Early Science Fiction’s Influence on Early Science

In the mid-17^th century, European society experienced an evolution in the way natural phenomena were described and explored. What was previously known as “natural philosophy” (which included disciplines like alchemy and medicine) slowly grew into what we now recognize as science. This evolution came at a time when those working in the field of natural philosophy would have already been exposed to new and cutting-edge ideas in stories that are understood today as early science fiction. These fictions took plausible new scientific ideas and placed them in narratives to explore the effects of how those ideas might affect the world.

In the 1660s, a premier group of natural philosophers formed The Royal Society, also known as The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. To paraphrase Robert Markley, The Royal Society recognized that science could become a utopia of advancement, objectivity, progress, and improvement of the arts (Markley, 1983, pp. 355-6). This group included Robert Boyle (1627-1691) and Isaac Newton (1643-1727), revolutionary natural philosophers of the period. Both of these early scientists were inventing disciplines, methods, languages, math, and science as they were developing their works (Markley, pp. 358-9). Though their work was certainly groundbreaking, some of their ideas would have been influenced by fictional works already in circulation at the time.

Published posthumously in 1626, Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis describes an isolated, hidden nation featuring an institution known as Salomon's House. This institution made use of the relatively new principles of the scientific method, which Bacon himself developed. Based on these principles, Bacon’s story describes the various roles people play at Salomon’s House, which is essentially a research university pursuing and applying science to further human knowledge. Bacon’s characters do this, according to the story, because the purpose of Salomon’s House is “…the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible" (Bacon, 1626).

New Atlantis may have influenced the methods behind the science itself, but Thomas More’s Utopia, published in 1516, would’ve given rise to the idea that society itself might be improvable, if not perfectable, with learned planning. More’s story not only describes the island of Utopia as a society in a geographical location, the civilization there is described as a utopia in the sense that it is an idealized society. Everyone’s needs are met. Everyone has a role. Everyone is treated fairly and equally (More, 1516). A proto-communist society in nature, the specific principles may not necessarily hold up to scrutiny by today’s standards; but the innovative idea that disciplined foreknowledge could support the educated planning of an entire civilization would have been radical and inspiring at the time.

1608 saw the publication of Johannes Kepler’s Somnium (or, The Dream). Written as a university dissertation, this story describes how astronomy on the moon might look. First, however, Kepler’s astronomer needed to get to the moon before conducting such astronomy. Though he includes the help of a “daemon” (maybe what we might call an alien) to facilitate the journey, Kepler goes on to describe the safety precautions and possible effects on the human body during space travel. What follows is a fairly dense scientific description of lunar-based astronomy (Kepler, 1630). 17^th-century natural philosophers would have been absorbed not only by the scientific detail, but also with an intense sense of possibility seeing the application of science in such an exotic context, thus making Kepler an early writer of hard science fiction and science fiction prototyping (an increasingly popular real-world method for imagining the effect of new technology on the future) (Wikipedia. 2020.).

When Margaret Cavendish published The Blazing World in 1666, she had been interacting with The Royal Society. In her story, a young woman is abducted, her abductors die, she is rescued after finding another world connected to ours, and she becomes empress of that “blazing world”. The men of the blazing world are hybrids of men with insects and animals, but are versed in the various disciplines of natural philosophy. Her story attempts to explore many scientific topics such as why the sun is hot, what snow is made of, and what life is. On the overwhelming wondrousness of life, the protagonist eventually declares “Nature's works are so various and wonderful, that no particular creature is able to trace her ways” (Cavendish, 1666.). The Blazing World would have been a direct challenge to the scientists of the day, and was a forerunner of feminist science fiction that would flourish in the latter 20^th century.

Even before science was known by that name, and before the term science fiction was used to describe stories exploring scientific possibilities, early precursors of such stories were influencing the people that would make science a reality. Those people would, in turn, develop science into an engine of imagination fueling even more stories in what would become a recurring symbiotic relationship of discovery and imagination.

 

Works Cited

Bacon, Francis. The New Atlantis. Project Gutenberg, 2008. Ebook.

Cavendish, Margaret. The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World. Project Gutenberg, 2016. Ebook.

Kepler, Johannes. Somnium – A Dream. Charlestown, Rhode Island: Frosty Drew Memorial Fund, Inc., 2020. https://frostydrew.org/papers.dc/papers/paper-somnium/.

Markley, Robert. “Objectivity as Ideology: Boyle, Newton, and the Languages of Science.” Genre (Volume 16, Winter 1983). University of Oklahoma.

More, Thomas. Utopia. Seattle: Amazon, 2014. Kindle edition.

Wikipedia contributors, "Science fiction prototyping," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Science_fiction_prototyping&oldid=953944570  (accessed October 6, 2020).

 

A New Hobby

As I’m sure is true for all of us, pandemic life gets to me every once in a while. I’ve gone down the darkly beckoning rabbit holes of despair plenty, and each time I wonder what else I could be doing with my time. 

I’ve often heard it said that in times like this, it’s good to try a new hobby or skill. People I know are trying it and thriving. 

I’ve decided to start pursuing a full-bore self-directed study of the works, history, and subgenres of science fiction. I don’t mean binge-watching all the Star Wars movies; I mean from a literary and academic standpoint. 

Since July, I’ve been laying the groundwork for this; researching resources, assessing my motivation, and gauging the “how”. Not only are we living in the age of COVID-19, the Trumpster fire, 60s-style protests, double-barrel hurricanes, and murder hornets, we’re also living in an astonishingly well-stocked world of free learning. Syllabi, video lectures, classes, books, scholarly research; it’s ALL out there. I’m pretty sure I could come close to degree-level knowledge without spending much more than what one might possibly spend on the occasional visit to Barnes & Noble (if you’re new here, that was a chain of coffee/gift shops that also sold some books). 

I’m a little leery of the nerdiness-factor of this pursuit, but you know what? Fuck it. I’m already a huge nerd and a 49-year-old grownass man that still gets a little excited about the pew-pew-pew while being able to geek out over the difference between an anti-utopia and a uchronia while having a huge mancrush on H.G. Wells and the size of his enormous intellect and if you don’t like it you can eat your own wormhole.

So yeah. This is happening.

(Originally posted 9/2/2020 via Facebook.)

2016: The Year I Was As Successful As All My Other Years

Yeah, so I keep saying I'm a writer. I write stuff. I do. I don't have any discipline, though. I see all my writer buddies posting about their year in review and I'm like, "I SUCK!"

But I don't. I do write stuff. In fact I wrote a few things last year. I have half a dozen stories finished that I submitted for publication, too. In fact, I got a total of 16 rejections. If you buy into the mantra that every rejection is one step closer to publication, you'll see I'm still not published. Meh.

I'm 6,000 words into the rough draft of a new novel. It's mostly planned out. It has potential

I did the Story-A-Day challenge and have about 20 more story ideas, not counting the above, that are awaiting fleshiness.

I posted 15 times to my blog.

(sigh)

I have a reasonable excuse about my lack of productivity, though. Since June I've actually gotten off my rear end and started biking with some regularity. I'm averaging around 2.5 rides a week and 7.5 miles per ride. Yeah, I'm going blame it on trying to get less fat. The getting less fat, and more fit, is working, but I have a way to go.

So. My goals for 2017? Keep writing. Keep submitting. I have a full-time job and a family so I have to keep all that balanced. Sure would be nice to get a paid credit. C'mon, 2017!

Why It's Hard To Write: Douchebags & Jackholes

I'm sitting in the break room at work, trying to write on my own time, when these three knuckleheads come in and start debating last night's Panthers game.

Fine. It's a free country. Knock yourselves out. Had I watched last night I might even care. I focus and press on.

Then, Mr. Most-Vocal blurts out, "They should just do away with the extra point. It's irrelevant anyway."

Uh, no. The game is called "football". They'd have to change the name if they took away the only foot-driven way of scoring. What are you, a tourist?

Then, as part of his bloviated airtight theory on how team X can be invincible, he blurts out, "Irregardless..."

My knuckles whiten. 

Then some other douchebag walks in with a handheld coffee grinder.

Just.

Walking.

Around.

Grinding.

And so, having had these stakes driven through its inspirational heart, my writing session has been thoroughly assassinated. Thanks, jackholes.

Developing the New Book, part 3

Got so excited planning I couldn't take it anymore. Wrote just shy of 1000 words today. The spreadsheet is around 90% done in terms of major story beats, and about 30% done in terms of minor ones. Thinking through that much has motivated me so much. Today's writing has gotten me through a prelude and a scene. 

I may have even decided on a title. I'm fighting the urge to share it since it's way too early!

Developing the New Book, Part 2

As of this afternoon I've roughly mapped out all the beats of this new book based on Snyder's story beat approach, except for the opening and closing images. I figure I'll add them later on as the writing progresses.

This evening, I created an excel spreadsheet based on the handwritten one JK Rowling used to develop her Harry Potter work. I'll use this to fine tune the beats, sequencing details, and character activity as I finalize the plan for the book. Columns include Chapter, Scene, Day, Beat, Plot Summary, and a column for each character.

Using this method has helped me envision a story more completely than I ever have before. I'm very excited about it. My next step will be to complete the spreadsheet, use it to complete the plot and work around any holes, then begin the writing process.

SUPER STOKED!

Started Writing a New Book Tonight

Tonight, I started work on what I hope will be a new novel. After spending about 2 weeks learning about Blake Snyder's story beats, I spent this evening developing the first several beats of this new work. I'm about halfway through mapping it out, and I can see the rest of the story quite clearly. 

I am using a well-known story as a template of sorts (think O Brother Where Art Thou?/The Odyssey and Ready Player One/The Wizard of Oz), which feels kinda like cheating, but also not. Snyder teaches that most movies (and I see this readily applying to any kind of story) have the same structure of beats. In this sense, coupled with the fact that all characters, settings, and actual writing are entirely my own, I feel quite comfortable with the approach.

Not only is the approach entirely new for me, so is the genre and subject matter. Needless to say, I'm quite stoked. Let's see if I can keep that fire alive!

For the Convenience of All 3 of My Fans

If you're interested in a convenient listing of stuff I've written that's available on the interwebs, I'd like to invite you to visit my Stuff I've Written page.

New Story Finished and Submitted

Tonight I finished a new story I started during the StoryADayMay challenge. "Throwing Shade" is only 780 words but I'm so happy with it I went ahead and submitted it. Keep your fingers crossed.

K & T & the Sixteen Boxes

This story was my entry in the 2016 NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. Contestants were given 3 bits of info to build a story from over a set number of days. There were three rounds. I didn't make it past round 1 but I got a story out of it in a genre outside my wheelhouse. My assignment included: Genre - caper; Subject - password breach; Character - ski instructor; Length less than 2500 words; Duration - seven days. The result is the following underappreciated classic caper.

“K? K! Get up! What the hell happened? You’ve been out for three minutes!”

The woman in the lodge’s security center stopped pacing, slammed herself into her chair and leaned close to the monitor, shouting into her headset microphone. The women on the black-and-white security feed slowly pulled herself into a sitting position in a corner of the vault.

“Ow. Ow. Ow,” she groaned.

“K! Answer me! What happened? You fell and you were out for three minutes! You were convulsing or something, but I couldn't really see you since you fell with your back to the camera! I thought I'd have to get you to a hospital, and was freaking out since I don't even know your name! I thought I was going to have to abort!”

Oh thank God she’s not dead. I am way too deep into this to abort now, T thought.

K turned to the security camera at the ceiling to her right. “Just a minute, T,” she whispered. T could make out K’s eyes beneath the gas mask. She watched K wince and twist her slender frame slightly as she reached for something under her hip against the vault door. With a grunt, she pulled out a blocky device and let it fall to the floor in view of the camera.

T leaned even closer to the monitor and gasped. “Is that a taser? That’s your taser! You tased yourself with your own taser? How the hell does that even happen?”

I’ve partnered with a moron and I’m so, so dead.

“Ug,” K groaned as she pulled the barb-tipped wires from her black equipment vest. She pulled foot upon foot of the wires from under her hip. “Unbelievable. I just bought this vest and now it’s torn.”

“K! Focus!” T yelled, her blonde ponytail quivering with rage against her gray parka. Her extra makeup was starting to streak from the sweat.

“Yeah. Focus.” K looked around the room. “There are a couple of canisters by the door. My guess is I didn’t see them and I fell.”

“You fell and tased yourself?”

“I fell. There’s stuff on the floor and I tripped or something. I’m sorry I didn’t fall as correctly as I should have and oh by the way go fuck yourself.”

T relaxed a little. “Ok. That's the K I'm used to. It’s a good thing you didn’t knock your mask off when you hit. You’re breathing okay? Where’d it hit you?”

You can’t die yet. Just finish the job.

“Right at my hip. The barbs just got my vest, but got close enough, I guess. I’m breathing fine but I’m a little dizzy. How long was I out?”

“I just told you. Three minutes.”

“Jesus. And you didn’t abort?”

“I just spent an entire year of my life teaching these criminal assholes and their little brats to ski. I am not about to leave empty-handed.”

Not until the job’s done and I can pin it on you.

“You're right. Sorry. I'm getting it together. Thanks for the concern. Still not exchanging names. How are the guards doing?”

In the lodge’s security room directly above the vault, T checked each of the other monitors. “You’re fine at the moment. They’re down. The gas is still pretty thick, but with three minutes down you’ve got to work even faster, I don’t care how good a safe hacker you are.”

K got herself to her feet with some effort. She took in the room.

“Lots of safety deposit boxes. One-sixteen?”

“One-sixteen.”

“Again, a lot of safety deposit boxes. We’re sure we only want this one?”

Stop thinking.

“Yes, just the one. The rest of the stuff is traceable, but no one’s going to report a missing drive, full of personal data and passwords for a criminal clientele, stolen from a fake ski lodge.”

Jesus H. Christ just do what you’re fucking told!

“Hm,” K said as she moved toward the target box, just out of the camera frame.

“Hm? What hm?”

“T, your plan was great except for the fact that they’ve got a lock we didn’t know about on this one box.”

“What? You’re kidding.”

I’m way too panicky now, that didn’t sound very authentic.

“Uh, no. That’s a pretty important minor detail. Who was in charge of the intel oh by the way go fuck yourself some more?”

Do not lose my shit. Do not lose my shit. Do not lose my shit.

 “See? That’s what I've been saying all along. Hannigan is always neglecting some important detail. He’s great at design, but he sucks at implementation. That’s why he can’t keep a legit Head of Security job and has to keep working these underworld gigs. That’s why I like to hit his clients. He always leaves some key little chink in the armor open to exploit.”

“Yeah, right, but there’s still a device on this one box. Looks like a purposeful upgrade, not a chink.”

Shit. She’s not buying it.

T chewed a fingernail while K fiddled with something off-screen. “Wait, what kind of keypad is it?”

“Touchscreen. Looks pretty cheap.”

“Does it look new?”

“I guess.”

“I bet it still has the cling film on the screen.”

“Huh. Yeah, I can see the little bubbles trapped under it.”

“It has to be brand new. That would explain why it wasn’t in any of the specs I found. The owners here probably asked Hannigan for a backup recently.”

Ok, that’s all I’ve got. She either buys it or I’m fucked. T chewed her nail again.

“Is Hannigan the kind of guy that would even neglect to change factory presets when installing stuff like this?”

“He is. He’s certainly planning to get around to it, but for something like this it’s not surprising for him to take weeks. You beat the card swipe and retina scan modules outside. Those would’ve given him a false sense of security.”

“But he was smart enough to put this in and have the door shut automatically when someone gets in.”

That was my idea.

“Like I said. Great design, suckass follow-through.”

K got quiet. T glanced nervously at the monitors again.

“This smells very bad, T.”

“Believe me, I know this guy. It’s his classic m.o.”

“I dunno. First, the canisters on the floor, now this. And he just happens to be off-site?”

Nope.

“I know it looks bad, K, but he’s never double-crossed anybody, and when we finished last night he absolutely swore to me he was going home to get his divorce moving.”

Nope.

“You should get a little extra for sleeping with him. He's gross, dumb, and angry.”

Yep.

“I showered.”

“Whore.”

Bitch!

“You sound like you’re over it.”

“Yeah. This and your bad news boyfriend. So, one two three four?”

“That’s my bet.”

“Okay. Here goes.”

There was a pause. On the monitor, K’s shoulders moved slightly.

“That was it. Neon green thumb drive?”

“Neon green thumb drive. Thank God. Now, unlock that door and get out of there.”

“Lots of safety deposit boxes, T.”

“Move, K!”

T watched on the monitor as K turned, put something in a pocket in her vest, and headed out of the frame in the direction of the vault door.

“Standard keypad. One minute and I’m out.”

T scanned the entire bank of monitors again. The guards outside the vault were still on the floor. Same for the guards outside the hallway door leading up to the lodge. She pulled her phone out from her coat pocket.

Once the door’s open, I sound the alarm, Hannigan and his guys mop up, K eats it, I get stinking rich.

“K, you’re golden.”

“Good. Just got the lock. Opening up.”

Swee…

The monitor screens for the vault and the hallway outside it lit up with the fireball that came next. The blast lifted T straight up out of her chair and threw her backwards against the wall.

When she awoke, a man was sitting next to her. He was reading a magazine, though the light was just a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.

“Wha…” she mumbled. The man looked at her, set his magazine down, and looked more closely at her. He got up and left the room.

“Where am I?” she asked, blinking.

The man returned with another man. She recognized him.

“Hannigan, I don’t feel right,” she said weakly.

He scoffed. “No, shit. You’ve got some broken bones. Other stuff too, probably.”

“I think I need a doctor.”

“Yeah. You do, Tracy. And you’ll need one even more after you’re done doing some explaining.”

“Explaining?”

He laughed. “Hell yeah, explaining. Like how I thought we were supposed to catch whoever’s been hitting my jobs all these years, and how somehow all my boys here got gassed to death, and how my vault got blown the fuck up, and how I thought we had a thing, and what the hell these emails and videos I got mean!”

T coughed and spat some blood. “I-I don’t understand.”

The other man took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve.

“Oh, yeah,” Hannigan said darkly. “You’ve kinda been out of the loop. While you were unconscious, you and some of my clients got these emails with videos of you and me talking about how things have gone wrong with my security in the past and I needed to catch whoever was causing me problems. Even caught the conversation about the thumb drive. That was very expensive for me. Whoever did it hacked the security system here. The emails sent to you came via your account here at the lodge. We got into them after some of my clients started cancelling. Some of them mentioned the girl in the videos—you—a few times.”

T froze.

K!

Hannigan unfolded a paper he pulled from his pocket. “Yeah, here’s a printout of the only message besides the videos in these emails.”

 “Tracy, when you see H., don't use a taser. Tricky if you don't know how to use one. Some boxes weren't traceable. Thanks for fucking him for the intel. It was a good start, but I had to fill in a few blanks myself. Go fuck yourself some more. K.”

She knew my name! She faked the taser! She played me!

“H-Hannigan,” T stammered.

“Whoever sent these emails was really good, Tracy. Can’t trace any of it past a set of dead ends. Very clean. Weirdest thing is that sixteen of the deposit boxes, with untraceable contents I never told you about, had been opened before the blast. Of course, you and my security office were pretty much wrecked. There's no footage from the vault before the explosion.”

It would’ve saved my ass!

“Shit,” T hissed.

“There wasn’t a body, Tracy. I believe you and your friend set me up, and things didn't work out as you planned.”

She wasn’t my…

She didn't see it coming when the other man slammed his fist into the side of her head, knocking her over in the chair she was tied to.

“Why wasn’t there a body, Tracy?”

The other man picked her up, still in the chair, and set her upright.

“Why wasn’t there a body?”

The man punched her in the mouth. She fell backward. Her ponytail settled onto her bloody face. He didn’t stop for a long, long time.

How About a Cat Limerick?

There once was a cat named Mouse

Who lived with us in our house 

She would often invite me

To pet her, then bite me

So now she is part of a souse

StoryADay, Day 5

So far I'm meeting this challenge 100%. Results have been mixed, but I'm doing it! #storyadaymay #amwriting

StoryADay, Day 3 - My First Drabble

Today's StoryADay challenge was to write a drabble. A drabble is a story of 100 words. This is what I ended up with for my first attempt. Your feedback would be appreciated:

When I Became

“First, there must always be magic,” she said. 

She glowed in concentration as she held my hand. Her power searched through me for whatever power of mine lay dormant. I hadn't believed when she told me I had something, but she'd since taught me trust. 

Then came the moment I became something else, something new. It was so distinct. It felt like both a tearing and an awakening. It was only then I realized I wasn't ready.

It terrified me.

She recoiled. So I was powerful, then.

Since I could, I rose into the air and decided to take everything.

It's the Joy, Stupid

Ernest Cline speaks at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC, 4/20/2016

I'm a writer who isn't writing. For the last several weeks I've been in a rut, possibly due to the umpteen rejections I've been receiving, perhaps due to mental fatigue, perhaps due to a lack of motivation. This period follows an intensely productive period where I started and finished half a dozen stories, took a class, and attended a workshop.

Then, kablooey.

I hit the proverbial wall. My motivation dried up. My creativity went dormant. 

Last night I may have gone and gotten myself all reinvigorated. I listened to Ernest Cline speak at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC. If you're not familiar with him, you should know he's the author of Ready Player One, a fantastic book that is essentially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory except it involves virtual reality instead of a chocolate factory and the contestants must know all kinds of stuff about the 80's.

Cline told his "origin story". He grew up on a farm in the 80's in the same pop culture I did. He wrote a sequel to Buckaroo Banzai for fun. He wrote a movie entitled Fanboys about being a huge Star Wars nerd...and it got made! He wrote RPO, then sold the rights for both the novel AND the film within a 48-hour period! He set up a brilliant scavenger hunt contest with clues in his book but didn't tell anyone until the eve of its paperback release. The grand prize was a DeLorean. Stephen Spirlberg's directing the RPO movie. His second book, Armada, is a bestseller right now.

As I listened to him speak, I started to get a little annoyed about how much he was talking about himself. It then dawned on me that of course he was talking about himself because that's why the people came to see him speak (some drove as many as 5 hours). It then dawned on me that the reason I was getting annoyed was because I was straight up jealous! Ernest Cline is living my frickin' dream.

His talk was full of absolute joy, with the primary theme being, "Can you believe all this awesome stuff is actually happening to a schlub like me?"

At one point he stopped to say that he isn't able to write for some imaginary audience. He writes things that, as a reader, HE would find awesome and exciting and cool. 

By golly, that's why I do it. That's what I'd forgotten. That's what I'm going to do again.

It's the joy, stupid.

Written April 20, 2016, but posted later due to life and reasons.

StoryADay, Day 1

Tonight I started the StoryADay challenge. The challenge is to write a story every day for the month of May. Details can be found here.

The first challenge was to write a story in 30 minutes, about a character created with traits you like to read about. The story should explore the idea of something that character would never ever do, while putting them in a situation where they are faced with the choice of having to do that thing. All this must be accomplished in 30 minutes, no more.

I did it. I have a complete story that I'd say is a solid first draft. It may be one of the scariest things I've ever written. My character is one whose life is about taking care of kids. He's a Cub Scout Pack Leader, on a camping trip with his Pack. Things go horribly wrong and he has to make a terrible choice.

A couple of things I learned:

1. The StoryADay folks did a good job setting up a well-structured prompt. The time limit and the instructions on how to handle it were great.
2. A story can be written in 30 minutes.
3. I experimented with what I thought was Hemingway's suggestion to write drunk. As I researched to write this post, it looks like that quote might've been incorrectly attributed to him. In any event, a couple of whiskey shots followed by a nice glass of Frangelico shots seemed to do the trick for me. In fact, I'm writing this post while still slightly buzzed. Wheeee!!!

I'm glad this started on a weekend. Who knows if I'll be able to actually pull this off for 30 days straight, but we'll see. Right now, I'm stoked.

I Do My Best Thinking When I'm A Whiny Bitch

For most of this week I've been sick with a very bad cold. It was one of those where I coughed so hard I pulled a gut muscle, was super tired but couldn't sleep, had a sore throat, wah wah waaaah, yadda yadda yadda.

During one of those semi-lucid napping-until-I-cough-my-butthole-loose periods, I tried to settle my mind by silently repeating the mantra, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." Well, my unwell mind did what unwell minds do and gradually lost its grip on the original idea and added a little mental flem until I ended up saying to myself, "That which does not thrill us takes us longer."

In retrospect, it's actually kinda cool. In fact I think it's downright profound! Now why the fuck can't I do that shit when I'm sitting at my laptop?

A win!

So this happened. I wrote a guest post for Writers Digest!

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/how-the-2015-october-platform-challenge-changed-my-platform

Submitting the Heck Out of 2016

Yeah, so I just submitted two stories for publication today. "Meanwhile, at the End of the World..." is the story that didn't win the Writers Digest Popular Fiction Awards. I sent that to Tor.com, continuing to aim high instead of wallowing in my self-pity. "Save Often" is the story I wrote after my Christmas story crashed and burned thanks to technology. I sent that to Daily Science Fiction.

Can't wait to get those rejection notices! Keep your fingers crossed!

Happy New Year

Epic Literature and Superheroes

Stephen King once said that he wrote The Stand out of his desire to write an epic comparable to Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Dune is one of the greatest epics in science fiction literature. I love all of these books and the idea of epic literature in unfamiliar settings.

I have often wondered if there's a place in literature for an epic story about superheroes. I believe the world of comic books have given us plenty of epic storylines, but I'm more interested in a fat novel. Is there a place for a sprawling, original work of epic fiction about superheroes? Something that contains the common elements of epic stories like Dune, LOTR, and The Stand? Something that will stand the test of time, be taught in classrooms, and become part of our collective consciousness?

I would SO like to write something like that.

How I'm Using the Snowflake Method for my Christmas Story

The Problem

I'm writing a story. I've put in a few hours already, and I'm up to about 2500 words, but I'm still in the beginning. This is a problem because I'm used to writing very short stories and I still have a lot more story to go. This overwhelmed me.

I was overwhelmed.

What's Different

When I wrote those stories before, I knew ahead of time that I was going to keep them short. Sometimes I had a specific word count target, sometimes I had a general word count target, sometimes I just had a distinct understanding of how long it should take the story to be told. This time, however, I don't have any of that. I'm writing a parody of stories like Divergent and The Hunger Games, so I've got a clear understanding of the big events and tropes of the story. I'm also refraining from limiting the size of the story. I'm going to let it be whatever it needs to be. 

A side effect of this is, compared to my more recent projects, I'm doing a lot of writing but not getting very far. I was quite aware that this is to be expected, but I still felt like I was drowning.

It was like I was drowning in too much story.

The Snowflake Method

While doing the Writers Digest Platform Challenge in October, I ran across the article, "The Snowflake Method For Designing A Novel" by Randy Ingermanson, Ph.D. This article described an iterative approach to writing a novel. You begin with a single sentence describing what the story is about, then a paragraph fleshing out those ideas, then several paragraphs describing your characters, and eventually adding more and more levels of complexity until you end up with a novel. From a graphical perspective, Ingermanson describes the single-sentence step as a triangle, while the final product has become exponentially more complex at each side, resulting in a snowflake design.

Ingermanson's Snowflake Illustration

When I saw this the first time, I suspected this might be helpful for me since I have a bad habit of starting really cool writing projects, only to abandon them out of a sense of fatigue when the logistics of tracking details become too much for me to handle.

Where I Am Now

In one sitting, I went through the first two steps of the Snowflake Method--the one-sentence summary and the one-paragraph summary--and got knee deep into the third step, which fleshes out characters in detail by giving them their own one-sentence summary, motivations, goals, challenges, epiphanies, and ultimately a one-paragraph summary.

Before I started using the method, I had a clear understanding of what my story was going to do, but not much of an understanding of why. Now, I know the major players much better. I understand where the story is going next and why it feels like the beginning is taking so long to write (this is ok, it's not going to be a Very Short Story). Best yet, I have a much better understanding of how I'm going to tackle most of the big chunks of the story.

I'm looking forward to investigating the subsequent steps of the Snowflake Method. From what I can tell, it's really going to help me stay focused and not get lost in the details. This story might not be a novel in the end, but the principals behind this method still apply.

Then there's the fact that the story is a Christmas story. And I'm using the Snowflake Method to write it. Snow's usually associated with Christmas. Cuz it's Winter'n'stuff. And that's funny.