[from The Heinlein Society‘s Facebook page]
“I never “created” or “invented” a “Future History.” On April Fool’s Day 1939 I started to write commercially (appropriate date?); by the middle of August I had written 8 shorts & a serial. As 5 of these items were more or less to the same fictional background, I found that I was continually having to check back to keep from tripping over my own feet.
So I took an old navigation chart, about 3×4 feet, turned it over, made the time scale vertical, then set up 5 columns: stories, characters, technical data, sociological, remarks. Then I checked those first 5 stories, filled data into proper columns at the proper height for the fictional date—and continued to do this with other stories later. The chart was on the righthand wall near my elbow and was unusually messy as I never took the chart down to add to it—just reached over and scrawled on it.
In 1940, having paid off the mortgage that caused me to start writing fiction, I went east, met JWC, and, in the course of talking shop and getting acquainted, I told him about this dodge I used on stories with common pseudo-historical backgrounds, to keep me from getting mixed up.
JWC said, “I’ve got to see that chart!” I refused, pointing out that it was simply a crutch for me, not the reader. When I returned home, he kept bothering me about it. Eventually, to shut him up, I drew a reduced copy, using a drawing board & instruments, and typing the data—sort of a paste-up job. I sent it to him; Street & Smith’s art department redrew it, made it neater without changing it. John published it.
I have never been sure whether or not publishing that chart was a good idea or a bad mistake. Possibly it helped to sell some stories later—but certainly it caused me and still causes me to receive a lot nuisance mail from nitpickers. I have never felt bound by that chart; it was to serve me, not the other way around. If I found myself with a good story notion which fitted fairly well into the chart but not perfectly, I shed no tears—I went ahead and let the inconsistencies stand.
I want each story to be internally consistent . . . but I won’t let myself be painted into a corner through trying to fit that chart perfectly. I may start another “Future History” story tomorrow . . . and find that to make it a good yarn I must violate some item on that chart. I’ll give the nitpickers something to pick, for I will not hurt a good yarn for the sake of “logic”—logic is not involved, as that chart is fiction, not Holy Writ.” –Robert A. Heinlein
Photo: Heinlein at home in Bonny Doon sometime in 1967, around the time The Past Through Tomorrow was published.
Dana sez–Readers do tend to take charts of any kind as gospel. Which, okay, they are, but only within the world created by the writer and ever subject to our whim. Maps, too. Writer beware: you will get feedback whether you want it or not.
The first science ficton novel I ever read was RAH’s Between Planets. Don Harvey, born on a spaceship between planets, is in school on Earth when he is suddenly summoned home to Mars by his parents. A small divergence in his itinerary is caused when the colony on Venus declares independence and Venus and Earth go to war. Okay, yes, RAH is, ahem, let’s just say old-fashioned as regards the roles his female characters are allowed to inhabit (Isobel reduced to a “whither-thou-goest type,” gag me), but no one ever before or since wrote better nut-and-bolts sf, and Don’s evolution from a wet-behind-the-ears kid to blooded soldier is as real today as it was when it was written 74 years ago.
His YA novels are Heinlein’s best work and is the best introduction to science fiction you can get. As well as Between Planets I recommend Citizen of the Galaxy (slavery on a galactic scale encapsulated in the experience of one scarred boy), Red Planet (never trust a corporation to value employees over money), Farmer in the Sky (the risks and rewards of leaving Earth behind), Have Spacesuit Will Travel (what RAH writes about Kip’s education is more prescient than even he knew), The Rolling Stones (where his his female characters have evolved some), and Space Cadet (impossible even now not to tear up over the roll call of the Four). They have my highest recommendation; just remember and, yes, respect that all writers are products of their time and place. I for one will be forever grateful that John W. Campbell managed to bully a copy of RAH’s future history timeline out of him and publish it for all of us to read.
#thiswritinglife Chatter Uncategorized rah Robert A. Heinlein the heinlein society