Today is the day those of us who participated in the Blogging From A to Z Challenge reflect on our experience. To begin with I’d like to say how glad I am that it’s finally over. The challenge was a blast, but it definitely stretched me to my writing limits having to post every day. Note to self, next year write more posts before April rolls around.
That being said, it really was an incredible experience. I got the opportunity to write about a lot of topics that interest me – topics that I’ve long thought about but never taken the time to sit down and analyze. I also met a ton of new bloggers who not only commented day after day on my posts, giving me fresh insights into my areas of interest, but also introduced me through their own blogs to previously unknown books, movies, music, and fascinating topics. And as for the bloggers I followed before the challenge began, it was great getting to learn a little more about you through this experience. And I had no idea so many of you enjoyed science fiction too!
I wanted to give a special thank you to our co-hosts for this challenge, for doing such an incredible job:
Alex J. Cavanaugh at Alex J. Cavanaugh
Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs,
Jenny Pearson at Pearson Report,
Tina Downey at Life is Good,
Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie,
DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude,
Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse,
Elizabeth Mueller at Elizabeth Mueller,
Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs,
Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain,
Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small.
Jenny Pearson at Pearson Report,
Tina Downey at Life is Good,
Jeremy Hawkins at Retro-Zombie,
DL Hammons at Cruising Altitude,
Shannon Lawrence at The Warrior Muse,
Elizabeth Mueller at Elizabeth Mueller,
Damyanti Biswas at Amlokiblogs,
Karen Gowen at Coming Down the Mountain,
Konstanz Silverbow at No Thought 2 Small.
And lastly, I want to leave you with one final though about science fiction. A fellow English major from college once told me they he didn’t read science fiction because it was just “a bunch of badly written books about aliens, robots and space travel”. First and foremost I’d like to say – badly written? Seriously? I find it hard to believe anyone who’s read anything written by H. G. Wells, George Orwell, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Aldous Huxley or Robert Heinlein (to name a few) , could call it bad writing.
But more importantly, I noticed a recurring theme that popped up over and over in my A to Z posts. Time and time again, the sci-fi books and movies I wrote about begged the question “what does it mean to be human?” Is it being born of man and woman, without scientific interference? Is it the ability to feel emotion? Can humanity extend beyond the human race?
This question – this search for the meaning of life – is an essential and inherent part of the science fiction genre. And it elevates it beyond mere triviality about “aliens, robots and space travel”. I’m not suggesting that sci-fi is for everyone, but I am suggesting that it’s a genre worthy of recognition and respect.
So thank you to everyone for all your support throughout this challenge and I can’t wait to do it again next year!
Badly written? Shame on that person!
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a good time with the Challenge. Next year will really rock.
I'm a sci-fi junkie and I wanna kick that person in the pants! I mean, even though there are some genres that aren't my thing, I'd never call it bad writing.
ReplyDeleteI pre-wrote most of my posts, and I'm glad I did. I'm pretty amazed by anyone who wrote as they went along - my brain would have ground to a halt!
ReplyDeleteI was so thankful I thought to pre-post...it made the challenge a lot more manageable.
ReplyDeleteI wrote and scheduled a good chunk of my posts ahead of time so that helped a lot. So did having a theme.
ReplyDeleteAs for sci-fi, I pretty much read whatever strikes me. If the story sounds good - whether it's sci-fi, horror, mystery, etc. - I'm there. :)
Amazing that someone could say that about science fiction books. I used to make such generalizations about books in general, but thankfully I saw the light after reading one about a certain boy wizard. :D
ReplyDeleteHe probably was thinking about the non-awesome sci-fi books. Because sci-fi has the capability to be the best fiction.
ReplyDeleteScience Fiction has been the whipping boy of lots of folks for being poorly done. I think its a case oftentimes of someone just being ignorant of the genre.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think science fiction is really the best way for us to conduct thought experiments about who we are, and finding our place in the universe. It can be more philosophical than a lot of other genres. It'll always be my first love.
I sort of said this in my post, but I really think sci-fi is the -best- of fiction. It, more than any other genre, is the genre that -questions-. It ask question like "should we be doing this?" "what is the meaning of... life? love? everything?" and, most importantly, it asks, "what if?"
ReplyDeleteSo, just in case you didn't see my response to your comment on my blog, I loved your series, and I'm very glad to have met you. :)
Even considering your feelings toward Hunger Games.
Some folks do tend to look down their noses at genre fiction in general. Their loss.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's a mighty deep thought with which to emerge from this Challenge! I'm afraid mine didn't go any deeper than, "Well, if I can dedicate myself to this blogging challenge, what's holding up my fiction writing???" :-)
Some Dark Romantic
You did a remarkable job, and great highlights all of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great A-to-Z! I enjoyed learning more about sci-fi and learning more about people's thoughts on science, technology, and humanity. Great job!
ReplyDeleteAsimov is my all time favourite writer for those reasons you mentioned. It's all about humanity. And yet it has inspired so much of our tech. It really is the best of both worlds.
ReplyDeleteI have met some people who are anti-fiction. It's crazy! But it's like that line in Sideways: "Good. I like non fiction. There is so much to know about this world. I think if you read something somebody just invented; waste of time." Eek!
I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I really enjoyed reading your posts from the challenge. They were very informative and well-written. I'm definitely going to be hanging around even though the challenge is over. :-)
ReplyDeleteScience fiction will rise again, and it's already starting. You have to have a thinking mind to see the nuances and sometimes the hope for humanity that's involved in writing about the future. Take me to the future anytime.
ReplyDeleteSci-fi writers and readers will prove the naysayers wrong.