by Aaron Gansky @adgansky

Here’s a question more people should ask me about my writing, but don’t:

Why do you write speculative fiction?

What’s the point? What possible good can it do, especially for a Christian audience?

The likely reason people don’t ask me this is because I tend to surround myself with people who get it. They’re nerds themselves. Or geeks. Or whatever other insult-turned-term-of-endearment they choose to associate themselves with.

But not all of my friends fall into this category, and to be quite blunt, I think they don’t ask because they either 1) don’t care or 2) are trying to be polite. By asking, they fear they may upset our friendship or inadvertently offend me. Maybe that’s why I’m itching to answer the unasked question.

For the sake of this post, let’s assume someone has asked me. Here’s my reply.

Long ago, I began writing fantasy as an homage to my childhood. I grew up on role playing games. I was fascinated by the artwork, the story, the characters. It seemed natural for me, then, to try my hand at creating something similar. I did not get into fantasy and sci-fi in the traditional ways (movies, books, etc.), but fell deep into it through video games, comic books, and trading card games. Yes, my nerd rabbit hole runs deep.

This may seem like an incredibly strange choice for genres considering I hold an MFA in writing literary fiction. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Cormac McCarthy and Tim O’Brien and Flannery O’Connor and Raymond Carver, none of whom wrote genre fiction. But there seemed to be, at the time, a divide between the literary and genre fiction. The fantasy books I picked up lacked the poignancy and humanity of great literature. But literature often lacked the imaginative, bold spirit of humanity.

So I determined to write a “literary” genre novel. And then it became a series. Also, it’s YA, because why not?

Why? It made sense.

Here’s what genre fiction does in a way literature so seldom does:

it builds an incredible, immersive world unlike we’ve ever experienced. It provides an opportunity to escape from the mundane lives so many of us live. But at the same time, it puts its characters (and thereby all of humanity) in situations they may otherwise never face: the end of the world, zombie apocalypse, slipping into a different dimension, toys coming to life, invading extra-terrestrials. Name it, and humanity has faced it within the pages of genre fiction.

Is genre fiction good for anything other than entertainment?

So with all the silliness, is genre fiction good for anything other than entertainment? A way to sink a few hours of your oh-so-free schedule? I mean, it can be. But that kind of depends on us as writers of genre, doesn’t it? Here’s my plea: resist the pull of the easy novel. Enjoy the world building, but don’t get so caught up in it that you forget about your characters. Make them unique, and challenge them. Don’t rely simply on tropes to tell a story, but make new tropes by twisting tried methods. Be smart about your writing, and regardless of what genre you’re writing, you will challenge your readers to learn more about themselves from immersing themselves in the journey your character takes.

In addition to being a loving father and husband, Aaron Gansky is an award-winning novelist and author, teacher, and podcast host. In 2009, he earned his M.F.A in Fiction at the prestigious Antioch University of Los Angeles, one of the top five low-residency writing schools in the nation. Prior to that, he attained his Bachelor of Arts degree in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from California State University of San Bernardino. He lives in quiet little town in the high desert of southern California with his family.