This is the second post in the "Knowledge and Fiction Series."
Part 2: Evolution
Fiction often resides at the intersection of two distinct continuums: didacticism vs. pure entertainment, and realism vs. speculative genres such as fantasy and science fiction. On the first axis, stories may be crafted to educate, provoke thought, or impart moral lessons, leaning towards didacticism. Business novels and fictional case studies--mentioned in the previous post--, fall at that end of the continuum. At the other end, fictional accounts may exist purely to entertain, offering escapism without a direct message. I’ve experimented with both extremes.
On the second axis, realism anchors a story in the tangible
and familiar, often reflecting societal norms or historical settings.
Meanwhile, speculative fiction—including fantasy and science fiction—liberates
itself from these constraints, imagining worlds governed by different rules,
whether shaped by magic, advanced technology, or alternative realities.
These continuums intersect in countless ways. The specific
intersection I’m aiming for now, lies toward the speculative end, focused on a
relatively close time horizon of the next 30–40 years. On the
didactic-entertainment axis, I’m stepping away from didactic fiction. Yet, I
can’t imagine writing a novel purely for entertainment. I say that now, but
I’ve written—and filled my head with—fiction entirely for my own enjoyment, so
I don’t mean to diminish its value. In fact, didactic fiction that isn’t entertaining
rarely reaches many readers.
At this stage in my life, the fiction I want to write should
provoke thought, raise awareness, and inspire individual and collective
reflection. If it’s not entertaining, it must at least be engaging. That’s my
aim.
More specifically, in this new phase of exploration—and
perhaps because I can’t entirely turn my back on 25+ years of knowledge-related
work—I want to investigate how speculative and science fiction address
knowledge-related themes, such as:
- Knowledge
as power
- The
role of knowledge in survival
- The
emotional and cultural contexts of knowledge
- Fragility
and preservation of knowledge
- Dangers
of knowledge misuse
- Knowledge
as a living, evolving entity
- Personal
knowledge vs. collective knowledge
- Ethics
of knowledge control
- Interplay
between human and machine intelligence
- Knowledge
as a tool for social and economic mobility
- Different
ways of knowing—and perhaps even how the concept of “knowledges” relates
to ideas around the multiverse and quantum theory.
That last one might be a stretch, but explorations require
stretching the imagination and taking risks. That includes the risk of saying
or writing something ridiculous—or venturing into unknown areas that later
prove fruitless. But that’s probably a topic for another blog.
I wrote a novel once that touched on this theme. I think it
was called In Her Mind’s Eye. It’s the only novel I ever tried—weakly—to
publish. The main character had synesthesia, which allowed me to explore a
unique way of experiencing the world, sensing, and knowing.
 |
| This is illustrative, not meant to be exhaustive. |
This exploration could easily expand into multiple
dissertations. Instead, I’ll take a selective approach, using my current
novel’s needs to guide the inquiry. I’ll need discipline—an analysis of the
‘critical knowledge’ needed to complete the novel successfully. Even writing
these blog posts often leads to tangents, connecting ideas and exploring
different pathways. It might not make for “good writing,” but let’s call it
“exploration writing.” It feels raw, like an explorer’s journal. And yes, I
overuse the words explore and exploration—I call myself a
knowledge explorer, after all! 😊
In a recent post, I addressed my insecurities about writing.
I find myself oscillating between confidence, acknowledging the preparation
I’ve done over the decades, and self-doubt, reminding myself that I’ve never
published a novel. But that’s nonsense. As I tell myself: “Je vais me foutre
la paix.”
What’s Next?
2025 Blog Series: To provide a sense of what’s coming, here is what the full series looks like, with the caveat that the italicized posts have not been even drafted yet. At the end of each month, I also plan on writing a short post on progress made with the actual writing of the novel – without giving away the plot.
- Setting My Sights on Fiction– 12/26/2024
- Facing the Blank Page – 1/1/2025
Beginning of the Knowledge in Fiction Series
- Part 1 – Past Experience 1/8/2025
- Part 2 – Evolution 1/15/2025 – this post
- Part 3 – Knowledge and Character Development
- Part 4 – Knowledge at Societal Level
- Part 5 – Knowledge as Plot Element
- Part 6 – Fiction Writing, World Building, and
Knowledge Management
- Part 7 – Books for Writers – Learning to Write
Reading and Listening
- Being Mortal, by Atul Gawande
- Playground, by Richard Powers
- Hua Hsu, “Richard Powers on What We Do to the Earth and What it Does to Us,” The New Yorker, September 9, 2024.
