NiTRO + Creative Matters

Perspectives on creative arts in higher education

IS THERE ENOUGH SCIENCE IN THIS FICTION?

  • SARAH MOULD
REFLECTIONS ON GENRE WRITING AND CREATIVE PRACTICE RESEARCH — Nearly three years into my creative practice PhD in which I wrote multiple fat and queer science fiction short stories, my supervisor asked: Is there enough science in them? This question has since underpinned my understanding of the ‘perennially revised’ (Latham 2017, p.8) genre borders of literary science fiction, and the ‘validity and rigour of practice-led research’ (Gandolfo 2012, p. 64) in academic institutions.

While an artist may desire to push the limits of what is possible, a creative practice doctorate researcher must work within recognisable limits to create an artefact for a specific scope of knowledge production. I attempt to investigate this inherent tension of scope, with a focus on how to define a science fiction framework, as seen through the reception of literary science fiction novel Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005), and how I was able to discover and reclaim the lost science in my own science fiction short story, Now The Water Rises, through intentional reflection on genre writing.

Key words science fiction; short story; creative practice research; fat studies

DOI 10.65289/creativematters.2025.10.12

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Sarah Mould (she/her) is a creative practice PhD candidate and recipient of a Research Excellence Scholarship at the University of Technology Sydney. Her research investigates how writers can use literary science fiction to create positive fat futures. Sarah is proud to have been shortlisted for the Monash Prize at the Emerging Writers’ Festival and the B&T Award for Diversity, and written multiple industry-recognised advertising and advocacy campaigns.

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