Science Fiction Overload

I enjoy science fiction.

Mostly.

The parts I don't like is when the fiction is merely a thin veneer for overblown science.

I like science alright. I mean, blowing up chunks of sodium in Mr. Bigelow's class was pretty awesome. But if I want to get all science-robot-technical I can just wander around Wikipedia's quantum vacuum page for a few hours.

So for the past few weeks you can imagine my misery as I edit and re-edit and chop and rewrite and cut into the sci-fi horror novella I've promised to an editor.

Hey look! A Feynman diagram, don't put this in your book.

I put too much science in, and now I gotta cut it out. Or else the story isn't as cool. (Not cool enough for me to send to the editor... not yet)

I mean, I don't really need to convince the reader that quantum foam conditions theoretically could really honestly create wormholes... I can just tell you that the character magically did it with some new particle accelerator, wow suspend your disbelief!

Le sigh.

What about you? Have you ever found that your epic worldbuilding sometimes leaks a bit too much onto the page?

The Universe of my WIP: or, a totally fabricated interview with James Lipton

Ok, so I found some questions from something called 30 days of writing. It might be an old meme, but I had fun answering the first question so I might just keep it up.


Besides my jilted blog needs content! Haha.

Let us pretend that I am being interviewed by James Lipton from the Actors Studio:



James Lipton will burn holes in you with his eyes.

 James Lipton: Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.

This is tricky because like most writers it’s usually “What I’m working on now” since that is the most vibrant and fresh and compelling.

But I really really really love the universe I created for my fantasy series.

James Lipton: Fantasy? Why not a sweeping epic about Depression era farmers?

No... I don't think--

James Lipton: Can there be some Depression era farmers in your fantasy novel?

Well, there are farms I suppose...
But The first book in the first series is titled THE WATCHER IN THE WOODS and I’m doing some edits before looking for a potential agent. And I’ve written about half of book two just because I can.

James Litpon: That's a lot of work into something that hasn't been published yet. Did you just go crazy like my hairline?

More like your tie. When I just tallied it up for this blog, I’ve written almost a million words in this world, mostly myths and histories and a bunch of interconnected short stories.

Whenever I’m overwhelmed by my WIP, or I just want to be unfettered in creativity, I can always slip into the world and make magic. Sometimes it’s sweeping epic history, sometimes high mythmaking, but many times a character catches my imagination and draws out a close story, intimate and personal.

It’s a great feeling, going from the macro to the micro within such a wide scope of history.

James Lipton: Do you feel like you need to have an epic rap battle with Tolkien?

I can't rap in Old Norse yet, so he'd prolly win that one.


Stay tuned for more madcap interviews!