Science Fact Swallows Science Fiction

I began working in what I call Writing Mode which is where I go when consumed with the writing of a new book

Not too long ago, I began a science fiction novel, which has always been a dream of mine, and since I finally broke through the fiction wall last year with my book, America’s Trojan War, I thought it was time. I even had a plot that had been rattling around in my mind for years.

I began working in what I call Writing Mode, which is where I go when consumed with the writing of a new book. Typically I will rise at about four in the morning and write for twelve hours, sleep and repeat until done. Building on the years of pre-writing and research that precedes the first chapter, I often stay in continuous Writing Mode for weeks at a time.

I’ve an unpublished novel that involves a race of beings which approached a crisis a long time in their past. The crisis (related at one point in the story) was this: in trying to improve themselves they had created the situation whereby those responsible for the enhancements were saying that they owned the subsistence of physical life even if they didn’t own the individual lives themselves. Thus those owning the subsistence thought they should have some say about the disposition of their property.

A critical aspect of this tale, though, is that it really is about Law. The genetic masterminds were advancing what we would call administrative law, which basically holds all things are political in nature, and they were successfully RESISTED by those using what we might term a common law, or a Law of “innate things”.

The resolution made in the story was to abandon the “Administrative Way” entirely for that race and those deemed their children ... but for outsiders they retained the Administrative Way.

Here, though, is a sticking point: under their Law to genetically engineer a sentient being made it to be considered a child of the race ... so no mad scientists (though really the race was overrun with them) could create a living slave race as the act of modifying or creating meant that they could no longer be considered potential slaves.

Owens' case is that science fact is moving faster than science fiction can keep up with, a complaint quite a few of us who try that genre have been making for some years now. In this particular case, genome "hacking". There's nothing new about altering an organism's genome, viruses do it all the time. To achieve a stated outcome, however, that's quite a different thing. Fascinating field, but we're a long way yet from designer genes. But not that long. If you're going to write a novel about it, better expect it to have a short shelf life.

There is a wonderfully creepy scene in William Gibson's iconic and astonishingly predictive Neuromancer where the AI attempting to force contact with the protagonist finds him in an airport and rings each pay phone successively as the protagonist walks by. Pay phone. Younger FReepers may have to look that up. And that was published in 1984.

Not just science fiction authors have a short shelve life. I dabbled in writing for years, with the dream of writing a thriller novel (actually a promise to my mother on her death bed). Last year I dusted off my old manuscript to keep the promise. It was several years old and the technology describe in the book was laughable. It was forward thinking at the time.

The novel made to the selves, not the best, but decent reviews. I learned to be as generic as possible when describing any technology. When introducing new technology to be vague as possible on how it functions. There is nothing new under the sun, that won’t age.

Yes, I’ll agree with that sentiment. But the key to great science fiction is that withstands the test of scientific advancement.

One writer who was very good at this was Robert Heinlein. Another was H.G. Wells. I think in the end the science fiction aspect should only be complementary and not the sole focus as a lot of it is. In the end it is character development to me and how that is carried out in a good story.

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