In other words, how many of you have read David Hartwell's THE AGE OF WONDERS? How many of you make a conscious effort to read and understand the history of the genre, as well as to read and understand the "sub-genres" within the field, even if you don't care for them as a fan? How many of you try to understand how, say, science fantasy or dystopian SF or (insert any category you'd like--medieval fantasy, perhaps) has changed and evolved over the years?

In other words, how many of you are actively engaged in becoming . . . well, a student of the genre?

But to study literature in that way sounds dreadful. I have madea concerted effort to pick up Hugo/Nebular award winners because I imagine that their contributions to science fiction/fantasy in terms of *stories* is wowrth investigating. Some of them have been inspirational, some enjoyable, others I didn't quite understand why they won but hey, nobody likes everything and that's a lesson too.

But I'd rather study history, mythology, science, art, or nature....the elements that add toa s tory and make them real and come alive.

djvdakota, I don't think there's a should here. Do what you feel. Maybe through studying science fiction and fantasy you can analyze the trends and figure out what the next great wave of the future will be, but I kind of doubt it. For one thing, the most important thing in your own writing is passion about a subject....meaning you can't necessarily write the next great wave of the future even if you figure out what it is if you're not passionate about it. After that, research is important, but probably you wlil need to research physics or stronomy or mythology.

There are people who truly love to study literature. Many of them tried to force this love on me in high school and college. Fortunately, my passion for reading overcame their attempts to dampen it. Now, as an adult, I read what I love. Fortunately, I love a lot of things and a lot of topics, from space travel to horror to epic fantasy. I love stories from all times periods, even those science fiction stories that has obviously dated technology. It goes to show (to me) how much more important a good story and good characters are than getting the technology down exactly right because I still love some of those cutting-edge scifi books from the early part of the century. (Pre-hugo and nebula, even).

I love learning how things work and am facinated with processes like photosynthesis and topics like system ecology. These are the things I actively study. I felt like the explicit study of literature in classes almost squelched out my love of reading. But, luckily it rebounded! Now, I read what I'm inspired to, read ones I wouldn't normally pick, and read the ones a friend says, "Here, read this." Sometimes the last kind are the best because they are usually things I wouldn't even give a second glance.

Being an utter cheapskate, I rarely buy books new. In fact the three books I have most recently bought new were primarily for academic purposes:

- Stranger in a Strange Land, Heinlein. Because it has been cited by many as a highly influential book, because I'd previously never read Heinlein (it is actually unusual to see a Heinlein book on a book shop shelf in the UK), and because I wanted to grok.

- Coraline, Neil Gaiman. Because I was intrigued by the notion of a "book [that] will nudge Alice in Wonderland out of its niche", at least according to Diana Wynne Jones. I don't think she was right. Unless she has Alice in an entirely different niche to me.

Unfortunately, finding the time to do so can be difficult in the hyper-frenetic culture in which we live. But time is always the problem when it comes to doing something that ought to be done, and so you have to make time by sacrificing time somewhere else. You’ve mentioned before that you have a reading quota for each day, this despite all of your other daily commitments. I do the same thing (although it’s measured in minutes, not in pages). My reading time is so precious to me right now that I must be very selective with what I choose to read. As a fan of SF, I have to say, reluctantly, that while it can be quite entertaining, it is not necessarily always edifying. Procative, yes, but not edifying – at least not to the extent that other books might be. Remember, this is about making choices. How can I best invest the 30 to 45 minutes a day that I have carved out to read? I want to spend that time reading something that will make me a better person for having read it. SF can certainly accomplish that, but honestly, how can I read American Gods when I haven’t yet read St. Augustine’s confessions, or Plato’s Symposium, or Dante, or Tolstoy, or Hugo, or…know what I mean?

I will finish the Hugo and Nebula lists someday, just not in the foreseeable future. And in the meantime, I'll never stop reading SF and all of its sub-genres. In fact, right now I'm reading Doomsday Book (Connie Willis) and Blood Music (Greg Bear).

Brian

Well, I really did take the course, at least. Having studied the genre both formally and critically, I can honestly say that one good set of con panels and a quick perusal of the SF related posts at Teresa Nielsen Hayden's blog will probably get you up to speed on the basics of most of the stuff in terms of movements, subgenres, and history. Beyond the basics you can dig in for a lifetime, and the details are interesting to some people, but hey, if you're not one of them you could fake the rest. Come on! You're a writer! Invent things! Invent a new literary movement, it might catch on. *jk*

[This message has been edited by Gen (edited June 14, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by Gen (edited June 14, 2004).]

So I would not say I am formally studying the genre, but in a way I am - I read "Wild Seed" by Octavia Butler, and a book of her short stories, based on OSC's recommendation in his how-to book. I'm reading books I might not have picked up before. I am reexperiencing short fiction. I'm reading a BB! I apply my writing class lessons to my genre, and do my assignments based on my genre.