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Diablerie, v. 1, issue 1, January 1944

Page 6

                 Action VS Atmosphere 
                                         --Francis T. Laney

Fantastic stories may be roughly divided into two general types: those which depend on plot and incident, and those which seek only to create a mood in the mind of the reader. The vast majority of pulp fantasy falls into the first category--much of it in fact consisting of the most artificial and hackneyed of fantasy. The most horrible example of this type is that old perrenial in which dashingly rescued and dragged to the altar by the muscular pretty-boy, who of course showed up in the nick of time. Such cheap trash has no literary standing Hollywood drawing room, or one of the moons of Jupiter; Even though such a story can contain incidental fantastic passages of some merit, the tale as a whole is worthless.  After all, if we use rot-gut whisky, it makes no difference how skillfully we mix a cocktail-it will still taste terrible.

There are of course many plot and incident stories which are of a much higher caliber; but any narrative of this type, however well written, is always in danger of duplicating some previous production. As time goes on, the same plots and the same incidents are hashed over and over until the reader begins to suffer from ennui and exhaustion. In fact, the all too rapid turnover among stff fans may very likely be due to just this one thing. For after all, there are just so many plots, and just so many ways of handling them, so sooner or later the cycle will be completed.

At the present time, science and fantasy fiction seems to be sliding into another low ebb. Fantasy has almost lost the temporary impetus given it by the establishment of Unknown, which magazine is the beginning to repeat itself more and more. And one hears an ever increasing grumble from the older fans, "Astounding is slipping." This writer believes that ASF is as good as it ever was; but since both the Street and Smith magazines have a tendency to use "type" stories depending almost exclusively on plot and incident, the resultant narrowing of rigidly edited publications. None of this is meant to imply that the Campbell regime does not still bring out an occasional new and refreshing story --Mimsy Were the Borogroves; Gather, Darkness; or Conjure Wife for example but certainly each succeeding issue makes it that much harder to bring out a really new, plot-incident story which confirms to the Campbell "type" and will still be able to the more seasoned reader. 

Another great drawback to the plot-incident fantasy is the extreme difficulty of making it truly convincing. All fantastic writing is built around one or more contraventions, supernatural or superscientific, of known fact--otherwise it is not fantasy and if the violations of the usual are carelessly presented along with a great body of other incidents, it is not likely that the story will be plausible.This is particularly the case when the incidents are of slap-bang adventure or of mad, passionate love; it is far too easy in such cases to slip into a straight adventure narrative with love interest, and treat the (next page)

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Action VS Atmosphere --Francis T. Laney Fantastic stories may be roughly divided into two general types: those which depend on plot and incident, and those which seek only to create a mood in the mind of the reader. The vast majority of pulp fantasy falls into the first category--much of it in fact consisting of the most artificial and hackneyed of fantasy. The most horrible example of this type is that old perrenial in which dashingly rescued and dragged to the altar by the muscular pretty-boy, who of course showed up in the nick of time. Such cheap trash has no literary standing Hollywood drawing room, or one of the moons of Jupiter; Even though such a story can contain incidental fantastic passages of some merit, the tale as a whole is worthless. After all, if we use rot-gut whisky, it makes no difference how skillfully we mix a cocktail-it will still taste terrible. There are of course many plot and incident stories which are of a much higher caliber; but any narrative of this type, however well written, is always in danger of duplicating some previous production. As time goes on, the same plots and the same incidents are hashed over and over until the reader begins to suffer from ennui and exhaustion. In fact, the all too rapid turnover among stff fans may very likely be due to just this one thing. For after all, there are just so many plots, and just so many ways of handling them, so sooner or later the cycle will be completed. At the present time, science and fantasy fiction seems to be sliding into another low ebb. Fantasy has almost lost the temporary impetus given it by the establishment of Unknown, which magazine is the beginning to repeat itself more and more. And one hears an ever increasing grumble from the older fans, "Astounding is slipping." This writer believes that ASF is as good as it ever was; but since both the Street and Smith magazines have a tendency to use "type" stories depending almost exclusively on plot and incident, the resultant narrowing of rigidly edited publications. None of this is meant to imply that the Campbell regime does not still bring out an occasional new and refreshing story --Mimsy Were the Borogroves; Gather, Darkness; or Conjure Wife for example but certainly each succeeding issue makes it that much harder to bring out a really new, plot-incident story which confirms to the Campbell "type" and will still be able to the more seasoned reader. Another great drawback to the plot-incident fantasy is the extreme difficulty of making it truly convincing. All fantastic writing is built around one or more contraventions, supernatural or superscientific, of known fact--otherwise it is not fantasy and if the violations of the usual are carelessly presented along with a great body of other incidents, it is not likely that the story will be plausible.This is particularly the case when the incidents are of slap-bang adventure or of mad, passionate love; it is far too easy in such cases to slip into a straight adventure narrative with love interest, and treat the (next page)