Sunday, October 6, 2013
Speculative Fiction Diversity Survey
I'm trying out Google docs survey form for the first time. It would be a great help if a few people filled this out so that I could see how the data collection works. Also, the first thing I saw was typos, so I'd be grateful to have those pointed out as well.
I *tried* to be entertaining.
Check this out!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
68 comments:
Is an author from an "interesting" demographic likely to write a more interesting book?
yes
no
Its a trap!
The correct answer is no.
I'm 50% sure.
"Fantastic. I'll talk to you for five dollars."
That's what I used to say when someone would call to do one of those telephone surveys.
The response was always something along the lines of "I'm sorry sir, I'm not authorized to do that."
Which was exactly what I wanted to hear because then I got to say "Well, you're getting paid to talk to me but I don't get paid to talk to you. How is that fair?"
Okay, I never actually did any of that because that would have made me a royal douchebag.
But I did actually consider doing it once or twice so that probably makes me an asshole, notwithstanding.
I've been approached for surveys at the mall or something and they offered to pay $20 bucks. Hard to do something like that over the phone.
Lots of people (hint, hint) like taking surveys because they imply that someone cares about their opinions and makes them feel special. :)
I suppose I should put this in context, too.
It's part of the science fiction crazy year. At World Con there was a big "thing" about how SF isn't welcoming enough and doesn't have enough diversity and isn't safe enough, and someone or other even said that really good books by white male authors should get a pass because they already had their turn... or something like that. The professional organization for science fiction writers is in the process of a political purge.
So... there was a survey going around that asked all sort of questions about diversity and inclusiveness without ever *once* touching on diversity of opinion, religion or politics. And then the lady distributed it to her friends, mostly.
So I made my own version.
For my friends.
There is kind of a drop off towards the end, Synova, but the sample size is small.
I said it was too long. Sorry, nothing personal.
But I answered every question.
Thanks :)
The survey got me thinking what if Boehner and Obama roles/identity were reverse.
At least one person has said that they didn't know the term "speculative fiction". Do you think that I should define that on the survey? Or does it mostly make sense from context?
It's generally a catch-all term for everything lumped together in the "what if" make-believe genres. So it includes science fiction, fantasy, and horror... ghosts, aliens, vampires and also alternate histories such as... what if Adolf Hitler was run over by a car when he was 10 or someone else won a war.
After finishing the rest of the survey, I voted for the survey being too long and that I did not finish. Mostly because I didn't like the other choices and thought it was a funny way to answer.
So they're purging the sci-do writers org? Was Orson Scott Card the first one thrown out, and did GRRM get off his fat commie ass to applaud it?
This post made me feel special
I did it. I rarely read science fiction and horror, but like to watch it on TV an movies, so I answered from that perspective.
And isn't all romance paranormal?
I took Heavy Metal home a few times... and that's all I'm prepare to admit to at this time.
Back when it was not wrapped.
Synova, yes I think it would be a good idea to define speculative fiction. I was not familiar with the term.
I had fun answering the first question.
Human and none of your business. Those choices should be on all government forms.
Enough of this obsessive irritating and useless race bull crap.
I too was wondering about paranormal romance. I'm intrigued.
And isn't all romance paranormal?
Yesterday, I was thinking we (the specie) may be on our way to loosing the gift of song. If my speculation is right, the reason for singing, as it is in birds, was to attract a mate. That's hardly necessary.
By the time I got home the conversation had petered out.
We may looking at a future when women wont have boobs and men wont be able to hold a note.
It's the most depressing thing imaginable.
Don't worry Lem. It will come on so gradually no one will notice.
The phone is good for following the conversations but it doesn't have spell check.
Lem, I was just watching the show Sleepy Hollow and thinking about how great that actor's voice was. No, he doesn't sing, but it's not just his accent. He's got a beautiful, rather deep, resonant voice.
I am a big reader of science fiction with a focus on alternative history. It's funny that you bring up the diversity issues because I think they kind of plague some of the books by some of my favorite authors like SM Stirling. His Island in the Sea of time is almost ruined by it and the Emberverse series really starts to sag when he introduces it into the mix.
In fact his last book is pretty lame and a terrible end to all of the books that went before it.
I am afraid that George Martin will have the same problem when he tries to wind up the Game of Thrones series.
But that is par for the course for long series.
I was also interested in your questions about horror fiction. I prefer the classics like HP Lovecraft. I can't get enough of them.
Also the pulp writers of the last century are great reads. Haggard. Talbot Mundy. Karl Mays. Edgar Rice Burroughs. You need a grounding in the classics to really get a chance to see how the genre has grown. And they are ripping great stories in their own right.
Stephen King has just lost me. It is too much of the same stuff. I remember when I couldn't wait for his next book. Now I don't think I have bought a new one in years.
I always enjoyed James Herbert as a top notch horror dude. He wrote some scary stuff.
I have really enjoyed the "Harry Dresden" novels by Jim Butcher. He is the standard bearer for paranormal stuff these days. Well in my book.
Whoever he is, his voice cant be as good as Patrick Stewart ;)
Synova ... I answered the questions as best I could, several of them I didn't answer because they just don't apply to me. I read very little modern fiction, none in the past 20 years. I read history primarily and my fiction has been limited to classic writers, almost none "speculative" ... unless you count writers like Henryk Sienkiewicz (Trilogy and Quo Vadis) or Rudyard Kipling as writers of "speculative fiction."
The television series Harry Dresden was really great too. It had some differences from the books, though, and fans trashed it. Poopy-heads. Grr.
Some things just don't work so well on television as they do in books. The ghost (Bob?) can be disembodied in the books, float around as a wisp, but in the TV show they had him appear as a person. It's hard to get a camera inside a VW bug but easier to get a camera inside an old jeep. It's hard to film in a cellar and easier if he's got an open-floor-plan office/living space with his laboratory in the back. And *really* you're going to piss and moan because the lady cop is supposed to be blond?
Ugh!
Nine episodes and they cancel a great show.
Hey, I want to make sure that I thank everyone who did the survey. I really appreciate you all. :)
I hope you get an A in your class.
Have you considered posting it on reddit?
Uh... I've no idea how to do that Lem. That was probably going to be my next question... how to get as wide a distribution as possible.
I'll be honest though, it's sort of a scary idea.
LOL, john. :)
Since I did this *instead of my Math homework* I'm thinking that A is a wee bit unlikely.
Answered all but the last one as there just wasn't a good answer for me.
OT, but maybe not, saw Gravity today in IMAX 3D. Very good. Best use of 3D I've yet seen.
They have a "controversial" page where this survey would fit in rather nicely.
I like historical fiction. Because I like a good laugh. Who doesn't? And when I get a book that cracks me up all the way through and yet contains moments so touching my heart is certain to break and then the next page back to laughing out loudly again, why that is a mighty fine book indeed, like Bette Midler's A View from a Broad now that shit is just flat funny, and Carlos Castanada's Don Juan had me laughing one page and weeping the next, oh shit
I meant hysterical fiction. That's what I meant. Sorry.
Lem, is it just a case of sticking the url in there?
XRay, I've been hearing good things about Gravity. I hadn't thought of it in IMAX but I bet it was amazing.
Sandra Bullock as an astronaut. I just don't see it.
Lem, is it just a case of sticking the url in there?
I have seen links to image sites like imgur and video sites like YouTube.
I'm a newbie there. so I really don't know.
Do you want me to try it?
Give me a catchy question to attract clicks and lets see what happens.
"Speculative Fiction Diversity Survey" doesn't seem to be the reddit stile. no offense.
They are informal.
I'm still interested in the purge. I wasn't JUST being sarcastic above.
Paranormal romance, that's probably like the STNG episode where Beverly Crusher falls in love with the ghost of one of her Scottish ancestors on a planet and it turns out it's an alien life form that inhabits or somehow dominates the female line.
And her grandmother is a zombie! except they don't call her that.
Or something!
Sure, Lem. That would be great. I don't know what catchy question would work, though.
We are in luck Synova.
Reddit does take links...
You are submitting a link. The key to a successful submission is interesting content and a descriptive title.
choose a subreddit (like tags)
popular choices
AdviceAnimals
AskReddit
askscience
aww
bestof
books
EarthPorn
explainlikeimfive
funny
gaming
gifs
IAmA
movies
Music
news
pics
science
technology
television
todayilearned
videos
worldnews
WTF
The SciFi folks seem to be in a diversity purge, to be followed by a purge of readers.
Reminds of a blog I used to frequent.
Syn, it was good.
Lem, I can't see Bullock as a hooker on the sidewalk either. Are do you have a preference.
Uh... paranormal romance is like Twilight... Romances with vampires or ghosts or angels/demons or werewolves or shape shifters or something. I'll admit a guilty pleasure, but I really can't get into the vampire or angel/demon ones.
So... the purge. I'm talking about SFWA and as far as I know they've only officially kicked out one person, Vox Day, who is rather irritating, but they had a huge blow up a bit ago because two highly respected older fellows in the genre spoke of the History of SF and mentioned some lady was good looking and used the term "lady editor" or some such. The newsletter/magazine editor resigned and people are leaving voluntarily and rules are changing to try to solve problems of people who are annoying while the whole organization seems to be on a crusade to make it all about inclusion and diversity, sackcloth and ashes.
It's all rather pathetic.
Any of these people would have a *cow* over my survey.
As a hooker on the sidewalk was done by Julia Roberts.
Gravity was a surprisingly good movie. Bullock did very well.
Better than Natalie Portman or Angelina Jolie, who were first choices.
I've read up on the rules for submitting "AskReddit".
Rule 1
•Must have clear and direct question in the title.
•Own answer goes in the comments, NOT the text box.
Rule 2
•Must be open-ended, discussion-inspiring question.
Rule 3
•No surveys, polls, yes/no or either/or questions.
Rule 4
•Posting or seeking Personal Info will result in a ban without prior warning.
Rule 5
•No soapboxing, or attempts to promote or defame a person or entity.
•No rhetorical, or loaded questions.
Rule 6
•No seeking legal, medical, or mental health consult.
Rule 7
•No solicitation of goods/services/favors/assistance/etc.
Rule 8
•Obscene or inflammatory content is subject to removal.
If you have any questions, feel free to consult the mods before posting.
Well... "no surveys" sort of answers the question.
Thanks for checking.
"And isn't all romance paranormal?"
Heh. :)
I'm wondering--why isn't post-apocalyptic stuff a variety of speculative fiction?
Okay, I found some stuff on some of the purge, as well as some stuff about goings-on at some of the conventions. Ugh. I think I'll just pass on anything new, and stick to reading stuff by dead writers.
Synova, at least one female writer has left the SFWA because of the flap, although that was voluntary, and another has stated she is basically taking a wait and see, but seems to be leaning towards leaving.
There's also stuff concerning sexual harassment at conventions and other whatnot. All in all, it makes me not want to be around any of these people.
Here's what appears to be a fairly good timeline of the whole mess. It really makes me want to not read the stuff of anyone that is alive.
It's all very much a state of constant outrage. Just a year or two ago was the dreaded Race-Fail where if you didn't grovel and explain that you were wrong all along and that you really *were* all full of "white privilege" you got hounded until you did so. I hadn't realized that they rewarded Scalzi for his groveling by making him SFWA president.
I'd heard that the Tor editor got fired and that his misbehavior was well known for a long time. A person does have to sort of ask how that can happen? Yes, some jerk fellow-author on a panel can be an *ss but don't you push back?
Well, no, you really don't, because the Truth everyone knows is that if you get a bad reputation in such a tiny industry you'll never publish again.
But does anyone identify this as the problem? No. Even the little bit you linked to, Icepick, goes on about harassment policies and other things at *Wiscon* of all places! Wiscon has been on a "Safe" fetish for years, is a declared "feminist" convention, and has panels on fat-shaming. (Or so I've been told.)
But no one will talk about the continuing insistence on playing the "traditional" game. They'd rather decide that the real problem is a couple of old *liberal* dudes using sexist language.
@ Synova
I loved the answers for the last question. I picked that I was so bored and quit before the end, which is really funny since the last question was the end....and.... and....and....oh well...lol... nevermind.
The flap or hissy fit over diversity in Sci Fi or Fantasy writing is just really stupid.
I don't look at the gender of the author when I am first picking out a book. Sometimes, the gender does leak through into the writing and when it does, it is often a distracting annoyance.
One of my favorite writers of fantasy/sci fi is Julian May It wasn't until after I had read (and reread) the entire series that I found out the author is female. There was no clue. So what? It doesn't change the books.
at least one female writer has left the SFWA because of the flap,
What a pathetic whiny thing to do. If you can't handle that more men read sci fi and more men write sci fi and get all hissy about it....perhaps you should find something else to do.
I don't read 'romance' fantasy or those ridiculous vampire/werewolf Twilight types of books. Just another bodice ripper with the same tired trite plot but with hairier or toothier sex partners.
Actually, at least TWO women left the SFWA over the flap. One quit because she was so offended by the whole thing. The other got fired from her job as editor of the SFWA journal, and quit in disgust. And Vox Day got kicked out for being a dick with the WRONG kind of politics.
And an editor lost his job for harassing women at a conventions.
Plus, a private forum of writers has had its content leaked, in an effort to embarrass some of the old guard. But as best I can tell the old guard just isn't playing along, and really doesn't seem to mind that their stuff has been leaked, at least not because of the content.
The whole thing is a giant cluster-fuck all the way around, and as I said before, it makes me want to stay away from the modern form of the genre and especially the conventions. These people have lost their minds, and, like Alice, I don't want to go among mad people.
Stephan King wrote a lot of anti-Christian stuff in his earlier works. Remember the mother in Carry? The Hindu sex motif in IT? Because of that, I don't read his books anymore.
Post a Comment