Writing » Moonwolf's Lair

Fiction’s future is the mirror of our present

Mar 052012

Thanks for posting this. I have two thoughts that fit better here than in twitter-sized chunks, in response to your ending questions:

> Does anyone have any thoughts on this apparent trend towards darker visions of the future?

I think that to reconcile the differing perceptions of myself and @SueGrimshaw, we need to recognize that different genres of fiction fulfill different roles for people. Let me simply label those roles as “thinky” and ”escapist” fiction. In short, “thinky” fiction exists to explore ideas, one way or another. “Escapist” fiction exists to provide readers with a temporary vacation to their mental happy-place.

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March 5, 2012 Posted by P2P Editor on March 5, 2012 Musings Tagged with: authors, dystopia, Editors, Guest Post, post-apocalyptic, Writing No Responses »

The End Of The World – Through Writer’s Eyes

Mar 052012

A series of twitter posts between myself and @p2p_editor earlier today has me wondering.

As a cover artist, there’s a trend to some of the artwork I’m asked to create – a lot of it tends to be dark, post-apocalyptic, dystopian scenes or themes. I believe that editors are seeing a similar trend in the stories coming across their desk too. This was the basis of the conversation with @p2p_editor.

Whilst it’s probably not reliable, the stuff that’s being written tends to be affected and influenced by the world around the author. Science fiction especially tends to reflect the society and culture in place, even when its looking to the future.

This is a preview of The End Of The World – Through Writer’s Eyes. Read the full post (695 words, 12 images, estimated 2:47 mins reading time)