I'm participating in a science experiment of sorts--I'm sharing links to and from other blogs with the frank intent to see if that gets more people interested in my story ideas and my writing. :) (Kat Heckenbach, a fine writer and friend, (www.katheckenbach.com) persuaded me to partake in this event--her site is worth a look.)
The content of this link-sharing experiment is to discuss the process of my writing. What am I working on as a writer? How do I define myself?
I have a huge backlog of story ideas I'd like to write, many but not all of which are discussed somewhere on this blog. I'm currently actively writing a fantasy novel called The Bond of the Sword, with the ambition of being to fantasy like what Starship Troopers or The Forever War are to military science fiction. The ideas behind the story draw on some of my personal observations about warfare from my own service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I'm also writing a novella called "Medieval Mars" that imagines a future terraformed Mars falling back technologically into something like the Middle Ages. Think epic scenery in a battle set on Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain of any currently known in the entire universe... I also have committed myself to continuing some past projects, to revamping The Crystal Portal and writing sequels for it and continuing Avenir Eclectia. And more, including expansion of a zombie apocalypse story (Zombie Doc) into a novel.
My genre, consciously Christian-themed speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, and horror), is a fairly small field, but is actually much larger than I knew. I'm promoting myself as the "idea man" among my peers and it does indeed seem my story concepts generally tend to be more original and diverse. So far though, those who are fans of the ideas themselves are only drawn to a small degree to my writing up of my ideas. I'd start thinking I'm perhaps not a good writer, but all of the reviews of my written works have been positive, in some cases VERY positive, except for one reader who contacted me privately because she found the ending of Unknown Biologic to be too much of a downer (but still thought the story was well-written).
I write what I do because it interests me. I feel like I'm exploring territory that no one or very few have gone into before. I like that--it's like discovery of an exotic capital of a never-before visited country. :)
As for the manner of my writing process, I'm afraid that the bright light of new ideas tends to distract me from actually completing anything concerning old ideas. Which is not exactly contributing to my commercial success... But I do find to have a deadline and having made a commitment to be highly motivational to actual writing (I say this as I'm writing the blog post I committed to Kat to write over a week ago for the 24th of March at 4 AM on the 24th itself...ahem...).
Friends of mine who write in Christian fiction, most in my spec fic sub-genre, have agreed to pick up the thread of this blog concept next week (March 31, 2014) on their own blogs. Please check out their interesting works and musings below (whom I've listed in no particular order):
Celesta Thiessen writes science fiction and fantasy from Steinbach, Manitoba, Canada, where she is a founding member of the writers group, Prairie Tales.
Janice L. Dick is a Canadian writer of historical fiction written from a Christian worldview. She also writes contemporary fiction, book reviews and blogs, as well as doing some editing and occasional speaking.
Keanan Brand is an author and editor who writes fantasy and space opera (a sub-genre of science fiction), and whatever else strikes his fancy, but when it comes to editing, he's self-described as the curmudgeonly sort. (Just sayin’.)
L. S. King is a science fiction writer who has taught writing online and authored a column for new writers. She was an editor of several e-zines and co-founded Ray Gun Revival. Her short stories and books are available through Loriendil's Dreamland.
I've heard of Colony Zero from one of the other authors involved, and I just discovered Avenir Eclectia today. I've got volume 1 loaded up on my Kindle. Looking forward to checking out some of your stuff.
ReplyDeleteThanks Adam!
ReplyDeleteIf you look at my Amazon author page, you'll see a variety of things beyond Colony Zero and Avenir Eclectia. Most are short story related and include my contribution to the No Revolution is Too Big series:
http://www.amazon.com/Travis-Perry/e/B005EREN66/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1
You have many interesting projects! :)
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you, Cindy :)
DeleteYou're right, Travis, you have a diverse array of ideas -- makes me wish I had better ones. :) Mine tend to be pedestrian by comparison.
ReplyDeleteI've enjoyed your stories, too.
What you said about ideas v. writing skills reminds me of my own artistic and photographic attempts: My mind sees far better images than my hands can produce. Sometimes there's the same disconnect between story ideas and the stories themselves. It's frustrating, but whenever it happens, I keep throwing myself at the barrier, knowing that eventually I'll make it over the top.
Thanks so much, Keanan.
DeleteWell, we have to keep trying, don't we? I'm glad you are confident you will make it over the top. I'm not, but I will keep trying. :)