Chris Dietzel's Blog - Posts Tagged "ideas"
The end of one world, the beginning of another
When I first set out to start writing about the end of the world, I had an exact vision of the story I wanted to tell: the last normal human, forced to care for the plagued masses. As I started writing The Man Who Watched The World End, the story quickly morphed into an old man taking care of his brother in an abandoned neighborhood. But the world of the Great De-evolution was born. From there, I wrote a completely different type of story that took place in the same world of mankind’s slow and quiet decline. A Different Alchemy gave a fuller view to the world I had created. It’s only fitting that now, in my third and final Great De-evolution book, The Hauntings of Playing God, that I end the ‘quiet apocalypse’ by telling the story I first envisioned: the story of the last human, alone, overwhelmed with the task of caring for the afflicted masses. I can’t think of a better way to conclude my take on the end of mankind.
While I’m done writing about the Great De-evolution, it’s not cause for me to be sad. It’s the end of one thing, but the beginning of another. I’m already deep into a series of books that take place in a completely different type of dystopian world. I’m not sure what worlds I’ll create after that, but whatever does come next, I hope readers of my previous books enjoy them. There is no time to be sad at the departure of one world because there are always new worlds to create and new stories to fill them with. So while The Hauntings of Playing God is the end of one part of my writing life, another will soon begin. The journey always continues.
While I’m done writing about the Great De-evolution, it’s not cause for me to be sad. It’s the end of one thing, but the beginning of another. I’m already deep into a series of books that take place in a completely different type of dystopian world. I’m not sure what worlds I’ll create after that, but whatever does come next, I hope readers of my previous books enjoy them. There is no time to be sad at the departure of one world because there are always new worlds to create and new stories to fill them with. So while The Hauntings of Playing God is the end of one part of my writing life, another will soon begin. The journey always continues.
Magic and Mayhem... without the magic and mayhem?
Before I ever wrote my three books about the end of the world (The Man Who Watched The World End, A Different Alchemy, and The Hauntings of Playing God), I knew they had to take place in a world full of imagination and possibility—the type of stories I enjoy reading myself—but I also wanted them to be realistic, something I could envision actually happening. I wanted to write about the end of the world, but I didn’t want to create your typical apocalyptic books, which always seem to be filled with marauding gangs, children with special powers, and so on. Instead, I wanted to focus on simple things such as looking back on life and regretting how time was spent, about the importance of family, and about the everyday things we take for granted. In short, I wanted to write about the magic and mayhem of the apocalypse, only without any magic or mayhem!
To do this, I focused not on the fantastic and supernatural elements of mankind’s impending extinction, but of the human elements—people growing older each year, the human population slowly fading away. Instead of zombies terrorizing everyone or battles for the few remaining resources, my Great De-evolution stories have people reminiscing about the final movies they watched, the final vacations they took.
In my books, there is no hope for a better tomorrow, but there is still the marvel of realizing which few things in life are truly important. And although there are no warlords or flesh-eating zombies, there is still the quite human havoc of rats and spiders taking over basements, of water dripping through ceilings, of people feeling overwhelmed with day-to-day life.
When you read The Man Who Watched The World End, A Different Alchemy, or The Hauntings of Playing God, you won’t be given gift-wrapped happy endings in which the teenage hero has rallied against some grand villain. You won’t have the immediate satisfaction of an invasion being prevented. After all, my books are science fiction without the magic. They are the apocalypse without the mayhem. But in place of a feel-good story or a climactic battle, my hope is that you’ll find stories about real people and real concerns, and because of that, the stories will remain with you long after you’ve read them.
Originally published at the Magic&Mayhem blog site.
To do this, I focused not on the fantastic and supernatural elements of mankind’s impending extinction, but of the human elements—people growing older each year, the human population slowly fading away. Instead of zombies terrorizing everyone or battles for the few remaining resources, my Great De-evolution stories have people reminiscing about the final movies they watched, the final vacations they took.
In my books, there is no hope for a better tomorrow, but there is still the marvel of realizing which few things in life are truly important. And although there are no warlords or flesh-eating zombies, there is still the quite human havoc of rats and spiders taking over basements, of water dripping through ceilings, of people feeling overwhelmed with day-to-day life.
When you read The Man Who Watched The World End, A Different Alchemy, or The Hauntings of Playing God, you won’t be given gift-wrapped happy endings in which the teenage hero has rallied against some grand villain. You won’t have the immediate satisfaction of an invasion being prevented. After all, my books are science fiction without the magic. They are the apocalypse without the mayhem. But in place of a feel-good story or a climactic battle, my hope is that you’ll find stories about real people and real concerns, and because of that, the stories will remain with you long after you’ve read them.
Originally published at the Magic&Mayhem blog site.
How to Guarantee You Never Have Writer’s Block
I’ve had a lot of people ask me if I ever get writer’s block. The answer: Never.
I have way too many ideas floating around in my head. Because of that, I’ll never suffer from a lack of things to write about. The secret to never having writer’s block is simple: Combine two other things you like or that have made an impact on you. When I start out, I envision all of my books as a combination of two other stories. I’m also constantly coming up with new ideas of possible stories to tell based on combining two other books or movies I’ve enjoyed. If I suffer from any problem, it’s that I have too many things to write about and not enough time to write them all. For example,
The Man Who Watched The World End was my version of combining Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with The Diary of Anne Frank.
The Theta Timeline was what resulted when I combined ideas I liked from Orwell’s 1984 and Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.
The Green Knight came about from my love of Star Wars and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
This can be done an infinite amount of times, and because you’re adding your personal twist to each story and telling it the way you want, the end product never ends up resembling the two sources you used for inspiration. In fact, what you’ll find is that even if the initial premise starts off a combination of two stories you enjoyed, as your book progresses it moves further away from what inspired you to write it in the first place. The result is a story that winds up being something completely original and unique from the two stories you used as inspiration.
If you’re an aspiring writer looking for the idea for your first book, just think of two other books you love. If you’ve already written other books and are suffering from writer’s block, think of two stories that stuck with you after you read them. It’s that easy!
I have way too many ideas floating around in my head. Because of that, I’ll never suffer from a lack of things to write about. The secret to never having writer’s block is simple: Combine two other things you like or that have made an impact on you. When I start out, I envision all of my books as a combination of two other stories. I’m also constantly coming up with new ideas of possible stories to tell based on combining two other books or movies I’ve enjoyed. If I suffer from any problem, it’s that I have too many things to write about and not enough time to write them all. For example,
The Man Who Watched The World End was my version of combining Cormac McCarthy’s The Road with The Diary of Anne Frank.
The Theta Timeline was what resulted when I combined ideas I liked from Orwell’s 1984 and Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.
The Green Knight came about from my love of Star Wars and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
This can be done an infinite amount of times, and because you’re adding your personal twist to each story and telling it the way you want, the end product never ends up resembling the two sources you used for inspiration. In fact, what you’ll find is that even if the initial premise starts off a combination of two stories you enjoyed, as your book progresses it moves further away from what inspired you to write it in the first place. The result is a story that winds up being something completely original and unique from the two stories you used as inspiration.
If you’re an aspiring writer looking for the idea for your first book, just think of two other books you love. If you’ve already written other books and are suffering from writer’s block, think of two stories that stuck with you after you read them. It’s that easy!
