Tag: novel

Back Into the Swing of Things – But Which Swing?

Posted on 2017-10-11 Written by D. Lee Jackson 2 Comments

I did something the other day that I have not done since December of 2016.

I critiqued a chapter for someone on Scribophile.

Things just haven’t gone my way this year, as those of you who follow this blog will understand. The problems actually started back in December, when my old (2009) second system I use to read critiques of my material died. It took a month or more to get a new secondary system.

That’s when the health problems set in, and they set in with a vengeance. Lower back problems. Chronic coughing. Fell and broke my left big toe, had to have surgery to fix it. More lower back problems, jumping from doctor to doctor to doctor. The list seems endless.

Not only have I not written a word on my own novel, as I said in a previous post, I haven’t even critiqued anyone else’s work. Critiques are what make Scribophile live and breathe. If I weren’t a team captain and a moderator, I’d have no business on the site.

All that changed a week ago when an old friend—the captain of the first Ubergroup team I was on—contacted me. He wanted me to critique the first chapter of his work.

I had to confess all of the above to him, especially the part about not having critiqued in nearly nine months. He was still willing to let me critique his work, which I did. I was a bit freaked out, but I dug in and went for it all the same.

Much of my critique skills had left me and I had to dig deep to remember them. I started by reading the entire chapter first, from beginning to end, something I rarely did in the old days (I used to just critique on the fly). I then went back and marked up the chapter with critique notes.

In the end, he said I was of some help, which was a great relief—I was afraid I’d wasted his time. No, I’d helped him figure out how to solve a problem with the opening sentence to one of his two possible starts to the book.

Now, I’m finding myself dealing with a dilemma—I want more than ever to get back into writing, but I need to get back to composing music. Put simply, I need to get back into the swing of things. I’m just having trouble picking the right swing. And, whichever one I choose, I can’t swing too high or I’ll swing into the brick wall of illness and pain in front of me.

Swing something, but swing low. I guess that’s how I’m going to have to deal with this.

Synergy—It’s Not Just a Buzz Word Anymore

Posted on 2017-05-11 Written by D. Lee Jackson 2 Comments

My last blog post about “Science Versus Science Fiction” generated an interesting and unexpected response that made me rethink the conclusion I’d reached. Author Eleanor Konik, whose website can be found at http://eleanorkonik.com, sent me the following feedback (from which I’ve excerpted the most important bit):

“I really liked your most recent [blog post] and have a bunch to say about it, because I think you’re beating yourself up a bit too much — some of my favorite science fiction (and fantasy) deals lovingly with the worldbuilding. While I myself write pretty minimalist stories that try to focus on just the things you need on the page, classic-style books like Robin Hobb and LE Modesitt and Heinlein and Weber that dwell on the science and the political reality and the infrastructure and history and military tactics are absolutely among my favorites, and as much because it’s interesting as because as a child it’s how I learned so much foundational knowledge.

“Please don’t let the critiques that you do worldbuilding better than characters and plot make them do your worldbuilding MORE POORLY — please just put that same loving care into making your characterization and plot measure up.”

I have to admit, Eleanor has a very valid point. In fact, her response reminds me of a term I thought I’d only have to learn for a spelling bee or a business presentation.

In this case, that term is synergy.

Dictionary.com defines synergy as “the interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc.” In the case of my science fiction novel, that is exactly what I should be shooting for. I should be trying to raise the level of my story and characters to match the reviews I’ve been getting on my worldbuilding. Only then—if I do it properly—will I have a novel whose total effect exceeds the sum of the individual parts.

My last blog post suggested that my next draft would be approaching things the wrong way, as Eleanor mentions above. Instead of bumping down my worldbuilding, she suggests that I raise the level of the story and characters to match. She’s right.

Synergy. Very good advice.

So, how the hell do I do it? Well, I believe this is the point where I go back through the critiques I received for drafts one through eight and concentrate on the portions that address the story and the characters. I already know my worldbuilding is out of balance, so I can acknowledge those critique sections without necessarily making changes—yet. I need to make changes to the story and characters first. It’s not going to be an easy job, coming up with draft number nine. However, if I can follow Eleanor’s suggestion and create a synergy between my worldbuilding, my story, and my characters, I might wind up with a draft that tops the previous eight.

Let me know what you think! Thank you for reading.

Science Versus Science Fiction

Posted on 2017-04-25 Written by D. Lee Jackson

I received a very interesting post from the Indies Unlimited blog yesterday that has made me take a seriously hard look at my own work. The post, authored by Gordon Long, was titled, “Why Scientists Shouldn’t Write Science Fiction.” In it, he basically makes the argument that people of a scientific bent spend too much time on the “worldbuilding,” or the creation of the way the science of their world and things in it function, and not enough time on the characters and the story itself.

Guilty as charged.

I’m not a scientist, although I did Letter in science and won the Physical Sciences division of my school’s Science Fair my senior year (a project in the Biology division won the Overall Prize, as well it should—it was a brilliant project). I tested out of a semester of chemistry in college. Outside of that, I’ve watched a lot of sci-fi. Star Trek, Star Wars, Stargate (the movie and the series), Battlestar Galactica (both incarnations), and many other TV series and movies have drawn me in. In writing, I’ll admit I haven’t read as many sci-fi books. I’ve read the last few of Jack Chalker’s “Well of Souls” books, Stephen R. Donaldson’s “Gap” saga novels, Alan Dean Foster’s novelizations of the Star Trek animated series, and so on. None of this qualifies me to be an expert in science.

Ah, but then there’s NOVA. Not so much today’s NOVA, but the NOVA of the 70s through the 90s. The Discovery Channel, in its early form, and the early version of The Learning Channel, where you could actually learn something by watching it. They poured out hard science, and I drank up every drop they would dispense.

The internet only made things worse. I spent tons of time on science sites (and some on Wikipedia, yes, I will admit, but only when I could verify the content).

Then, one day, around the turn of the 21st century, I got an idea. I could put some of this scientific knowledge to use and make a novel out of it.

I didn’t do anything with it right away. It fermented for a good ten years, until I started getting sick and unable to work. I had nothing else to do while on disability leave, so I sat down, put together all of the ideas about the science of the future that I’d brewed over the past decade, and tried to write a story around it. In the end, I got a 103,000+ word-long book out of it, but was it a readable novel? Time to take it to the experts at Scribophile and let them throw stones at it.

Boy, did I ever get stoned. And not in the good way.

One critiquer who made it through the book summed it up rather well. He said that I “ruled” when it came to worldbuilding, but my characters and my story fell short by comparison. I heard this same critique over and over. Great world, but where are the characters and the story?

Sigh. Eight drafts went this way. No matter how hard I worked on it, I couldn’t get the characters and the story to shine.

A writer named Malcolm Gladwell is quoted as saying, “The first eight drafts are terrible.” He spoke truth.

So, what am I going to do now? Well, I’ll tell you this: draft number nine is back in the fermenting stage. When it finally hits the keyboard and materializes on my computer, it is going to be very different from drafts one through eight. And, most importantly, it’s going to rely more on characters and story than it will on worldbuilding.

Sure, scientists can write science fiction. They simply need to use science as a spice, and not as a main ingredient.

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to use the Contact page. Thank you for reading!

Origins Diverted and Redirected

Posted on 2017-04-21 Written by D. Lee Jackson

I’ve been writing about my medical issues a lot lately. No wonder, really—I’ve had a lot of them. They’ve taken over my life. In fact, over the next week and a half, I’ve got two procedures scheduled (an electromyogram today and a CT myelogram next Wednesday) along with two doctor’s appointments (one for the chronic cough I’ve had for almost two months, the other to discuss the results of the above tests). I’m still wearing a cardiac event monitor, and I’ve had to go back onto hydrocodone and drop the Tramadol because the pain from my right spine down my right leg has hit astronomical levels.

That’s not why I started this blog.

I had a visit from a friend and former business colleague yesterday. He came over to pick up the battery pack from my old 2009-era laptop which succumbed to a failed motherboard. The battery cells are going into a major DIY project of his—he’s building a power wall so he can eventually store solar energy and go partially off-grid, if I understand correctly. That’s a good plan, and it’s great that he’s following through on it.

During our conversation, the subject of my ailments came up. He said he’s seen my posts about one thing or another going wrong physically. It was sort of the elephant in the room, since I was using my cane to stand and my cardiac monitor was kind of obvious. Nevertheless, he got me thinking about the real reason I started this blog.

Look at the blog title, upper left corner. Just below my name, you’ll see what I really wanted to write about on this blog: “Words and Music.”

Now, I have to admit that it’s extremely hard to write about working on a novel or composing music when you’ve got physical problems that make it hell to stand, much less walk, and when you’re on medications that knock you out for over half the day. Still, I want to write about words and music. I should be talking about book spines, not my own spine. If there is any way I possibly can, I will.

I will continue to write about my life, however, no matter what happens. I just hope that my life includes more words and music and fewer medical problems.

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to use the Contact page. Thank you for reading!