Twice in the past month I’ve heard people talking about specific writers in speculative-fiction and their work, and been thoroughly annoyed. Not because they were diss-ing the writing, but because inherent in the comments were all these assumptions.
Like it was surprising that a famous sci-fi writer was an ‘intellectual’ or that one would listen to Bach while writing sci-fi. Riiiiight.
Like you could see where all these writers had gotten their famous ideas from just by analysing their life experiences (e.g. you only think up a good horror story because you’re obsessed with death). There was I thinking it was called having an imagination.
Then I was over at my friend Natalie’s blog and she was talking about an equally strange assumption that writers only become writers because they’re damaged people. Because other people are soooo well balanced compared to all of us.
Good grief!
I know the ability and drive to create fiction is a mystery to non-writers, but I’m still flummoxed just a bit.
