I found myself thinking of this during the previous post... I tend to give credit to Faulkner for my interest in writing stories that tie together, much like his fictional county, but the reality is, I think I was drawn to that specifically because of the love I mentioned for "Robotech," which not only included three generations of stories, but also because there were offshoots like "The Malcontent Uprisings" and "The Sentinels."
As anyone who's read some of my previous works will already know, "Alcoholiday" became an offshoot of "LOL." I debated at times whether I should combine then into one book, but they are such different stories, even though they share characters. Ultimately, I decided that the information about those characters in "LOL" contributed what they needed to that story, while the content of "Alcoholiday" did not serve a purpose in the other narrative.
Today, I didn't work directly on the next book. I spent some time on the character arc for someone who doesn't really play a part in the coming novel, yet it's important to know where he does eventually fit in. Doing this, I discover and develop details that can be foreshadowed.
An example: in the "pilot" known as the Empyre Preview Edition, I've got two key geographical details that bother me tremendously, because...
As I'm typing this, I had a brilliant idea. For a moment. And then I realized, no, my current solution makes the most sense. But it's crucial to ask these questions, determine what I like, what I don't like, what absolutely doesn't fit. Without going into heavy detail... In real life, Metro Los Angeles used to have an extensive street car service, part of which came through Orange County. Where I live, there are visible remnants of the line. Further, if you look at satellite images or even maps, you can still see the diagonal route as it continues to determine the landscape, decades after it ceased operations. And that is, in fact, how a fictional town should look in the minds of the readers. This fictional city came into being near the end of the 19th Century. This portion of the story takes place nearly a century later. Readers should NOT imagine it as a movie set, built just the other day. One of the defining features of the town is its first church, surrounded by the three houses of the town's founders -- but one of those founding families died out, and the house was abandoned at a time when no one else was in the market to buy. It's a place that people will think is haunted. It's the kind of place where a fugitive of some kind might hide out. It's the kind of place one family might want torn down as an eyesore, while another might think of it as a helpful reminder... I had a poster once of such a house. There are details that make it inappropriate as a literal representation of the house, but the IDEA of such a house... If I want the reader to see it as they enter town, *I* have to see it there. If I see it as faded blue one day, faded green another, I'm not sure what I'm seeing, so the reader will have an even less clear view of it.
I think back to my nemesis, George Lucas. "Star Wars" was one of THE most obsessively-watched feature of its time -- yet, Lucas thought he could get away with retconning the entire franchise in real time. Why??? According to early drafts, Lucas always seemed to embrace the fact that he was shamelessly stealing from Flash Gordon. It never occurred to him that there would be a sequel? We know it occurred to him. He just got LAZY. And left plot holes you could fly a Star Destroyer through.
So, while there are things readers may see as stretching artistic license, I'd LIKE to at least prevent the reader from saying I never thought ahead. On this particular project, depending on which seeds of the idea you consider part of the final project, I've spent a whole lot of years thinking ahead.
Comments
Post a Comment