>> On some level, (speculative) fiction works on a literary version of the anthropic principle. No matter how strange the events are, they have to be comprehensible to human readers, and if there are human characters in the book, to them too. Otherwise, no story. <<
The farther you get from a human reference, the fewer people are capable of writing it, and the fewer people will enjoy it. But I love the hell out of the rare books with no human characters. Even though they have some elements that humans will recognize (e.g. relationships, conflicts) the details tend to be alien, which makes for unique stories. And I've written a few of my own like that too.
>> I speculated then that "A type of creature who lived on timescales that were orders of magnitude greater or lesser than ours is never going to be able to carry on a conversation with us." <<
They can, it's just harder. If the story is about first contact, then it's usually about how to cope with that barrier. But there are also other types of stories that just use a completely different timeframe. I am a huge fan of these also. They're rare, and hard to do, but the difference in perspective just fascinates me.
"Life in Quicktime" is one of my examples for a person who lives at computer speed but works with humans who live at mammal speed.
>> Which is so creative and original that I was very impressed, and now I wonder why more stories haven't tried this! <<
Because it's really hard to do, let alone do well. Most people rely on personal experience in writing, and if you're writing something totally alien -- and you don't have ulterior experience -- then you have to build every last bit by hand and then remember NOT to use your personal experience. Hell, I had a hard enough time with Torn World Northerners, because my environmental experience is midlatitude and that was set in the equivalent of Alaska. I had to keep ripping thing out to redo them because the world host (who lives in Alaska) would point out temperate errors. >_< The farther from your experience you go, the more that happens. Some hard SF writers are good at it; you found one with The Dragon's Egg. I can do it, but it does take a lot more effort.
>> Similarly, the "religious experience" triggered by scanner light waves from the human spacecraft is compared to orgasm.<<
I found that hilarious, and yes that is a thing that can happen.
You have to be careful saying "hello" because you never know what'll happen to the aliens receiving the message. Like the novel The Bridge where a greeting mostly killed people.
>> Are there no other pleasurable experiences to talk about, really? <<
Maybe, maybe not. The cheela spent most of their time in marginal-survival stages of development (frex, the food-shortage scene). At those levels, in a lot of societies, fucking often is the only entertainment. Also in modern small towns or rural areas? Fucking still is the leading form of entertainment. Been there, seen that, had better things to do myself.
>> "These fifteen-minute lifetime friendships are hard on the emotions," Drake points out, <<
So very true. The good storytellers mention that, because you have to account for it.
>> but science this imaginative can make up for the inherent characterization limitations on the cheela's part.<<
True. There are a handful of possible solutions. One common choice is to make a family the "character" so you're seeing a bunch of generations filling the same basic role.
Thoughts
The farther you get from a human reference, the fewer people are capable of writing it, and the fewer people will enjoy it. But I love the hell out of the rare books with no human characters. Even though they have some elements that humans will recognize (e.g. relationships, conflicts) the details tend to be alien, which makes for unique stories. And I've written a few of my own like that too.
>> I speculated then that "A type of creature who lived on timescales that were orders of magnitude greater or lesser than ours is never going to be able to carry on a conversation with us." <<
They can, it's just harder. If the story is about first contact, then it's usually about how to cope with that barrier. But there are also other types of stories that just use a completely different timeframe. I am a huge fan of these also. They're rare, and hard to do, but the difference in perspective just fascinates me.
"Life in Quicktime" is one of my examples for a person who lives at computer speed but works with humans who live at mammal speed.
>> Which is so creative and original that I was very impressed, and now I wonder why more stories haven't tried this! <<
Because it's really hard to do, let alone do well. Most people rely on personal experience in writing, and if you're writing something totally alien -- and you don't have ulterior experience -- then you have to build every last bit by hand and then remember NOT to use your personal experience. Hell, I had a hard enough time with Torn World Northerners, because my environmental experience is midlatitude and that was set in the equivalent of Alaska. I had to keep ripping thing out to redo them because the world host (who lives in Alaska) would point out temperate errors. >_< The farther from your experience you go, the more that happens. Some hard SF writers are good at it; you found one with The Dragon's Egg. I can do it, but it does take a lot more effort.
>> Similarly, the "religious experience" triggered by scanner light waves from the human spacecraft is compared to orgasm.<<
I found that hilarious, and yes that is a thing that can happen.
You have to be careful saying "hello" because you never know what'll happen to the aliens receiving the message. Like the novel The Bridge where a greeting mostly killed people.
>> Are there no other pleasurable experiences to talk about, really? <<
Maybe, maybe not. The cheela spent most of their time in marginal-survival stages of development (frex, the food-shortage scene). At those levels, in a lot of societies, fucking often is the only entertainment. Also in modern small towns or rural areas? Fucking still is the leading form of entertainment. Been there, seen that, had better things to do myself.
>> "These fifteen-minute lifetime friendships are hard on the emotions," Drake points out, <<
So very true. The good storytellers mention that, because you have to account for it.
>> but science this imaginative can make up for the inherent characterization limitations on the cheela's part.<<
True. There are a handful of possible solutions. One common choice is to make a family the "character" so you're seeing a bunch of generations filling the same basic role.