SLOWLY DOES IT
Peter F Hamilton believes readers need to be eased into a science-fictional world
IF SF IS THE LITERATURE OF IDEAS, WHY TRY TO LIMIT ITS APPEAL?
“Quendula started to dextrobine.” as opening lines go, that’s not exactly a world-class hook – unlike, say, The Crow Road by iain banks (“it was the day my grandmother exploded”). i mean, would you want to read the book that began like that?
there’s two ways you can start an sF/fantasy novel. one: draw the reader in gently, build a picture of how inventively strange your world is, then introduce the characters and begin the plot. or, two: just go for it, have 10 bizarre words and names in the first paragraph, and assume the reader will be so fascinated they’ll be aching for more.
For myself, i prefer the first route. Yes, i know that sounds somewhat hypocritical from the man who started The Reality Dysfunction with the line: “space outside the attack Cruiser beezling tore open in five places.” and then went on to make the rest of the paragraph really sciencefictional. However, you live and learn. the opening to Great North Road is a lot easier on the brain. and exceptions do apply – the second (third, fourth... eighth) in a series can start right where the previous book’s cliffhanger finished. the reader is already interested and invested; they don’t need their hand held by this point.
as with all writing, there is a balance to be had. although i don’t like it, i’m very used to people telling me they won’t read sF because it’s too complicated, or because of all the “funny” names. so these days i aim for a softer introduction, and hope that tempts a wider spectrum of readership. Writing for an elite is all very well, but it does have diminishing returns. Frankly, what’s the point? if sF is the literature of ideas, why deliberately try and limit its appeal?
the same principle applies for films and tV shows. and the producers do consider the bottom line. (Consider it? that makes it sound like they have other concerns.) Fair enough, as the amount of money invested in an sF show these days is phenomenal. the best recent example of this is Altered Carbon. the premise behind richard Morgan’s world is that grand sF trope of being able to transfer minds into a new and different body. right there at the beginning of the first episode you’ll find a smart dramatic scene which is entirely exposition, setting up that concept. if the viewer gets past that, they’re in it for the long haul.
Compare and contrast with 2001: A Space Odyssey. not only is there never any exposition, the first word is spoken almost 30 minutes into the film. instead, Kubrick chose a wholly visual approach, letting the viewer immerse themselves in the spectacle of space travel and alien mysticism. i confess, when i saw it for the first time i was glad i’d read the book. ironically for a film which is rich in the imagery of the future, the world and the way our society reacts to things has moved on since 1968, when it was released. it’s a masterpiece, but you could never make it now.
so yes, we can still have complex ideas and dazzling futuristic environments in the books we write today. People need, and even relish, the challenge of experiencing something new. but maybe just not all on page one.
Peter F Hamilton’s novel Salvation Lost (the second in The Salvation Sequence) is out from Macmillan on 31 October.