Writing Ideas - Writing Historical Fiction, part 12 Conclusions (for now)

30 July 2013, Writing Ideas - Writing Historical Fiction, part 12 Conclusions (for now)

Announcement: My novels Sister of Light and Sister of Darkness are about to be published. I write this blog about 2 months prior to its publication. I just heard that the proofs will be here soon--likely before the end of the week. My publisher also wants to put the entire set of novels based on Aegypt on contract--that's 5 more novels for 8 total. They also want to put my other novels on contract. The release schedule should be one novel every 2 months. 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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

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 decided that it is time to conclude this series about writing historical fiction and turn to writing about science fiction. I do write in both genres. I hope you discovered that all fiction writing requires immersion in the world you are writing about. Historical fiction isn't as much a special genre of fiction as much as it is a special discipline of fiction. The author must be disciplined enough to become steeped in the culture and history of the times he writes about, and he must be able to communicate that past world to his readers. Further, an author must not compromise the ideas and cultures of the past to make it feel-good to modern mores. When an author does this due to lack of discipline or knowledge, then he isn't writing historical fiction anymore. Plus, it is kind of stupid to write about the past with the blinders of the present. Such writing cannot stand the test of time and such writing can't enlighten the next generation.  A generation that really wishes to know what the world was like. Such writing is like an Oliver Stone movie--a docudrama about a time that never was and never could be.

So, again, my five personal rules of writing I have articulated thus far:

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 - colliery: immerse your readers in the world of your writing.

The fifth "rule" was my main concern in these twelve short articles. This rule is pertinent to all writing. It is critical to historical fiction, but in historical fiction, the "world" must reflect some strong degree of reality. What I want to do next is move to the next obvious point--about worlds that reflect little reality to the past or the modern world. The how to of science fiction. We will expand on this concept of immersion there.

For more information, you can visit my author site www.ldalford.com/, and my individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com, www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, thefoxshonor, aseasonofhonor.

Development - Rules of Writing, Nudity as a Symbol

24 July 2012, Development - Rules of Writing, Nudity as a Symbol

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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Here are my rules of 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.

All language is symbols. Therefore it shouldn't surprise you that your writing should include higher level symbols. What are higher level symbols? I mentioned before the cross as a symbol. The cross is a higher level symbol--a symbol that doesn't depend on language. Symbols can be ready made or author made symbols. Some symbols are a mix.

Lack of clothing--nudity or nakedness--is as powerful a statement as clothing. There is a difference between nudity and nakedness. Both are cultural symbols. In real life people take off their clothing for various reasons. In a novel, unless it drives the plot, theme, or story line there is no reason to write about nudity. On the other hand, it it supports the plot, theme, or storyline, the action, consequences, and reasons for a character's nudity or nakedness are important. If you don't know, nudity usually refers to the simple action of being unclothed--nakedness implies a purpose for being unclothed, usually nefarious.

In my novels, especially the Aegypt (Ancient Light) novels, I use nudity with specific cultural symbols in mind.

Back to Eden

One of the main themes in the Aegypt Novels is 'back to Eden' driven by Leora. Leora, the Goddess of Light, is not perfect, but she is the archetype Eve--the perfect woman. Her nudity demonstrates and represents her closeness to God. Likewise Lumie're, her daughter, and the Goddess of Darkness, in her time, is clothed and uncomfortable unclothed. These symbols play throughout the novels with this specific purpose.

Good/Purity and Evil/Impurity

Leora, the Goddess of Light, is nude at certain times, and Leila, is always naked. The contrast within the books is their stature and pose--the purpose for their nudity is to represent the concept the Jews call Eve/Lilith. Eve was created perfect, the mother of mankind, Lilith was created perfect and the mother of demons. The concept displays how beauty and perfection of form does not equate to beauty and perfection of purpose.

Cultural Comparison/Contrast

I write about cultures and societies in my novels. Many cultures are driven by clothing, many are not. The contrast and comparison is wonderful. The play between them significant. A powerful contrast in many cultures is their view of nudity. The ancient Irish culture abhorred it, while the Greeks thought it was completely normal. This comparison/contrast based on clothing, or the lack of it, provides a powerful driver for plot lines.

Shock

Shock refers to the characters and the readers. The shock value of the use of nudity in a fashion the reader may not expect can be powerful--the shock value between characters whose cultural perceptions are very different are priceless. These cannot drive a theme, but they provide some power within a theme--especially a theme about culture.

All these ideas and symbols work together on a page. They are self supporting and although can be used separately, gain power through being used together.

There is much more to writing without confusing your readers. I'll write about that tomorrow. The following is a question asked by one of my readers. I'm going to address this over time: Please elaborate on scene, theme, plot, character development in a new novel creation....ie, the framework, the development, order if operation, the level of detail, guidelines, rule of thumb, tricks, traps and techniques. To what extent do you outline the historic context, culture, mannerism, speech, dress and thought process of the main characters, in a historic novel...in order to maintain integrity, and gradually (help) reveal attributes of a character in the story, or otherwise clarify the plot, scene, transition, tension or resolution?

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Development - Rules of Writing, Historical Symbols

20 July 2012, Development - Rules of Writing, Historical Symbols

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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Here are my rules of 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.

All language is symbols. Therefore it shouldn't surprise you that your writing should include higher level symbols. What are higher level symbols? I mentioned before the cross as a symbol. The cross is a higher level symbol--a symbol that doesn't depend on language. Symbols can be ready made or author made symbols. Some symbols are a mix.

Yesterday, I wrote about the details of historical writing.  I didn't mention levels and symbols, but I should before we move on to the details of culture.  I wrote that bathrooms and other household facilities were a focus of the history in my novel, Aksinya.  Of course, bathrooms and household facilities was not the only focus of the history in the writing.  I used primary historical sources and information for all the history in the novel and followed my own recommendations for study and writing, but bathrooms and household facilities were a large difference between the historical world in the time of Aksinya and today. 

The bathroom and other household details became the baseline for levels in the writing and for the contrast of today's culture and Aksinya's culture.  How, you might ask?  If you go back a look at Aksinya, one of the key scenes is when she needs to go to the bathroom, which is outside.  She decided not to use the chamber pot because there would be no one to empty it (her family and all the servants were murdered by the Bolsheviks), and she didn't want to have the demon empty her chamber pot--that was too embarrassing a thought for a person from that age.  She has to go to the outhouse for her family's mansion.  If that doesn't show a huge cultural and historical difference, I don't know what does.  Aksinya has an accident (outhouse type) while going to the outhouse building--an accident that the demon becomes directly involved in.  The demon has to take her to the "bathroom" attached to her room and prepare a bath for her.  He has to take care of her soiled clothing etc.  Like her own sexuality, this incident reveals a pattern of actions by the demon that embarrass then help Aksinya.  These actions become part of the process of tempting her. 

Additionally, the outhouse, bathroom, and the bath provide symbols that relate directly to Aksinya's issues and the demon's infiltration into her life.  In the bath provided by the demon, Aksinya sees her reflection in the mirror and recognises the loss of her hair (given as a surety to the demon).  She sees her own ugliness (she thinks she is ugly).  The bath becomes a symbol for her inferiority and insecurity.  There is a bath scene with Natalya and there we see Natalya hiding the evidence of her abuse.  The bath itself becomes a symbol throughout the novel for secrets and the hidden issues of Aksinya, Natalya, and the demon.  It is no accident that Aksinya and Natalya reveal their inmost thoughts in the bedroom and in a bed rather than in the bathroom.  In the bathroom is solitude of sorts and privacy, in the bedroom there is revelation and honesty.  Which we discover later is the unseen turning point of the novel--the bedroom secret tryst between Ernst and Natalya that drives Aksinya over the edge.  The power of symbols that drive levels of storyline, plot, and theme in a historical novel should be the historical points.  Tomorrow, culture. 

There is much more to writing without confusing your readers. I'll write about that tomorrow. The following is a question asked by one of my readers. I'm going to address this over time: Please elaborate on scene, theme, plot, character development in a new novel creation....ie, the framework, the development, order if operation, the level of detail, guidelines, rule of thumb, tricks, traps and techniques. To what extent do you outline the historic context, culture, mannerism, speech, dress and thought process of the main characters, in a historic novel...in order to maintain integrity, and gradually (help) reveal attributes of a character in the story, or otherwise clarify the plot, scene, transition, tension or resolution?

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Development - Rules of Writing, History

19 July 2012, Development - Rules of Writing, History

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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Here are my rules of 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.

All language is symbols. Therefore it shouldn't surprise you that your writing should include higher level symbols. What are higher level symbols? I mentioned before the cross as a symbol. The cross is a higher level symbol--a symbol that doesn't depend on language. Symbols can be ready made or author made symbols. Some symbols are a mix.

The idea of storylines, levels, and motivations of characters relates directly back to how much should you understand about your characters, their historical times, and their culture.  The question one of my readers asked was the extent that I outline.  Outline is a good word to describe the preliminary step of character design (or development).  Remember, I've written that the author develops the character before writing the novel and only reveals the characters within the novel--if this isn't clear, read back through this blog.

So, the step of development (design and outline).  I've written before about studying history.  You need an outline of the history of the times and either an outline of what you can prove is true about that time or an innate knowledge of it.  For example, I made a detailed study of the times surrounding the novel Aksinya before I began to write.  I penned a few notes that specifically related to the history of the times and information about the period.  Because I have written a novel before about this period (or close to it 1926), I already had notes and a foundation of information.  As I wrote the novel, whenever I touched on a subject area that I knew was questionable about the "true" history of the times, I carefully researched the area before I continued writing.  I did this with my published 1926 novel, Aegypt.  In fact, one of my publisher's questions related to the use of a lighter in the novel.  I had researched this extensively.  In 1910, the permanent match type lighter was invented and had extensive use through WWI and following until the invention of the Zippo lighter in 1932.  The permanent match is what the saying "Three on a match" refers to.

The primary historical questions for the writing of Aksinya was bathroom and household facilities during the period 1918 to 1919.  In this period, these varied from nothing to full bathrooms with hot and cold running water.  I tried to show this in Aksinya, and this is one of the levels of symbol and understanding in the novel.  As I wrote previously, in developing the history of something as simple as a bathroom, I started with a blank slate and used historical information to fill in the holes and properly describe the historical bathrooms.  If you can imagine that in the country in the times, the highest aristocrat had an outhouse and used chamber pots.  There was not running water and bath water was heated usually in the bathroom with a stove (thus bathroom not water closet).  In the cities, the wealthy were installing hot and cold running water systems (usually heated from the same boiler that heated the new radiant (radiator) heat).  They had toilets for a while, but the bidet was catching on--especially with warm water available.  The details of the subject are excruciating, but that is how a historical fiction writer needs to approach even the most mundane subject about the past.  Culture, tomorrow.
There is much more to writing without confusing your readers. I'll write about that tomorrow. The following is a question asked by one of my readers. I'm going to address this over time: Please elaborate on scene, theme, plot, character development in a new novel creation....ie, the framework, the development, order if operation, the level of detail, guidelines, rule of thumb, tricks, traps and techniques. To what extent do you outline the historic context, culture, mannerism, speech, dress and thought process of the main characters, in a historic novel...in order to maintain integrity, and gradually (help) reveal attributes of a character in the story, or otherwise clarify the plot, scene, transition, tension or resolution?

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Development - Rules of Writing

28 June 2012, Development -  Rules of Writing

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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

Some writers claim there are no rules in writing--or to write well you should break the rules there are.  There definitely are rules in writing.  For example, grammar is one of the hard rules of writing.  Punctuation is another rule of writing.  Language is another rule of writing.  If you aren't writing using language properly, grammar properly, and punctuation properly, no one will be able to understand you.  My four rules for writing follow:

1. Don't confuse your readers.
2. Entertain your readers.
3. Ground your readers in the writing.
4. Don't show (or tell) everything.

The first rule applies to language, grammar, and punctuation (as well as other more complex topics).  If you confuse your readers (because they can't understand your writing), you have failed as a writer.  It is impossible for writing not to have a strong foundation of basic rules.  Likewise, it is impossible to write well unless you are well grounded in these basics. 

There is much more to writing without confusing your readers.  I'll write about that tomorrow.

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

Development - Description in Character Revelation

5 March 2012, Development - Description in Character Revelation

Introduction: I realized that I need to introduce this blog a little. I wrote the novel Aksinya: Enchantment and the Daemon. The working title was Daemon, and this was my 21st novel. Over the last year, 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.

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.

Today's Blog: To see the steps in the publication process, visit my writing website http://www.ldalford.com/ and select "production schedule," you will be sent to http://www.sisteroflight.com/.

I'll say it again and again, you can't tell us what the character of a person is, you must show us their character.  The best place to start is description.  Always describe your primary and secondary characters.  I know some authors who might not describe a primary character for certain reasons--that might be okay.  Beyond that, there is no reason to not describe every primary and secondary character with at least 100 to 300 words.  Here is the description of the demon from the novel, Aksinya:

A great roar filled the cellar, and she almost fell.  She didn’t.  Her voice rang out more clearly.  A hot sulfurous wind rushed through the place and Aksinya smiled.  Then she forced her face back to blandness.  There was a dark flash, a scream like the sound of metal cutting metal, and across the cellar, in the corner suddenly was a shape.

Immediately, Aksinya’s words changed.  They words of enticing and cajoling became those of welcoming and greeting.  They leapt automatically from her lips.  As she spoke, she carefully watched the shape across the room.  It began to move.  At first it slowly rose and fell as though it was just beginning to breathe, and then it began to grow.  It unfolded like a flower, but this flower was like nothing beautiful the earth had ever seen.  It was man-shaped and black.  Its skin and muscles clung to it as though it was only bone and muscle without any fat at all.  When it had unfolded completely, it touched the top of the ceiling, at least seven feet tall.  More than two meters.  Its limbs were long and at the end of its fingers were talons and of its feet were claws.  They were black too.  It’s face was black and handsome.  Fangs jutted out of its lips on the top and the bottom, but the face was aristocratic and fine.  At its head were ears that lifted up points like an animal and horns at either side. 

The creature was naked, and Aksinya’s eyes moved almost without her control downward.  There was nothing there.  It was like an expurgated statue.  There was nothing but a pubic bulge.  Aksinya wasn’t certain whether to be disappointed.  She raised her hands in the final greeting and let them fall.

This is the initial description of the demon, Asmodeus.  This is the picture that was the beginning of the demon in Aksinya.  I didn't build the description until after I designed the character.  In this description, we already see the demon in action.  The character is yet unrevealed, but it is developed and complete.  You, as a reader, just don't know what it is.  I, as the writer, know exactly what and who this demon is.  This is what I revealed in the novel to you.

Asmodeus has the character of a demon--we'll look at that tomorrow.

I'll repeat my published novel websites so you can see more examples: http://www.ldalford.com/, and the individual novel websites: http://www.aegyptnovel.com/, http://www.centurionnovel.com/, http://www.thesecondmission.com/, http://www.theendofhonor.com/, http://www.thefoxshonor.com/, and http://www.aseasonofhonor.com/.

A New Novel, Part 15 The Demon's Observation

One point I want you to note in the writing is a technique I use that you could call constant scene setting.  You can see it very clearly in the last piece, but you can observe it in this piece too.  I constantly remind my readers what the characters are doing and what they look like.  The purpose in this is to help the reader visualize the characters.  I can do this with a simple single statement or a little beat--for example, Asmodeus examined his claws.  This reminds you that he is a demon and has claws instead of finger nails.  When I mention something even as simple as this, you remember the demon and visualize him.  In the last example and this one too, I remind you about the chest.  A simple mention of the large chest reminds you that the demon is walking with the chest on his shoulders--first you visualize it, and second, you realize how odd everything is: a demon and a girl walking the streets of Minsk.  It isn't a joke, but reminding the reader puts everything back into context.  One of the things I hate about some writing and especially poorly executed writing is where the author doesn't set the scene properly or remind you about important characteristics in the scene.  You are going along with the narrative and suddenly a character pulls out something and you wonder--where the heck did that come from.  The author could have given a foreshadowing or at least mentioned the object or the whatever before at some point.  This is another reason for constant scene setting.

Asmodeus woke Aksinya. She lifted her head and stretched. The streetcar was almost empty. They arrived on a quiet street well to the west of the city center. It was a wealthy neighborhood. Aksinya recognized many of the names and coats of arms on the large houses. The demon led again when they exited the streetcar. Aksinya complained, “When are we going to stop. I’m hungry, and I want a bath. I’m sleepy. It’s night. We can’t keep walking forever.”


The demon turned his head to give her a look but didn’t stop.

Aksinya glared at him, “I can’t keep walking forever.”

“I wish to finish this business tonight. I do not want to have to draw your bath or serve your food again.”

“Why does this have to be about what you want? You are my servant.”

“Already, I have shown you the things I can tempt you to do. Don’t you realize yet, you are the mistress of a demon. I tempt humans into sin. I have tempted you into sin after sin. I will continue to do this, and if you don’t grant me this simple desire, it will be more than the grave sin of sorcery and onanism that you will be guilty of. You chose this, I did not.”

“Onanism is not a sin.”

“You believe it is.”

Aksinya struggled to catch up to him. He stopped at a very great house. It was fully lighted with gas lights and some electrical ones. Asmodeus stared at the place for a while then he led Aksinya to an alley at the far side. He put down the chest and sighed, “Now, countess, please wait here a moment while I check on your servant.”

“Please don’t be all night. It is getting colder.”

The demon opened the chest and pulled out a heavy long mink coat that had been Aksinya’s mother’s. Asmodeus put it over her shoulders then he closed the chest, “I will not be long.”

Aksinya watched him move toward the back of the house. When he was out of sight, she sat on the chest. After a bit, she curled up on the top of it and pulled the coat close. Her breath came in white clouds. She closed her eyes.

The next scene we will observe Asmodeus choice of servant for Aksinya.

Writing Science Fiction, part 1 Introduction

I'm back!  The first couple of days of my week are packed, and I don't have time or inclination to do any more writing.  I'm wiped right now from writing technical stuff all day.  But that might be the proper frame of mind to begin to approach science fiction.  In fact, it is exactly the frame of mind to wander into the realm of science fiction.  If you remember my personal rules of 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 - colliery: immerse your readers in the world of your writing.
If you haven't been paying attention, I've spent almost a month developing these rules for you.  Since I am a scientist and an engineer by trade, I have built up my understanding of writing like the engineering community solves problems.  First you bound the problem, then you solve it.  As long as you can properly bound the problem, you can usually solve it.  The same is true of writing and this is especially true in writing science fiction.  Perhaps the first bounding question should be just what is science fiction?  Let me give my own answer.  Science fiction is writing that presumes and interacts with a future.  Writing, broadly focuses on three general periods of interest: writing that interacts with the past (historical fiction), writing that interacts with the present (fiction), writing that interacts with the future (science fiction).  There you have past, present, and future.  Really simple, right?  The complexity becomes developing the worlds that you will immerse your readers within.  In every case of each period of interest, the overall point must be to immerse the reader into the world of your writing--rule number five.  I wrote at length about developing this world in historical fiction.  In engineering terms what we were talking about there is interpolation.  We were taking data from the past and interpolating, that is building the world from the data we had.  Interpolation is relatively easy and it is really very accurate.  The world a writer of historical fiction can build is easy to get right as long as the writer's data is good and plentiful.  In looking at the future, you can't interpolate, you must extrapolate.  Extrapolation means to take your data points outside the maximum bounds of your equations or data.  It means to move beyond current knowledge.  Notice, I didn't say you toss out current knowledge--that's fantasy, and I'm not writing about fantasy here.  In science fiction, we move beyond the knowledge we have now.  We extrapolate beyond our solution sets and equations, but we can never lose our grounding in those bounds.  If we do, we aren't writing science fiction, but rather fantasy.  There is more to come.  Tomorrow, I'll expand on this idea of extrapolation and begin to explain how you do it.

Writing Historical Fiction, part 12 Conclusions (for now)

I decided that it is time to conclude this series about writing historical fiction and turn to writing science fiction.  I do write in both genres.  I hope you discovered that all fiction writing requires immersion in the world you are writing about.  Historical fiction isn't as much a special genre of fiction as much as it is a special discipline of fiction.  The author must be disciplined enough to become steeped in the culture and history of the times he writes about, and he must be able to communicate that past world to his readers.  Further, the author must not compromise the ideas and cultures of the past to make feel-good with modern mores.  When an author does this due to lack of discipline or knowledge, then he aren't writing historical fiction anymore.  Plus, it is kind of stupid to write about the past with the blinders of the present.  Such writing cannot stand the test of time and such writing can't enlighten the next generation that really wishes to know what the world was like.  Such writing is like an Oliver Stone movie--a docudrama about a time that never was and never could be.

So my five personal rules of writing I have articulated thus far:  
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 - colliery: immerse your readers in the world of your writing.
The fifth "rule" was my main concern in these twelve short articles.  This rule is pertinent to all writing.  It is critical to historical fiction, but in historical fiction, the "world" must reflect some strong degree of reality.  What I want to do next is move to the next obvious point--about worlds that reflect little reality to the past or the modern world.  The how to of science fiction.  We will expand on this concept of immersion there.

Writing Historical Fiction, part 9 Into the Future

I just came home from my new work--it's a lot of work.  Mostly all brain kind and writing.  Right now, the thunderclouds outside are delivering rain and hail in equal measure against my basement window.  I'd like a drink.  I need some wine, but the future beacons.  It brays out its clarion call from a different direction--so why is it a topic in writing historical fiction?  Because all writing whether it is historical fiction, science fiction, or modern fiction requires the same approach.  I didn't trick you, I showed you what it takes to write historical fiction.  I hope those who might take a slipshod approach to writing historical fiction might be reformed, but more than that, I hope all authors would at least think about the concept of immersion when they write.  Perhaps this is normal for most authors--I've never met an author who was normal, so I don't know.  I just know that a lot of historical fiction is crippled because the author never grasped the voice of the times.  Equally, a lot of fiction is crippled because the author never grasped the voice of the story.  You might ask, how could that happen?  It happens because the writer was not immersed in the background of the writing and never fully understood his storyline, plot, or theme.  How can you write a historical fiction novel?  You must be immersed in the times.  How can you write a modern novel?  You must be immersed in the times.  How can you write a science fiction novel?  You must be immersed in the times.  This is the very difficult concept an author must grasp--you must live the life and in the world of your characters.  You must understand the forces that move them.  You must have the tools in hand to make their motivations and their lives real to your readers.  This is a new rule for you in my personal rules of 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.
new rule 5. Immerse yourself in the world of your writing.
How trite, but true.  If you imagine you are writing a simple story, you will produce a simple story.  If you know you are creating a world, you will create a world.  Your characters act within that world and the depth of your immersion in the development of it, is the size and reality of the world you create.  I will wrap up this subject next time.  I intend to write about writing science fiction next.