My Agent Told Me To Make A Blog

Time for another visit to New Zealand for our "setting inspirations" blog series. This time I want to talk about Christchurch, which we visited about 5 years after the 6.3 earthquake that devastated the city in early 2011. Even now, the city is struggling. Many have left and/or lost their livelihoods, the streets feel empty and abandoned at night, and there's been a huge increase in crime. The downtown is full of condemned buildings, cordoned-off areas, and empty lots. Rubble and graffiti can be found at every turn. But there are beautiful things too. The city is putting a lot of effort into restoring historical buildings, and there's much in the way of monuments, sculptures, and murals to help raise money or remember the dead. You can still get a lovely boat ride in the canal or visit the huge gardens, and amid the gutted buildings are the sprouts of new life, such as the cardboard cathedral and the boxcar mall (see below). This was one of the fist pict...

I once went to a planetarium show about the wildest weather in the solar system. By once, I mean just a few years ago, because even as an adult I love planetarium shows. If I lived somewhere with a planetarium nearby, you can expect I'd be seeing every new show that came out. Anyway, this solar system weather one, it turned out way cooler than I expected. Though I suppose I'm always mind-blown by planetarium shows. This one really stuck with me, however, and I've been dying to incorporate the things I learned into my sci-fi novels (I already have used some of them!). Let's take a brief tour. Mercury: Extreme temperature swings In grade school, we had to do a project on a planet of our choice, and I picked Mercury. I remember that it rotates slowly, has almost no atmosphere, and has very little tilt to it. The result is a scorching hot "day" side and a freezing cold "night" side. According to the Internet, it can range from 427º C (800ºF) ...

First chapters are like first dates. Writing communities like to argue a lot about what does or doesn't belong in a first line, a first paragraph, a first page. There's debate over description versus action, establishment of POV, how much information to give away. We try to quantify what, exactly, a “hook” is, and when we need it by. We spend hours crafting that first sentence, and get into arguments on whether or not it’s okay to start with dialogue. Out of all the discussions and ponderings, I think we can safely extract an underlying theme that holds true regardless of genre or style: first chapters make promises for the rest of the novel. When you pick up a book from a new author, even if it’s been recommended to you, they haven’t established your trust. It’s a lot like a first date (a blind date if a friend told you to read it). Just as you’ll develop your opinion of your date based on their conduct, mannerisms, and common courtesy, the first chapter of this n...

I like to plant ideas into an idea farm to grow. Authors are frequently asked about how they get their ideas. As far as how I get mine... I'm not so sure. They usually strike me when I'm reading or watching something else, some kind of "what if" spin on what's in front of me. Occasionally news, especially science news, creates sparks. Regardless, whenever I do come up with something, into the idea farm it goes. What on earth is the idea farm? Currently, it's a google doc. That way I can access it when I'm out and about (which used to include via my tablet while in vet school lectures heh). I toss whatever comes to mind in there with a bold header for quick reference, eg "character," "story element," "culture," etc. If it came from a specific inspiration, I'll try to mention it so I don't forget, such as "Like that SG-1 episode" or "from that TED talk on xxxxx." Basically, I've got a lot of ...

In the exam room, I see a very personal, private facet of people's lives. It's also only one piece of an intricate picture. In some cases, people tell me a lot about that larger landscape. Sometimes, it never comes up, and I'll never know. But people are always complex, and a person's entire life experience contributes to the decisions they make. There are two ways to look at this. 1. Outside In There's so much to people you don't know. When people make the difficult choices with their ill pets, there are "obvious" factors--finances, likelihood the treatment will be a success, what the animal's quality of life is like. Then there are the hidden factors: the pet that's the last link to their dead mother, the child who's away at college, or an overseas spouse. A final straw in a string of recent losses and bad news. Someone who has the same terminal diagnosis as their pet. I only see the one thread of their life: how are we going to w...

Our second "setting inspiration" showcase is another location from my travels in New Zealand. This time, something very specific: the breathtaking spiral walkway down into the Ruakuri caves. My camera sucks balls, so I'm afraid I don't have the most spectacular quality images for you. You can see a very nice photo on the Waitomo Caves website , and also read more about the cave itself. (And book a tour if you want). But here's my meager offering: It's a gradual decline, easy to walk down, and pleasantly cool and humid as caves tend to be. Down at the bottom there's what I can only describe as an airlock that serves as entrance to the caves proper. I didn't think to get a photo of that part. In the center, there's a fountain sculpture that has some Maori meaning which I forgot. The whole way down, you can hear the gentle running water of the bright centerpiece. The rest of the caves are pretty normal caves. Th...

Something that really clicked for me in making story elements interesting is the process of asking myself, "What wouldn't you expect?" I've had a lot of trouble getting stories off the ground in the past. Sometimes I'll have one character I love, but can't find much spark for the rest of the cast. Or maybe I'll have characters, but nothing interesting about where they live and work. I've spent countless hours pondering how to turn a main cast member from "pretty interesting" to "totally lovable," and hitting my head against a wall. Nothing kills stories faster for me than persistently feeling lukewarm about parts of them. But one day I tried a new approach. I'm pretty sure it was inspired by a Writing Excuses episode, but I can't remember which one. I sat myself down and said, "What's the opposite of what you'd expect?" The answer was surprisingly attractive. I asked myself again, and again. Everything...

Manipulation of bacterial genomes can result in some pretty remarkable things. Even in my basic microbiology and biochemistry courses, we used bacterial proteins and viral vectors to do all sorts of cool stuff. The classic example of making bacteria produce proteins we want is green fluorescent protein , naturally occurring in jellyfish. If you've ever seen pictures of petri dishes with glowing Christmas trees or some scientist's name written out in bacteria, that was probably GFP. Making things glow is useful as a marker during research, but scientists have had all sorts of fun making fish and other animals glow in the dark. There's this fun article about making bioluminescent trees for use as artificial lighting. Hello, sci fi setting! But I digress. Bacteria are the star of the show here. GFP is one possibility, but bacteria can do freaking anything. If I remember my undergraduate classes correctly, you insert pieces of genetic material, often by infecting th...

Setting is super important to me. After finishing a book, my strongest take-away is usually the flavor and atmosphere that came from the setting. This is probably evident in the fact that I have a blog post series based around places and photos that I think would make awesome settings. Visual media has an advantage in that it can throw way more detail at you far more efficiently than we can in writing. I could never hope to compete with the nuance you can get out of a single photo. Take any example... Imagine how much it would take to get the same amount of visual information in a book. No descriptive paragraph would mention the poles and wires on the right wall, or exactly what the bench looks like, or the fine details of the vents and windows on the train. I wouldn't sit and talk about the transition of the tile on the floor, or how the light reflects differently here and there, or how the cables at the top cross the tracks. It's hopeless to even try to match a pic...

Science fiction is largely about ideas. Whether that's examining the human condition through a fictional lens, or taking a "what if" scenario and seeing where it goes, most sci-fi really makes you think. All the great, "classic" sci-fi I've read is very much ideas-based. Asimov, Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Phillip K. Dick, to name only a few. Even Ender's Game, a young adult novel, is very ideas-driven. Neuromancer, one of my more recent reads, is breathtakingly detailed and deliciously inventive, but again, ideas are the name of the game. For someone who thrives off these things so much, I sure lack in ideas. Or at least, big concept ideas. I feel like I could never create something as intricate and creative as those SF giants. I'm always impressed by other writers who dream up entire cultures and worlds. It's so easy for some people! One thing flows into another and before you know it, the worldbuilding is practically writing itself. Traditi...