Kurt Vonnegut said (in his memoir i think) that he never set out to be a science fiction writer. in his perspective, he just wrote fiction, but the identity of "science fiction writer" was assigned to him by literary critics.

these were the people who had invented "science" fiction as a way to compartmentalize it and set it apart because they were too dim to contemplate science or technology.

[–] BearerOfPickles@hexbear.net 19 points 6 days ago (1 children)

So many of that era of writer prefer the term speculative fiction, and I can see why. Maybe doesn't feel great to be lumped in with Five cent comic slop

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 13 points 6 days ago

the vibe i got from KV's musing was that doofuses likely invented it to describe other, smarter authors because they didn't want to compete with actual intelligence and creativity.

[–] tombruzzo@hexbear.net 10 points 6 days ago

He also said he wouldn't mind being a science fiction writer if critics didn't constantly mistake the science fiction drawer for a urinal