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Acolyte, v. 1, issue 4, Summer 1943
Page 16
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tickling the illusion that such a thing might possibly have happened, but merely feel that someone has uttered some extravagant words. In general, we should forget all about the popular hack conventions of cheap writing and try to make our story a perfect slice of actual life except where the chosen marvel is concerned. We should work as if we were staging a hoax and trying to get our extravagant lie accepted as literal truth. Atmosphere, not action, is the thing to cultivate in the wonder story. We cannot put stress on the bare events, since the unnatural extravagance of these events makes them sound hollow and absurd when thrown into too high relief. Such events, even when theoretically possible or conceivable in the future, have no counterpart or basis in existing life and human experience, hence can never form the groundwork of an adult tale. All that a marvel story can ever be, in a serious way, is [[underline]]a vivid picture of a certain type of human mood[[end underline]]. The moment it tries to be anything else it becomes cheap, puerile, and unconvincing. Therefore a fantastic author should see that his prime emphasis goes into subtle suggestion---the imperceptible hints and touches of selective and associative detail which express shadings of moods built up a vague illusion of the strange reality of the unreal---instead of into bald catalogues of incredible happenings which can have no substance or meaning apart from a sustaining cloud of colur and mood-symbolism. A serious adult story must be true to something in life. Since marvel tales cannot be true to the [[underline]]events[[end underline]] of life, they must shift their emphasis toward something which they [[underline]]can[[end underline]] be true; namely, certain wistful or restless [[underline]]moods[[end underline]] of the human spirit, wherein it seeks to weave gossamer ladders of escape from the galling tyranny of time, space and natural laws. And how are these general principles of adult wonder fiction to be applied to the interplanetary tale in particular? That they [[underline]]can[[end underline]] be applied, we have no reason to doubt; the important factors being here, as elsewhere, an adequate sense of wonder, adequate emotions in the characters, realism in the setting and supplementary incidents, care in the choice of significant detail, and a studious avoidance of the hackneyed artificial characters and stupid conventional events and situations which at once destroy a story's vitality by proclaiming it a product of weary mass mechanics. It is an ironic truth that no artistic story of this kind: honestly, sincerely, and unconventionally written, would likely to have any chance of acceptance among professional editors of the common pulp school. This, however, will not influence the really determined artist bent on creating something of mature worth. Better to write honestly for a non-remunerative magazine than to concoct worthless tinsel and be paid for it. Some day, perhaps, the conventions of cheap editors will be less flagrantly absurd in their anti-artistic rigidity. The events of an interplanetary story--aside from such tales as involve sheer poetic fantasy--are best laid in the present, or represented as having occurred secretly or prehistorically in the past. This future is a ticklish period to deal with; since it is virtually impossible to escape grotesqueness and absurdity in depicting its mode of life, while there is always an immense emotional loss in representing characters as familiar with the marvels depicted. The characters of a story are essentially projections of ourselves; and unless they can share our own ignorance and wonder concerning what occurs, there is an inevitable handicap. This is not to say that tales of the future can not be artistic, but merely that it is harder to make them so. A good interplanetary story must have realistic human characters; not the stock scientists, villainous assistance, invincible heroes, and lovely scientist's-daugher heroines of the usual trash of this sort. Indeed, there is no reason why there should be any "villain", "hero", -- 16 --
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tickling the illusion that such a thing might possibly have happened, but merely feel that someone has uttered some extravagant words. In general, we should forget all about the popular hack conventions of cheap writing and try to make our story a perfect slice of actual life except where the chosen marvel is concerned. We should work as if we were staging a hoax and trying to get our extravagant lie accepted as literal truth. Atmosphere, not action, is the thing to cultivate in the wonder story. We cannot put stress on the bare events, since the unnatural extravagance of these events makes them sound hollow and absurd when thrown into too high relief. Such events, even when theoretically possible or conceivable in the future, have no counterpart or basis in existing life and human experience, hence can never form the groundwork of an adult tale. All that a marvel story can ever be, in a serious way, is [[underline]]a vivid picture of a certain type of human mood[[end underline]]. The moment it tries to be anything else it becomes cheap, puerile, and unconvincing. Therefore a fantastic author should see that his prime emphasis goes into subtle suggestion---the imperceptible hints and touches of selective and associative detail which express shadings of moods built up a vague illusion of the strange reality of the unreal---instead of into bald catalogues of incredible happenings which can have no substance or meaning apart from a sustaining cloud of colur and mood-symbolism. A serious adult story must be true to something in life. Since marvel tales cannot be true to the [[underline]]events[[end underline]] of life, they must shift their emphasis toward something which they [[underline]]can[[end underline]] be true; namely, certain wistful or restless [[underline]]moods[[end underline]] of the human spirit, wherein it seeks to weave gossamer ladders of escape from the galling tyranny of time, space and natural laws. And how are these general principles of adult wonder fiction to be applied to the interplanetary tale in particular? That they [[underline]]can[[end underline]] be applied, we have no reason to doubt; the important factors being here, as elsewhere, an adequate sense of wonder, adequate emotions in the characters, realism in the setting and supplementary incidents, care in the choice of significant detail, and a studious avoidance of the hackneyed artificial characters and stupid conventional events and situations which at once destroy a story's vitality by proclaiming it a product of weary mass mechanics. It is an ironic truth that no artistic story of this kind: honestly, sincerely, and unconventionally written, would likely to have any chance of acceptance among professional editors of the common pulp school. This, however, will not influence the really determined artist bent on creating something of mature worth. Better to write honestly for a non-remunerative magazine than to concoct worthless tinsel and be paid for it. Some day, perhaps, the conventions of cheap editors will be less flagrantly absurd in their anti-artistic rigidity. The events of an interplanetary story--aside from such tales as involve sheer poetic fantasy--are best laid in the present, or represented as having occurred secretly or prehistorically in the past. This future is a ticklish period to deal with; since it is virtually impossible to escape grotesqueness and absurdity in depicting its mode of life, while there is always an immense emotional loss in representing characters as familiar with the marvels depicted. The characters of a story are essentially projections of ourselves; and unless they can share our own ignorance and wonder concerning what occurs, there is an inevitable handicap. This is not to say that tales of the future can not be artistic, but merely that it is harder to make them so. A good interplanetary story must have realistic human characters; not the stock scientists, villainous assistance, invincible heroes, and lovely scientist's-daugher heroines of the usual trash of this sort. Indeed, there is no reason why there should be any "villain", "hero", -- 16 --
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