A few sentences of dialogue from a 1968 sci-fi book changed the way I look at writing. The book is called Tales of Pirx the Pilot and written by someone who’d become my favourite author – Stanisław Lem. Lem was a masterful literary world builder, and Pirx stories were no exception. The opening paragraphs weren’t wasted on clunky exposition or establishing shots. No, you were thrown straight into Pirx’s universe, without an onramp and without a warning. The explanations would come in...
