How Fantasy and Science Fiction Made Me a Better Reader (and Writer)

When I was younger, I read a ton of fantasy and science fiction.  Actually, a quick glance at my goodreads page shows that I still do.  

I have very fond memories (though I can't peg them to any specific year) of browsing the science fiction section on the mezzanine of the Cincinnati Public Library and just grabbing anything that appealed.  My only specific memory is having my mind completely blown by Clifford Simak's "All The Traps of Earth."

In the spectrum of respectable genres, mystery is at the top--I think this is because a lot of people who read literary fiction read mysteries as a kind of guilty pleasure.  Science Fiction comes next, though with a lot of limitations--i.e., William Gibson and Jonathan Lethem before he became The Bard of Brooklyn are okay, and SF forays by non-genre authors (I'm lookin' at you, Margaret Atwood) are okay, but most of it is still scorned.  And down there at the bottom of the barrel is lowly Fantasy, kept company by Horror. (Which is often a kind of fantasy, if you think about it.)

Fantasy is kind of a tough sell to non genre readers.  It's got conventions that are sometimes hard to take--Conan and his thews, the goofy names, and, in epic fantasy, an unfortunate tendency toward twee-ness.  Lord of the Rings is the most respectable fantasy novel, and though it grapples with big themes in what seems to me like an incredibly moving way, I can totally see how non fans might throw the book aside in disgust as soon as they meet Tom Bombadil.  

Also, Fantasy and SF are often heavy on the world building and light on the believable characters.  Not always, by any means, but you will definitely run across novels in these genres with amazingly inventive worlds populated by characters you don't believe in for a second.  (All genres have their limitations.  Literary fiction often has a problem with believable characters milling around not doing much for 300 pages.)

But here's what almost every fantasy and SF novel and short story does really well: exposition.  Every time you pick up something in this genre, you have to locate yourself in a world of the author's imagination.  The author has to reveal the rules and the layout and all this stuff without giving you a dull paragraph saying "Here are the races and classes of my world, and here is the magic (or even magick, or, in extreme cases, magicke) that works, and here are the limitations,and the following magickal creatures may make appearances..."

So even the worst writers in these genres tend to be really good at exposition.  By reading in these genres, you get really good at figuring out what the deal is in the first couple of chapters.  

This, of course, is something you have to do in any kind of novel. It's just more extreme with these genres.  I have often seen students baffled by realistic novels that don't take place in their time period or their part of the world because they're not practiced at picking up clues.  

I really think that reading a lot of fantasy and science fiction as a kid helped me succeed as an English major and has generally made my reading life richer, because I got used to figuring out what the deal was without having it spelled out for me.

Though I rarely write in these genres (with some exceptions), I do try to use what I learned from all that reading when I write.  I always try (though I probably don't always succeed) to reveal the world in which my stories take place without resorting to clunky paragraphs where the deal is explained outright.  To the extent that I succeed at this at all, it's due to the science fiction and fantasy I read as a kid and continue to read.  

I'm not saying everyone should read these genres; I guess I'm just saying that you shouldn't automatically roll your eyes when you see some kid reading a book with an elf on the cover; she's on her way to becomeing a really skilled reader, and maybe a better writer as well.