Getting Ahead of Myself

In theory, I should be worrying about getting an agent and selling a book to a publisher, but, I like to be proactive about my futile fretting. So instead I expend a lot of useless brainpower worrying about finding myself in the shoes of Tobias Buckell.

Those of you familar with his kick-ass military science fiction are probably snorting your coffee right now, thinking, “Yeah, Tara, you should be so lucky.”

I like to write series. Ideally, the sales figures for a series should follow the trajectory of the books in the Harry Potter series, starting out modestly for Book 1 and reaching univeral distribution to every single literate human being on the planet by Book 7. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen that way.

What if sales for each book in my series decline? What if my publisher — or even my agent! — tires of my declining commercial appeal and drop me before I finish telling my story?

Rumspringa

The Amish have created a civilization within a civilization. It’s not an easy feat, as the larger civilization surrounding them is always in danger of absorbing them. One way they deal with this is throught the rumpsringa.

For those unfamiliar with the ins and outs of Amish life, Rumspringa is a period in mid-adolescence when Amish teens are permitted to sample — for the very first time — all those amenities that their American peers long ago learned to take for granted. Stuff like television and cell phones and poor fashion choices.

The rationale is that after being exposed to the modern world in this way, the kids, who take part in this period at age 16, are in a better position to decide whether or not they want to truly commit to the Amish way of life.

As it happens, mainstream American kids are also part of a larger civilization, a global mix of many civilizations. I believe all Americans should go live in another culture for a while, perform a rumpringa of their own, to truly decide what kind of life they wish to build.

Is is possible, though? Certain cultures accept converts, newcomers and foreigners. Others — don’t. An Amish teen could desire to make a new life in mainstream America, and though it would be challenging, it would be possible. But how many mainstream American teenagers even if they wanted to would be welcomed into an Amish community? (Cavaet: I’ve never tried. Perhaps it’s possible.)

What do you think? Is it possible for non-Amish to do a rumspringa or is the analogy flawed? Did you ever perform a rumspringa, metaphorically or literally?

Bad Endings

Natalie has summarized some of the factors that make for bad endings on her blog.

She listed:

1. Too unexpected

2. Negates the entire purpose of the story

3. No actual resolution

4. Goes against “the genre”

*looks around nervously* I don’t see “ends on a cliffhanger” in there. Maybe I’m safe. Or maybe she just forgot to mention it. I think there are a few others I would add:

5. Has less dramatic tension than the earlier parts of the book, so ends with a “whimper”.

6. Leaves too many loose ends — questions raised earlier in the story are never answered. This is a less severe version of #3, but still annoying.

7. The resolution comes from outside the MC’s efforts.

Internet Idea Ideation – Science Fiction vs Fantasy

I read science journals for fun. I love the internet because it’s easy to browse fields I would not normally consider. Sometimes, I don’t even realize they exist.

Usually, science journals provide good leads for sf, for obvious reasons.

Occassionally, however, my mind goes in a different direction.

Consider maternal exposure to death of a first degree relative during first trimester of pregnancy increases risk of schizophrenia in offspring.

This immediately made me think, No wonder earlier civilizations feared the newly dead might become ghosts to curse vulnerable pregant relatives.

And then I thought — what if it were true? What if a close relative of your mother — her father or her sister — died while you were in the womb and it created a psychic bond between you? What if you were able to see and speak with the ghost for the rest of your life? What if others thought you were crazy?

Spacebat Flies for the Last Time *Snif*

“Spacebat Tribute” Video Will Make You Cry Like “We Are the World”

Future Post Ideas

This is Your Brain On Fiction – Stories are a way of hacking your own brain

Thanks to Capitalism, We Can All Get Hit On Like Hot Babes – We are all hit on all the time by people who want our investment

Super-normal, Part I – Superheroes are what we admire, only more so

Super-normal, Part II – 

limen – a threshold beneath which stimulus is not perceived or distinguished from another

Cambridge professor Alan Macfarlane is studying the lives of 100 modern scientists, historians, and explorers to try to find out what conditions created their “Eureka!” breakthrough moments. The study won’t come out until next year but for now he says that creativity is often found in “people who live on the margins or the border between different cultures.”

Sf vs Fantasy – sf inspired by physics (what could prove true), fantasy by superstitions (what feels true but we know isn’t)

Using Science in Fantasy – not to make the magic scientific 

I Cannot Pass the Turing Test – I’m sure a story has covered this already, but how long until humans must pass the Turing Test and manage to convince other humans we are human too?

Sale Figure for the Bible Don’t Count – I don’t care how many books you sell compared to the Bible. The Bible, the Qu’ran, these are not books. They are PR for God. Please do not tell me people buy the Bible, “because I’d seen the movie and had to find out if the book was better” or because “you won’t believe how it ends.” C’mon, people. And I don’t mean this post to be insulting to the Bible. My real point was this. If you found out no one one wanted to buy a book it would and should change your  opinion of the contents of the book. If you found out no  one wanted to read the Bible, it shouldn’t change your opinion of contents of the Bible.