Literature Review
Riley argues that “At its best, science fiction has no peer in creating another universe of
experience, in showing us what we look like in a mirror of technologies society or through the
eyes of a non-human.”1 Adhering to this, I am intentionally attempting to use science fiction
as the form of my major work to provoke reflection on the unchecked advancements of
technology in modern society and what this means for humankind, and further, through this,
provoke questions about what it really means to be human. By investigating the instructional
texts, Mark Tredinnick’s “The Little Red Writing Book”, and Kate Grenville’s novel “The Writing
Book: A Workbook For Fiction Writers”, I have gained great insight into the ability to develop
my concept in short story form. Further, through the analysis of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”
and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby”, I have gained significant inspiration on ways to
employ differing perspectives and effective imagery to engage readers with my writing and
intensify my concept.
In relation to form and structure, Tredinnick’s manual, “The Little Red Writing Book” has been
a keystone instructional text in the process of taking my concept from a simple outline into a
collection of short stories which uses the combination of multiple form types and features.
Tredinnick advocates for the use of differing perspectives, arguing that, with a singular
perspective, “You’ll only get one part of the story... The narrator can only give you what he
knows, sees, interprets, remembers and intuits.” And even if a composer opts for third person
point of view, “you only get the story that the character is in position to tell you”, however,
he does concede that “it allows room for the detachment that characterises modern writing.”
Considering this inspired me to write my triptych from a variety of perspectives. This use of
differing perspectives is observed within Shelley’s epistolary novel “Frankenstein”, where
each section is written from the perspective of a different narrator o in order to provoke the
reader to consider not only the characters and their actions but the overarching ideas of the
consequences of unchecked scientific advancement more carefully through the use of the
three distinctive perspectives. Shelley first writes from Walton’s perspective to serve as a foil
for her later protagonist, Victor. For instance, Walton emphatically declares “I cannot lead
them unwillingly to danger, and I must return” to contrast that while both men are ambitious,
Walton knows the limits of his ambition and Victor does not. Similarly, Shelley later uses the
creature’s perspective in 'the shelter presented to me then as divine a retreat as
Pandemonium appeared to the demons of hell’ to evoke sympathy from the author and to
emphasise the human costs of unchecked scientific advancement. I look to incorporate this
technique as a prominent instrument within my composition, implementing two differing
perspectives to warn against advances in technology in modern society. From this inspiration,
I opted to write my first two stories (of a triptych) from the perspective of a human
researching a god as in the lines, “I moved from my study area burrowed in the wall and
scanned the endless shelves of the Greek mythology and the epic poetry sections, searching
for the complete collection of Homer’s epic poems ‘Odyssey.’” Then, in my last short story, I
deliberately shift the perspective to that of the God itself “As the writer's fingers danced
across the keyboard, Odysseus whispered suggestions and nudged thoughts, guiding the
narrative down a path of their choosing, twisting the well know fables” to create an unsettling
apprehension or confusion to enhance my concept and, more importantly, ensure the focus
1
Dick Riley
is on the concept itself. Instead of developing a strong empathy for the character, by changing
the perspective the story is written from, I am able instead engage my readers with a deeper
understanding of the consequences of advancements in AI technology and the blurring of
boundaries between humanity and technology.
To further this, Grenville’s novel “The Writing Book: A Workbook For Fiction Writers”
showcases how composer’s use of imagery within their texts generates vivid mental images
in the mind of the reader to enhance their engagement with the narrative. Within the novel,
Grenville argues that “You may come to a dead end by continuing to try to find details that
are going to get something across, where one image might do all the work for you” as “that
image or metaphor then ties together all the other details in the description and gives rise to
other images.” Expanding on this, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby, contributed to my
understanding of how effective descriptive language can be and influenced my use of vivid
imagery. Fitzgerald uses the combination of visual and auditory imagery to create a vivid
image in the lines “The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now
the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher”.
Here, the story's tone, atmosphere, and emotions are all significantly enhanced by his
imagery, as creates a vicarious experience that the reader can imagine and, in turn, draws
them closer to the characters. Further, Fitzgerald uses rich visual imagery in the lines “The
eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic—their retinas are one yard high. They look
out of no face but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose” to captivate them with a vivid setting, giving Fitzgerald the opportunity to
emphasise his modernist ideas by engaging the reader's senses and giving them a sense of
immersion in the narrative. Similarly, within my piece, I have used imagery as an instrument
for the engagement of my audience as well as foreshadowing the looming threat of
technology for my protagonist in “The fluorescent lights flickered erratically, casting eerie
shadows on the cluttered desk where I sat, surrounded by stacks of textbooks and my laptop...
It was past midnight, and the campus library had emptied, leaving me as the lone occupant in
this cavernous space.” By doing so, I am immersing my reader into my narrative to allow them
to more fully experience similar emotional and intellectual reactions to that of my protagonist
in response to the consequences of the technological threats later in the story. I aim to coerce
my readers to reflect on their modern context to question what the consequences of
unchecked advancement of technology will be on contemporary society and on the future.
I have found that closely examining instructional and model literature has been helpful in
transforming my idea into a triptych that contains my unique voice and conveys my warning
against the sinister consequences of unchecked technological advancement. Several
examples have served as inspiration for me, but two standouts in particular are
"Frankenstein," which use differing perspectives to convey Shelley’s own messages about
scientific advancement, and "The Great Gatsby," which uses the combination of differing
imagery to position the reader to engage in a vicarious experience and empathise with the
characters and ideas in the novella. Using these methods, I hope to produce hybrid short
stories that explores the consequences of the unchecked advancement of technology.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Critical Encounters: Writers and Themes in Science Fiction 0804427135, 0804467323 n.d.,
dokumen.pub, viewed 22 March 2024, <https://dokumen.pub/critical-encounters-writersand-themes-in-science-fiction-08044271350804467323.html>.
Fitzgerald, FS 1925, The Great Gatsby, Scribner.
Grenville, K 2010, The Writing Book, Allen & Unwin.
Shelley, M 1818, Frankenstein, Beverly, Ma Rockport Publishers.
Tredinnick, M 2016, Little Red Writing Book.