Princeroth
September 1st, 2011, 02:34 PM
I was dreading writing an exegesis on space opera, when someone mentioned something called critfic. I had never heard this term before and after a brief explanation, I thought it would be fun to experiment with the idea.
As far as I have been told, critfic is taking an academic critical analysis and positioning it within a creative work. In my case I am writing about prisoner number 5119928, who has to contribute to society and culture by writing a space opera. His current situation is, he has to explain the space opera genre to 'the machine'.
I'm about halfway finished. When I read it, it seems fine, but I would like a second opinion. Oh, and if any of you hardcore space opera fans see any inconstancies/errors please don't hesitate to point them out.
----------------------------
Number 5119928
“Number 5119928.” I looked around. Across the whitewashed room, a baleful red eye was looking at me.
“Number 5119928.” the metallic voice buzzed again.
“Yes.” I said.
“We were discussing your genre of choice and its influence on your writing.”
I uncrossed my legs and fidgeted with the data-pad resting in my hands. It was difficult to hold a conversation with a machine.
“Yes, yes. Well... I was thinking of writing my first chapter of the assignment primarily in the space opera genre, as well as using elements of military science fiction, romance and crime conventions to innovate the genre. I feel science fiction would be a nice change of pace from fantasy, which I usually write.”
No response came from the machine. I examined the room, waiting for permission to continue. The walls were a crisp white, and a painfully bright light illuminated the ceiling. The only object in the room was an egg shaped chair, which I occupied.
“Number 5119928,” the red eye of the machine brightened. “We will proceed with the examination.”
A low hum emanated from the other side of the wall.
“Number 5119928, please map the landscape of the genres in which you will be writing your first chapter for the final assessment.”
I sat up straight, briefly glancing at my data-pad. Clearing my throat I spoke confidently.
“To begin, I will mention that in academic and literary circles there have been few studies into what constitutes space opera, with only two papers published on the topic, both in the journal Extrapolation—the first by Patricia Monk, and the second a reply to Monk by Gary Westfahl. There are other passing mentions of space opera, but since the coining of the term (by Bob Tucker in 1941) there has been little analysis into the genre (Pringle, 2000, p.35). Even though there has been little academic analysis, in my opinion, space opera includes some of the most epic and memorable pieces of science fiction written to date, including Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s series and Peter F. Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn trilogy. Between 1982 and 2002 space opera has seen a boom in new award winning literature, evolving and defining the genre further (Hartwell & Cramer, 2005, p.259). Very closely related to the space opera genre is the military science fiction genre, which became very popular after the 1990s, and continued to stay popular even after world events such as 9/11 and the Iraq/Afghanistan wars (Connors, 2008, p.34-35). There are many sub-genres of military science fiction, but I am most interested in touching on the work of Dan Abnett and Hiroyuki Morioka, who most effectively marry concepts of space opera and military science fiction with such works as Gaunt’s Ghosts series and Banner/Crest of the stars series.”
I took a deep breath.
“Your response has been recorded. Next question— what are the main conventions of your chosen genres, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?”
I swiped my hand across the data-pad, accessing the relevant entry.
“Pringle outlines the core conventions of space opera very succinctly. Space opera, unlike its ancestor planetary romance, is an interstellar adventure between planets (2000, p. 41). It has a hero, or a cast of heroes, and the story takes place on a spaceship that is on a journey. The strength of this convention is that the setting is strongly outlined. You have a ship, a cast of crew, a goal, and the hardships that lie between the heroes and their destination. The weakness of this convention is that space travel and battles take up a lot of time, this is why many space operas defer to the use of the FTL (Faster than light) or Warp drive trope, to transport the ship unimaginable distances in a short amount of time. Like other adventure genres, romance is a convention in space opera, rather than a genre defining plot line (Pringle, 2000, p. 43). The strength of a romance convention within a space opera or military science fiction is that it can broaden the appeal of the narrative to a female audience and make the book more commercially viable (Coyne, 2011, para. 5). The weakness of this convention is that it can detract or derail the primary narrative that defines the genre of space opera, namely the journey of the crew and the ship, and can push the story into a scientific romance genre. Although I have listed the core conventions of space opera, there are two other important conventions I would like to cover before moving on, namely character and setting from military science fiction and the crime genre crossover. The primary convention of military science fiction is the military organization and the hierarchy of rank. The strength of this convention is readers can assume the motives of the characters and that they are threatened by an enemy, there is also the underlying assumption that there will be conflict in the form of battle. The weakness of this convention is that a narrative can easily turn into war ‘porn’, where the protagonists engage in pointless battles that neither move the story forward nor develop the characters. The other convention I will mention, that is not commonly used in either space opera or military science fiction, is the crossover into the crime genre. The strengths of this convention in space opera is that it can add another dimension to the characters and contrast the macro space battles, with micro personal battles within the ship. A weakness of this convention is that it can make the narrative overly complex without adding anything meaningful to the story or to character progression. “
My mouth felt dry. The machine processed what I had said, its single red eye dimming briefly.
“Your response has been recorded. Next question— what were some of the debates surrounding your genre or sub-genres?”
I didn’t hesitate, I was on a roll.
“At the dawn of the 21st century some readers and writers claimed that the sub-genre of space opera was dead, and that a new genre was emerging. What they were referring to was a new form of space opera that appeared after the 1980s, termed postmodern space opera, which deviated from the classic works of Asimov’s Foundation series and Clarke’s 2001: A space Odyssey in theme and style. These postmodern space operas were characterised by “a hard-edged cynicism, deeper than the self-serving pragmatism of Ruritanian space opera, or even grave pessimism of humanity’s future.” (Westfahl, 2003, p. 206) and were best captured by Dan Simmon’s Hyperion series. It is hard to ignore this statement, seeing that only half a century before the planetary romance genre faded away quietly as space opera took its place. But on the other hand, famous writers have been claiming the death of space opera as far back as the 1970s (Hartwell & Cramer, 2005, p. 261), and yet, there are still authors who release books under the genre of space opera well into the 21st century. Personally I don’t believe it is a question of when the genre will die, but rather, how the genre will evolve to appeal to new audiences as our sciences and knowledge advance.”
“Your response has been recorded.”
I waited for the next question, but machine was silent.
“Are you going to ask more questions?” I said. The red eye of the machine flickered once.
“You are on a break!” the metallic voice said. I leaned back into the chair trying to relax, but in that moment the machine whirred back into life.
“Number 5119928, your break is over. Next question— how will you innovate your chosen genre, and in what ways is this genre different from, or similar to your style of writing?”
I stood up with my data-pad, trying to work blood into my legs.
“Well, first of all, I plan on using a female heroin as my main protagonist, who exhibits none of the features of a hero. I will innovate the genre by breaking the stereotype of the hero, or heroic crew, and create a protagonist that is shy, vulnerable, and avoids danger or conflict. To contrast her nature, I will surround her by well developed secondary characters that drive the plot forward by creating conflict. Another innovation I plan on introducing in the first chapter is a crossover between space opera, military science fiction, romance, and a crime thriller. Let me elaborate a little further, the story will be split into two distinct modes, the macro and the micro. Each chapter will either concentrate on the micro events within the ship and the personal battles the crew need to face, or, the macro events happening outside the ship’s hull, turning the ship itself into a character. This is a similar approach I have taken when writing for fantasy. By limiting the point of view to a character, to a ship, to an event, and keeping them neatly separated by chapters assists the reader in understanding the narrative and creating an artificial flow that doesn’t jar the story. In the micro chapters of my creative work I will use the same writing conventions I use in my fantasy writing, namely third person limited point of view and dialogue to deliver a personal account of the narrative to the reader. In the macro chapters I will switch to the third person omniscient and use info dumps to describe and relate the events of big space battles. This also allows me some freedom in creating invisible time skips which are covered up by macro chapters.”
“Your response has been recorded. Next question— how do you anticipate this exercise will assist in your own writing?”
“I believe that this assessment will widen my reading and expose me to conventions I don’t usually see in the genre I write for. It may also reveal unique crossover opportunities between space opera and fantasy. Generally I feel that every new word written, every paragraph, dialogue and new narrative hone my writing skills and improve my writing abilities.”
“Your response has been recorded. Next question— using examples, list the writers in your genre who you think are influential or innovative and why?”
I scrolled through the data-pad, pulling up a list of authors I had researched.
“Perhaps the first author I would mention would be Peter F. Hamilton. In the Night’s Dawn trilogy, he not only created a space opera that harked back to the old conventions of planetary romance, but also added elements of supernatural horror, the dead coming back from the beyond and possessing the living, and historical fiction, the dead that came back to life were historical figures. Although not traditional in the space opera sense, the book was a radical interpretation of the genre and really pushed its boundaries. Another notable mention is Ian Watson’s Inquisitor War tetralogy, a military science fiction story at its core, but used elements of space opera, planetary romance, and the gothic genre, to create a dark and grim story that spread over centuries. Like most novels set in the Warhammer 40k universe, Watson innovatively introduced gothic conventions to military science fiction pushing the boundaries of the genres, even bordering dark science fiction. I would say these two authors have had a significant impact on their respective genres, Hamilton being a prolific space opera author, and Watson paving the way for such authors as Gavin Thorpe and Dan Abnett. These two authors have had a significant impact on my narrative construction and writing styles.”
“Your responses have been recorded and are being tabulated. Please wait a moment.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and I waiting for my results. The machine’s red eye flickered as its CPU laboured under all the computations. The machine became silent.
“Your results have been calculated. I have assessed your contribution and have found it lacking. Please prepare for termination.”
My shoulders slumped. I had failed. The eye glowed dimly as poison gas began leaking into the small room.
“At least now I can rest.” I said contently.
References
Connors, S. (2008). The Politics of Military SF. Publishers Weekly, 255(14), 34-35.
Coyne, S. (2011, February 11). Literary and Commercial [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.stevenpressfield.com/2011/02/literary-and-commercial/
Hartwell, D. G., & Cramer, K. (2005). Space Opera Redefined. In J. Gunn, M. Candelaria (Eds.) , Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction (pp. 259-265). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow.
Pringle, D. (2000). What Is This Thing Called Space Opera?. In G. Westfahl (Ed.) , Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction (pp. 35-47). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Westfahl, G. (2003). Space Opera. In E. James, F. Mendlesohn (Eds.) , The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (pp. 197-208). Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521816262.015
As far as I have been told, critfic is taking an academic critical analysis and positioning it within a creative work. In my case I am writing about prisoner number 5119928, who has to contribute to society and culture by writing a space opera. His current situation is, he has to explain the space opera genre to 'the machine'.
I'm about halfway finished. When I read it, it seems fine, but I would like a second opinion. Oh, and if any of you hardcore space opera fans see any inconstancies/errors please don't hesitate to point them out.
----------------------------
Number 5119928
“Number 5119928.” I looked around. Across the whitewashed room, a baleful red eye was looking at me.
“Number 5119928.” the metallic voice buzzed again.
“Yes.” I said.
“We were discussing your genre of choice and its influence on your writing.”
I uncrossed my legs and fidgeted with the data-pad resting in my hands. It was difficult to hold a conversation with a machine.
“Yes, yes. Well... I was thinking of writing my first chapter of the assignment primarily in the space opera genre, as well as using elements of military science fiction, romance and crime conventions to innovate the genre. I feel science fiction would be a nice change of pace from fantasy, which I usually write.”
No response came from the machine. I examined the room, waiting for permission to continue. The walls were a crisp white, and a painfully bright light illuminated the ceiling. The only object in the room was an egg shaped chair, which I occupied.
“Number 5119928,” the red eye of the machine brightened. “We will proceed with the examination.”
A low hum emanated from the other side of the wall.
“Number 5119928, please map the landscape of the genres in which you will be writing your first chapter for the final assessment.”
I sat up straight, briefly glancing at my data-pad. Clearing my throat I spoke confidently.
“To begin, I will mention that in academic and literary circles there have been few studies into what constitutes space opera, with only two papers published on the topic, both in the journal Extrapolation—the first by Patricia Monk, and the second a reply to Monk by Gary Westfahl. There are other passing mentions of space opera, but since the coining of the term (by Bob Tucker in 1941) there has been little analysis into the genre (Pringle, 2000, p.35). Even though there has been little academic analysis, in my opinion, space opera includes some of the most epic and memorable pieces of science fiction written to date, including Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s series and Peter F. Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn trilogy. Between 1982 and 2002 space opera has seen a boom in new award winning literature, evolving and defining the genre further (Hartwell & Cramer, 2005, p.259). Very closely related to the space opera genre is the military science fiction genre, which became very popular after the 1990s, and continued to stay popular even after world events such as 9/11 and the Iraq/Afghanistan wars (Connors, 2008, p.34-35). There are many sub-genres of military science fiction, but I am most interested in touching on the work of Dan Abnett and Hiroyuki Morioka, who most effectively marry concepts of space opera and military science fiction with such works as Gaunt’s Ghosts series and Banner/Crest of the stars series.”
I took a deep breath.
“Your response has been recorded. Next question— what are the main conventions of your chosen genres, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?”
I swiped my hand across the data-pad, accessing the relevant entry.
“Pringle outlines the core conventions of space opera very succinctly. Space opera, unlike its ancestor planetary romance, is an interstellar adventure between planets (2000, p. 41). It has a hero, or a cast of heroes, and the story takes place on a spaceship that is on a journey. The strength of this convention is that the setting is strongly outlined. You have a ship, a cast of crew, a goal, and the hardships that lie between the heroes and their destination. The weakness of this convention is that space travel and battles take up a lot of time, this is why many space operas defer to the use of the FTL (Faster than light) or Warp drive trope, to transport the ship unimaginable distances in a short amount of time. Like other adventure genres, romance is a convention in space opera, rather than a genre defining plot line (Pringle, 2000, p. 43). The strength of a romance convention within a space opera or military science fiction is that it can broaden the appeal of the narrative to a female audience and make the book more commercially viable (Coyne, 2011, para. 5). The weakness of this convention is that it can detract or derail the primary narrative that defines the genre of space opera, namely the journey of the crew and the ship, and can push the story into a scientific romance genre. Although I have listed the core conventions of space opera, there are two other important conventions I would like to cover before moving on, namely character and setting from military science fiction and the crime genre crossover. The primary convention of military science fiction is the military organization and the hierarchy of rank. The strength of this convention is readers can assume the motives of the characters and that they are threatened by an enemy, there is also the underlying assumption that there will be conflict in the form of battle. The weakness of this convention is that a narrative can easily turn into war ‘porn’, where the protagonists engage in pointless battles that neither move the story forward nor develop the characters. The other convention I will mention, that is not commonly used in either space opera or military science fiction, is the crossover into the crime genre. The strengths of this convention in space opera is that it can add another dimension to the characters and contrast the macro space battles, with micro personal battles within the ship. A weakness of this convention is that it can make the narrative overly complex without adding anything meaningful to the story or to character progression. “
My mouth felt dry. The machine processed what I had said, its single red eye dimming briefly.
“Your response has been recorded. Next question— what were some of the debates surrounding your genre or sub-genres?”
I didn’t hesitate, I was on a roll.
“At the dawn of the 21st century some readers and writers claimed that the sub-genre of space opera was dead, and that a new genre was emerging. What they were referring to was a new form of space opera that appeared after the 1980s, termed postmodern space opera, which deviated from the classic works of Asimov’s Foundation series and Clarke’s 2001: A space Odyssey in theme and style. These postmodern space operas were characterised by “a hard-edged cynicism, deeper than the self-serving pragmatism of Ruritanian space opera, or even grave pessimism of humanity’s future.” (Westfahl, 2003, p. 206) and were best captured by Dan Simmon’s Hyperion series. It is hard to ignore this statement, seeing that only half a century before the planetary romance genre faded away quietly as space opera took its place. But on the other hand, famous writers have been claiming the death of space opera as far back as the 1970s (Hartwell & Cramer, 2005, p. 261), and yet, there are still authors who release books under the genre of space opera well into the 21st century. Personally I don’t believe it is a question of when the genre will die, but rather, how the genre will evolve to appeal to new audiences as our sciences and knowledge advance.”
“Your response has been recorded.”
I waited for the next question, but machine was silent.
“Are you going to ask more questions?” I said. The red eye of the machine flickered once.
“You are on a break!” the metallic voice said. I leaned back into the chair trying to relax, but in that moment the machine whirred back into life.
“Number 5119928, your break is over. Next question— how will you innovate your chosen genre, and in what ways is this genre different from, or similar to your style of writing?”
I stood up with my data-pad, trying to work blood into my legs.
“Well, first of all, I plan on using a female heroin as my main protagonist, who exhibits none of the features of a hero. I will innovate the genre by breaking the stereotype of the hero, or heroic crew, and create a protagonist that is shy, vulnerable, and avoids danger or conflict. To contrast her nature, I will surround her by well developed secondary characters that drive the plot forward by creating conflict. Another innovation I plan on introducing in the first chapter is a crossover between space opera, military science fiction, romance, and a crime thriller. Let me elaborate a little further, the story will be split into two distinct modes, the macro and the micro. Each chapter will either concentrate on the micro events within the ship and the personal battles the crew need to face, or, the macro events happening outside the ship’s hull, turning the ship itself into a character. This is a similar approach I have taken when writing for fantasy. By limiting the point of view to a character, to a ship, to an event, and keeping them neatly separated by chapters assists the reader in understanding the narrative and creating an artificial flow that doesn’t jar the story. In the micro chapters of my creative work I will use the same writing conventions I use in my fantasy writing, namely third person limited point of view and dialogue to deliver a personal account of the narrative to the reader. In the macro chapters I will switch to the third person omniscient and use info dumps to describe and relate the events of big space battles. This also allows me some freedom in creating invisible time skips which are covered up by macro chapters.”
“Your response has been recorded. Next question— how do you anticipate this exercise will assist in your own writing?”
“I believe that this assessment will widen my reading and expose me to conventions I don’t usually see in the genre I write for. It may also reveal unique crossover opportunities between space opera and fantasy. Generally I feel that every new word written, every paragraph, dialogue and new narrative hone my writing skills and improve my writing abilities.”
“Your response has been recorded. Next question— using examples, list the writers in your genre who you think are influential or innovative and why?”
I scrolled through the data-pad, pulling up a list of authors I had researched.
“Perhaps the first author I would mention would be Peter F. Hamilton. In the Night’s Dawn trilogy, he not only created a space opera that harked back to the old conventions of planetary romance, but also added elements of supernatural horror, the dead coming back from the beyond and possessing the living, and historical fiction, the dead that came back to life were historical figures. Although not traditional in the space opera sense, the book was a radical interpretation of the genre and really pushed its boundaries. Another notable mention is Ian Watson’s Inquisitor War tetralogy, a military science fiction story at its core, but used elements of space opera, planetary romance, and the gothic genre, to create a dark and grim story that spread over centuries. Like most novels set in the Warhammer 40k universe, Watson innovatively introduced gothic conventions to military science fiction pushing the boundaries of the genres, even bordering dark science fiction. I would say these two authors have had a significant impact on their respective genres, Hamilton being a prolific space opera author, and Watson paving the way for such authors as Gavin Thorpe and Dan Abnett. These two authors have had a significant impact on my narrative construction and writing styles.”
“Your responses have been recorded and are being tabulated. Please wait a moment.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and I waiting for my results. The machine’s red eye flickered as its CPU laboured under all the computations. The machine became silent.
“Your results have been calculated. I have assessed your contribution and have found it lacking. Please prepare for termination.”
My shoulders slumped. I had failed. The eye glowed dimly as poison gas began leaking into the small room.
“At least now I can rest.” I said contently.
References
Connors, S. (2008). The Politics of Military SF. Publishers Weekly, 255(14), 34-35.
Coyne, S. (2011, February 11). Literary and Commercial [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.stevenpressfield.com/2011/02/literary-and-commercial/
Hartwell, D. G., & Cramer, K. (2005). Space Opera Redefined. In J. Gunn, M. Candelaria (Eds.) , Speculations on Speculation: Theories of Science Fiction (pp. 259-265). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow.
Pringle, D. (2000). What Is This Thing Called Space Opera?. In G. Westfahl (Ed.) , Space and Beyond: The Frontier Theme in Science Fiction (pp. 35-47). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Westfahl, G. (2003). Space Opera. In E. James, F. Mendlesohn (Eds.) , The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (pp. 197-208). Cambridge, England: Cambridge UP. doi:10.1017/CCOL0521816262.015