I’m not that great at figuring out titles. It seems that with every project, I agonize for days to find the perfect title, only to settle for something that sounds reasonably good.
Worlds Away from Home is no exception. Even though it was better than the previous title (Hero in Exile), I never really felt wowed by it.
So now that I’m midway through the third draft, I figure it’s time to fix this problem. For those of you who’ve read it, I’m hoping you can help me out with suggestions; and for those of you who can’t, maybe you can tell me which ones sound cool and which ones sound lame.
Here are some of my ideas so far:
Dome and Desert, Sand and Stars
Through Sand and Stars
Beyond a Thousand Suns
Beyond the Caves of Babylon
I don’t really know, though. I’d like to throw in a reference to the Temple of a Thousand Suns, but there’s already a famous book with the “thousand suns” phrase. I really like the phrases “dome and desert” and “sand and stars,” but when I throw them together it doesn’t really seem to get across Jalil and Mira’s storylines. Then again, I don’t know if any title could.
Anyhow, if you have any ideas, please toss them my way.
The writing is a little sporadic these days, but it’s coming along. I’ve broken out of my most recent block, and progress is coming along on WAFH…or at least it was, when I didn’t have a temp job sucking up most of my time during the day.
Still, can’t complain about work–and even though all the job interviews from a couple weeks ago seem to have lead nowhere, I’ve got a few new opportunities opening up that seem promising. More on those later.
One of the more challenging aspects of WAFH is writing the main female protagonist, Mira Najmi. Mira is something of a shy pushover, who gradually learns to stand up for herself and make her own independent decisions.
Because of this, I find it difficult to write from her point of view. When she isn’t letting people walk all over her, she’s either homesick and depressed or following others without making any real decisions for herself. And yet, in order for her growth arc to work, this is the point at which she needs to start out; her gradual change into a strong and independent woman is a major part of the book.
In short, how do I make a shy, self-effacing protagonist sympathetic and interesting while remaining true to her character?
(Before I go further, I should note that Mira does have strengths. She has a caring, nurturing personality, and is sensitive to the needs of others. She often notices the little things that go right over the male protagonist’s head. Besides that, she’s basically a good person, with a pure heart and an aversion to causing hurt or injury. Oh, and she’s stunningly beautiful–though in some ways, that’s more of a handicap than a strength.)
Thus far, my strategy has been to delve into her internal monologue when in her viewpoint and try to make her underlying motivations clear. I suspect it goes beyond that, though. The best thing I can probably do is make her relatable to the audience–to make her shy in ways that make the readers feel like she’s one of them.
But that’s difficult for me, because I’m not a very shy person and I don’t generally relate well with people who are. So how can I get a better understanding of what it’s like? Do you guys have anything that you can share with me that would help me to understand? Any tips or techniques for writing similar characters?
(image taken from http://webpages.scu.edu/ftp/lgrove/resign%20splashpage.htm)
One of the latest trends in science fiction is the concept of the technological singularity — the point in history at which technological advances occur so rapidly that we can no longer learn the new stuff fast enough to keep up with it.
I hear a lot of people talk about this at cons, and I’ve read/listened to quite a few stories about this concept. Basically, these stories posit a world where science has become a new magic, and our world has been transformed beyond all intelligible recognition.
However, a recent post on the excellent Rocketpunk Manifesto blog made me wonder if we’ve already passed the point of singularity in our own society. The post basically asserted that the period 1880 to 1930 saw so many sweeping technological advances that the world in 1930 would have been unrecognizable to a person from 1880, whereas our current society would still be intelligible to a person from 1930.
This made me wonder: how far into the singularity have we already come? How much of our technological infrastructure has become so advanced that the common man lacks the capacity to comprehend it?
Think about it. Fish around in your pockets and pull out your phone. Do you understand how it works well enough to take it apart and put it together again? To rebuild the device from parts? Do you own the tools and machinery to construct the parts from which it is made?
How about the building in which you currently find yourself? Do you possess the knowledge to build a comparable structure that performs the same functions? That keeps you sheltered and provides the same light, heat, electricity, and internet connection that you now enjoy?
There was a time, not too long ago, when people would move out to the wilderness and homestead land by building their own homes from available natural resources. If you needed to build your own house, as so many people used to do, could you do it?
How about your means of transportation? If necessary, could you take apart your car and rebuild it again from the ground up? Could you perform basic maintenance on it if you needed to? How many of us can change our own oil–and how many of us are dependent on others for such a simple service?
Or what about the things we take most for granted–our understanding of the way the universe works. Do you really understand the principles of physics? Do you comprehend how electricity or magnetism really works, or are you still thinking in overly-simplified terms like electrons flowing through a circuit like water? Even the most intelligent physicists can’t reconcile electromagnetism with Newtonian physics, so what makes you think you know so much?
How much of what we think we know is really just an illusion, meant to keep us pacified and docile? To give us a false sense of security–that someone is in control, so we can rest easy? Does anyone REALLY understand 100% how the economy works? Do any of us know who or what is really in charge anymore? Have we unwittingly handed over the reigns of control to some digital algorithm so basic to our newly networked way of life to be practically invisible?
Looking at how few of us are truly self-sufficient, and how much power we’ve ceded to forces beyond our control, our modern society seems so delicate and fragile. Can anyone REALLY say that our society is not in danger of falling apart? That our way of life is not an unnatural and unsustainable aberration?
Anyhow, those were some of my initial thoughts. The more I compare the science fiction of the past with the reality of the present, the more predictions I see coming true in the most unexpected of ways. The singularity may have less to do with uplinked consciousnesses and more to do with Google’s SEO algorithms than we are comfortable admitting. And realistically, the light bulb may prove to be more revolutionary than anything Apple has ever or will ever produce.
So this morning, I worked on the fifth draft of Genesis Earth while Facebook chatting with some friends I made from World Fantasy. Next thing I know, it’s 4:30 and I’ve revised through 6.5k words.
To be fair, most of that work was pretty simple–polishing the prose, cutting unnecessary verbage, and the like. But…wow. Talk about a splurge.
Because of that, though, I didn’t get any work done in my other project, Into the Nebulous Deep. However, I did do something I’ve been needing to do since before World Fantasy: draft a query letter for Mercenary Savior. Here it is:
Dear _______,
My name is Joseph Vasicek, and I am writing to query my science fiction novel, Mercenary Savior. I thought my work would be a good fit for you because ______.
As the galactic empire slowly collapses under the onslaught of the starfaring Hameji nomads, the sixteen year old James McCoy sets out to rescue his older brother and sister, Ben and Stella, from the Hameji conquerors.
Things look bleak until he meets Danica Nova, captain of a down-and-out mercenary company, who takes him in and becomes his mentor. James reminds Danica of her brother, whom she failed to save when the empire slaughtered her family years ago. Now, she hopes to find some redemption from her demons by saving James from his own.
However, as the two of them spiral onto a collision course with destiny, neither of them realizes that Stella has become a concubine to the Hameji overlord–and that Ben has been brainwashed and made an elite shock trooper in the unit sent to hunt them down.
Mercenary Savior is approximately 120,000 words long. While it stands on its own as a complete story, it has potential for at least one direct sequel and several indirectly connected novels set in the same universe.
My previous publications include one short story published in the December 2009 issue of Leading Edge. I have also won first and second place in the annual Mayhew short story contest at Brigham Young University (for 2009 and 2007 respectively). In addition, I keep a regular blog at http://onelowerlight.com/writing.
Thank you very much for your consideration. As noted in your submission guidelines, I have included _____.
Cordially,
Joseph Vasicek
So what do you think? Does the pitch work? Does it resonate well, or is it boring / cliched / confusing in any way? Any thing else egregious that I should fix before I send this out? Please let me know!
I really suck at submitting stuff. Right now, I’ve only got three or four queries out on Genesis Earth, and one on Mercenary Savior. Like most things, though, the only way to change that is with practice. By next week, I want to send out at least five queries on Mercenary Savior and have the synopsis ready to go.
Also, my friend from World Fantasy had an interesting suggestion for me: try to break into the small presses with my science fiction stuff, to build a name for myself, and work my way up from there.
This runs directly contrary to Dave Wolverton’s break in with a bang philosophy, but it makes sense; very few major publishers seem to be publishing much space opera these days (with the exception of Baen). From what I gathered at World Fantasy, science fiction is a difficult sell these days, and several sf writers are going this route.
I could write more, on other subjects, but that’s enough for now. Good frickin night.
Sixty six percent! I’ve officially passed the two thirds mark in the fourth revision for Mercenary Savior–and not a moment too soon. With only a week and a half until World Fantasy 2010, it’s crunch time. I’ll probably quit my temp job a week early in order to devote the last few days of the month to finishing it.
As I’ve been working on Mercenary Savior, though, a fascinating idea for a sequel has been stewing in my head. It was sparked by an online conversation with one of my first readers:
Reader: I was never fully convinced that James felt he had closure Me: I see Reader: but I was satisfied with the thought that he would get it sometime after the story ends
he’s still young, so he’s still maturing
even at the close of the novel Me: yeah
hmm
interesting
It’s true; James does have a lot of room to grow and mature after the events of Mercenary Savior. In that book, his character growth arc (without giving away spoilers) is about him learning to accept change and stop running from adulthood.
Nothing in that arc has much to do with the kind of person James grows up to be, however, or the significant other with whom he comes to share his life. In other words, there’s a whole lot of untapped potential for building James’s character and giving him a romantic interest.
The question that immediately rose to my mind was: what’s the story?
Now when it comes to sequels, I think the best ones take a long, hard look at the first installment and answer the question: therefore, what? Thus, in Star Wars IV, V, and VI (which I believe to be one of the best examples of a trilogy in any medium), the Rebels defeat the first Death Star in episode IV, but find themselves on the run in episode V because the Empire knows the location of their base. Luke uses the force to pull off a last-minute victory in episode IV, but finds in episode V that becoming a true Jedi takes a lot more discipline and self-mastery than he thought.
So I applied that principle to my own work and came up with the following overarching conflict: the Hameji occupation of Karduna is devastating the people of the Colony to the point where they collectively decide to depart en masse and establish a new community somewhere else. It’s a logical conclusion taken from the ending of Mercenary Savior; the people are well enough off to survive, but too poor and oppressed to do much of anything else.
You may not know this, but the first story I wanted to set in this fictional universe was about a group of starfaring pioneers traveling into the heart of a nebula to escape religious persecution and establish a thriving community on the fringes of settled space. That’s right–I basically wanted to set the Mormon pioneer exodus in space.
For various unrelated reasons, that never worked out, but the desire has always been there in the back of my mind. What can I say–I think that pioneers are cool, and stories about colonizing unsettled new lands just fascinate me. I’ll probably write a massive Utah pioneer epic someday.
But anyways, I started playing around with this old idea to see whether I could recycle it. Right now, I think that I can. The idea is that James becomes the leader for one of these emigrant groups, and has to see them safely through to a young planet in the heart of this nebula. They decide to fly into the nebula in order to isolate themselves from the Hameji, since the FTL tech in my universe doesn’t work within a Nebula.
And then something really crazy happened. This scene popped into my head, stronger than any other idea I’d had so far. I imagined that a group of pirates had captured the expedition and refused to let them go unless they gave the pirates three young women to keep as slaves.
Pretty standard conflict, right? But then, I thought: what if three young women of their own free will stepped forward and offered to sacrifice themselves to save the others? What would James do then?
Well, it wasn’t hard to figure that out at all. James would never let them go. He’d fight the pirates, even if it meant risking all the lives of those he’s trying to protect.
This raises some interesting questions of morality. Is it right to risk the lives of everyone in the community when three individuals have already offered to sacrifice themselves for the good of the whole? Is it right to deny someone the opportunity to give their own life to save others? Or is James just being stubborn and reckless?
At a first glance, that’s the way it looks. But then I imagined what James would say to justify himself. After what he learns from the events of Mercenary Savior, James would argue that the community needs to stick together–that in order for the whole to survive, everyone has to know with absolute certainty that no-one will be left behind. Once the leader shows that he’s willing to sign his followers over, how can any of them trust him with their lives? Under such conditions, trust breaks down and the community falls apart.
From that, a whole host of other ideas started gradually coming to mind. How does this event tie into James’s romantic interest? Does it tie in at all? What would the people’s reaction be to this decision? Coming from the background of the Colony, would they want to put the issue to a vote instead? Is it ever right to suspend democracy when facing a crisis, and if so, under what conditions?
So anyway, I won’t tell you what I have in mind, but I have a lot of really interesting ideas. It’s gotten to the point, in fact, that I may just write the sequel after I get back from World Fantasy.
In closing, let me leave with this excellent track from one of ocremix’s latest albums, a rearrangement of Donkey Kong Country 2. Believe it or not, this song could be the main theme of this novel. Listen to it and I think you’ll see why.
I’m not sure whether this notebook is #3 or #2. There’s a lot of notes from English 318, which would put it in the winter, but I don’t know if it’s from ’08 or ’09.
Not that that matters; ideas are ideas. And here they are!
An empty parking garage with no exit.
Covered this already in a previous post. Strangely, it’s one of the most popular posts on this blog. I constantly get search engine traffic from people googling “empty parking garage” and other such stuff. Who googles “parking garage”? Weird.
Telepathy through instant messaging between microchips interfaced with the brain.
Also covered in the same post.
And they all lived evily ever after.
Bwahahah! I’ve got Jakeson to thank for this line–specifically, from a conversation at LTUE. Good times!
A TV show where the viewers vote between ads what should happen next.
I’m pretty sure I got this idea from an Escape Pod story–one of the Hugo short story nominations from ’06 or ’07, IIRC.
What if the human mind, which we think is so great, is ridiculously broken?
After all, isn’t it true that we only use a tiny fraction of our brain’s capacity during our lifetime? What if the true potential of the human mind far outstrips anything we could possibly imagine?
What if the human brain was manifested as some sort of library / processing building, with short term, easy access, and archival memory sections manifested as bookshelves and long rooms? And there were flies or insects or parasites of some sort that fed on the archives, causing forgetfulness? And you were trapped in there?
I’m pretty sure I was tripping out on the Brain Science podcast at this time, combined with an old Roger Allen McBride novel about time travel and terraforming. Good times.
What would it be like to be God’s intern?
FREAKING HARD.
If perfect, instantaneous communication is possible, doesn’t this blur the individual identities of those speaking, so that they become simply voices in one mind? If so, does this mean that our individuality is based on the ways we misunderstand each other?
At its core, this idea is a take on the whole perfection vs. personality debate: the question of whether our individual personalities disappear as we approach Godlike perfection. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is not the case, but that’s a discussion for my other blog (which I have not updated in a ridiculously long time, dangit).
A middle aged mom at a children’s book fair in Utah who has a tattoo partially showing from under her sleeve
I saw this in the Wilk one day, and started wondering about this woman. Who is she? Where did she get the tattoo? Why is she at a Utah Children’s Book Fair, which is about as far removed from tattoos and tattooed society as you can get?
A robot that was made to suffer, as part of an experiment.
It makes you wonder what ‘suffering’ actually is. Do inanimate objects suffer? Do the rocks and clouds and sky and stars suffer? Do they weep for us?
On that trippy note, I’ll cut this short and finish reviewing the notebook in a later post. Until then, stay awesome.
My old blog background was starting to get old, so I decided to change it. What do you guys think of the new one? Is it too busy and distracting, or do you think it works?
The image, by the way, is of the Greater Carina Nebula, taken from NASA’s excellent Astronomy Picture of the Day website. You can find the original image here.
A couple days ago, I finished writing through the material I’d written for Worlds Away From Home back in 2008 before I dropped the project. For the first time since March, I find myself drafting entirely new material.
It’s a little bit unnerving; I’m a much better reviser, I feel, than straight up writer. Revising is awesome because I know that the book is getting better, whereas drafting is frustrating because the written story never turns out as awesome as it was when it was in my head.
At the same time, it’s really fun to play fast and loose with your book. Need a new character? Throw him in! A new romantic subplot? Go for it! A new planet for the characters to visit? Sure, why not?
I will say, though, that it’s much harder to keep up a steady writing rate when you’re drafting new material. My daily word count has fallen to about 2k, give or take a few hundred words. In order to finish this by August 15, I just need to do 2.2k per day, but I’m sure something will come up and I’ll find myself in a crunch by the end.
One thing that might throw a kink in the works is getting a new job. Being underemployed really sucks, and I want to move on to a new job by the beginning of August. Easier said than done in this economy, right? Well, there are some options open to a young, single college grad in my position: namely, a wilderness job. I’ve been holding out on that because eight days in the wilderness for every six days off seems like a lot of time away from other pursuits, but the more I look at it, the more appealing it seems. Six days completely off, with no money problems…hmm…
Which reminds me: would it be lame to put up a donate button on this blog? One that said “buy me a (non-alcoholic) drink” or something like that? I don’t want to ask for money, but if you guys feel like throwing it at me, who am I to hold you back? I don’t expect it to earn much, but something is better than nothing, especially these days.
Four years ago, my sister went through Wilderness Quest, a wilderness therapy organization based in Monticello, Utah. At the end of the program, I went down with my whole family for family therapy. The experience was incredible–intense, emotional, and very life changing for all of us.
Fast forward to last month. After graduating college, I had this crazy idea: maybe I could apply for a job with some wilderness therapy organization. My sister, who worked for WQ after completing their program, told me that they’re always looking for qualified, motivated people for the wilderness staff. As a clean, addiction-free, college grad, chances are fairly good that I could get a job here.
I talked with my sister for a LONG time about it. Yes, it’s tough–the teens in the program are very, very troubled, and there’s all kinds of drama. Some of the kids are forcibly escorted to Monticello by professional kidnappers that their parents have hired to bring them out.
Living in the wilderness is rough, too. The way WQ does it, you’re in the wilderness for 21 days, on the job 24/7, with two weeks off between work periods. That’s 21 days completely cut off from the rest of civilization, out in the middle of nowhere.
At the same time, though, that’s 21 days in which WQ pays for all your food and supplies–21 days in which you’re earning money instead of spending it. And then, after the 21 days are up, you’ve got two weeks of free time to do whatever you want. Pay ranges from $60 to $135 per day, multiplied by 21 days–not a bad job. And two weeks of complete freedom…
Perhaps the best advantage to this kind of job, though, is the incredible range of life experience it would give. Unlike sitting in an office all day, or doing telephone surveys at a call center (my current job), this kind of work offers some real meaningful experience. Changing people’s lives, seeing them at their best and worst, connecting with them in a truly genuine way–it could have a huge influence on my writing.
Then again, 21 days cut off from civilization…that’s 21 days in which I’m not going to be writing. 21 days in which I’m not going to have a social life (at least, not in Provo). 21 days in which I may miss other important career/writing opportunities. And two weeks–that’s not really a lot of time, not when you’ve got all your chores to do.
But then again–do the costs really outweigh the benefits? Maybe I could bring a notebook and write while out there. Maybe I’ll make up for the missed writing time in the two of weeks, while still having enough time to do my other chores. Maybe it will force me to make time. Maybe the improved quality will make up for it–and maybe my new friends in this apartment complex won’t totally forget me when I come back.
I don’t know. I’m trying to figure out if this is something I should do. Part of me wants to jump up and start right away–but the other half is holding back. But at this point, I’m thinking that once my Dad drives out to Utah to give me the old family Buick, I’m going to apply. I really should. Should I?
I’m not that great at figuring out titles. It seems that with every project, I agonize for days to find the perfect title, only to settle for something that sounds reasonably good.
One of the latest trends in science fiction is the concept of the 
A couple days ago, I finished writing through the material I’d written for Worlds Away From Home back in 2008 before I dropped the project. For the first time since March, I find myself drafting entirely new material.
…and I’m kind of hesitant to answer.
Then again, 21 days cut off from civilization…that’s 21 days in which I’m not going to be writing. 21 days in which I’m not going to have a social life (at least, not in Provo). 21 days in which I may miss other important career/writing opportunities. And two weeks–that’s not really a lot of time, not when you’ve got all your chores to do.