Announcement: There is action on my new novels. The publisher renamed the series--they are still working on the name. I provided suggestions as did one of my prepub readers. Now the individual books will be given single names: Leora, Leila, Russia, Lumiere', China, Sveta, and Klava--at least these are some of the suggestions. They are also working on a single theme for the covers. I'll keep you updated.
Introduction: I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. This was my 21st novel and through this blog, I gave you the entire novel in installments that included commentary on the writing. In the commentary, in addition to other general information on writing, I explained, how the novel was constructed, the metaphors and symbols in it, the writing techniques and tricks I used, and the way I built the scenes. You can look back through this blog and read the entire novel beginning with http://www.pilotlion.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-novel-part-3-girl-and-demon.html.
I'm using this novel as an example of how I produce, market, and eventually (we hope) get a novel published. I'll keep you informed along the way.
The four plus one basic rules I employ when writing:
1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.
5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
I am writing about the extrapolation of science and technology to be able to write science fiction. I made the point that it is almost meaningless to try to fully extrapolate a universe (world) that is 10,000 years in the future (and maybe 1,000 years in the future) without applying some cultural and technological shaping.
By shaping the cultures of your science fiction universe, you can shape the science and technology that is extrapolated. Here is how I culturally shaped the universe of The Chronicles of the Dragon and the Fox to make the 10,000 year extrapolation work.
The major areas in warfare technology are:
1. Software
2. Weapons
Heavy Weapons
3. Countermeasures
4. Defense
5. Communications
6. Robots
7. Vehicles
8. Environments (personal equipment)
9. Costs
10. Morale (discipline)
Extrapolated morale is likely a place few science fiction writers will be willing to go. Much, if not most of the science fiction today does almost nothing with the culture or society and instead has an unextrapolated world like today or has a culture and society extrapolated to current cultural mores. Lets extrapolate from the example of Soviet culture. The culture the Soviets inherited was God based, ethical, and classically moral. They tried to reshape that culture into the communist ideal. The first step was forced government education. The forced government education taught there was no God and told the children their parents were fools for their belief. They undercut the classical morality by using sexuality as a tool of the state. In classical communism, there is no private property or ownership and the government schools taught that men and women exclusively promising themselves in matrimony was not just wrong, it was uncommunist and unSoviet. They destroyed the ethics of fealty and responsibility by creating an environment of class warfare. The winners in the Soviet fairytale was always the owners of industry and the losers were the workers. This models put the state in place as the owner of industry and the people as the workers. A quicker way to poverty and insurrection there has never been.
In the government schools of the US as well as a host of other countries, they are promoting anti-God ideas. Soldiers will not fight for an anti-God, they will fight for a God. You can't expect a person to be willing to give their lives for an ideal you criticize at every government level. Nations that use their propaganda and schools to undercut the cultures ideas of God, will not have anyone to defend it for very long.
As concerns family--you can't have a Duck Dynasty culture of morality and expect those people to fight for a non-Duck Dynasty society.
As concerns ethics--a culture defined by class warfare can't be a culture of wealth and mobility. Entitlement does not lead to prosperity. Only hard work leads to prosperity. Who will fight for the privilege to collect a welfare check?
How do these ideas affect morale?
More tomorrow.
Also remember, I'm trying to show you and give you examples of how to write a science fiction theme statement and turn it into a plot.
For more information, you can visit my author site http://www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites:
http://www.aegyptnovel.com/
http://www.centurionnovel.com
http://www.thesecondmission.com/http://www.theendofhonor.com/
http://www.thefoxshonor.com
http://www.aseasonofhonor.com
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