BSFA AGM: Mundane Is Just A Game

Geoff Ryman at the BSFA AGM

Geoff Ryman read from an upcoming novelette and interspersed it with comments about the technology he used and the choices made. The story is due to be published in an upcoming issue of F&SF, he wrote it for the Interzone Mundane issue but it was too long.

The things he said about Mundane Science Fiction make all the arguments about it seem a bit silly. He said that Mundane SF is a game that you choose to play, and you may only choose to play it once. Also that magic wands are a necessary impurity in stories, but that we should try and avoid habitual magic wands and habitual (communal) futures. And that Science Fiction is difficult to write and Mundaneity makes it even harder.

He also talked about dreams, as in, a writer's dream or a reader's dream, the ideas that drive SF eg. utopia etc. Dreams give the story structure. And that other people's dreams can be embarrassing. (I can't quite sum-up concisely the essence of this!)

It was an interesting insight into the writing process, and provided some ideas to mull.

Talking to Geoff after, in the pub, he suggested that a Creative Writing MA would help my writing a lot. Which I don't doubt, but is probably unlikely...