Update on New Projects; On the Writing Process
The first five months of 2014 have been fairly productive. The third novel in the Oraibi series is coming along nicely. I’ve set a deadline for myself to finish it by September 1st. After that, the editing and revision process will take a few months. If everything goes well, the it could be released in the Winter of 2015.
The third novel takes place a few years after the last one, in the middle of the Gaian War. The Times That Try Men’s Souls started with the decision to go to war, including a weighing of the cost and the chances of success. In the end, Alex Newman chose to take on the Terran Federation. With the help of General Moleiro they scored a major victory in the first couple months. However, the war is far from over. Alex, Becca and the rest of the Gaian rebels must find a way to not just win battles, but win the war.
Revolutionaries are almost always outnumbered, with remote odds of victory. Some find a way to win, but many lose. Many successful rebellions and insurgencies nearly failed early in the fight. In the American Revolution, the Continental Army was nearly crushed twice in 1776. Washington was in full retreat after the devastating defeat at New York City. It is around this time that Thomas Paine wrote the words “These are the Times That Try Men’s Souls.” After escaping across the Delaware River, Washington’s army was on the verge of disbanding. In a desperate attempt to reclaim the initiative, Washington made his famous crossing of the Delaware on Christmas Day, surprising the Hessian mercenaries in Trenton. His move threw the British off balance, forcing them to pull back.
There were several instances during the Vietnam War where American forces were very close to defeating the NVA. The American leadership never knew and hesitated. As a result, the Ho Chi Minh’s forces were able to regroup and regain the initiative.
The Confederacy nearly defeated the much larger and better equipped Union Army during the American Civil War. Had it not been for several tactical blunders at the Battle of Gettysburg, we could be two countries today instead of one.
On Gaia, the Oraibi rebels are outnumbered and outgunned. The Federation could’ve sent an army of hundreds of thousands, even millions to defeat the tiny Oraibi force of 30,000 fighters. So why didn’t they? One reason is military alliances are not the most thoughtful or effective leadership structures. It is easy to underestimate the threat of such a small enemy. There is also the greediness of individual coalition members, not wanting to commit so many troops to a conflict sixty light years away. In reality, only a small group of Federation members care about Gaia.
More importantly, the Terran Federation does not have full control of its own planet. Europe, the Americas, and Australia are under their dominion but Africa and most of Asia are not. An alliance desiring to be a hegemonic power needs to take care of business in its own backyard first before it extends itself to distant conflicts. During the Gaian War, the bulk of Federation forces are on Earth fighting to expand their influence into new regions.
A reader asked me why the Federation simply doesn’t use nuclear, chemical, or some other weapon of mass destruction to annihilate the Oraibi. It is a good question and one I had to consider when writing the second book. The Earth was nearly wiped out due to a nuclear war, the White Storm. The whole purpose of building a colony on Gaia was to establish a new homeworld free of nuclear fallout. To use nuclear weapons on the new world would completely defeat the purpose of the Ark Project and the terraforming of Gaia. Gaia is already a tough and rugged planet with limited arable land. It makes no sense to use such weapons, obliterating its most valuable resource: clean land, air, and water.
The Oraibi series has moved into new subgenres. The first book was a post-apocalyptic/dystopian novel focusing on the aftermath of a great cataclysm. It becomes the genesis of a new ideological struggle for the future of humanity. The second book is about the personal and political challenges of leading a rebellion against a powerful foe. The post-apocalyptic and dystopian elements receded into the background in The Times That Try Men’s Souls. It is predominantly high-tech, political science fiction. The third book will be almost straight military science fiction.
Classifying literature into genres and subgenres helps us organize information and better understand and compare novels. I believe exercises in categorization should never constrain the direction of the story, which is why I tend to change subgenres when the story calls for it. I want to write stories in a number of genres and subgenres, testing my own limits and also learning what is most appealing to readers. Who knows, maybe I’m a mediocre sci-fi writer but a brilliant romance novelist. (not likely).
There is also a part of me that wants to write stories that don’t have the same seriousness as the Oraibi series. About a year ago, I began working on a story about a group of regular people just trying to live their lives out in the far reaches of space. They work on warmeks, large fighting robots that are entered into high-stakes prize fights. They aren’t motivated by any ideology or political object, it is just a job.
The characters aren’t doctors, lawyers, scientists, or generals. They’re soldiers, blue-collar workers, ex-cons, club owners, gamblers, drug addicts, alcoholics, and womanizers. While in the midst of a new prize fight, a war breaks out between the core planets and the outer rim planets. They are dragged into a conflict. The story is about them trying to get by during an interstellar war they have no interest in fighting.
I also want to release the series as episodes of around 70-120 pages rather than full-length novels. I got the idea from successful series like Wool by Hugh Howey, the Atopia Chronicles by Mathew Mather, and The Human Division by John Scalzi. All three were released one story or one section at a time. Readers were able to start by reading a portion of the overall story and deciding whether they wanted to continue or give up and move on to something else.
Personally, for me there is some hesitation when picking up a novel from an author I’ve never read before. A novel can take 10-12 hours to read. I have to ask myself “Do I want to commit 10-12 hours to this no-name author? How do I know I’m not wasting valuable hours of my life on this?”
With this in mind, I decided to write the Mek stories as shorter episodes and putting the price at $0.99. It is similar to an hour episode of a TV drama. There are some restrictions with this format as well, but they aren’t as bad as I thought.
Take Game of Thrones. Each episode is one hour long. Most episodes end without resolving any of the subplots. Yet people are hooked. HBO and George R.R. Martin pull this off because the show is well-written, the characters are diverse and interesting, the setting is fascinating, and just has a rugged realism that I think many find refreshing. There is also a big overall story arc, the battle for the Iron Throne.
Game of Thrones is not the only show to use this format. The Sopranos, TrueBlood, Weeds, The Walking Dead, and 24 use this as well. All of these shows are made with a level of quality and honesty that get audiences hooked despite open-ended, inconclusive endings to episodes.
Should authors write novels with such commercial considerations in mind?
Some might call this compromising the craft or “selling out.” This is true to some extent but its been true for a very long time. Take any class on classic literature and you will hear the professor touch on the author’s perception of his audience and how he was mindful of the era and what people might want to read. Every great author thinks about his audience the same way a screenwriter or director thinks about moviegoers.
It is about impacting as many readers or viewers as possible with one’s story, not only for the financial benefits but because I believe it ought to be the of any art. Artists don’t make paintings to be hung in someone’s basement, never to see the light of day (except for Basil Hallward’s portrait of Dorian Gray). Producers don’t make movies then put them on their shelf to collect dust. Books are written to be read, movies made to be seen, and portraits painted to captivate.
Sometimes an artist, producer, or writer may create something for themselves or for a specific audience with no commercial intentions. These are usually called commission works. That is not the kind of work I do.
I’ve been writing for less than four years. There is still a lot for me to learn, and many aspects of my writing I need to improve. It is an ongoing process and I will continue to work hard at it and work towards entertaining and enthralling the greatest number of readers I possibly can.
It is my hope the Oraibi series and the Mek series will accomplish that or at the very least move me closer to my goal.
J
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