Interference Patterns
Monday, June 8. 2009
Orson Scott Card says that the best spec-fic stories come from the combination of at least two disparate ideas. I agree wholeheartedly, and my current effort follows exactly that paradigm.
The premise behind Bring Me to Life target="_blank" arose when I thought about the New Testament story of the man who begs Father Abraham to let him return from Hell to Earth to warn his brothers not to share his fate. There's such a character in my story—a spirit called Peter—though of course he turns out not to be exactly what he claims to be. I thought about how "wide is the gate" to Hell, and what that might mean...how about if all roads lead through Hades, i.e., it's the alternate dimension one must access to travel faster than light? There's idea #1.
Long ago I had an idea for a magic system based on music. I created a whole sourcebook of information for this milieu—the "Guitars & Gryphons" world, I called it. I'd written a few short scenes, a couple of abortive stories, in this setting, but never progressed beyond that. Why not invent a reasonable hard SF explanation for magic through music ("soniscy"), and put that magic system into a futuristic environment? There's idea #2.
My degree is in Physics (my first one, anyway), so I see these two ideas as sources of modulation on a 2D surface...all right, ripples, if one must be pedestrian. Two pebbles dropped into a pond. The interesting bits come from the interference of those two expanding wavefronts, from the ways they interact.
The challenge is to identify all the associated frequencies, all the modes. To run down these interference patterns all the way to their logical conclusions. To ensure that I've gone all the way to the "edges" of these ideas, thought them through completely along with their effects on each other and on the entire world I've created.
It's fun, this world-building through pebble-dropping. But I'm always concerned I've missed something obvious. What I probably need is a trusted spec-fic writing group off of whom I can bounce my setting notes and outline. I'm not talking about actual prose (thus my long-time go-to group Critters is not applicable). Just the world and the gross plot, for a little error-checking. Is there such a group out there? Perhaps I need to bite the bullet and finally apply to one of the writing "boot camps" and thereby build my network of like minds...
Orson Scott Card says that the best spec-fic stories come from the combination of at least two disparate ideas. I agree wholeheartedly, and my current effort follows exactly that paradigm.
The premise behind Bring Me to Life target="_blank" arose when I thought about the New Testament story of the man who begs Father Abraham to let him return from Hell to Earth to warn his brothers not to share his fate. There's such a character in my story—a spirit called Peter—though of course he turns out not to be exactly what he claims to be. I thought about how "wide is the gate" to Hell, and what that might mean...how about if all roads lead through Hades, i.e., it's the alternate dimension one must access to travel faster than light? There's idea #1.
Long ago I had an idea for a magic system based on music. I created a whole sourcebook of information for this milieu—the "Guitars & Gryphons" world, I called it. I'd written a few short scenes, a couple of abortive stories, in this setting, but never progressed beyond that. Why not invent a reasonable hard SF explanation for magic through music ("soniscy"), and put that magic system into a futuristic environment? There's idea #2.
My degree is in Physics (my first one, anyway), so I see these two ideas as sources of modulation on a 2D surface...all right, ripples, if one must be pedestrian. Two pebbles dropped into a pond. The interesting bits come from the interference of those two expanding wavefronts, from the ways they interact.
The challenge is to identify all the associated frequencies, all the modes. To run down these interference patterns all the way to their logical conclusions. To ensure that I've gone all the way to the "edges" of these ideas, thought them through completely along with their effects on each other and on the entire world I've created.
It's fun, this world-building through pebble-dropping. But I'm always concerned I've missed something obvious. What I probably need is a trusted spec-fic writing group off of whom I can bounce my setting notes and outline. I'm not talking about actual prose (thus my long-time go-to group Critters is not applicable). Just the world and the gross plot, for a little error-checking. Is there such a group out there? Perhaps I need to bite the bullet and finally apply to one of the writing "boot camps" and thereby build my network of like minds...
The premise behind Bring Me to Life target="_blank" arose when I thought about the New Testament story of the man who begs Father Abraham to let him return from Hell to Earth to warn his brothers not to share his fate. There's such a character in my story—a spirit called Peter—though of course he turns out not to be exactly what he claims to be. I thought about how "wide is the gate" to Hell, and what that might mean...how about if all roads lead through Hades, i.e., it's the alternate dimension one must access to travel faster than light? There's idea #1.
Long ago I had an idea for a magic system based on music. I created a whole sourcebook of information for this milieu—the "Guitars & Gryphons" world, I called it. I'd written a few short scenes, a couple of abortive stories, in this setting, but never progressed beyond that. Why not invent a reasonable hard SF explanation for magic through music ("soniscy"), and put that magic system into a futuristic environment? There's idea #2.
My degree is in Physics (my first one, anyway), so I see these two ideas as sources of modulation on a 2D surface...all right, ripples, if one must be pedestrian. Two pebbles dropped into a pond. The interesting bits come from the interference of those two expanding wavefronts, from the ways they interact.
The challenge is to identify all the associated frequencies, all the modes. To run down these interference patterns all the way to their logical conclusions. To ensure that I've gone all the way to the "edges" of these ideas, thought them through completely along with their effects on each other and on the entire world I've created.
It's fun, this world-building through pebble-dropping. But I'm always concerned I've missed something obvious. What I probably need is a trusted spec-fic writing group off of whom I can bounce my setting notes and outline. I'm not talking about actual prose (thus my long-time go-to group Critters is not applicable). Just the world and the gross plot, for a little error-checking. Is there such a group out there? Perhaps I need to bite the bullet and finally apply to one of the writing "boot camps" and thereby build my network of like minds...
Craig on :
Also, she has a course called "How to Think Sideways." It's not really a boot camp, but it really addresses plot difficulties and is geared toward the professional (continual) writer. It is how she comes up with ideas. I have taken a sample of the course and am trying to work it into my schedule along side school. It starts out kind of esoteric, but helps you to answer some of the core questions you've been asking here on your blog.
Brent on :
Actually, again to sound holier-than-thou, it seems to me that the ability to build a world is the most basic skill a spec-fic writer has to have. You can teach good grammar and writing technique, but you can't teach creativity.
That's just my opinion.
But like all pursuits, it's helpful to have a group of people who can assist in eliminating the inevitable blind spots. That's what I was trying to indicate that I'm looking for -- not an instructor (which, in my hubris, I think I'm not in need of at this point), but a flock of peers who, presumably, would like to have similar feedback on their own efforts. Again, a sort of "Critters" group, but for settings and ideas, not prose.
And here's another potential application of such a group: avoiding the embarrassing "it's been done" situation. I critiqued (rather favorably) a story once on Critters and found out later that the plot was almost precisely the same as a published "famous" short story. Neither the author nor I had ever read that story -- but obviously, several Critters had. It's impossible to read all the spec-fic out there, even the "famous" stuff. So a spot-check to avoid the appearance of writing a knock-off would be invaluable (*before* the Critters stage).
Craig on :
Boot Camp for Your Brain
How to Think Sideways: Career Survival School for Writers
http://howtothinksideways.com/members/?rid=11
Yes, this is an affiliate link.
CJ on :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10265102-1.html?tag=mncol;title
Brent on :