Thursday, January 13, 2011

Day 3 - Science Fiction: Introducing the Magic

Yes, here it is, the day you've all been waiting for: turning these stories about human beings into wild tales of rampant adventure.

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Reminder: No Class on Monday - Martin Luther King Day

Quizzes, Attendance, Break Into Small Groups
Small Groups Discussion: make a list of the ways that Nazi Germany of the 1930s and '40s might have resembled a science fiction universe.
Mother Night and Questioning the Trope
Kurt Vonnegut is best known for his novel Slaughterhouse Five, the story of an American POW who lives through the Allied firebombing of Dresden.  Mother Night is a different book in that the point-of-view is from a Nazi War Criminal and/or American Spy.  But the themes of thoughtless ignorance and the resulting destruction remain the same.

Mother Night is such a strong work of fiction in part because it questions many of the stereotypes we take for granted.
Small Groups Discussion: list the ways in which the Nazis of Mother Night differ from the stereotypes.  Which vignettes stand out as funny and/or unusual?
Introducing Science to the Fiction
In your small groups, consider something that's impossible.  It can be anything from stopping a velociraptor from opening a locked door to xerox-copying a real live cat - and you get a lot more off the conveyor belt with a black-and-white snapshot of Fluffy.  Then imagine a viable way to make this impossible thing actually happen.
Science: It Makes the Genre
Although strong, believable characters are the foundation of all good fiction, it's the science that sets science fiction apart from other forms of literature.  Although science fiction and fantasy are often lumped together in the bookstores, there remains a crucial difference between the two genres.

Whether taking us through time or on a tour of distant galaxies, science fiction provides a unique remove from our everyday reality.  Strangely, the distance between reality and the speculative universe allows a science fiction writer to tighten his or her focus on the present.  It allows a way to comment on our present, modern, and very real society.
Small Groups Exercise: Consider the impossible device you've envisioned.  Now make a list of all the effects that this device might have on society.  Consider how it would change the balances of political and economic power in the world.  Make a list of 10-15 major changes we might see.

Now consider: what do these changes tell us about our current world?  Do we live in a just and equitable society?
Revealing the Rules of the Universe
Forget about obeying the Laws of Thermodynamics - for all we know, they aren't so much laws as they are "recommendations."  Maybe they were different a thousand years ago.  Maybe the universe isn't actually expanding into a giant mass of chaos, but is instead collapsing into the smooth crystal facet of an intergalactic engagement ring.  And all the pesky humans will be served as chilled hors d'oeuvres at the reception.

Is this a likely scenario?  Of course not - not according the science we know.  But we can make it real in our fiction.  To do so, we must first present hints that this is the reality of the story.  But we have to do this in believable ways our readers will understand.

Characters and Tropes: How Ignorance Reveals the World
Ironically, one of the best ways to explain the pseudo-scientific "facts" of a science fiction universe are to reveal the ignorance of your characters.  This is related to the Han Solo Effect - by necessity, characters who don't understand the present reality end up questioning it.  Plus, the effect of "discovery" is impossible unless we start from a baseline of ignorance.
Group Discussion: As the soon-to-be-Ghostbusters face their first specter, the big question arises: "What do we do now?"

Use Details
This is where actual knowledge of science comes in handy...
Small Groups Exercise: Make a list of all the details of your machine.  What does it sound like?  Does it produce a smell?  What laws of physics make it possible?
Use Character Responses
Characters serve as the benchmark for technology.  The ways they react reveal the specific effects of technology on their lives.  Consider the Dorothy Effect - when an ordinary character encounters an extraordinary world, the natural reactions of that character help us relate to the weirdness of the place.
Group Discussion: The Ghostbusters get ready to take on the world with their unlicensed particle accelerators.  Note the use of dialogue, sound, and blocking in this scene.  We hear just how ludicrous and untested their plan is, yes, but it's the ominous charging of the device that sets the characters on edge here.  And observe how they react.  They don't think the proton pack will explode...but they don't know that it won't.

Small Groups Exercise: I would like each group member to think of a different character.  As individuals, quickly jot down five ways in which your character would react to the new machine.  Then briefly compare your individual characters.  How many of the characters are comfortable with the new device?  How many fear it?  How many plan to use it as a way to take over the world?
Scientific Accuracy versus Scientific Precision: It Makes Sense to Summarize
Not all of our readers have Ph.D.'s in engineering or chemistry.  But they do have common sense.  If we provide a strong image with the hint of scientific reality, that's often enough to help readers fill in the gaps.
Group Discussion: The Twinkie.  Note how Egan uses the combination of diction, precise numbers, and the tangible image of a Twinkie to give the impression of "This Isn't Good."

Tropes: Zombies, FTL, Time Travel, and Other Impossible Realities
Consider the stereotypes of speculative fiction.  Does your invented device fall into one of the "trope" categories?  If so, what sets it apart?  Or does it instead make the trope appear as a more viable form of reality?

Homework - Due 9pm Tonight

Taking the event that you've written about in the past two assignments, add a science-fictional (or otherwise alternative-to-realism) element to the story.

For this assignment, you may choose whether to tell the story in the narrative present or to have other characters recalling it in the narrative past. Choose the storytelling mode that you feel will give the event the most power.

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