Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckieTigger
I agree with what you are saying and hope I did understand the point you were trying to make. Let me continue the thought process a little:
What you wrote is not a contradiction or even a surprise. Many of the back then SF authors might not have wanted to write science fiction or did not care what they wrote, but made sure that they told stories that people would want to read at the time. It works the other way around as well: If you want to write a certain genre (e.g. romance) and it does not sell at the time, you possibly could create a love-story in a science fiction setting. You could write about how your robot-mistress cheated on you with your neighbors robot-toy-dog or somesuch. Sorry though, if I come up with ideas it all turns into a sarcastic comedy. That is why I am not a writer  . And besides, cyber-cheating is not actually that much of science fiction any more, it does exist. With time it will be even harder to come up with unique ideas for new technology to put into science fiction stories. Unless you want it to sound like a copy of this sucessful author or that one. Plus some of what was science fiction decades ago is reality now.
It is perfectly fine for any author to not wanting or beeing able to be flexible. If that unwillingness to write is hindering the author by not making as much money as in a different genre, then please don't complain about it. Unlike most other jobs out there a writer does have the option to write what he/she wants. If I don't like my job and would like to switch to a different job then I have that option as well - to a degree limited by my qualifications. The decision is going to be if I work to enjoy working making less money, or work a different job (genre for authors) that pays better, but I might not like as much.
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What I am trying to say is that S/F was the toughest genre to write well. Those who wrote it back then did it for love. But love didn't pay the bills. So most of them shifted what they did (writing) to other markets that paid better.
Leigh Brackett became a scriptwriter for Hollywood. Issac Asimov went into non-fiction (which paid much better). Alfred Bester bluntly stated later that he would only write S/F when he was offered enough money or had nothing better to do. (See his comments in the book
Star Light) Henry Kuttner gave it up and was becoming a psychologist at the time of his death. Cat Moore ended up marying a rich doctor (who hated pulp fiction and demanded she not write that kind of trash). Harlan Ellison wrote for Hollywood (Hollyweird, to quote him), soft porn and edited Porn magazines to make ends meet in the early '60s. Marion Zimmer Bradley wrote soft porn romances as well (for the money). Shall I go on?
Some were stubborn, though. Philip Jose Farmer dug ditches. H. Beam Piper shot himself, when he was going to be evicted because nothing was selling. (The check that would have saved him arrived 2 days after he punched out...)
And so it went...