Elliot Kessler

Last Saturday, the library in my city hosted a local authors’ convention, and I thought I would attend. (Not as an author, though, because the library does not know I am an author, and I’m not sure how to tell them. Besides, my novel is not in a physical format, and no one can check it out from the library.) It was a very fun, interesting, and inspiring event. There were a couple of sci-fi authors, a children’s author, and two non-fiction authors. They had raffles for each of the authors’ books, and I got the children’s book. But that is not the story that I want to tell.

After the event, they allowed the attendees to talk with the authors, purchase books, and get their books signed. I got my new children’s book signed, and I met with the sci-fi author next to her. We talked about our books and our writing processes. His book is longer, and he already has two more written in his series that have not yet been published, so his experience is very different from mine and lasted longer than nine months. But I could relate to him very well, and we had a very interesting discussion. I mentioned that I’m outlining my second novel, which is also science fiction. He asked me if it was set on Earth or another world. I said Earth, but my other novel is set across multiple planets. He mentioned that he didn’t like to write stories on Earth because he thought Earth was very limiting, and he couldn’t write the stories he wanted to.

I found this perspective very interesting and, quite frankly, very wrong.

I have run into this issue before, however. I wanted to try writing a story set on Earth after reading a lot of classic sci-fi, such as H. G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Philip K. Dick. I was also inspired by the works of Ted Chiang, who wrote many short stories set on Earth. But I couldn’t figure out what I was going to write about. I felt limited and constrained, just like that author told me he does. But there are so many sci-fi stories set on Earth. Why couldn’t I write one?

Well, now I’m working on a sci-fi novel set on Earth, and I have some short story ideas with sort of a “Twilight Zone” feeling that I’m hoping to write soon. I don’t think the constraints of staying on Earth limited my story. I think it set my imagination free.

Setting a sci-fi or fantasy novel doesn’t constrain your imagination. Anything can happen on Earth. Wars can start, adventure can be found, and a worldwide quarantine can happen anytime. This world is crazy, full of possibilities and impossibilities, and you can write about both.

This Earth is not limiting. It is freeing.

Now, that’s not to say that the author I talked to isn’t smart. He is a very intelligent, very good author with one book published and two more finished and on the way. He is a fantastic guy, and I’ll put a link to his book right below here. I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard many great things about it, and it has a lot of good reviews on Amazon.

Thank you guys so much for reading! Have a fantastic day.