Essays And Fragments

This blog focuses on Poul Anderson but also discusses other writers. Anderson is an ideal focus because of the quantity and quality of his works. Some of what is said here is more generally applicable, e.g., that an author needs to control narrative points of view; that he needs to be able to present sympathetic treatments of characters with opposed aims and philosophies; that descriptive passages are more vivid when several senses are appealed to; that an author can make his point, if he has one in any particular work, without directly preaching at his readers etc.

Those of us who read a lot of fiction develop some understanding of how it should be written without being able to write it ourselves. At most, we can make some attempts or "essays," thus learning at first hand how difficult it is. Writing groups exist although I have never been involved in one. There was, maybe still is, a Masters degree course in creative writing at Lancaster University although I think that an entry requirement was that a candidate had to already have had at least one piece published. Rereading our own attempts years or decades later, we might conclude that they are not hopelessly bad but also that they fall far short of the standard of successful published authors. It is in this light that I have recently reread my own few attempts:

Time Travel

Yossi, the Time Traveller (acknowledges Heinlein and Anderson)

Time Travel Memoirs Fragments (a loose and incomplete sequel)

Mask

2025

A Few Fragments

Other

The Very First Draft Of A Science Fiction Story (also set in 2025)

See also two earlier posts on this theme:

Incomplete Time Travel Stories

Time Travel Fiction