The Case for Characters

 

Many science fiction authors like yours truly try to make their characters come alive in books, and now social media. Now that might be hard to digest, a fictional character tweeting, messaging, or sending an e-mail in the real world. I originally was opposed to it when a fellow author did the same. Isn’t it just me (the author) talking through him? No, its not. People don’t realize what goes on in author’s minds. It’s not me talking through him, its my character’s personality that I created talking through me as a kind of middleman to the outside world. Obviously fictional characters aren’t real in a tangible way, but I try to make them as round and “real” as possible whether its in the pages of a book or on a social media site. 

 

Does/Should Science Fiction have “limits?”

On Saturday I was browsing through the Space Opera section of Amazon looking for a free novel to satisfy my space sci-fi fetish. After a purchase or two I ended up looking at a novel for $2.99 that had a shall I say “interesting” cover photo that well the aspect ratio was landscape instead of portrait. Anywho, the cover interested me even though the book had two stars. I mean sometimes people can be a bit harsh if they don’t like it. I read the summary and it sounded a bit jumbled for a book for $2.99, but out of curiosity I wanted to see what the people who bought it had to say. The most reoccurring theme was, “it went past the limits of science fiction.” That made me pause and think, “Since when did Science Fiction have limits?” The complaints were 1) Aliens promised the ability to communicate faster than light 2) You could think of something and it would be built no matter how big. To me one isn’t stretching it as bad as number two. Now good readers do YOU think Science Fiction should have limits or does it already?