Do you feel the need to contribute to the sf/f community?

[Andols]

This is somthing i've talked about with a few people and I have had a difficult time with myself.

Having spent so much time in these genres I always felt I should give a try at creating something or adding something productive back into the mix. My problem was (is) i cannot create a literary work to save my life.

So now I am at a crossroads of sorts. There are a variety of other venues in which I could apply myself and still feel like I am contributing. Reviews, book clubs and discussions, library donations and just being here regularly would count on some level.

Do any of you feel like you should somehow give back to sf/f as a community? Are you happy/satisfied with just being a consumer of these works and enjoying them?

 

[Bridie]

I am happy enough to be a consumer- after all, if you like the author you will continue to buy their books and so you are technically contributing/giving back to them...

I do feel more and more compelled to contribute to this site in particular. I have become a reviewer for the site (unending thank yous to Hobbit), and it feels good to be able to give back not only to this community, that has become, i suppose, my internet home and also give back to the larger sf/f community on a whole by honestly telling them what i thought of a book.

I would of course love to become part of the community by one day creating some sort of fantastic fantastical book, but i think i have to do alot of other things in my life before i get there...

 

[Daddy Darth]

I dont feel like I have to give back but I value being a part of this community and contributing in the flash fic part of this site. But I will be honest thats all about my desire to write and have people actually willing to read it. I think if you are posting and furthering any of the many great discussions around here you are certainly contributing.

Happy New Year All!

 

[creemore]

I'm happy just being a consumer and helping the authors/publishers out. I doubt I could write a novel or anything like that. Though I do remember a few years ago I actually "started" a book. It was a spontaneous drunken idea I had in Nha Trang, Vietnam while sitting on a beach in the middle of the night. Copious amounts of cheap beer and "happy pizza" (secret ingredient: tons of marijuana) fuelled the idea. I hadn't read a science fiction book in 8 months of travelling and thought I could easily write one. I was up until early morning writing ideas down until I fell asleep, only to be woken up by some kids, extremely hungover and baffled as I realized they only wanted my laptop (which they managed to nick off me, I didn't notice). I stumbled back to my room and fell asleep and never tried writing anything again. Since then I haven't figured out what my grand idea was. Might have sold millions of novels, who knows!

 

[Window Bar]

Do any of you feel like you should somehow give back to sf/f as a community? Are you happy/satisfied with just being a consumer of these works and enjoying them?

Good thread, Andols. From my own point of view, I guess I consider the whole of society to be the community. Therefore, as long as I contribute at my highest level of ability in some (or several) arenas, I believe my responsibility is fulfilled.

But I do know what you're saying. We do live in a spectator society. In a very large sense, it has become difficult to be an actual participant. That's why I'd rather play my own guitar, however mediocre may be my talent, than spend the same amount of time listening to downloads of guitar masters. And though I'm no hunter, I suppose I understand those who march through the woods fully armed during hunting season. It's far more participatory than crowding forward at the red meat counter at Safeway.

 

[E_Moon]

And though I'm no hunter, I suppose I understand those who march through the woods fully armed during hunting season. It's far more participatory than crowding forward at the red meat counter at Safeway.

Had to chuckle. My "participation" in meat acquisition is on a ranch, not hunting, but yeah...though it's hard work to do one's own butchering, participation feels very different. The meat counter holds little attraction. I can appreciate others' photographs--but like taking my own. Appreciate others' singing--but would rather sing than listen. Appreciate others' bread--but bake my own. Etc.

I don't think we have to do *everything* for ourselves, but life's about doing, not just watching.

 

[Rooto]

Do any of you feel like you should somehow give back to sf/f as a community? Are you happy/satisfied with just being a consumer of these works and enjoying them?

I've never really thought about that before. I've always found sf/f very inspirational, but what I am inspired to create tends to be unfantastic. I only ever tend to look at beautiful fantasy art, but I can't remember the last time I drew anything with any fantasy themes. Now I think about it, I'd love to know my work had effected someone in the same way the work I've seen/read has effected me. I guess that depends upon being really good though.

 

[Window Bar]

Now I think about it, I'd love to know my work had affected someone in the same way the work I've seen/read has affected me. I guess that depends upon being really good though.

Hi Rooto -- So what is your work? Most work, if done well, can have a wonderful effect upon the world. (As I understand it, the Hindu word "karma" is based upon their word for "work.")

 

[Rooto]

Hi Rooto -- So what is your work? Most work, if done well, can have a wonderful effect upon the world. (As I understand it, the Hindu word "karma" is based upon their word for "work.")

I'm currently studying art at college, which is soon to develop into architecture I hope, so I do a lot of art work. At the moment I'm building a modle of a contemary house inside an imagined ruin of a castle. I'm hoping it's going to have a wonderful effect on the world. I'm not sure how, but I'm still hopeful! I also do a lot of writing with lots of deep messages about how we can make the world better. Nobody seems to understand quite what I'm trying to say, but as long as they're entertained, that's half the battle.

What do you play on the guitar?

 

[Window Bar]

At the moment I'm building a model of a contemporary house inside an imagined ruin of a castle. I'm hoping it's going to have a wonderful effect on the world.

Who knows? The effect may be exactly what we need. My wife and I have some very close friends who grew up in Scotland; in fact, they live there still. Their view of the world is rooted in the legends and artifacts that surround them. Keeping the stone-built and half-timbered past visible may be an antidote to the Walmarts and freeways that plague our own time.

Nobody seems to understand quite what I'm trying to say, but as long as they're entertained, that's half the battle.

It might even be eighty percent of the battle.

What do you play on the guitar?

Compared to you, I'm quite ancient--graduated from university in 1972. The music I write is very much colored by those times: simple tunes and chord structures, often fairly complex lyrics. More recently I've developed a taste for Celtic music -- which, of course, is the foundation for so much of our folk and southern music.