Jackson Allen's Blog, page 21
October 6, 2023
Sci-Friday #196 – Star Wars: 1923
For this Sci-Friday – what if Star Wars was made in 1923? That’s the premise behind this charming, MidJourney-driven fan film by douggy.com. Come for the steampunk R2-D2, stay for the bad John Williams soundtrack coming from underwater! Take a look:
As noted in previous Sci-Friday’s – you don’t need a big budget or crazy amounts of detail. All you need is a simple ‘what-if’ scenario, and your story will often write itself. Thanks to LaughingSquid and Fark for the tip!
If you enjoyed this discussion, please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend! 
The post Sci-Friday #196 – Star Wars: 1923 appeared first on Inkican.
Sci-Friday – Star Wars: 1923
For this Sci-Friday – what if Star Wars was made in 1923? That’s the premise behind this charming, MidJourney-driven fan film by douggy.com. Come for the steampunk R2-D2, stay for the bad John Williams soundtrack coming from underwater! Take a look:
As noted in previous Sci-Friday’s – you don’t need a big budget or crazy amounts of detail. All you need is a simple ‘what-if’ scenario, and your story will often write itself. Thanks to LaughingSquid and Fark for the tip!
If you enjoyed this discussion, please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend!
October 3, 2023
Writing Advice: Adding Subtext, Emotions, and Sensory Descriptions
Time for some writing advice – let’s talk adding subtext, emotions, and sensory descriptions. I got some feedback from a rejection notice this week that I found incredibly helpful – let’s talk about adding subtext, emotions, and sensory descriptions to writing. Now first, it’s time to confess something – this is probably the best I’ve ever done at receiving feedback on my writing. In times past, I’ve reacted defensively, argued with feedback instead of assimilating it. I’m actually happy with how well I’m handling this rejection and am reflecting on the work I’ve done (Please see Survival Guide for Creative People) on managing my emotions and utilizing constructive criticism. Yay, me!
So, like Apollo 13 – I’m a ‘successful failure.’ People aren’t willing to champion my project yet, but they’re willing to tell me what I’d need to do to make it better. Before, I’d take exception to what these folks told me for my own co-dependent reasons but now I can see that feedback for the gift that it is. This agency did me a huge favor by telling me something no one else will care enough to say: the book isn’t ready for its readers yet. Thank goodness I’m hearing that now, and not after the book had gone to press.
Now it’s time to tell you what the anonymous agency had to say: “Even though we loved the intriguing concept of this story and admired your attempt to blend exciting sci-fi elements with the day-to-day struggles of a middle schooler, the narrative fell heavy on dialogue at times, leaving us craving more sensory descriptions, subtext, and emotions from the characters.”
Yeah, lot to unpack there. A world-famous lit agent with connections to successful novels and movies liked what Mike.Sierra.Echo was all about. That’s great news for all of us! Mike.Sierra.Echo has something to love and readers connect with the concept and the struggles of middle school. Cool! That’s a nugget we can all enjoy later, like an after-dinner mint, as the sun goes down on a fall afternoon.
However, the biggest part of this is what they felt Mike.Sierra.Echo needs to get better at. It needs some more polish, particularly in these three areas: adding subtext, emotions, and sensory descriptions. I’m going to do some research with you here on how those three things work for a story and then we’ll talk about what happens next for MSE.
“Okay, thanks for the writing advice, but what does adding subtext, emotions, and sensory descriptions mean?” Here’s what we’re talking about: Subtext in middle-grade fiction is the underlying or implied meaning that often conveys deeper themes, emotions, or messages beyond what is explicitly stated in the text. Emotions are about creating an emotional connection for readers by immersing them in real time in the character’s emotional journey. Sensory descriptions
Writing Subtext in Your StoriesThis blog post is meant as a help for me as much as it is for you. As Richard Feynman is famous for saying – ‘If you can’t explain something to a [beginner], then you haven’t really understood.’ When I read that I should have more subtext in MSE, my first question was ‘what does that mean?’
Subtext is the implicit meaning of a text—the underlying message that is not explicitly stated or shown. What’s the underlying message of MSE? Am I communicating that sufficiently through the narrative? Obviously if I’m being told I’m not by a lit agent, then I’m not! This is an opportunity for me to go back through the draft with the ‘subtext’ lens and see where I can make changes and enhancements. But if you want to learn more about subtext, here are …
Helpful Subtext Resources7 Tips for Adding Subtext to Your Writing7 Simple Techniques to Supercharge Your ScenesHow Subtext Helps StorytellingCreating Setting and Subtext in Your FictionAdding Sensory Descriptions To Your Stories“Good writing activates all your senses,” my first ‘sensory descriptions’ resource says “like a warm loaf of freshly baked bread brings memories, feelings and thoughts alive. A strong written description activates your ears, eyes, nose, fingers, even your taste buds!”
Um, okay – good, I guess? How do you make sure your draft activates the senses? What if you use too many and it overwhelms people? “Don’t be too timid or squeamish about your writing – or about using sensory details,” my resource continues. “Put in too much color, too many sounds, too much drama, too many adjectives and adverbs. Use all five senses in your writing. You can always edit them out later.”
Okay, fair point. Let’s go back over the draft with the ‘Sensory Descriptions’ lens. Meantime, here are some more …
Helpful Sensory Descriptions ResourcesSensory Details to Fire Up Your WritingHow to Use the Five Senses in Your WritingExpert Tips on Writing Sensory Details in Setting & DescriptionAdding Emotions To Your StoriesThis one was interesting to me because whenever I’m writing something, I want to let people fill in the blanks with their own perceptions. Bob Ross and Tenent teach us that lesson and I try to do the same.
BUUUTT, if I’m being honest, that’s just a personal style thing and I’m not married to it. If professional publishing people are telling me ‘more emotion, please,’ then my job is to say ‘Yes, I’m getting right on that.’ Doesn’t hurt to make people feel valued for offering constructive feedback. I’ll be using the following …
Helpful Emotional Descriptions ResourcesEmotions In Writing: How To Make Your Readers FeelA Writer’s Guide to Evoking Strong Feelings in Your ReadersWhat Is Emotional Context And Why Does Your Story Need It?To figure out how to do that correctly. Then it’s off to draft 2.4 of Mike.Sierra.Echo to look for opportunities to add emotion.
I know it might seem like a bummer, adding subtext, emotions, and sensory descriptions to writing. Like the beautiful art glass above, we can’t afford to be ‘one and done’ with our work, especially if someone tells us ‘This isn’t good enough, yet.’ It’s the happy side of a bad relationship where somebody tells you ‘I’m not giving up, yet.’ The ‘yet’ is all you hear. They’re willing to talk to you – they’re willing to give you constructive feedback. Those are good things!
I’m going back to the drafting/editing process with Mike.Sierra.Echo and I welcome you to watch how I do with the next steps.
Write on!
The post Writing Advice: Adding Subtext, Emotions, and Sensory Descriptions appeared first on Inkican.
Adding Subtext, Emotions, and Sensory Descriptions to Writing
I got some feedback from a rejection notice this week that I found incredibly helpful – let’s talk about adding subtext, emotions, and sensory descriptions to writing. Now first, it’s time to confess something – this is probably the best I’ve ever done at receiving feedback on my writing. In times past, I’ve reacted defensively, argued with feedback instead of assimilating it. I’m actually happy with how well I’m handling this rejection and am reflecting on the work I’ve done (Please see Survival Guide for Creative People) on managing my emotions and utilizing constructive criticism. Yay, me!
So, like Apollo 13 – I’m a ‘successful failure.’ People aren’t willing to champion my project yet, but they’re willing to tell me what I’d need to do to make it better. Before, I’d take exception to what these folks told me for my own co-dependent reasons but now I can see that feedback for the gift that it is. This agency did me a huge favor by telling me something no one else will care enough to say: the book isn’t ready for its readers yet. Thank goodness I’m hearing that now, and not after the book had gone to press.
Now it’s time to tell you what the anonymous agency had to say: “Even though we loved the intriguing concept of this story and admired your attempt to blend exciting sci-fi elements with the day-to-day struggles of a middle schooler, the narrative fell heavy on dialogue at times, leaving us craving more sensory descriptions, subtext, and emotions from the characters.”
Yeah, lot to unpack there. A world-famous lit agent with connections to successful novels and movies liked what Mike.Sierra.Echo was all about. That’s great news for all of us! Mike.Sierra.Echo has something to love and readers connect with the concept and the struggles of middle school. Cool! That’s a nugget we can all enjoy later, like an after-dinner mint, as the sun goes down on a fall afternoon.
However, the biggest part of this is what they felt Mike.Sierra.Echo needs to get better at. It needs some more polish, particularly in these three areas: adding subtext, emotions, and sensory descriptions. I’m going to do some research with you here on how those three things work for a story and then we’ll talk about what happens next for MSE.
Here’s what we’re talking about: Subtext in middle-grade fiction is the underlying or implied meaning that often conveys deeper themes, emotions, or messages beyond what is explicitly stated in the text. Emotions are about creating an emotional connection for readers by immersing them in real time in the character’s emotional journey. Sensory descriptions
Writing Subtext in Your StoriesThis blog post is meant as a help for me as much as it is for you. As Richard Feynman is famous for saying – ‘If you can’t explain something to a [beginner], then you haven’t really understood.’ When I read that I should have more subtext in MSE, my first question was ‘what does that mean?’
Subtext is the implicit meaning of a text—the underlying message that is not explicitly stated or shown. What’s the underlying message of MSE? Am I communicating that sufficiently through the narrative? Obviously if I’m being told I’m not by a lit agent, then I’m not! This is an opportunity for me to go back through the draft with the ‘subtext’ lens and see where I can make changes and enhancements. But if you want to learn more about subtext, here are …
Helpful Subtext Resources7 Tips for Adding Subtext to Your Writing7 Simple Techniques to Supercharge Your ScenesHow Subtext Helps StorytellingCreating Setting and Subtext in Your FictionAdding Sensory Descriptions To Your Stories“Good writing activates all your senses,” my first ‘sensory descriptions’ resource says “like a warm loaf of freshly baked bread brings memories, feelings and thoughts alive. A strong written description activates your ears, eyes, nose, fingers, even your taste buds!”
Um, okay – good, I guess? How do you make sure your draft activates the senses? What if you use too many and it overwhelms people? “Don’t be too timid or squeamish about your writing – or about using sensory details,” my resource continues. “Put in too much color, too many sounds, too much drama, too many adjectives and adverbs. Use all five senses in your writing. You can always edit them out later.”
Okay, fair point. Let’s go back over the draft with the ‘Sensory Descriptions’ lens. Meantime, here are some more …
Helpful Sensory Descriptions ResourcesSensory Details to Fire Up Your WritingHow to Use the Five Senses in Your WritingExpert Tips on Writing Sensory Details in Setting & DescriptionAdding Emotions To Your StoriesThis one was interesting to me because whenever I’m writing something, I want to let people fill in the blanks with their own perceptions. Bob Ross and Tenent teach us that lesson and I try to do the same.
BUUUTT, if I’m being honest, that’s just a personal style thing and I’m not married to it. If professional publishing people are telling me ‘more emotion, please,’ then my job is to say ‘Yes, I’m getting right on that.’ Doesn’t hurt to make people feel valued for offering constructive feedback. I’ll be using the following …
Helpful Emotional Descriptions ResourcesEmotions In Writing: How To Make Your Readers FeelA Writer’s Guide to Evoking Strong Feelings in Your ReadersWhat Is Emotional Context And Why Does Your Story Need It?To figure out how to do that correctly. Then it’s off to draft 2.4 of Mike.Sierra.Echo to look for opportunities to add emotion.
I know it might seem like a bummer, adding subtext, emotions, and sensory descriptions to writing. Like the beautiful art glass above, we can’t afford to be ‘one and done’ with our work, especially if someone tells us ‘This isn’t good enough, yet.’ It’s the happy side of a bad relationship where somebody tells you ‘I’m not giving up, yet.’ The ‘yet’ is all you hear. They’re willing to talk to you – they’re willing to give you constructive feedback. Those are good things!
I’m going back to the drafting/editing process with Mike.Sierra.Echo and I welcome you to watch how I do with the next steps.
Write on!
October 2, 2023
The Creator – Scifi That’s So Much More
Took time to gather my thoughts after a sneak preview of ‘The Creator’ – this gorgeous, action-packed movie is SO much more than the reviews are saying. I’m still an anxiety-ridden mess so I don’t go out, but thanks to a friend I got to see ‘The Creator’ anyway.
Make no mistake – we’ve left the ‘hater therapy’ portion of sci-fi, where we try to make movies and stories for the haters to ‘bring them along.’ The Creator just goes all-out to tell an fun, interesting science fiction story and it doesn’t care whether /r/scifi likes it or not. THAT, my friends, is makes it great.
But wait, Jackson – you say – nothing about this movie is ORIGINAL. The script sounds like it was generated by an AI! Yes, yes – we’ll get to the complaints in a few moments. Let’s set the stage correctly. The Creator is the celebration of original scifi we needed – it feels like what great science fiction used to feel like – unshackled by public opinion, content to let you figure out what’s going on.
What if La La Land was cyberpunk?It reminded me in some ways of ‘La La Land’ when it came out. Before you ask ‘What on Earth are you talking about?’ Let me explain: A movie review of ‘La La Land’ calls it ‘a gorgeously photographed, unashamedly nostalgic, bittersweet marriage of the modern and the traditional’ which, if you think about it, is a perfect description of ‘The Creator.’ It, too, is a gorgeously photographed, unashamedly nostalgic, bittersweet marriage of the modern and the traditional science fiction.
Just as Casablanca works because it’s a collection of tropes told in a way that people can relate to on a human level, The Creator doesn’t attempt to be THE MOST ORIGINAL SCIFI IN THE WORLD. Rather, it’s trying to be the best science fiction story for the most people. It’s trying to bring people together. That’s why I loved it and that’s why I recommend it. It’s also why I think the sci-fi community is doing a massive disservice to itself if it doesn’t support this original, well-told science fiction story. But this isn’t ‘hater therapy’ time – it’s time to talk about The Creator. Here are some quick notes:
John David Washington delivers a competent, minimalist performance as a haunted man with a second chance at redemption. Allison Janney, the sympathetic antagonist, is willing to share some of the horror that makes her into a villain. Ken Watanabe navigates the path between ‘pirate with a heart of gold’ and ‘calculating warlord’ with nimble efficiency. In all three cases, the actors present a form of generosity that I hope people see for what it is. Just as Reese Witherspoon in ‘The Good Lie,’ actors are at their best when they *don’t* insist on the spotlight. Watanabe, Janney, and Washington deserve a tremendous amount of credit for refusing to chew up the CGI scenery.Cinematography and art design will leave you in tears – The Creator is *that* beautiful. They’re doing something right when you want to pause the movie just to … look around. Look at everything, study all those tiny little details. Simon Stalenhag-inspired vehicles, cities, and androids beckon you to wallow in the alluring, immersive world of New Asia where humans and AI live side-by-side in peaceful, if economically depressed, harmony. Fully-realized social strata of humans and AI, compared to the struggling failed states of western civilization illustrate the future socioeconomic challenges of an ‘archipelago of micro-jurisdictions.’
I find myself returning to different scenes and wanting to re-watch the movie again – the story has staying power. There’s a scene where Ken Watanabe directly challenges the Anti-AI sentiment that created the war they’re currently fighting. ‘Do you know what would happen if we won? Nothing. We would simply go on living in peace.’ In a world where people are poisonously polarized, The Creator is sorely-needed morality tale on the lethal dangers of tribalism, information bubbles and group think. We need stories that champion the angels of our better nature and The Creator is one of them.
In the past few years, I’ve cautioned that the sci-fi community’s ‘purity tests’ of new science fiction will eventually come back around. That moment appears to be here, since The Creator unabashedly eschews the scifi communities opinion. This is a great movie, whether you like it or not. A few years ago, the movie Passengers – an original scifi story – was drowned at the box office by purity tests. The Creator seems to have learned from the mistakes of the past and doesn’t concern itself with pleasing every single person in the movie-going universe.
In fact, let’s do a little ‘hater therapy’ now. I get it – you think the movie isn’t what it should be – what should have The Creator done differently? Are you a filmmaker? Do you know how to get original science fiction stories produced into films? Let’s make it easier: what’s an original scifi movie that’s done a better job in the past five years? By all means, let’s hear about it – I welcome every opportunity to improve our genre.
Wrapping up – I make this honest, if not impassioned plea – please support this movie. The Creator isn’t a perfect movie, but we can’t afford to wait for perfection in a world that’s constantly selling us mediocrity. The Creator is scifi that’s so much more – if we want it to be – this can be the beginning of a golden age of original science fiction.
That’s why I’m writing all this. It’s not about marketing or influence – we want to champion good, original science fiction when we see it. Even if it’s not perfect – Hollywood responds to butts in seats. This is an opportunity for us to say ‘more, please!’ That’s the only way we’ll get to see more of it. Will it find its audience in the rest of the Western world, or become an overseas-market darling? Time will tell.
September 29, 2023
New Scifi Short Story: Culture Shock
Happy news – I released a new scifi short story to all your favorite e-book retailers – go read Culture Shock now! I started the story based on a writing prompt and expanded it into a larger darkly-comic discussion about reversals of fortune, ruin, and redemption. Have you ever suffered a nightmare social gaffe that destroys your entire universe? Dave has, and he finds an interesting way to make things right. Here’s a quick description:
Ta’la and Dave are humans exploring the Besh au’Rum Freeport Zone for the first time. How will they react when they quickly realize that aliens don’t pay much attention to humans? Dave’s disappointment leads to some surprisingly emotional reactions. Things get even more complicated when Ta’la buys a fake Earth artifact. Dave must pull it together and use his knowledge of alien cultures to achieve acceptance and growth in a universe dominated by aliens.
Ready to explore the uncharted territories of the cosmos and human fallibility? Join me on a cosmic rollercoaster and prepare to be amazed!
September 26, 2023
“In a World …” of Lazy Storytelling
I killed the movie twenty minutes in, muttering ‘In a world …’ under my breath – my favorite ironic description of lazy storytelling. ‘In Time‘ is a classic example of lazy storytelling where ‘In a world’ of 25-year-olds with the ability to buy and sell minutes of life, nobody worries about wasting the viewer’s time. Lazy, irritating – a missed opportunity. Let’s discuss why, and then some examples of single premise-scifi done correctly. But first, we have to deal with my coffee maker.
She’s been through thick and thin with me – a humble 12-cup Black & Decker from Before Times. Second shelf in the housewares department at Target when our relationship was new, when love still had the sheen of a showroom Cadillac. The coffee maker came with me when it was time to leave Los Angeles – she had a Keurig from Amazon arriving the next day. An passive partner, a precarious passenger atop of a laundry basket full of clothes. Bravely bearing the brunt of a thousand-mile trip in the back of a borrowed Nissan Sentra. Ten years and 3650 pots of coffee later, something zapped inside as she brewed her last cup. My friend was gone, without so much as a last good-bye.
Into the green accordion EmX bus – time for a 40-minute trip to the Fred Meyer on 11th Avenue. No conversation – passengers on their phones or off their meds – talking to Grandma or radio dogs on Mars. For $1400, you can buy a Keurig automatic coffee maker with black plastic and shiny anodized metal. Touch screens deliver tea, coffee or cocoa. Never mind what all those little pods are doing to the landfills. Black & Decker had a coffee maker but at five cups, it would be a poor companion on late-night writing jags. I settled for a Toastmaster 12-cup that used the same basket-shaped coffee filters. Not fancy enough for a No.4 coffee filter – maybe after this book sells.
We return to the conflict in progress – lazy storytelling and single premise-scifi. I tried watching ‘In Time‘ but snapped it off after twenty minutes. Same reaction to ‘A Quiet Place,’ ‘Arrival,’ ‘Finch,’ and ‘Ad Astra.’ It’s taken me a while to understand why some popular movies rub me the wrong way but now that I do, let’s talk about it.
No one argues that science fiction is often built on simple premises, but when you fail to connect the emotional dots for the audience, it becomes lazy storytelling. For example, ‘In Time,’ – the world is genetically engineered so everyone is 25 years old and runs on minutes of life? How did that happen? Why did that happen? What happened to all the older people? No one knows – no one talks about it. Those unanswered questions took me right out of the story and kept me there.
Let’s try again with A Quiet Place – why did the aliens come to Earth? How do they have ‘impenetrable armor plating?’ Why is a suburban family the only group of people who figured out how to stay safe using ASL? The unanswered questions, again, take you right out of the story.
Same with ‘Finch’ – how did Tom Hanks come to be the only survivor with access to an underground lab in St Louis? How did he translate his knowledge of robotics into Machine Learning and AI to build a fully-functional humanoid android that Boston Dynamics is still tinkering away on?
Why would NASA agree to send Brad Pitt on a mission to ‘find his dad,’ when a simple probe could accomplish the same purpose? Who was the project director who slammed their fist on the table and said “I know we can do this for 1/1000th of the price but we’re sending a man, anyway – and not only a man, the guy’s kid!”? Whoever worked for NASA has no idea how or why projects get funded and anyone who knows that is going to scream all the way through ‘Ad Astra.’
I’m sure you get my point, but let me say this to express my frustration in a more distinct way. Yes, asking questions you never answer is going to piss your audience off. You know that already, right? Of course, you don’t *have* to spend the movie on these questions, but you should create a way to answer them. It’s called ‘diegetic storytelling,’ people – the type of ‘in-universe’ story that helps you gain depth and texture to an otherwise flat narrative.
Remember the depth of set design in Star Wars – how that sucked you into the desperate world of the Rebels vs. the Empire? Remember the opening scenes of Midnight Special with the church compound juxtaposed with the junky old car? Those components told *volumes* of story without having to say a word. If you tried to describe either movie with ‘In a world,’ you’d truly be talking about that world because it felt like a real place.
‘A Quiet Place,’ ‘Arrival,’ ‘Finch,’ and ‘Ad Astra’ never felt like real worlds. Too many convenient ‘problems,’ too many questions you never got a satisfactory answer to. I found those movies frustrating and disappointing and the reason why is simple: Lazy storytelling.
How do you avoid lazy storytelling in your work? How do you avoid me saying ‘In a world …’ while I turn off your movie? There are some handy, simple ways to achieve texture and verisimilitude in your stories. I’ll talk about that in an upcoming post.
September 22, 2023
Sci-Friday #195 – Every Young Adult Dystopian Novel Ever
For this Sci-Friday, enjoy this SNL lampoon of every young adult dystopian novel, ever. I’ve voiced my disdain for dystopia and post-apoc fiction before, but let’s take a moment to reflect on why, again. Watch out for one swear at the end but otherwise this is safe for kids. Take a look:
Yeah, yeah – people love dystopian scifi. Who cares? Dystopian fiction fails to acknowledge the truth – we’re already living there. If you showed the front page of the local news to your family in 1960, they’d burst into tears. ‘What happened? Why aren’t you fixing it?’ I don’t have a good answer for that, and neither do you.
So yeah, dystopia … it’s mockable to me, and maybe to you, too. Enjoy this cool little short and the beginning of fall! you enjoyed this discussion, please feel welcomed to dive down the rabbit hole of every other Sci-Friday I’ve published in the past couple years. Have a great weekend!
September 18, 2023
Solarpunk: Second Rat Gets the Cheese (SRGTC) Syndrome
Some interesting scifi news this week reminded me that I need to talk about Second Rat Gets the Cheese (SRGTC) Syndrome when we discuss Solarpunk. Yes, we need innovation to solve the problems of humanity that we currently face. Yet, is it just a matter of ‘find a problem, solve it?’ Historically, the answer to this question is ‘no.’
Here’s why I’m talking about this. Yahoo reported last month that the California’s Public Utilities Commission approved a significant expansion for Cruise and Waymo, the state’s two licensed robotaxi services … Just one week later Cruise agreed to cut its fleet in half after one of its driverless vehicles “entered the intersection on a green light and was struck” by a fire truck.
Robotaxis aren’t the only disruptive industry facing issues. Carbon-sequestering company Charm Industrial has people lining up to dunk on their technology and yet their stated intent is so bold and positive that you can’t help but wish for them to succeed so we can start gaining traction against the looming specter of climate change disaster.
We need to talk about these issues in the context of Second Rat Gets the Cheese (SRGTC) Syndrome. Just because we found an answer doesn’t mean we’re done with the question. Just because the first solution didn’t solve the problem doesn’t mean we’re abandoning the cause. We should expect failure, we should expect to go back to the drawing board. This is what real innovation looks like, when it’s happening in real-time.
That’s why I’m talking about all of this. We need these technologies, we need to move toward solarpunk solutions. We need to talk about Second Rat Gets the Cheese (SRGTC) Syndrome. Yes, this is a thing, and yes, we’ve seen it in the past. Walk with me through some historical, anecdotal evidence to support this conclusion. Everything’s going to be okay, eventually.
Innovation: A Non-Linear JourneyMost problems aren’t caused by a single issue. Most solutions aren’t achieved by a single path, either. Our culture has conditioned us to expect a simple A/B/C path and that hurts real innovators. In 2023, transparency means we’re getting to see how the sausage is made for really big, new ideas. This natural outcome of innovation has led to 21st Century Malcontents who make naysaying their personality. It’s discouraging innovators who may not have the emotional energy to deal with that negativity, and it can by extension hurt the rest of us.
But even the best-laid plans can still fail. That’s where Second Rat Gets the Cheese (SRGTC) Syndrome comes in. Let’s discuss some past examples:
In the pursuit of new ideas and innovation, we’re always looking for the NEXT BIG THING. Where are we going? What’s going to matter? How can I be on the right side of history? You can make a very comfortable living with the right business card and a marketing campaign discussing your prognostications about the next twenty years of civilinnovation. But, big ideas aren’t the end of the story.
Now, let’s talk about the Second Rat Gets the Cheese. According to QuoteInvestigator – the twisted proverb or anti-proverb first appeared appeared in the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.video.arcade in a message posted by “David Jakovac”. The saying was freestanding and no attribution was given: The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!
Simply put: early adopters aren’t always beneficiaries. Countless examples exist throughout history. Valerian and Laureline were innovative scifi comics from the 70s, introducing concepts like a Cloud City, freezing somebody in a weird substance, and a girl in a sexy ‘slave outfit.’ But it wasn’t until a scifi franchise called ‘Star Wars’ came along that these concepts really connected with the larger audience of scifi fans. Allen Steele wrote a story about cloned dinosaurs in 1990 called ‘Trembling Earth’ but it wasn’t until an upstart named Michael Chricton published his book ‘Jurassic Park’ that the whole world jumped onto the bandwagon of cloned dinosaurs.
It’s not just scifi stories. Webvan was a startup started in 1996, growing fast to take advantage of its ‘first-mover’ advantage. But it wasn’t until a startup like Instacart that the public was ready to embrace web-based grocery shopping.
Get what I’m saying? History is rife with examples where the first guy through the door was the last guy to win the prize. The early bird may get the worm, but the second rat gets the cheese. Nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come, as Victor Hugo is paraphrased as saying, but nothing is as vulnerable as a powerful idea whose time has not yet arrived. Ergo, it is wise to view all new disruptive ideas with cautious optimism. Yes, this sounds like a good idea – but what are we missing?
Living With Second Rat Gets the Cheese (SRGTC) SyndromeThe truth is, SRGTC Syndrome has always been with us. Don’t believe me? Here’s a list of failed inventions. The problems these inventions were designed to solve didn’t go away, we solved them eventually. The watered-down, over-simplified version of history we learn in school failed to teach us to keep trying. Yet, we need to learn to live with SRGTC if we plan to survive what’s happening now, and whatever happens next.
How do you live with SRGTC? I’ll discuss that more in an upcoming blog post. The main thing to take away now is: SRGTC is a thing – don’t be scared when you encounter it. It just means you’re going to have to find a different way to solve the problem.
September 14, 2023
Free Author Tools – Learn How to Make an Audiobook (w/pics)
Celebrating the release of ‘The Battle of Victoria Crater’ with some free author tools – would you like to learn how to make an audiobook? Step through the slideshow below – I’ll show you what’s involved!
I spoke about the new audiobook I produced and released a few days ago but some have asked about the production process and so I created this walkthrough of what it takes to make an audiobook – start to finish. First – you have to start with a story. Next step – find a voice actor and work out a way for you to work together.
Now it’s time to think about what the story will look like after I release it to Youtube. Do people want to look at the book cover for 25 or 30 minutes? Probably not. Let’s create some pictures for them to look at while we listen to the story.
Since I can’t find an artist willing to do concept art on a profit sharing plan like my voice actor, I use the next best thing – MidJourney. Hours and HOURS of prompt engineering to visually describe the world of the story. Jeremiah the VO actor been recording the story and now I have enough recordings to get started on video production while I wait for the rest! Fire up Adobe Premiere and get to work.
Production means listening to each take – cutting out the word flubs and re-reads – so that the audio is one seamless read-through of the story. But wait, we’re missing something. This is an AUDIO book, right? Where’s the sound effects? Now it’s time to start working with open source sound effects libraries to create the audio atmosphere of the story. I need to review different open source libraries (like www.freesound.org, for example) to find the right sounds for the story. This is another hours-long process while I listen to sample after sample. The result is an aural experience for the reader – not just a story.
It’s time to do a test cut and find issues to fix while I add in the final reads. Not so fast, crumbsnatcher! You missed a few words in 23:06. Go back and re-cut the audio to remove those little word whiskers. Now add ‘wrappers’ – audio where Jeremiah says ‘Thanks for listening’ and other housekeeping items. We still need to add final video/audio transitions – tweak some of the sound effects that are too loud and drowning out his voice … okay, ready … annnddd … Launch time – get your stuff out there and see how everyone reacts (or doesn’t). Tell people on social media, answer questions, address items of concern.
Even though each audiobook takes dozens of hours on top of the dozens of hours spent writing the story, the fact that it makes people happy is the juice that makes it worth the squeeze. Hope you enjoyed this walk-through – don’t forget to listen to The Battle of Victoria Crater yourself. I think you’ll like it!
