Hmmmm...the Legacy of Enoch...could that be a hint towards a sequel perhaps? That would be telling now wouldn't it? It wouldn't be telling an awful lot because I just came up with it and realised it sounded great as I was writing it. Cue TV series, different person every week, choosing between failure and faith while facing possible remnants of the First Races (to be politically correct). I sense a fanfic collection...first must get enough fans to fic but still...
To be serious now, even though I was perfectly serious just now, what is the Legacy of Enoch? To be more specific, what is the legacy of your work? You have placed that final full stop (or period for Americans; you know that means a regular monthly visitor to our female readers where I am from), you have done your final edit. This is IT. Your baby is ready for the big wide world. You are going to print her up and send her to your agent. You are going to format him and upload him to KDP or similar. You are going to show all your friends pictures of him and tell them how amazing she is. You're a proud parent, why shouldn't you be?
The legacy, Alan, could you stay focussed please? Oh, but dear rather cheeky reader, I am doing exactly that. In fact i was about to arrive at the point while extending the metaphor somewhat. You are showing your baby to the world now what about ther preganancy, do you remember that? See? Whoever said that men could not get preganant obviously never tried to write a book!
The sleepless nights. The worry. The panic that something might be wrong with it. The feeling that it will be unique and amazing in every single way and the babiest baby that ever decided to baby! The feeling that something might be wrong....sleepless nights, discomfort. Maybe your body goes through changes, you start craving weird stuff...
You get the idea right? I don't need to come up with any more? Oh good! My brain was starting to turn itself inside out.
So, extended metaphors aside, what is this Legacy of which we speak? Usually it occurs within the author. In their mind and, if we are of a poetic bent, inside of their very soul. Writing changes one. All those days and nights creating, stuggling, inventing and effectively living inside of the skins of others, in places which may or may not exist, does leave a mark. If you did a good enough job, that mark will not just be left on you. That mark will travel around the world and find its place on the hearts and minds of hundreds...thousands...maybe even millions!!
It may, if you are a brilliant story teller leave a mark which will remain on that heart forever or, perhaps, it will be a transient one. The point to consider is that this is a GIFT; to be able to influence and touch people you may never meet. To inspire and uplift them, to screw with their minds and emotions, to manipulate and twist them towards that shock ending and making sure they either buy Book 2 or lose all patience while waiting for you to finish it and so something silly. Ah well...change your marketing strategy or something perhaps?
The mark it leaves on you will last until the end of your days. Even if your book outlives you, it is unlikely that you will ever know. Even if you go on to write twenty or thirty more books; if you decide to become as prolific as King or Pratchett; you will always remember your first one; the one you dared to pour your heart and soul into.
You will also remember the process and now, at long last, my point hoves over the horizon and into view! What did you learn?
Hopefully a great deal, especially if you did it all right. You will have learned a lot about yourself; been surprised by a character or two; had some revelations about your skill as a writer and the the readability of most amazing work. Hopefully you've taken it on the chin and actually learning something , made some valuable changes, grown. You've learned to make that which is unique and great about yourself even better. That magic which makes the words obey your whims and dance has been refined and perfected.
If you're anything like me, you may have learned that many of your 'contemporaries' who are out there simulataneously have a deep love of "The Rules" while also a great fear of them. Those 'Rules' which are cast harder into stone then the 10 Commandments supposedly are. You have learned that Social Media has it's uses but it's like the classroom in many ways. Training. The real lessons one learns once one gets Out There into the real world. Like a soldier, if you will; in training you learn how to shoot guns, how to get fit, how to defeat assault courses and shoot at stuff which does not shoot back. When you first get your feet wet, you learn what it feels like when they shoot back; what fear feels like. I'm not saying that Hamlet's metaphorical 'slings and arrows' are anything like the real thing; they are not. I am saying writing is a battle, a struggle and a fight. Mostly you are fighting yourself; we writers are quite to introspective lot, not know for our effusive self-confidence. The hardest part, most find, is believing they can do it and deserve to be allowed to do so.
What? Exactly. Think about that for a moment. Who was it precisely that created the Rules? Right. Who precisely came down from Heaven on a buring chariot and gave them that authority? Common concensus, that's who. People's lack of confidence in their instincts, skills and own talents are what did it. Think about it. Really. Letting others tell you what your writing shoud be like because you're anxious about your own skill? That's like asking a complete strange which lottery number to play and then paying them whether you win or not.
We all want people to do the hard thinking for us; explain things; tell us how, make it simple. We all want to - metaphorically speaking - sit on our fat asses eating deep fried twinkies and chocolate dipped, lard coated sugar cubes while popping pills to make us lose weight. That would be fabulous wouldn't it? Of course, the good writers among you have already spotted my trap. Fabula = fantasy. We sell that to other people, not to ourselves!
How can you tell your truth to other people if you do not even believe in it yourself?
OK, there are rules to follow, the rules of grammar and language, we must follow those or we look like idiots. That'd be like a physicist not following the rules of physics, right?
You know the other ones thought. Show don't tell. Emotion not description. Don't use the word 'the' more than 200 times in any given novel. Using 'green' and 'purple' in the same chapter will make you book a flop. OK I may have made some of those up but listen. You. Are. A. Writer. Got that? You trust your style and your insticts. Do you want to know how many artists got famous and changed the world by following rules? None. That is how many. Are you an artist or a hobbyist? OK. Glad that's cleared up.
If you are committed and a talented writer already, that rant was not for you and I apologise. I'm projecting perhaps...If you are a fine and fast learning padawan then this is the next thing you learned. Your abilities and your limitations. Both are equally important.
You are going to get criticism if you have been trikling out content for people to see. You are going to be put down. Now artists in general tend not to take criticism well or be the most emotionally resilient of people. One must learn how. Learning your previous lesson helps here. Knowing your abilities beyond all reproach and what your limitations actually are means that people can't catch you by surprise so much. You know that you may well have missed a thing or two and maybe not edited as thoroughly as you might have done. If you are me, that's likely on some days! You know that if they find some typos, you'd have caught them sooner or later. You know if you are accused of serious grammatical errors then somebody is exaggerating and fishing for editing clients. You know what your capabilities and failings are so nobody can overwhelm you with invented ones because you already know.
That's right, if you know it already; they can't hurt you. I know what my limitations and failings are already so I take the hits which are on target and ignore the ones which go wide. You can do the same.
Finally, here I think is the most important thing to learn during the writing process; new things. I am convinced that there is one thing which does make us better writers; knowledge.
I am a stickler for this one; the art of research. I can be writing science fiction but my propulsion methods and weaponry must be at least theoretically possible. If I write about historical events, I have to deeply research both the topic, the people and even the correct language to use. If I mention some kind of mental condition, I must know how to present it correctly and use the correct terms. I am writing fiction but it must be believable fiction!
For example; The Chronicles of Enoch have involved the most insane and varied research I have ever done and I am only half way through the first of five books! Let me give you an idea of my topics and, should I abruptly disappear; you will know which items NOT to have in your search history;
Biblical, historical and mythical. Of course this is the base, the setting and the place of beginning. Pretty much expected and par for the course.
Languages and peoples; Again, if one wants accuracy and authenticity, this is normal.
Kabbalah, occultism, magic etc.; not so normal but important when one is dealing with angels and demons.
Comparative religions; our myths and stories of Flood, Origin and so forth are not only limited to the one Book. There are other versions, one must be thorough.
Psychology and Psychiartry; before I thought of introducing my autistic character (in honour of my son, he needs a hero like he is), I wanted to look into conditions which have been attributed explaining phenomena such as demonic possession and so forth. If I have a couple of characters, humans like us, become convinced I have to know about the so-called 'Scully Mindset' better. When I decided to introduce Zane, I have to make him both believable, respectful and someone autistic folks can look up to
Archeology, genetics and anthropology; I had to make the historical aspects believable and also possible as well as add an interesting side-plot meaningful.
WW2, The Holocaust and Judaism; I have a side plot and characters with attachments to this historical period. I have Lucifer's reaction to it and also survivers of the Holocaust. I have to make the history accurate and honour these people correctly. I have to respect Jewish culture in my representatives of it and bring their truth to my story.
Police and SWAT Tactics, Snipers and Ballistics; It is important to know the right noise made by a sniper's bullet. Knowing it is a 'crack' noise and not a 'bang' makes a lot of difference. Also what is a realistic 'kill distance', damage a bulet can cause and how to add my mythic twist in a realist manner.
Aerodynamics, Propulsion and Space Travel; Can I make a realistic experimental aircraft?
Mechanics, Sub-Marine Technology, Sonar, Oceanic Pressure; you'll see but I wanted to see how subterranean water would behave and how it could be navigated and what operating parameters were realistic. I also threw in some interesting inventions of my own.
Conspiracy Theories and Alternative 'Hidden' Truths; I explored every last one I could find and ran it through the sieves of both truth and my imagination. I admit to exploring dozens, hundreds and maybe more to see which I could include and give a twist to in a way which would fit.
That's not all of it either, that's just a sample. I have no intention of giving the rest of my plots away, this is just a taster as it were...
One author I greatly respect is Michael Crichton. I always found that his stories were incredible because of the amount of real science he injected into the narrative. How he appeared to be an expert on his chosen field. It made his stories much more believable. I think that is the secret to good science fiction. Take real world science and push it a little step beyond. Either that or take cutting edge and new research which people may well consider incredible but is, in fact, real. Then, of course, I'll invent something new!
So our job as writers if two-fold; to create and to learn. In learning through good and proper research you can give your readers a more engaging and realistic story. Anyone can write science fiction which is unbelievable but you can write the kind which makes people wonder...
What have you learned in your writing journey and what do you think you could still learn?
My final question to you is this; just how many interweaving plot lines are too many...well I have four and a half more books in which to resolve them all.
Comments