Writers in general are just not sane, according to Karen Miller, Australian author of the 2005 novel The Innocent Mage and a whole host of other science fiction and fantasy works.
Writing as a guest blogger on the Babel Clash, the science fiction blog of book retailer Borders to coincide with the launch of her new book The Prodigal Mage, Miller says writers simply have a kink in the brain:
“It’s a kink that means we are at the same time deeply and intimately involved in the process of being human while standing outside that process watching it happen. It means that we can never truly be at one with our own lives because we can’t ever totally lose ourselves in the unconscious moment. A part of us is always conscious, always watching, analysing, pulling the moment apart so we can put it back together again as fiction.”
To illustrate her point, Miller says her first thought during a car accident during her university years wasn’t of whether she could die or what was going to happen next. Instead, her brain went straight to Star Wars. “Wow,” she thought. “This is what it was like when Luke crashed on Dagobah.”
“In what could’ve been my last moments of life, I was thinking about Star Wars,” Miller added. “And by the way, if that doesn’t make me a fan then I don’t know what would.”
Commentary
Setting aside Miller’s more general argument about writers and going onto a slightly tangential track, the idea that science fiction and fantasy writers in particular may be a few bottles short of a six pack in places is one that has probably been bandied about for as long as the genres have existed.
It likely has its basis in the fact that sci-fi/fantasy writers’ work is, of course, rooted in speculative worlds, be they worlds based on our own or completely different realities where concepts like magic exist. The idea goes that the creators of such worlds must be slightly nuts to be able to imagine them, and all their rules of physics and so on that don’t exist in our own world.
I can’t keep track of the number of people that have told me in my life that they couldn’t be bothered reading science fiction or fantasy books because they had “nothing to do with the real world” and were thus irrelevant and boring.
However, personally, I disagree with Miller. I feel that in writers in general are in fact the sanest people in human society. And furthermore, I believe science fiction and fantasy writers are among the best examples to prove that theory.
My reason for stating this is that the observing ability that Miller comments on means that writers are often the first people in society to notice and start to critique the reality that underpins what is often the deceitful surface of human society. When it comes to sci-fi/fantasy writers, I feel their ability to envision speculative worlds heightens their ability to impartially observe their own reality.
A prime example of this observation would be the famous science fiction author Robert Heinlein, who passed away in 1988 at the age of 80, after writing a series of enlightening books that also happened to shed light on and critique American and world society of the day.
Robert Heinlein
In Stranger in a Strange Land, perhaps Heinlein’s most famous work, he pre-empted or perhaps even caused much of the sexual enfranchisement of the 1960′s and 1970′s through depicting the revolutionary sexual mores of Valentine Michael Smith, a human raised on Mars by Martians.
In the 1959 book, Starship Troopers, Heinlein arguably makes a case for individual responsibility and sacrifice for society’s common good; the book has been seen as anti-communist and also as a lightning rod for those who wish to debate the role of the military in society; both positive and negative sides.
And of course, who could forget I Will Fear No Evil, the gender-bending novel which explores human sexuality (from both sides at once and everything in between) and its connection with emotional love, spirituality and more.
Was Heinlein insane? Many people in the late 1950′s society in which he first achieved recognition for his works would certainly have thought so after reading his books. How could any rational person come up with so many crazy ideas at once? There are sections in all of these three books which will make even very open-minded readers a little uncomfortable as they readjust their worldviews.
But in hindsight, and of course many people realised this at the time Heinlein’s books were published, his work also constituted an intense and powerful critique of current human behaviour and societal structures … in a way that revealed Heinlein had a phenomenal understanding of them. Ultimately, Heinlein was probably more sane and clear in his knowledge of the world than most of those around him.
What’s your opinion? Are writers in general sane, or insane?
17 Comments
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I suspect Heinlein just picked up and wrote about social trends already emerging in American culture, especially the growth of sexual freedom. By accident his writings found a market for a “futuristic” lifestyle that a lot of American adolescent boys aspired to, or at least fantasized about. Heinlein’s literary breakthrough resembles Hugh Hefner’s success with Playboy magazine in exploiting a market for a more swinging and sophisticated bachelor lifestyle.
Honestly I think that would be simplifying it Mark; it’s hard to argue that a lot of American adolescent boys aspired to a futuristic lifestyle of the gender-swapping type portrayed in “I Will Fear No Evil”.
Reading Heinlein’s work as pandering to a swinging bachelor lifestyle would be failing to consider the higher themes and ideals he was attempting to at least debate.
Renai
I think its pretty arrogant for both of you to think that his works or success relate solely to America.
Yes, I definitely think that all scifi/fantasy writers need a touch of madness to be able to produce such intricate fantasies. Although in most cases the same goes for most of us geeks who spend hours each day reading their novels… Thanks for the well-written post.
Hehe sometimes the twists and turns found in the pages are enough to send you a bit mad ;) Glad you enjoyed the post!
Renai
Imaginitive is what science fiction writers are. I recently had this exact conversation with my boyfriend’s dad, who said that he would only read books that were ‘plausible’. He ignored my arguments about what is ‘reality’ and limiting fiction and why we have an imagination. I tried to tell him that anything we imagine is possible (think… aeroplane). I love reading science fiction, and find it to be the most challenging, most mind-expanding experience.
I’d argue for sanity. As Terry Pratchett says, to build castles in the air, you need to have your feet very firmly on the ground.
True … maybe you need to know your own world very well before you can start to imagine others?
Renai
That’s the reason I love it as well Tamara … no other sort of book can expand your horizons so much :)
Renai
How about George Orwell?
(A bit sad, however, that the British government is taking 1984 as a blueprint rather than a warning these days.)
The Australian government seems to be taking it that way as well, with their attempts to censor the internet :(
But do you mean George Orwell was insane? Or sane? I would argue he was very sane. His books echo as a warning and as entertainment for the ages.
Renai
I read my first Heinlein in high school: Have Space Suit Will Travel. Even Heinlein’s juvenile titles offered food for thought, and sometimes were easier to access than his later, more “adult” later novels. My favorite, The Door Into Summer, is a deceptively simple tale of time travel and skulduggery, but touches on human relationships, possible futures, and societal mores. It’s about storytelling and good writing. Sci fi offers more scope for the imagination, but the stories still revolve around the same old earthbound human dilemmas. And I personally believe that any writing, even “bad” writing, helps cultivate self awareness. I have found that learning to view your own life as an observer is part of the process of developing spiritual awareness. Being a writer gives me a form for that.
The Door Into Summer was my first Heinlein novel and still my favorite. It has a great deal of character development and fewer plot devices than many of his other stories.
I completely agree with you that writing cultivates self-awareness, but not always. Many of the icons so common in fantasy are traps for the unwary. Bad writers fall into those traps. Good ones recognize the purpose of the icon but manage to remake it, so it suits the purpose of the story. In the process they end up remaking themselves. All life is recognized as a fiction, a story we tell as we live it.
Comedians do much the same thing, at least the good ones do. They have to observe the normally automatic behavior of those around them (and themselves) to find new subjects of humor.
I’d say that most writers are crazy, not just SF writers, and in fact most people in general–if the definition of sanity is not having consuming interests and never thinking about the world we live in.
Hey Sean,
recently read your book The Stone Mage & the Sea, have to say I quite enjoyed it!
The question of the sanity or insanity of writers, and in particular Si-Fi/Fantasy writers is one that will rage on forever. Being a Fantasy author myself (Randolph’s Challenge Book One – The Pendulum Swings) I feel qualified to comment. This qualification is backed by the fact that I am also published in the non-fiction world with a textbook on HR Management (now admittedly that was 15 years ago and my fiction publication is only just published) so unless I’ve become insane in the last fifteen years (but I don’t feel different and I am still a practicing HR and OD specialist), then I must come down on the side of sanity.
I think the comment in your article, “When it comes to sci-fi/fantasy writers, I feel their ability to envision speculative worlds heightens their ability to impartially observe their own reality,” is probably the most important and summarises my views.
However, a thought has just struck me – maybe all HR and OD specialists are insane as well!!
Chris Warren
Author and Freelance Writer
Randolph’s Challenge Book One – The Pendulum Swings
Heh. On a subjective level I guess I feel that all writers truly are insane on some level :)
But objectively I don’t agree! :)