--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: I came into science fiction at a very…" description: "\"I came into science fiction at a very good time, when the doors were getting thrown open to all kinds of more experimental writing, more literary writi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9b/ursula-k-le-guin-138_all-kinds_i-came-into-science-fiction-at-a-very-go_1465591.jpg" --- # I came into science fiction at a very good time, when the… ![“I came into science fiction at a very good time, when the doors were getting thrown open to all kinds of more experimental writing, more literary writing, riskier writing. It wasn't all imitation Heinlein or Asimov. And of course, women were creeping in, infiltrating. Infesting the premises.” quote by Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9b/ursula-k-le-guin-138_all-kinds_i-came-into-science-fiction-at-a-very-go_1465591.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9b/ursula-k-le-guin-138_all-kinds_i-came-into-science-fiction-at-a-very-go_1465591.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a9b/ursula-k-le-guin-138_all-kinds_i-came-into-science-fiction-at-a-very-go_1465591.jpg) > “I came into science fiction at a very good time, when the doors were getting thrown open to all kinds of more experimental writing, more literary writing, riskier writing. It wasn't all imitation Heinlein or Asimov. And of course, women were creeping in, infiltrating. Infesting the premises.” [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Science fiction opened to experimental, literary, and riskier works, moving beyond classic imitation and incorporating diverse voices, especially women. **In simple terms:** SF became more experimental and inclusive. Key Takeaway Embrace diverse perspectives in creative work. Themes innovation inclusion literary evolution gender diversity Mood hopeful reflective Type analytical inspirational When to use this quote - publishing - creative workshops - academic curricula - reader communities Key Concepts genre theory cultural shift authorial voice Questions to Reflect On - How can publishers support experimental voices? - What barriers still exist for underrepresented writers? A Different Perspective Traditional genre expectations can resist change. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Asimov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/asimov/) [Fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fiction/) [Good times](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/good-times/) [Science](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science/) [Science fiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/science-fiction/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [I don’t think ‘science fiction’ is a very good name for it, but it’s the name that we’ve got. It is different from other…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-don-t-think-science-fiction-is-a-very-good-name-for-it-but-it-s-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [I've kept voluminous diaries since I was eighteen, and do a lot of experimental writing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-alan-stamaty/i-ve-kept-voluminous-diaries-since-i-was-eighteen-and-do-a-lot-of/) [Mark Alan Stamaty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-alan-stamaty/) > [“I never liked the term “experimental writing,” but what else is a prose poem? Having written a number of them, I still don’t know…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-edson/i-never-liked-the-term-experimental-writing-but-what-else-is-a-prose/) [Russell Edson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-edson/) > [What could be more experimental than me writing a straight up love song?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bradford-cox/what-could-be-more-experimental-than-me-writing-a-straight-up-love/) [Bradford Cox](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bradford-cox/) > [I love experimental writing, when it's good, and good examples are much more likely to be found in the short form.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nicholas-royle/i-love-experimental-writing-when-it-s-good-and-good-examples-are-much/) [Nicholas Royle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nicholas-royle/) > [I see myself as a storyteller, I don't mind if the story is fact or fiction, if it's a good story I'd like to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leanne-pooley/i-see-myself-as-a-storyteller-i-don-t-mind-if-the-story-is-fact-or/) [Leanne Pooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leanne-pooley/) > [I sometimes feel fiction is the ideal preservation for real memories. Fiction is such a good place to keep things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wim-wenders/i-sometimes-feel-fiction-is-the-ideal-preservation-for-real-memories/) [Wim Wenders](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wim-wenders/) > [“Fiction---good fiction, anyway---is dream made flesh, given purpose and drive, and set on a quest to show us the best in us and to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/holly-lisle/fiction-good-fiction-anyway-is-dream-made-flesh-given-purpose-and/) [Holly Lisle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/holly-lisle/) > [“To write good religious science fiction, or indeed good religious fiction of any kind, is a challenge but one that it would be worthwhile…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hal-g-p-colebatch/to-write-good-religious-science-fiction-or-indeed-good-religious/) Hal G.P. Colebatch > [“No fiction is good fiction unless it is true to life, and yet no life is worth relating unless it be a life out…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-gerhardie/no-fiction-is-good-fiction-unless-it-is-true-to-life-and-yet-no-life/) [William Gerhardie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-gerhardie/) > [Conflict and character are the heart of good fiction, and good mystery has both of those in spades.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-gabaldon/conflict-and-character-are-the-heart-of-good-fiction-and-good-mystery/) [Diana Gabaldon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-gabaldon/) > [In my mind, there isn't as much of a distinction between documentary and fiction as there is between a good movie and a bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abbas-kiarostami/in-my-mind-there-isn-t-as-much-of-a-distinction-between-documentary/) [Abbas Kiarostami](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abbas-kiarostami/) > [In terms of fiction, I'd rather go out and have a good time than read a book about someone having a good or bad…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joni-mitchell/in-terms-of-fiction-i-d-rather-go-out-and-have-a-good-time-than-read/) [Joni Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joni-mitchell/) > [Fantasy is an area where it is possible to talk about right and wrong, good and evil, with a straight face. In mainstream fiction…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-jordan/fantasy-is-an-area-where-it-is-possible-to-talk-about-right-and-wrong/) [Robert Jordan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-jordan/) > [Writing fiction is a good way to inhabit other minds, if not other lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-heti/writing-fiction-is-a-good-way-to-inhabit-other-minds-if-not-other/) [Sheila Heti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-heti/) ## More by Ursula K. Le Guin > [“...I wore his blood for clothing, on my legs and thighs and hands: a dry, stiff, brown garment with no warmth in it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-wore-his-blood-for-clothing-on-my-legs-and-thighs-and-hands-a-dry/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/translation-is-entirely-mysterious-increasingly-i-have-felt-that-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Aeneas' mother is a star?" "No; a goddess." I said cautiously, "Venus is the power that we invoke in spring, in the garden, when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/aeneas-mother-is-a-star-no-a-goddess-i-said-cautiously-venus-is-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Meaning - this is perhaps the common note, the bane I am seeking. What is the Meaning of this book, this event in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/meaning-this-is-perhaps-the-common-note-the-bane-i-am-seeking-what-is/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [For fantasy is true, of course. It isn't factual, but it is true. Children know that. Adults know it too, and that is precisely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/for-fantasy-is-true-of-course-it-isn-t-factual-but-it-is-true/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“. . . chronosophy does involve ethics. Because our sense of time involves our ability to separate cause and effect, means and end. The…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/chronosophy-does-involve-ethics-because-our-sense-of-time-involves/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“If both you and your plane are on time, the airport is merely a diffuse, short, miserable prelude to the intense, long, miserable plane…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/if-both-you-and-your-plane-are-on-time-the-airport-is-merely-a/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“The author is not impartial. Dystopia is not tragedy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/the-author-is-not-impartial-dystopia-is-not-tragedy/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [Between thought and spoken word is a gap where intention can enter, the symbol be twisted aside, and the lie come to be.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/between-thought-and-spoken-word-is-a-gap-where-intention-can-enter/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [I have no control over my writing. I have lots of good intentions, but no control. There's a story that wants to be told.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-have-no-control-over-my-writing-i-have-lots-of-good-intentions-but/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I did a lot today. That is, I did something. The only thing I have ever done. I pressed a button. It took the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-did-a-lot-today-that-is-i-did-something-the-only-thing-i-have-ever/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [To me the female principle is, or at least historically has been, basically anarchic. It values order without constraint, rule by custom not by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/to-me-the-female-principle-is-or-at-least-historically-has-been/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Hector had no virtue?” “Of course he did. He won all his battles, till the last one.” “We all do,” Aeneas remarked.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/hector-had-no-virtue-of-course-he-did-he-won-all-his-battles-till-the/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“I was willing to believe him that most modern writing was trash, on the evidence that so much old writing was trash; but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-was-willing-to-believe-him-that-most-modern-writing-was-trash-on/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) > [“Can women operate as women in a male institution without becoming imitation men?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/can-women-operate-as-women-in-a-male-institution-without-becoming/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) [Explore all 1,114 Ursula K. Le Guin quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) ## More All kinds quotes > [I was interested in all kinds of things, whether it be Avatar, Mad Men, Troy, 300, Battlestar Gallactica, or the poems of Horace and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-mendelsohn/i-was-interested-in-all-kinds-of-things-whether-it-be-avatar-mad-men/) [Daniel Mendelsohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-mendelsohn/) > [While husbands and lovers in the stories are of all kinds, ranging from sympathetic to disgusting, women are invariably deceivers: inconstant, unscrupulous, quarrelsome, querulous,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barbara-tuchman/while-husbands-and-lovers-in-the-stories-are-of-all-kinds-ranging/) [Barbara Tuchman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barbara-tuchman/) > [I'm not technically proficient enough to attempt all kinds of music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noel-gallagher/i-m-not-technically-proficient-enough-to-attempt-all-kinds-of-music/) [Noel Gallagher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noel-gallagher/) > [My office in New York is overflowing with all kinds of cookbooks, and in New Orleans we have a huge culinary library. So yeah,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emeril-lagasse/my-office-in-new-york-is-overflowing-with-all-kinds-of-cookbooks-and/) [Emeril Lagasse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emeril-lagasse/) > [Sydney is full of the craziest and most talented artists of all kinds.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keiynan-lonsdale/sydney-is-full-of-the-craziest-and-most-talented-artists-of-all-kinds/) [Keiynan Lonsdale](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keiynan-lonsdale/) > [Baseball needs to put the steroids era behind it by having and enforcing tough rules against all kinds of artificial advantages, so that spring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marvin-olasky/baseball-needs-to-put-the-steroids-era-behind-it-by-having-and/) [Marvin Olasky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marvin-olasky/) > [You know, the world’s not running out of oil. There’s all kinds of oil left in all kinds of places. …We’re never going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeff-rubin/you-know-the-world-s-not-running-out-of-oil-there-s-all-kinds-of-oil/) [Jeff Rubin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeff-rubin/) > [I grew up with all kinds of people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vin-diesel/i-grew-up-with-all-kinds-of-people/) [Vin Diesel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vin-diesel/) > [Because there were all kinds of hell - some were black and dirty, and some were silvery and high.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-helprin/because-there-were-all-kinds-of-hell-some-were-black-and-dirty-and/) [Mark Helprin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-helprin/) > [The architecture of the song, if it's built properly, can withstand all kinds of things.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/emily-haines/the-architecture-of-the-song-if-it-s-built-properly-can-withstand-all/) [Emily Haines](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/emily-haines/) > [There are all kinds of writers. The best writers write children's books.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-scarry/there-are-all-kinds-of-writers-the-best-writers-write-children-s-books/) [Richard Scarry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-scarry/) > [We also need to make sure women can be in charge of their reproductive health. We can't defund places like Planned Parenthood, where women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chrissy-teigen/we-also-need-to-make-sure-women-can-be-in-charge-of-their/) [Chrissy Teigen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chrissy-teigen/) > [The single greatest pleasure that I have in doing ('Bizarre Foods') is when I meet families with 6, 7, 8-year-olds, or teenagers, who say,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-zimmern/the-single-greatest-pleasure-that-i-have-in-doing-bizarre-foods-is/) [Andrew Zimmern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-zimmern/) > [I can see that I imagine all kinds of rejection that never happens. 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