Being inspired by others'stories

I often struggle with the thought that my SF isn't original enough, that there isn't any dazzling new tech in it, that what I'm doing is really recycling other writers' ideas.

This is a particular affliction of writers in the genre.  We read a review of a new book that praises that dazzling tech, and we remind ourselves that SF is called the literature of ideas.  And we worry that our ideas aren't good enough.

So it was a great relief to re-read Lisa Tuttle's How to Write Fantasy and SF book.  "New concepts are highly prized in our culture, but hard to come by" she writes.  Then she goes on to talk about the stories she's written that were inspired by other writers' work.

What a relief.  Here was a concept of SF as a genre in conversation with itself, borrowing ideas from other writers all the time.  I suppose I've always known that at a subliminal level, but to see it out in the open, and acknowledged as the source of some of a best selling authors' stories, was reassuring,

I've borrowed a few ideas for my novels.  Starfire was inspired by Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's war books, but I wanted my starship captain main character to stay a trader.  Eyemind was inspired by Anne McCaffrey's The Ship Who Searched, and her brainship became my Mind, controlling a powerful Supercruiser instead of a starship.

Starfire was also inspired by CJ Cherryh's The Pride of Chanur, and the strong character of the Hani captain Pyanfar Chanur.  In Starfire the Hani got recycled into my aliens, but they're friendly.  Ria Bihar, my Trader captain, eventually teams up with them to find something that has been stolen that affects the peace of both races.

I've realised there's nothing wrong with borrowing ideas from others' stories.  I'm currently working on planning a young adult series which will recycle ideas from Sarah Crossan's Breathe with my own focus on wildlife conservation.  I've also got EJ Swift's Osiris sitting there to read, and I suspect that her tale of the divided city will furnish more ideas for me to adapt.  

I'm thinking that perhaps I don't do enough borrowing sometimes.  I think I have to sit in my garret and come up with dazzling new ideas all on my own. But of course I don't.  Everything I write is built on the shoulders of those who came before me, and rather than fighting against this and trying to produce something 'original' I'd be far better off using others' stories as a launch pad for my own ideas.  I need to absorb the richness of those others visions and let them feed and inform my own,

My favourite authors - Anne Mccaffrey

One of my favourite authors is Anne McCaffrey.  I haven't read every book she wrote, but a fair number of then from different series.  Her books have been a constant presence in my life for many years.

I own a lot of the Pern books.  The debate has raged for years whether these are SF or fantasy.  I think it depends which books in the series you read.  If you read the books dealing with the colonists landing on Pern, you find technology a-plenty.  The dragons are bio-engineered from the fire lizards, and the colonists carry Aivas with them, a high-level AI.  All the Weyrs of Pern rediscovers Aivas 2500 years later, and successfully blends the fantasy elements of the series with hard science.

One of my favourite series is the Doona books.  Here, colonists settle on Doona and gradually come to realise they're not alone.  I love the way McCaffrey paints the Hrrubans as fully-rounded aliens, and I also love the way the two species have the wisdom to learn to live together.  There are xenophobes in both species, but friendship prevails.

I love the way she's created a sentient planet in the Petaybee books.  They give us a vision of powerful companies with their own militaries who own planets and are far too powerful for the good of the people.  She also has telepathic clouded leopards who help the humans. I wish.

Then there's the Freedom books, the Catteni stories.  I like the way humans are shown to be inventive and quickly rebuild a civilization when dumped on an empty planet with just a cup, a knife, and a blanket for technology.  

Another of my favourite books is from the 'brainship' series of books.  The Ship Who Searched has a brainship and her archaeologist brawn searching for alien ancient remains. The book partly inspired my book Eyemind. 

I met Anne McCaffrey at Octocon in Ireland a few years before she died, and I'm glad I managed to meet and talk with my heroine.  She's been lighting up my life for many years with her ideas and her simple storytelling.