Happy Mediums and Idea-Driven Stories

I used to think I didn't like science fiction.

Now I've figured out that a. I have a weak stomach in some ways and b. I strongly prefer character-driven stories, so there is a good deal of science fiction I don't like, along with stuff I really love (A Wrinkle In Time, anyone?).

An interesting phenomenon that makes up some of the science fiction I like less is stories that are not really either plot or character-driven. An author comes up with an idea- what if aliens came to Earth or what if computers were implanted in our brains or what if people started growing snakes for hair- and builds a plot completely to serve it, then pulls in characters just to serve the plot. Thus the idea is stretched to create a whole novel much the same way you stretch the Clean Teeth pamphlets when the dentist keeps you forty minutes in his waiting room. These books seem to be becoming more common in many genres- books that have a good idea, and often good/decent craft and structure, but don't really seem to mean all of the story. A person who is interested enough in the idea may read and enjoy the story anyway. When I became interested in the life of Anne Sullivan (after watching The Miracle Worker, which is just so good! It made me cry so much I felt like my face was melting!) I read many, many books on her and Helen Keller, some of them near identical twins, or triplets of each other.

This is something I do when I have a good idea that might not fill many pages: write flash fiction! And, one of the most important things I've learned: Don't be afraid of wasting ideas. I used to ration out ideas, one per story, and as a result, my stories went dry. Now I often use five or six ideas-for-a-story in one story- if they (seem to) fit, of course. Not that I don't occasionally end up with a story in which a shy, anxious character randomly decides to juggle oranges in the playground (real example) or a story where the whole point is that you should be nice to your little brother (or if you aren't nice to him, you should be really nice to your parents), but I think writing is a lot about finding a happy medium, something between “Stuff happened.” and “Hannah J. Brown, who still had coffee brown eyes, and blond hair down to her shoulders, moved the big toe on her right foot that still had a cut slightly to the side of her shoe to scratch an itch (the cut toe was itchy, not the shoe).” Or maybe writing is a happy medium. (Medium of expression. Pun intended.) Writing this was certainly fun, especially the Hannah J. Brown (who still has brown eyes, blond hair, a cut on her toe, and strawberry yogurt on her nose) part.