I've always been drawn towards the 'what ifs?' that speculative fiction posits. As a kid these what ifs started with stories I read and watched – What if another world is hiding in my closet? I even found the more horrifying ideas fascinating: What if my dolls came to life? Would we be best friends or would I pay for the times that I squished them in a box or (accidentally) popped their heads off? What if a clown really could suck me through a pipe? (I have my older brothers and sisters to thank for all the nightmares after watching Stephen King's It when I was five.) As I grew older, it became more obvious that many of these what-ifs were actually teaching me, like when Aslan taught Shasta (and Aravis, later on) in The Horse and His Boy:
I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own.
This always sounded a lot like a lesson on gossip to me, and it was a great way to learn about minding my own business.
As a teenager, I was powerfully impacted by Kurt Vonnegut's Harrison Bergeron, the story of a young man in a future 'we must all be equal so no one feels bad' society who refused to hide his talents and intelligence. It was a society that made beautiful people wear uglifying masks, and distracted intelligent people from thinking too much by blasting periodic loud noises in their ears. A completely ridiculous society, and yet… it sounded an awful lot like some of my dance competitions, where we didn't receive 1st, 2nd, or 3rd anymore, just a somewhat arbitrary Gold, High Gold, or Platinum rating (this rating creeps a little higher every year, by the way. Bronze and silver are apparently too shameful to include in a scoring system.) The resounding impact of this tale probably had something to do with the fact that it involved a ballerina (which has always been an easy sell for me), but even though for years I couldn't remember the title or author, the message stuck.
Not all spec fic stories go in with intent to change one's perspective so profoundly, of course, and that doesn't decrease their reading value. Sometimes we just really need to read a story about green unicorns that shoot laser beams out of their horns. I can't immediately think of a specific lightning bolt moment I had while reading Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn or Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, even though the what-ifs these books sparked were seriously awesome. I assume they're there, but even if they aren't, the pure entertainment value in these series is worth the time spent reading. As a bullied kid I used many a fantasy book for therapy.
Which, in itself, served as a giant, profound what-if. Reading to escape from the troubles of reality was my way of asking "What if I lived here, where that jerk Kyle doesn't exist?" What a simple, safe way to recharge oneself! And after dousing myself with the worlds of Lewis Carroll, T.H. White, and Susan Cooper, I would come back to my life, renewed, willing to look for a little magic and goodness in the world around me.
And so as I got older, I naturally wanted to create my own what-ifs.
Speculative fiction lends itself very well to creation – I can write about as many new worlds, new technologies, and new creatures as my imagination can come up with. Each of these creations, whether produced by adding a little magic to our breakfast or moving forward 15 years with a burgeoning technology, takes us one step away from our current reality, and offers us a new magnifying glass with which we can view our own lives, relationships, and society. I love that we can take these shiny new lenses, examine the human condition with fresh eyes, and ultimately help us better understand ourselves.
Dantzel Cherry is a dance, yoga, and Pilates teacher living with her husband and cricket-eating cat in Texas. They welcomed their first child in June. Dantzel is a graduate of the Orson Scott Card Literary Boot Camp workshop and a member of Codex Writer's Group.
Leran more about Dantzel and her latest projects on her blog or on Twitter.
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