants Diallo for inclusion in one such enterprise.

Every obstacle faced by Diallo could be interpreted as being arranged by this man. As Diallo continues to overcome, the reader would be encouraged to wonder whether the man regards the boy as a threat but is constrained from acting openly.

As Diallo approaches the house at the end of the story, he would reflect over the challenges he has faced, and consider how the destiny he sought has been thwarted thus far. Is the door he is approaching just one more obstacle? Will this be challenge that defeats him? Perhaps kills him? The man would have seen him approaching from the day before. He would be eager for the boy to come to him, because he can’t be seen to be trying to entice anyone to his house. The man’s anticipation would serve to contrast Diallo’s nervousness until the tension resolves when he opens the door: “Diallo! Your journey has been hard, my boy … but welcome home. Welcome to the stars.”

Question 3

This question asked about what categories of story I’m most suited to writing, and then asked to explain and differentiate between them.

I believe I’m most suited to write science fiction, fantasy and comedy. Having said that, I’m not entirely sure that comedy is something that must stand apart from either or the other two categories. Yes, you can have stories that are written purely to amuse, but Terry Pratchett wrote laugh-out-loud satire set in in a fantasy world, and Douglas Adams wrote similarly funny science fiction.

For me, there are two main differences between science fiction and fantasy. The first is the treatment of the supernatural aspects of the story. If something seemingly supernatural becomes part of a science fiction story, the protagonist is likely to be trying to find an explanation for it, or accepting it as some as yet unexplained phenomenon or the remnant technology of a superior race. There is nothing beyond physics and evolution as an explanation for any event or state of being. Fantasy embraces the unknown as the province of gods or spirits, and people can have influence over these elemental forces by using arcane ritual or occult knowledge.

The second main difference in my mind is the nature of the conflict presented in the two categories. Conflict in science fiction is generally psychological, sociological or physical, or represented by people solving problems presented by nature. Conflict in fantasy is more likely to be between forces of good and evil. From this point of view, I’d say that Star Trek was a science fiction collection, and Star Wars was more of a set of fantasy stories.