This isn't a question of lack of self belief, or of belief in my writing. It's a declaration of self-knowledge and strength. I've read the starts of a lot of these "pushing the boundaries" stories recently. And I've rarely got past the second or third paragraph before I'm bored silly.
Often the ideas in these stories are totally impractical. Tech migh be able to do wonderful things very quickly, but I simply refuse to believe that the human body will be able to change its skin colour every day any time in the near future. Biology needs more time to evolve, but why would it evolve to do that? What evolutionary advantage would it give us?
And that's my problem with a lot of these "pushing the boundaries" stories. They haven't just pushed the boundaries, they've destroyed them. So many of them have no points of reference with the science we know today, and yes, I know we can't predict how radically tech will change our lives in the future. But while the tech may change at lightning speed, human biology won't. At least, not naturally. Genetic modification might make some radical changes, but I suspect we'd find out what we don't know about the process pretty quick. And most likely in negative ways like terminal illnesses.
Others of these "boundary" stories have left me thinking "is that it?" when I've reached the end. So you've had one off-the-wall idea and spewed it onto the page. But that's just an idea, not a story, and ideas are a dime a dozen.
This is where I usually part company with the "pushing the boundaries" stories. The envelope becomes so pushed that it's totally unrecognisable as an envelope. Stories start somewhere, they progress somewhere, and they end somewhere. Beginning, middle, end. Not always presented in that order, but always there somewhere. Without them there is no story.
Without them what's left is no more tnan a character or idea sketch showing off the shiny new idea. And I have a hard time caring about those. So I'll pass on pushing the boundaries, thanks.
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