I refer to what I write as speculative fiction. Not as in
the “speculative fiction” of the masters such as Harlan Ellison, Philip K.
Dick, or Kurt Vonnegut; for that I would have to be good. But I do, in my
writing, attempt to explore the thought process of the ordinary human by
placing ordinary humans in unconventional situations. And yes, by situation I
generally mean some science fiction or fantasy type anomaly.
Recently I’ve been toiling away on just such an opus featuring human
conflict and a science fictiony anomaly. (Note 1) The characters in my story
are confronted with all sorts of dilemmas and my gimmicky anomaly provides the
proper amount of fuel for their angst. Of course, the reality of the story is
that the sci-fi gimmick is really nothing more than a gimmick. It is how the
characters interact that is really important. I know this to be true yet…
As I have alluded to in a previous post, I don’t write 24/7.
I wish I could, but I can’t. I have a 9 to 5 job, plus several other obligations
from which there is no escape. I consider it a good week when I can write 2/7. This
includes blogs, which I consider a therapeutic necessity when the other writing
isn’t going anyplace.
I beg for patience, there is a point, of sorts.
As I said my opus does not depend upon the gimmick of a
single cool idea yet…
I indulged in a non-writing re-charge moment, sometime referred
to as vegetating, that involved some television. In my defense, it was quality
TV – un-huh, something you can binge watch on Netflix.
And there it was; a plot twist so brilliant that I could
have written it! Actually, I had, or was
in the process of writing it. My opus! It had been encapsulated as episode #4
of Season #3. What could I do now? It was a little discouraging to say the
least.
Naturally, I believe that we really do stand on the shoulders
of those who went before us, but did they have to take my idea and put it on
TV? Worse than that, they did a really good job.
Now, the truth is that variations of my “brilliant” idea
have already appeared many times over in many different stories, yet I could
always justify myself by pointing out the many differences. But this TV show was so well done and so
close to the direction that I was attempting to take my story that I found
myself wishing that this TV version, had been my story.
I’d like to be able to say that at this point I came to my
senses and the realization that no two executions of so-damn-close-to-the-same-idea are ever exactly alike and that my version still had plenty of new wrinkles to offer
readers. (As in “readers” not too-damn-tired–to-care-any-more-at-the-end-of-the-day
TV viewers, such as myself.) I would like to be able to say that I picked
myself up and planted myself in front of the keyboard. Unfortunately, that
would be a lie. I watched the next episode to see what happened.
Intellectually I know that my characters are in a different
situation and live in a different world, even if both worlds do happen to have
the same damnable device. But the key to my story isn’t the gimmick of the
device, the key is how we identify and empathize with the plight of the
characters, and that we care what choices they make and what happens to them. That
knowledge alone should be enough to get me going again, and the truth is that it
will. In fact, what will happen is that I’ll learn from what I saw. I’ll knock
off a few more previously unnoticed technological loopholes, strengthen some
strong points, edit away some weak points, perhaps eat a Snickers bar and then get
back to work.
***
Note 1: One of the reasons I prefer to write in English is
that we can easily invent new words. A lack of any real mastery of any other language
would be a close second as to why I prefer English.
