3 Reasons to Check Out Speculative Fiction
As a journalist, I loved writing feature stories about people who changed the world by doing what their hearts convinced them to do. Their courage, their spunk and their passion inspired me to take a few risks and refuse to listen to people who didn’t get me.
The Vintage Vixen is grateful for the opportunity to do that again this week as she takes you into the world of speculative fiction and fanfiction. While I’ve been an avid reader all my life, this genre is foreign – but fun – for me.
It did not take long to solidify three reasons to check out speculative fiction. They include: 1. D.T. Powell, 2. D.T. Powell and 3. D.T. Powell.
The Vintage Vixen caught up with D.T. this week and learned about her latest publishing triumph as well as what readers can expect more of from her this year. So, enjoy this Q & A session with Fanfiction/Speculative Fiction Author D.T. Powell.
Q. What exactly is speculative fiction?
Speculative fiction is any story or genre that takes reality as we know it and asks, “What if?” The most popular speculative genres are fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Some well-known stories from those genres are ”The Lord of the Rings”, “Star Wars” and Stephen King’s “It”.
Q, What have you learned about yourself while writing in this genre?
I love other worlds, and I love being able to see things in new ways. I’ve known that for a long time, but writing speculative fiction really brought that out for me. Even when I was younger, I related things that happened to me to events or people from stories. It wasn’t a means of escaping my own world, but a way of understanding it, and I look at things a lot differently as a result.
Q. Why should all of us check out this art form?
Contemporary novels, historical fiction and other genres anchored in reality as we know it have their merits, but speculative fiction challenges us to think outside the status quo. Through it, we see and experience things in a way we may have never considered. If you want to challenge yourself to see another perspective, speculative fiction is an excellent way to do it.
Q. Many folks think writing is writing. They don’t realize you do more than sit down and type. How does writing a short story compare with a blog post, a novel, your grocery list?
In a sense, it’s true that all writing is writing in that it takes the discipline to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and produce words, but writing a novel takes a different kind of grit than jotting down a few things to pick up at the grocery store. Every writing form is a different animal, and each one requires a slightly specialized skill set to write effectively.
Blog posts, while they may look easy, can be challenging if you don’t have a topic and at least a couple things you want to talk about in regard to that topic. If you go into a blog post without forethought, you might be successful, but chances are you’ll stare at a blank screen for hours, trying to figure out whatever possessed you to write it in the first place.
Short stories, though sometimes the length of a blog post, are completely different in that blog posts are often non-fiction and/or autobiographical content, written as a result of personal experience or research. Short stories, while informed by personal knowledge, are not the direct recapitulation of a person’s thoughts and opinions and instead are the embodiment of core beliefs. A short story is a brief glimpse into who we are. Each character is a piece of us, but often they grow into their own identity as the piece transforms from raw, messy draft to ordered completeness.
Novels are often long, complicated endeavors. Many novelists outline their work before starting. Some, like me, prefer to go in with a general idea of where they’re starting, where they’ll end up, and who they’re traveling with, but prefer to discover the rest along the way. And some novelists just start writing with no clue where they’re headed. It’s all in what works for that writer.
The biggest differences between a novel and a short story are: length and level of complication. With a novel, you have, on average, 60,000-100,000 words to tell a story, whereas most short stories are between 2,000 and 15,000. A novel usually involves at least one main character, if not more, and multiple secondary and minor characters. Short stories tend to focus on one main character and have a limited secondary cast. Novels usually contain multiple subplots, whereas short stories tend to keep one main point in mind and often employ very few subplots.
Different writers choose to approach their work in different ways. What works for one may not work for another. The key to writing successfully is finding out what works for you and then doing it.
Q. What influenced your work in speculative fiction and how?
Some can point to one or two other writers and say they were their inspiration for a specific book or story. I can’t do that. Though there have been so many other writers who helped me learn and grow, none of them are the reason I’ve ever written anything. I tend not to look to other people to define what I write and instead pen stories that express something I believe or something important to me.
One of the biggest influences on my writing is music. Since before I wrote my first scene almost twenty years ago, music has shaped and ordered stories for me. In fact, my extensive fanfiction work is based on playlists I’ve been building for the past two decades.
Usually, sometime during the writing of a novel-length project, and sometimes short stories too, I’ll find a song that embodies the heart of the work, and I listen to that song over and over. With each repeat, the message of the story becomes clearer until I can almost touch it.
Q. Tell us a little about your story that was just published in the anthology, which people can read more about in our new Community Leveling UP feature that can be found under the Community tab on this website.
These Eternal Tides takes place in the world of Eschtalon where music is interwoven into everyday life. People use it to craft things, travel, fight, even make technology work. A single melody, the worldsong, underpins Eschtalon’s existence and sustains everything.
Eschtalon’s King, Kelinor the Wise, is in power, but not everyone is content with his rule, and a rebel force stages a coup. These Eternal Tides takes readers into the final battle between Kelinor and Imraphel, the rebel leader. We witness events through the eyes of Eliora, a woman loyal to Kelinor. During the battle, she experiences crippling loss when all of Eschtalon loses the ability to hear the worldsong. In the aftermath, Eliora must find her courage again to face a new evil rising from the silence.
Q. Are there any big plans to launch the anthology?
Leading up to release day, I’ll be hosting a series of brief interviews on Instagram, with each of the other writers included in the anthology who want to participate. We’ll talk about who we are, what we love about writing, and some of the inspiration for our anthology stories. We’d love to see you there, whether you watch live or catch the posted replays.
Q. How can our readers preorder the anthology and learn more about your online interviews?
Head on over to my website, www.dtpowellwrites.com. I have a pre-order button on the Home page that’ll take you right to where you need to go. While you’re on-site, feel free to sign up for my quarterly newsletter, explore blog posts and current projects, or send me a note from my Contact page. I’d love to hear from you.
Q. Why did you decide to start writing?
When I was 9 years old, I encountered a story God used to change my life and redefine how I looked at the world. Since then, I’ve looked for ways to express what happened – share that moment with others. I spent years trying and failing to find the right medium. After college, unemployed, and with no idea what to do next, I realized there was one thing I had yet to try. So, I picked up a pen, and I’ve been writing ever since.
Q. What keeps your interest in speculative fiction?
Stories have power, more than most realize, and speculative fiction, with its emphasis on creative liberty is a place where anyone can create anything they can imagine. Sometimes those imaginations become places of needless darkness and depravity, but other times, they’re bastions of light and hope, shining out into the world and letting others know pain does not last forever. There is a new day coming. I believe in eternity, and in speculative fiction, I get to see just a hint of the wonder waiting ahead.
Learn more about D.T. on our new page Community Leveling UP.