Category: Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Pizzanomics and the Economy of Words

In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde writes that people know the price of everything and the value of nothing. My friend Eric was not such a person. He assigned value to everything in terms of pizza.

You might price a throw pillow at fifteen dollars—he’d say it cost two pizzas. (This was back in the ‘90s.) He counted the cost in terms of the true value it yielded him, and what Eric valued most was pizza.

Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde

His friends called this Pizzanomics. Decisions based on whether sacrificing that much pizza was worth the purchase. Talk about Opportunity Cost!

Opportunity costs means “What else could I have done with my money?”

Adem Selita, chief executive officer at The Debt Relief Company in New York, N.Y.

There is an opportunity cost attached to each word a writer uses. We need to draw readers into new realms where they can connect with and vicariously strive alongside our characters. We need to craft our expressions with intention—be it chapter, scene, paragraph, or word—to ensure our writing is concise but not boring. Remember, our readers are also counting their opportunity cost. Don’t let them wriggle off your hook.

What is in a word? Would that rose by any other name really smell as sweet? What else could we have done on the page? With that description?

Word choice matters. I remember a high school reading assignment where the narrator referred to the scent of bruised gardenias. If he had used “stink” instead of “scent,” what sense would that have conveyed?

Color your world… with words

The genre and setting should color our work. Don’t just close a door. If the story is set in space, let it whoosh. A stone castle door could grate or grind as it moves. Wooden village gates and doors might creak. Clues like this give readers a sense of the world’s setting and reflect the character’s unique POV.

Similes, metaphors, imagery, and expletives are prime opportunities to make strategic word choices.

Sandfly, a debugger in A Star Curiously Singing, book 1 of Kerry Nietz’s Dark Trench saga vents his frustration with an exclamation of “Crichton and Clarke,” two historical science fiction authors.

The amphibian dwellers of my water-covered planet mutter shells under their breath and taunt each other with sea creature insults.

And in Hidden Current, Sharon Hinck introduces the dancers of the Order with this beautiful imagery before she reveals they live on a floating world.

We lunged and poured our bodies forward. We moved like channels of water, divided, as if by an unseen boulder into two streams that circled the room, arching, flowing, reaching.

A ripple disturbed the flow.

Sharon Hink

This passage pours beauty and warmth into my soul. She did that with words.

At a Realm Makers workshop, Sharon said words should serve as double-agents, communicating more than their face-value to the reader.

Make each word earn the space it occupies. If it cost five dollars to use, would you still plug it in?

Don’t use the fanciest words to show off vocabulary prowess (or adept use of a thesaurus). Aim to transport readers, rather than impress them. If they think about the author while reading, we’ve missed the mark. But make sure to communicate all we can with that noun, verb, and article—so readers have a deeper sense of our world.

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

Proverbs 25:11 KJV

If a spoken word carries that much potential, how much more do words inscribed—utterances recorded to outlast the breath that launched them. Invest wisely in your words to compound the impact for your reader. They will be reluctant to emerge from this story and eager to plunge in to your next one.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Strike the Earth

Any gamers in the house? I’m a huge fan of games: the creativity, the challenges, and the competition, of course. I love testing my wits and resolve in unpredictable settings and it’s fun to surprise my kids when I play one of “their” games. I may be a grandma now, but “Grannies are pernownin noobs!”

I started playing Dwarf Fortress after my hubby had been talking it up forever. It’s been around for over twenty years, and was one of the major inspirations for Minecraft, but much more complicated. He watched YouTube tutorials and Twitch streams and conferred with our sons as they all anticipated an upgraded release on Steam. I couldn’t avoid learning about it and was, eventually, hooked.

But Dwarf Fortress is HARD. You are expected to lose your colony several times, regularly even, so much so that one of their mottos is “Losing is Fun.”

Hmph. I didn’t like the thought of that but tried anyway. And I lost. And tried again. And lost again. But with each new try, I started with more experience under my belt, and I developed my own motto: “If at first you don’t succeed, just look how much you learned.”

“I never once failed at making a light bulb.
I just found out 99 ways not to make one.”

Thomas A. Edison

Growing as an author is like playing a new game. Unknown possibilities lie before you, but the path is untraveled. How and where do you start?

Choose Your Game

Do your tastes run more towards a first-person POV solo quest (like first-person shooter,) or an ensemble adventure (mmporp-massively multiplayer online role-playing game)? Are you a minecrafter (world builder,) puzzle solver (mystery,) or do you love Stardew Valley? (Sounds cozy to me.) Whatever you land on, make sure you love your story/world. You’re gonna spend a lot of time there.

Once you’ve chosen your adventure, you need to learn how your game works. Study the craft—query a friend who’s had some experience. Or search out tutorials. Don’t just visit the same old sources, but find out where the players are, whether Twitch, Substack, or Kindle Vella. Check out new sources for fresh takes on familiar obstacles.

When I play a new game, I want to know what the goal is and how do I reach it. In the writing game, this means I consider my goal–is this a first draft? Is it a brainstorm session or contest submission? Self-pub or a traditional publisher? Sometimes I’m competing with the game, and sometimes I’m just trying to improve my personal best.

I adapted some tips from this Wiki Walkthrough that should serve you in the writing game.

  • Stay calm—don’t panic. The challenge may seem overwhelming but if it were easy, you’d be bored already. Try something new, and don’t be discouraged if you falter. Starting over doesn’t set you back to square one. Each restart comes with new understanding and new skills.
  • Configure your controls the way you like them—your desk (standing or curled up on the sofa), keyboard (clicky?) or notebook with special pens. Then throw in some yummy snacks, good lighting, and a supportive chair. I like to have dark chocolate and mixed nuts in easy reach, as well as a supply of lens wipes. The key is, make your setting work for you.
  • Learn the environment—Where are attacks most likely to come from? Pay attention to the feedback that urges you forward or sets you back. What activities distract you, and which renew your resolve?
  • Communicate—Whether you’re playing solo or among strangers, you need a party. Not the balloons, cake, and disco ball kind, but that small contingent of trusted folks who are committed to watching your back and helping you stay on mission.
  • Practice—Gamers rehearse keyboard strokes to build muscle memory, striving to improve their APM (actions per minute.) Word sprints, writing prompts, and flash fiction are fun ways to strengthen your author game. Learn the rules for your genre; the conventions, expectations, and the tropes, so you can bend—and even break them when it serves the story. Havok Publishing is a great place to read and write flash fiction.
  • Develop your style—know your voice. Bob Hostetler’s writing wisdom, “God has given you a story that no one else can tell,” set me on this journey years ago.
  • Join a team—find your tribe. Don’t sequester yourself completely, even if you write in solitude. Find community that challenges and encourages you, the ones that inspire you to start, and start again. Groups like Writers Chat, Realm Makers, and the 540 Writers Community have been a huge encouragement for me.

Strike the earth. No matter how much you prepare, study, and research, you need to commit. To act. To enter the fray.

In Dwarf Fortress, you wield your pickax to break ground. Wield your words. Start your story. Write. This is the first win.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Flash Fiction FUNdamentals

Flash fiction may sound new and alien, but it’s been around longer than you think. The query that inspired the first flash fiction contest was, “How short can a short story be and still be a short story?”

As a result, Short Stories From Life was published in 1916, featured81 stories from the Shortest Story Contest. Further questions raised as the project grew were:

  • When is a story not a story, but only an anecdote?
  • When a story is a story, is it a combination of plot, character, and setting, or is it determined by only one of these three elements?
  • Must it end when you have ended it or must it suggest something beyond the reading?

These are still some of the questions asked about flash fiction, but let’s clarify.

Flash Fiction is a form of short story, usually between 300 to 1,000 words.

Why should you write flash fiction?

  • It’s a good way to get past writer’s block—and writing prompts are a fun way to jumpstart creative juices
  • You get to play with a new story and the rush of finishing
  • You’ll learn to write and edit tighter
  • You’ll have content (aka lead magnets) to offer your readers
  • Getting published is not as arduous or prolonged

Publishing flash fiction is not automatic, but the barrier to entry is not as steep as for a full-length novel.

Getting down to business

Every story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end whether it’s spread over a seven-book series or a 50-word fiction. You need a beginning that will hook the reader, a middle that engages them, and a satisfying ending. And you need to do that in 1,000 words.

For plotters, here’s a basic structure for a 1,000-word flash fiction story. I’m pretty committed to pantsing—but people who plot say this is helpful.

  • Intro: ~150 words – setting and characters–if you can, start in the middle of the crisis
  • Rising action: ~600 words – develop main conflict (try-fails, conflict/crisis)
  • Climax: ~200 words (the turning point/most intense moment)
  • Resolution: ~50 words

Pacing isn’t the only thing acquisitions editors look for in submissions.

Beginning

  • Make your title earn its keep! It’s not included in your word count, so use it to set the stage or foreshadow a twist.
  • Your first line needs to hook the reader.

“There are things they don’t tell you about having green skin.”

Photosynthetic by Cassandra Hamm
  • Pay attention to POV and voice (whether you choose 1st, 2nd, or 3rd)
  • Limit your characters to one or two–but include the conflict of two opposing forces
  • If you introduce a feature, make sure it’s pertinent to the plot

Here’s another wonderful opening:

Commander Tri’eek’s ship was self-destructing.
Bianca muttered Earth English curses under her breath as she ran through the Argo’s gigantic ventilation shafts, holding a gargantuan stolen ring of shiny, black electrical tape around her waist like a life ring. She had spent three precious hours tracing the problem to the engine maintenance room. She couldn’t afford to be wrong.

Brownie Points by Lavender Ellington

It’s not a story until something goes wrong

Steven James

Middle

  • Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue
  • Action beats can reveal more about your characters than dialogue tags
  • Reveal, don’t lecture (aka show, don’t tell)
  • Avoid talking heads. Use the whole body to communicate your character’s state of being—shoulders, fingers, knees, toes
  • What are the stakes? What happens if the MC fails? Will the reader care?

End

  • Your ending needs to be satisfying and the conflict, resolved—whether it’s positive or negative. Leave your readers with a thought to chew on, a twist, or an aha. Does the story convey an idea larger than itself?
  • Your readers want to know what’s going to happen but they also want to be surprised—so plant seeds of the ending in the beginning and throughout the story.

When you’re done:

  • Check for repeated words or concepts, unnecessary details, or cliches,
  • Read it out loud and get someone else to look at it.
  • Recheck the submission requirements before hitting SEND!

Where to submit

Havok Publishing wants stories that hit fast and strike hard––stories that can cut through the day’s troubles and grip distracted readers. They also provide feedback on all submissions, unless requested otherwise.

Spark Flash Fiction looks for romance stories that will grab the reader and put a spark in their day.

NYC Midnight hosts contest for a variety of short fiction stories. For a small entry fee they provide prompt-based challenges, feedback from their judges, and peer feedback forums.

If you’re curious about flash fiction, read some! There are plenty of free sources and don’t take more than a few minutes of your time.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

This Little Light

Sharing your fantastical words and worlds can be terrifying. You feel everyone’s eyes on you, weighing the thoughts you had the audacity to record.

What if I’m not good enough?

What if they laugh?

What if I make a fool of myself?

These are not the what ifs you want to dive deep with.

Of course we imagine the worst—imagining is what writers do best! But only you can change that narrative and write a different adventure. We are encouraged to identify the lie our character believes, but dare we dig deeper and challenge the lies we believe?

When you dream up worlds that don’t exist outside your mind and then people them with inhabitants from your imagination, it can be intimidating to reveal your creation. But if you find a kindred spirit it’s a little less scary.

Still, someone needs to make the first move, to confess,

“My name is Sophia and I write science fiction and fantasy.”

Two things can guide you through these unknown waters:

1- The spark you brought with you

2- The wisdom of those who have gone before.

Hold onto the candle of your imagination. Remember, you came because you had a thought, an idea, a story. You had a little light, and it led you into this universe. Your flame, whether large or small, is more than what meets the eye. Colored and shaped by the experiences that make you unique, this light is unlike any other.

Nurture it. Don’t compare it to the bonfires of those you meet.

Yes, learn from the professionals you want to emulate, those who’ve produced what you’re aiming for, but don’t judge your works by theirs. Study, practice, and follow their advice, then work it out with others whose lights are similar to yours.

Find support among your peers while you follow the pros. Critique partners, writing groups, retreats, conferences, and seminars are great opportunities to find like-feathered friends. Flock with them.

Remember, everyone starts as a beginner. so don’t be afraid to ask how they got started. Only those who haven’t gone through the trenches think writing is easy.

Be generous with what you’ve gleaned. We don’t all have the skills to teach a master class, but we can pass along the bits we’ve learned here and there. It all counts. Frequently, our experience provides what is lacking in another’s.

Share opportunities. Let your friends know where you’ve found beneficial input. Whether you call this networking or collaboration, it falls under the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. You don’t need to bring a slew of new contacts, but if you add even one person their circle is unique, which can add to and enrich all the parties involved.

You never know who’s hesitating in the wings, working up the courage to step out.

That little flame flickering across the way? It might belong to a new partner in your writing ventures and adventures. Bring your light close to theirs and increase your candlepower.

The funny thing is, once you gather a bunch of little candles, their lights combine and overcome darkness. The effect of the sum is truly greater than that of the parts, and together can illuminate new paths for many.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Wonder

I wonder… What made you fall in love with science fiction and fantasy?

As a child, I loved fairy tales and myths. When I got older, the worlds of Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, and Anne McCaffrey swept me away, surprising and astounding me with new ideas. Their worlds opened my mind to endless possibilities.

Worlds full of… WONDER.

Wonder: rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely
mysterious or new to one’s experience.

David Farland, mentor for dozens of internationally successful writers including Brandon Sanderson and Stephanie Meyer, lectured on the importance of writing wonder into our stories, and often. He pointed out that JK Rowling introduced something wondrous in her Harry Potter series every three to five pages. When I needed some comfort-viewing, I rewatched the first few movies and it was true. Something wondrous happened every few minutes, immersing me deeper and deeper into her world of impossibility.

This is what our readers crave—to be transported.

The challenge lies in how to share the wonder present inside our minds with our readers. Don’t hold out on them. My tendency is to reveal little bits at a time, teasing the reader and saving the big reveal until later in the story. But if I wait too long to set the hook, I risk losing them altogether. Remember, they have chosen your sci-fi or fantasy tome because they want, no they expect to be fascinated. Don’t be coy.

Another point David Farland makes is that once the audience has been exposed to something new and wondrous, the author will need to provide a new magical experience. The next time they see it, they will not be struck with wonder, but filled with nostalgia. you must keep tapping into what makes them wonder, but with new experiences.

If you write science fiction or fantasy, it’s not because it’s easy. You love your genre, and you are compelled to share the worlds inside you. But after months or years of worldbuilding it’s easy to forget that not everyone knows the suns create seven seasons, or the cannibalistic flora are the sentient beings of their planet, and we assume that our readers will grasp the diabolical intent of a mental contract.

Build a world filled with wonder.

Then invite your reader in.

Star Trek promised new worlds and new civilizations—to boldly go where no one had gone before. Avatar’s world is full of wondrous creatures that don’t seem to move the story forward—it’s all part of the setting, right? But then these amazing creations show up powerfully, asserting their place in the narrative. Star Wars began with A New Hope, and while they were spinning that tale, introduced new robots, new powers, and new races. As much as we love to laugh at the cantina scene, we all remember it.

Look at your work.

Have you shown the wonder that you know exists in it? Pull back the curtain a little more and let your reader in on the special. It’s not spoiling—it’s deepening their experience.

Here is a link to one of David Farland’s seminars on Writing Wonder.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Valued

From her earliest days, my mom’s life lacked value in the sight of others.

One-year-old Hyun Sook, before contracting polio.

Born female and Korean in Japanese-occupied China, Hyun Sook started at a deficit. Then polio left her with a useless leg at three. The cultural stigma of disability brought shame on the family, so she was kept out of sight when company came. Following Japan’s surrender, her family returned to Korea, but when her older sister started back to school, she wasn’t allowed to go. Why educate a crippled girl?

Mom is the child on the
right, held up by
her grandmother.

Communists invaded in 1950, but due to her disability, the family couldn’t flee. Her parents were sentenced to hard labor, and her father was almost executed. At the threat of a second invasion, fourteen-year-old Hyun Sook was left behind with promises that they’d send for her once they were settled.

After being interrogated by the invaders, waiting was no longer an option. If she stayed, she’d be at the mercy of those who terrorized her parents. Her journey from North to South Korea was dangerous, but God made a way—whether by miraculous intervention or the kindness of American servicemen.

Working at the U.S. base

Even after reuniting with her family, the GIs showed her compassion and respect previously unknown, and as they did, her heart began to hope of having something—of being something more. She dreamed of going to this country where even a girl with a withered leg might pursue an education… and a life.

After several failed attempts, her dreams were realized. She began to experience the life she thought she’d never have: moving to America, an education, and a family.

In the ‘80s she wrote her story and tried to get it published. Too religious for traditional publishers, and too raw for faith-based ones, she opted for a vanity press.

By business standards, Mom wasn’t a successful author. She’d give her book away in a heartbeat, and any proceeds were donated to veterans’ organizations. Yet, every time her story was shared, people’s hearts were touched.

Who do we listen to? Who do we believe?

We have a Shepherd and an enemy.

Voices surround us telling us we can’t, we shouldn’t, we won’t make the cut, and our words fall short of the mark. They accuse us of being insufficient—of being imposters. They tell us our words lack value.

Listen to those who speak with wisdom and experience, but don’t allow the voices of those who wish to destroy us to dominate our thoughts.

The enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy the vision and mission placed on us. If God’s gifts and calling are without repentance, it’s safe to say He knew what He was doing when He planted those story seeds.

Why listen to the one who wants to destroy us? A pastor once said, “A thing’s value is determined by what someone is willing to pay for it.” You were purchased with the priceless blood of Jesus.

Furthermore, according to Ephesians 2:10, you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to walk in good works he has prepared in advance for you to do. The gospel’s truths form a shield against the lies that attack. They remind us of our value and strengthen us to follow his lead.

“Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.”

G.K. Chesterton

What about you? What has God planted in your heart?

Have you ever felt your stories lack value? We write science fiction and fantasy. Is investing time, money, and energy in fairy tales and space operas worth the cost and sacrifice?

“God has placed a story in you that no one else can tell.”

Bob Hostetler

These words from the Blue Ridge Mountains Christina Writers Conference-BRMCWC– 2017 still convict and comfort me.

Made in the image of an infinitely creative God, we are as unique as fingerprints. So are our stories. In them we diffuse light to fight darkness, disperse comfort we’ve received, and share truth we’ve learned.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s genre… or their ratings.

Be faithful with the talents your Father has entrusted to you.

Our job is not to out-perform anyone else, but to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and walk in obedience.

There were times that my mother felt like a failure. She’d sunk her savings into self-publishing her book, and never recouped the losses. Had she been a fool to pursue this dream? Her testimony to God’s mercy says otherwise, and her message continues to touch hearts, long after she ran into Jesus’ arms.

The value of our work and words isn’t weighed in ratings or sales, but in truth revealed, and that is worth more than gold.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Location, Location, Location: Where Do We Find Our Peeps?

Finding your tribe can be difficult, especially for writers who’d much rather stay at home. It doesn’t take an introvert to prefer the comfy confines of one’s office/writing nook. However, as we discussed in Who’s Ya Buddy, our writing life can be greatly enhanced by connecting with other authors.

How? you may ask. I’ll take a cue from starting a business: the three things you need to keep in mind are Location, Location, Location. And in this day and age we have OPTIONS! The more specific question is, Where? As Dr. Seuss reminds us, “From there to here, from here to there. Funny things are everywhere.” Funny things being, in this instance, writers. The challenge can lie in finding balance between limiting or spreading ourselves too thin.

“I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.”

J.R.R. Tolkien

Local Gatherings

It’s scary but beneficial to meet other authors IRL (in real life.) I promise, no one will behead you and absorb your life energy. I promise, no one will behead you and absorb your life energy.

Icon Description automatically generated

My first critique group experience was arranged through NaNoWriMo—four total strangers meeting in Books-A-Million to submit their words to each other. (Cue nervous sweating now.) I learned to prepare my work to be shared, and not die a thousand deaths while they listened and critiqued my piece. Though I was terrified, I ended up loving our little group. The other members were far more experienced, but gracious and encouraging. It can be a transformative experience to sit down with another author and go over your WIP with them. Sometimes these are the best brainstorming sessions.

  • Check your public library for opportunities and events, whether virtual or in-person, it’s a good place to connect. And, if there isn’t already a writer’s group, you can start one!
  • Local comic-cons are a fun place to meet local scifi/fantasy authors who are further along the publishing journey.
  • Another opportunity for author enrichment can be the local university. UAB has hosted writing festivals for several years, initially live and in-person, but adapting to virtual and hybrid meetings as the pandemic changed the way we interacted.

These local opportunities open the way to other author activities like poetry slams and book readings. Participate in community author events—you don’t need to be published to encourage other authors. You just need to show up.

Writing Conferences (Not-so-Local)

Writing conferences, whether in-person or virtual, can boost your writing attitude and energy tremendously. Whether they’re specific to your genre or encompass a variety of like-minded authors who produce differently styled works, this where you can meet your peers in drive and passion. The love of words is a powerful equalizer, able to bridge chasms of age, geography, and reading tastes. That being said, Realm Makers is a wonderful group for lovers of speculative fiction.

If finances are tight, ask about scholarship options. Most writing conferences exist to encourage new writers and will do what they can to minimize barriers. Plan ahead for lower travel expenses. Take a risk and be open to a roommate. Join the dialogue before you arrive, it’s never too early to start learning from each other.

Internet Communities

Finally, gatherings of writers abound online. Facebook, Instagram, Discord, even Twitch & Twitter are full of opportunities to connect with other authors. If you want to follow your favorite author, search their website for where they invite the public to join them online. If you want to brainstorm with spec fic authors, do a search and check out the groups that interest you. If you want to learn throughout the year, there are many opportunities to join other writers who spur each other on. I’ve listed these before, but Writers Chat, the 540 Club, and Realm Makers are welcoming communities which exist to benefit other authors.

Here’s my caveat: Not every situation will be best suited to meet your needs or expectations. You don’t have to listen to all the voices that speak into your work, but you should learn to be flexible. I have been devastated by some critiques and strengthened by others. Look for safe spaces and spaces that challenge, but you won’t find either until you strike out and take a risk. Don’t wait for the mountain to come to you, be brave and start climbing.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Sense Sensibilities

A flexi-tube extended from the airlock and attached to the exterior of the arrow with a dull clang. A moment later, the light turned green, and he pushed the hatch open.

Filtered air wooshed in, wonderfully odourless. He climbed through the double airlock and into the dock itself, then collapsed on the cold floor of the main cabin, his arms and legs spread wide. Sweet relief.

Filtered air wooshed in, wonderfully odourless. He climbed through the double airlock and into the dock itself, then collapsed on the cold floor of the main cabin, his arms and legs spread wide. Sweet relief.

Not a word is spoken in these initial paragraphs of Discernment, but the author has immersed us via sights, sounds, and sensations into an unknown, yet relatable, world. We tag along as her character explores, sharing the experience of his journey.

Next, we are transported planet-side, to a dusty, grease-filled mechanic’s garage, then squeezed into crowded family rides that roar and rumble past orchards, pastures, and plains. We’re introduced to this world’s foods with charred or tantalizing smells, triggering memories or imaginings of what these might be like. Spices and perfumes, musk and manure, all give a sense of the festival market. We can almost hear the hawkers and animals of this off-planet county fair.

Instead of telling us that “Mama’s stew smelled delicious,” make your reader’s mouth water.

“The metal stool scraped across the stone hearth as Mama rose to greet me. The aroma of seared meat and caramelized vegetables traveled with her, wafting from the kettle. Her embrace sent puffs of flour over me, but I ignored the cloud, surrendering as her arms enveloped me. My stomach grumbled. I hadn’t eaten since before sunrise.”

“Mama’s stew smelled delicious,” states a fact. The paragraph that followed evokes an experience, conveying you into the setting. Jerry Jenkins describes the difference between showing and telling here.

Let’s break this down a little more. 

Sight:

This common path for descriptions can be challenging to make immersive without falling into “telling” patterns. There’s a reason we use the term, Point of View (POV) to indicate whose perspective is being described. What is seen, and the reactions that follow, must be consistent with that one character, at least for the scene. The information shared must be limited to what that character can access, as viewed in that perspective.

Sound:

Scrapes and squeaks and the emotions they elicit can convey the feel of your story. Bare feet slapping down stone hallways or magnetic boots connecting to metal walls—these sounds tell us what your world is made of. Your characters’ reaction to them tell us what they are made of.

Touch:

More than hot and cold, rough and soft. Tell us about the grit that embedded itself under the shirt cuffs, leaving the wrists raw at the end of a long journey. Or the itch just out of reach and what must be endured to scratch it. When your MC scuffs their toes—is it in dirt? Moss? Wet sand? Are they frustrated? Embarrassed? Wistful? This is your chance to let your characters be more than talking heads. Don’t limit the playing field.

Smell:

This is one of your most powerful senses. First, it informs the sense of taste and second, it is closely tied to memories. If you can trigger the memory of a smell with your words, you can bring a whole world to life for your reader.

Taste:

It’s a challenge, especially in SciFi and Fantasy, to describe food that is foreign, without using Earth labels and breaking the fictive bubble. On the other hand, it’s a good exercise in “show, don’t tell.” You can’t tell your reader what the soup compares to, but you can touch on its essence—citrusy and sour, or meaty with herbs—and continue on to what feelings are evoked.

In the same way we are encouraged to pay attention to conversations around us to gain insight into dialogue, people-watching, especially around food, is a great way to pick up on sense-related mannerisms and the reactions these sensations evoke.

Engaged the senses. The medley of sights and sounds, smells and substances, whether foreign and familiar, will mesmerize your reader, draw them into your story, and keep them there.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Who’s Ya Buddy?

Crashing waves.

Wild winds.

Scratchy sand between my toes.

I loved those summer days when someone’s mom would offer to take a gang of us to the beach. Our excitement and voices rose as we piled into the back of the station wagon, singing and chattering until we were hoarse. An hour later we’d tumble out like clowns at a circus and race across gravel, dried seaweed, and sand to reach the foamy shore. But before we were allowed to enter the water, we were given strict instructions:

A picture containing doll, toy, vector graphics Description automatically generated

Buddy up!

We’d pick a partner and promise to stick together. Someone would blow a whistle and we would stop, clasping hands high in the air until a second shrill tweet released us to play with abandonment in the surf.

The key to fully enjoying the day was to buddy up with someone who had compatible beach sensibilities. Ankle waders did not like being paired with dolphin wannabes. And if you wanted to dive into oncoming waves, just past the point where your feet could find the floor, you wouldn’t commit to a friend who preferred to stay where the foam slapped against wet sand.

Writing speculative fiction is like a day at the beach. There’s much excitement as you anticipate diving into your strange new world, but peril plays along that coast as well. The stinging burn of criticism, pesky attacks of self-doubt, even the undertow of research can wreak havoc with our writing life. In a sea of distractions and discouragement, a writing buddy that has your back can make a world of difference.

When you’re describing the third moon’s view of your planet, it’s not something you can research or interview past visitors about. And the emotional challenges of a banshee surviving high school aren’t readily available in the latest teen advice columns. Nor is relational advice for nuns who turn pirate.  Bringing these worlds and characters out of your head and onto the page is a solitary endeavor, but support while you are creating is necessary and available.

On the other hand, getting feedback from someone who is immersed in a different genre can be difficult, and disheartening. A compatible imagination to brainstorm with on flights of fantasy is an amazing gift. Yes, your ideas are unique, but you are not without community. Find your tribe and connect with others who share your affinity for elf, aquatic, or starship culture.

Alpha, Beta, it’s all Greek to me…

Critique partners, alpha and beta readers, write-ins and sprints are wonderful opportunities to build community—but choose your buddies with care. You want iron to sharpen iron, not dull your edge or worse, break your blade.

Here is a sampling of free online writing communities that have helped me grow as an author.

Writers Chat meets on zoom weekly to encourage, educate, and empower writers.

Realm Makers is a faith-based community dedicated to support authors, artists, and readers of speculative fiction. Prime members may apply to join a critique group and are sorted via magic hat, or perhaps questionnaire answers, into appropriate groups.

Havok publishes free speculative flash fiction online and provides feedback for all submissions. It’s a great place to read and learn as you hone your writing skills.

The 540 FB Community holds Write-Ins where members meet on zoom for mutual encouragement and writing time.

NaNoWriMo is another virtual community for writers, holding several events throughout the year. They provide local group support, forums, and fun ways to set goals.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Baby Stepping

The proverbial journey of a thousand miles begins with the one step. But it doesn’t end there. 

Writing an epic story is like climbing a mountain. The approach is intimidating, and reaching the summit seems impossible. But anyone who’s climbed a mountain will tell you that though the ascent isn’t completed in one step, it starts with one.

The prospect of beginning may terrify us, but what we need—and must—do is begin.

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin…”

Zechariah 4:10

When you’re starting out as a spec-fic writer, don’t despise the small beginnings. I don’t mean shelve your four-book faerie trilogy or your open-ended space opera, but do give yourself some space for encouragement and success along the way. When I taught children with special needs, I’d divide the large goals into smaller tasks, so we could acknowledge and celebrate each incremental gain.

Writing is a marathon, not a sprint.

Sometimes we need a little Couch-to-5K training.

In What About Bob? Psychiatrist Dr. Leo Marvin hands Bob, a highly dependent, obsessive-compulsive patient his brand-new book called Baby Steps. He explains:

Marvin: It means setting small, reasonable goals for yourself. One day at a time, one tiny step at a time–doable, accomplishable goals.

Bob: Baby steps.

Marvin: When you leave this office, don’t think about everything you have to do to get out of the building, just deal with getting out of the room. When you reach the hall, just deal with the hall. And so forth. Baby steps.

Here are some baby steps that can take you farther than you’d imagine:

  • Reading this column counts as a baby step. You’re studying the craft.
  • Write Ugly – My previous post is an encouragement to get your words out, before focusing on the polish.
  • Read and write flash-fiction—stories no more than 1000 words. Havok Publishing is an excellent place to read and submit.
  • The 540 FB Community encourages, educates, and equips its members to communicate their stories.
  • Cassandra Hamm hosts Prompted, delightful microfiction (50 to 300-word stories) contests, on Instagram, and there are challenges on a variety of social media platforms. Follow #writingchallenge and you’ll discover a plethora of opportunities to write. 
  • Step into the boots, tentacles, or wings of your characters and have them write to someone important in their life, describing their spaceship, forest grove, or tower/dungeon confinement. 
  • Create a travel brochure for your favorite out-of-this-world getaway.

Writing short stories hones your skills and gets something out there for people to read and respond to. It’s a true accomplishment. Once your words are out there, you’ve been published! You don’t need to know how to do everything to get started… or keep going.

You just need to do the next thing.

The next easy thing.

The next scary thing.

The next hard thing. 

The. Next. Thing.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Write Ugly

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable and pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my [firm, immovable] rock and my Redeemer

Psalm 19:14

You love words. So much that you can’t stop them from spilling out of your brain. You dash home, clear your schedule, and sit—fingers poised above the keyboard, or a pen in hand over a sheet of paper, ready to breathe life into the figments of your imagination and… nothing. Somehow, somewhere, the words are stuck, refusing to flow.

This is when I channel Marvin the Martian whining…

“Where are the words? There are supposed to be earth-shattering words.”

Even now, writing this, I struggle. Is this how I want to start? Do I have a hook? What about the right structure? Will my words add value, or am I just “adding to the noise“’?

I write in fits and starts, pouring out my thoughts and then I stop—wanting to fix the beginning…again. These same words came so easily as I was sharing my idea with a friend, but the switch from narrator to scribe is sometimes tricky, and we feel the loss of translation.

The best remedy is this: write anyway. Write anything.

In or out of order, get your ideas out of your head and into text. Let your first draft be as ugly and disjointed as it needs to be born. You can clean it up with the next pass. And polish it with another. But you can’t edit a blank page.

Great works of art may come from a potter’s wheel, but it takes more than sitting and spinning the table. Nothing can be formed until a lump of clay is slapped onto its surface. Only then can the artist’s hands run over the surface, watering and wiping, stretching and shaping the malleable clay until form and function is revealed. But the next step is to fire your vessel – not to destroy your work, but to let its beauty take on strength and shine.

So it is with our stories. We want the beauty and the impact to be as present on our page as it was in our mind, but that will take time and work. The beauty is there, residing in its potential, but to be realized it needs shaping.

Don’t deny the world of the marvels your mind has concocted just because it takes some time to communicate them. Slap that lump of clay on the page that is your wheel. Spin it, wet it, squash it—work that clay.

Here are some helpful shortcuts I’ve learned:

  • Use brackets if you’re not sure of a word.
  • Use bullet points for your ideas, especially sequences. It’s what I’m doing now.
  • Use comments to note things you need to research so that you won’t get distracted from content creation.
  • Do writing sprints or write-ins with others. A little accountability (and sometimes competition) can make your writing time more productive.
  • Place-kittens are images designers and coders use when they don’t have all the content, but they still need to create a structure.
  • A friend uses a script-like format for his first drafts, with stage-direction and environmental comments dispersed throughout

Do you see a pattern? You don’t need to have all the pretty words to start sketching your story. You just need to start.

“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”

Shannon Hale

You don’t need to have all the pretty words to sketch your story. You just need to start.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Same and Different

Once upon a time, there was a caterpillar tale. Worlds apart from those biped readers with their opposable thumbs, the little story wondered how to make the struggles of a larva eating her way through life relatable. Could human hearts resonate with Laurva’s despair—feeling trapped in an endless cycle of stuffing and pain?

As Science Fiction and Fantasy writers, we share strange worlds from our imagination and the new civilizations residing in them, crafting words to usher the reader across the threshold of their reality into ours. But how do we capture the hearts and minds of those readers? Wisdom can be found, as Robert Fulghum  teaches, “in the nursery school sand box.”

One of these things is not like the others…

Why just one? Because “One” makes a difference special. We appreciate what is different in the context of what is familiar. Sometimes the simplest children’s song can point the way to deeper truth. Unfold your story-world differences with care, inviting readers to suspend disbelief one feature at a time.

When we introduce too many alien concepts at once, we can frustrate or confuse readers, jarring them out of the fictive bubble. On the other hand, we need to reveal our story wonders early—before the reader creates a picture that could collide with future revelations. To keep them engaged, their hearts need to be pulled into the conflict. They need to connect with our characters, no matter how dissimilar their worlds are. A Sesame Street story teaches that while we are all different, we also share traits. This common thread allows the reader to see past what separates, forming an emotional bond.

We’re Different, We’re the Same 

Cathy McCrumb opens her debut science fiction novel, RECORDER, with “I did not have a name—none of us did—but once when I was young, I had a friend.” Unlike the Recorder, we have names, so the otherness of her existence is immediately obvious. But the wistful remembering of what was dear to her heart captures our attention and emotions because we can all relate to missing a friend.

It’s exciting to dive into the chasm of “what if,” but to set the story-hook, it’s important to effectively communicate both the foreign and the familiar. Our readers need to feel the characters’ struggle. We want them care about what is gained and lost. It’s less about stepping into another person’s shoes, and more about slipping into their skin, perhaps even realizing, as the antagonist often reminds the hero, “we’re not so different, you and I.” (Cue Hero screaming “Noooooooooooo!”)

When what is Other becomes relatable, a connection forms, linking the reader to your characters. They are emotionally invested in how the story turns out—giving them something—someone—to root for, and they won’t be able to put your book down.

Allow your readers to feel your characters’ struggle to find meaning in existence, learn how to survive or even thrive under oppression, and they can vicariously participate in your characters’ arcs. Studies have even suggested that reading fiction is a catalyst for emotional development. Aristotle suggested that entertainment can teach us how to deal with difficult life situations from safe environs as spectators. Yes, dear author, your fiction can be transformative.

Entice your readers with wondrous imaginings, but don’t overwhelm them, and provide a tether to ensure they stay immersed. That one special difference, viewed in light of the familiar, will build your world and make the story sing.

Sophia L Hansen is an author and editor with Havok Publishing and loves to write In Other Worlds. She’s lived on a tiny island in Alaska, the bustling cities of New York and Boston, raised kids in Tennessee, and now resides just outside Birmingham, AL. After 30+ years of marriage, seven children, and numerous pets, Sophia still fits into her high school earrings.

You can follow Sophia’s words and worlds at https://www.sophialhansen.com/, Facebook, and Instagram.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Breaking out of the political world building rut

Fantasy and science fiction stories can push the bounds of what is possible in amazing ways. We design intricate magic systems and imagine future technologies with limitless potential. Yet, with the economic and political systems in our worlds, we seem to settle for well-trodden ground. Our hero must save the kingdom or overthrow the evil empire. The heroine faces down the forces of the amoral mega-corporation. 

What other systems could we design? Like many areas of world-building, we draw inspiration from our real-world experiences and history. We’re going to look at the government and economic systems. These can apply to an array of organizational structures like kingdoms, federations, confederation and more. We will only scratch the service of these models. We strongly recommend more in-depth research into whatever system you wish to use for the inspiration of your world.

Autocracy

The most well-known and popular form of government in speculative stories is an autocracy. This is the rule by one individual. The supreme leader’s word is law. All economic and military power is under their control. They rule with unquestioned authority. Sometimes, the people think the ruler is divine.

The organization structure takes and title scales with the population. A chief’s chiefdom refers to a small tribe. A monarchy is an autocracy over an entire Kingdom while an emperor will rule many kingdoms. The ruler of the historical Holy Roman Empire was called potentate.

Oligarchy

Moving away from the rule of one, we have a rule by the few. This is a council of a handful of members. Three was a popular historical number. They awarded council membership for family ties, religious affiliation, military prestige, personal achievements, or other attributes. The council sets the agenda, debates topics and decides was “best” for the people. Much of ancient Greece (Corinth, Sparta, Thebes, etc.) had an oligarchy. The notable exception was the Athenians.

Ironically, many other forms of government will drift toward oligarchy. Political power concentrates in a small group, even in forms of government where larger numbers of people can claim power, through political parties or coalitions. 

Republic 

Power moves from the one (autocracy) to the few (oligarchy) and finally to the many in the Republic. Selected individuals who represent the people governed a republic. They collectively agree to and then rule by the power of a set of laws. Medieval Iceland had a parliament called the Althing. In pre-Columbian Mexico, the Tlaxcala Nahua state had a representative assembly that even included representation from the commoner class. For the western mind, the most famous republic from history is Rome. 

One form this took on historically was the Merchant Republic. The richest merchants claimed the ruling seats. They focused more on economic advancement. Military might serves to either protect existing trade routes or open new ones. Tariffs and customs replaced more “aggressive negotiations” in diplomatic matters. Historically, Renaissance Italy provides the best examples of the merchant republic with powerful city-states like Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Florence. The popular science fiction rule by a mega-corporation is a rift on a merchant republic.

Theocracy

Where the traders hold sway over a Merchant Republic, it is the people of faith who rule in a theocracy. The deity has ultimate authority, but uses a human representative (historically, almost always male). This person must have a direct connection and speak for the deity. Alternatively, you could design a world where the deity speaks directly and see what kind of plot that leads to. The Israelites had Moses. The Arabs had Muhammad. Joseph Smith ruled the State of Deseret. Vatican City is a theocracy under the rule of the Pope. The Islamic Republic of Iran is another theocracy under the rule of the Ayatollah.

Fascism

Now we move into more modern forms of government. With fascism, we see the nationalistic pride of the country with authoritative power. This form of government developed in the aftermath of the First World War and a world-wide Great Depression. The name fascism comes from the historical Fascist Party from Italy, but fascism rose to power in Imperial Japan, Mussolini’s Italy, Franco’s Spain, and Nazi Germany through a combination of cunning, violence, or even free elections.

Fascism is an autocratic, totalitarian form of government. They intertwine military leadership with the political leadership. Unlike older autocracies, fascism controls the population through propaganda or even repression of opposing views.

Democracy

The direct opposite end of the spectrum from autocracy is democracy. This form of government provides the greatest decentralization of power. “For the people, by the people” is the mantra, though who exactly makes up ‘the people’ has been an issue in many democracies over history. This is one of those dramatic points you can use in your setting as you decide who may vote.

In a true democracy, those with the right to vote would vote directly on each issue. This quickly became impractical. The closest example we have today are various state and local referendums. Most democracies quickly moved to a republic form of government, but there’s nothing stopping you from designing your world to have a pure democratic government and seeing what story opportunities that creates.

Communism

Communism had its roots as more of an economic system than government, but individuals seized upon in the early 20th century. The intention was a government ruled by those who performed the actual labor. The core philosophy was “give according to ability and receive according to need”. It is deeply against all forms of religion, believing faith was as a tool to keep the worker class suppressed. It was one of the first forms of government to aspire to go beyond the boundaries of a single nation, and be a true world-wide form of government.

Like democracy, communism in its purest form proved difficult to implement. The most notable historical example is the Soviet Union. But even it switched over to more of an oligarchy long before its eventual collapse in the late 20th century.

Its up to you!

Perhaps your story world will have a nation that achieves a pure form of either democracy or communism. What would it change in your story? What if antagonist political force was a fascist or theocratic government? Use these historical examples to launch your imagination beyond the kingdoms, empires, and mega-corporations we see repeatedly in the genre.

F. Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer with a passion for reading and writing speculative fiction. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. His latest short story, The Preponderance of the Evidence, is available through Havok Publishing.

He writes the monthly Science Fiction and fantasy column for AlmostAnAuthor.com. In addition, he is a staff writer for BlizzardWatch.com, a premier fan site for the games produced by Blizzard Entertainment.

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers.

You can find more about Ted at his website: https://tedatchley.com/

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Technology and Magic in your Science-fiction and Fantasy novels

An important part of what makes your story fit into the Science Fiction and/or Fantasy genres is an element of the fantastical. This comes in either advanced technology for Science Fiction or a magic system for Fantasy.

For this discussion, we are going to treat the exotic magic of fantasy as simply a flavor of the advanced technology of science fiction. As Arthur C. Clarke famously said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” They are one concept, but one that it is critical to speculative fiction.

Systems need rules

Readers need to understand your magic and technology and must believe it’s at least plausible within the world you have created. If they don’t, they can’t suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the story. Real-world systems have limitations, and your magic and technology should have them as well to give them a real-world feel. Here are some examples from popular culture: The Ghostbusters can’t cross the streams. The Delorean has to get to 88mph to achieve time travel. A wizard must be able to enunciate the words of the spell properly for it to work. The ritual must have the ancient artifacts to the open the gate to another realm. No one can defeat an Agent inside the Matrix.

These limitations can become the engine for tension and drama in your story. The heroes must find the sacred artifacts before the villain so he can’t open the portal to bring in his other dimensional army. The villain gags the wizard so he can’t cast. Now, how will he win? The engine breaks and the car can’t up to 88mph. How will Marty time travel home?

This also opens up great opportunities for your story when your villains or heroes have to break the rules. Spoiler alerts for a thirty-plus year old movie, but to win in the end, the Ghostbusters must cross the streams. No one can take on an Agent and win… until Neo does.

Your rules need to be integral to your story and not a simple plot device. Let’s say your character has a superpower gadget that needs to be recharged. Needing to be recharged can be a good rule and open up story angles for you. What if the hero doesn’t have enough power to defeat the bad guy. Should the hero use this powerful attack that will drain half his energy? What if the villain takes control of the charger? But you have to be careful. If you’re not consistent with how much power the gadget can hold or how much power each element of the suit takes each time, it will push your story past plausible in your reader’s mind and you’ll lose that all important suspension of disbelief.

Making it part of your world

One of the major challenges is explaining your magic or technology to your reader without resorting to long passages of expositions or telling through dialog. This is a crutch wherein the author slips an important piece of information into dialog so the reader will know it, but it’s a piece of information the other character already knows. If you can start the dialog with “As you know…” it’s telling through dialog. This should be avoided.

Your characters wouldn’t feel a need to explain their technology anymore than you feel a need to explain your mobile phone to your best friend. It’s simply part of your world. One way authors have solved this is by having characters brought in as students or neophytes who require training and therefore explanations. Even in this case, though, avoid pages of exposition and keep the story moving forward.

Think about how your magic or technology would affect the culture of your world. “Necessity is the mother of invention” but a magic spell that can solve the problem removes the necessity. Why spend years developing a telegraph if a wizard can cast a communication spell.. Why work on a steam-powered engines if a spell or artifact can teleport someone across a great distance in seconds? Why spend countless hours perfecting a light bulb if a Bard can sing a spell of illumination.

The real world gives both you and your reader a baseline for expectations. Science Fiction writers tend to be future focused, but looking at history is instructive. Over the twentieth century, we went from newspapers, to radio, to TV, to the Internet. Each advanced increased the speed at which information flowed and how many people any one person could communicate with. Vietnam was unlike any other war because, for the first time, the general populace could see it. People who heard the famous Kennedy/Nixon debates on the radio came away more impressed with Nixon, but those who watched it on those early TVs thought Kennedy would be the better leader. Whatever incredible technology or magic you create should have seismic effects on your culture as well.

This is also true as it relates to the speed at which technology develops. We’ve gone from the first powered flight to space travel in under a century, but we still haven’t successfully taken humans beyond our moon. Your story must explain whatever technological leaps exist in your world and give a plausible timeline.

How much to explain

Fantasy explains less than Science Fiction. It’s magic, right? But without defined rules, it can become wish fulfillment and whatever the writer needs for the story at that specific moment. Without rules, you can write yourself into a corner. Invariably, your readers will ask, ‘why didn’t they just do X’, and they will lose that all important suspension of disbelief.

Magic and technology is another of those goldilocks tightropes writers must walk. Reading widely in the genre is a great way to see examples both of the tightrope being walked with skill and also watching some authors flail right off.

F. Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer with a passion for reading and writing speculative fiction. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. His latest short story, The Preponderance of the Evidence, will be published by Havok Publishing on December 20th.

He writes the monthly Science Fiction and fantasy column for AlmostAnAuthor.com. In addition, he is a staff writer for BlizzardWatch.com, a premier fan site for the games produced by Blizzard Entertainment.

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers.

You can find more about Ted at his website: https://tedatchley.com/

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Understanding your Elemental and Aesthetic Genre

What do you write? It’s a question every writer gets from time to time. Should you answer with your aesthetic genre or your elemental genre? What’s the difference? Today, we’ll dive into these two concepts.

The aesthetic genre defines how your story looks and sets up key exceptions in your reader’s mind. The elemental genre describes the key elements that make up the story. Deciding on your aesthetic genre is choosing the shelf (virtual or physical) where your book will live one day alongside others of a similar aesthetic.

Superhero is an aesthetic genre. In this genre, you’ll have characters with super powers in costumes. That’s the look, the aesthetic. If you say your book is a superhero genre, but your characters don’t have powers, readers will be (rightfully) upset. They might feel you deceived them, which can lead to poor reviews.

Within the superhero aesthetic genre, there are two major elemental genres, or plots. Plot One is a young person discovering their powers. Plot Two is several empowered people learning to work together as a cohesive team. These are the classic stories of the genre. The challenge is to do them in a fresh and creative way.

One of my favorite authors in the superhero genre is Jason Joyner. His Rise of the Anointed series follows these two elemental plots. Launch, the first book of the series is a Plot One story with his characters discovering their powers. Fractures, book two of the Rise of the Anointed series, is a Plot Two story where the four characters who discovered their powers in Launch learn to work together as a team.

Early in a series, it’s better to stick to the accepted elemental plots of your aesthetic genre just as Joyner has done. Marvel also followed this exact plan when they introduced the Marvel Cinematic Universe. All of their Phase 1 movies (The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger) are super hero elemental Plot One—a person discovering their powers. It’s only at the culmination of Phase 1 with 2012’s The Avengers that we get elemental Plot Two—several empowered people learning to work together.

Readers are accepting of various elemental genres within an established aesthetic genre. Sticking with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is an elemental spy thriller. The dark conspiracies and thrilling action would work just as well in James Bond or Mission Impossible. Spoiler Alert: you even get a Mission Impossible style character unmasking at the climax. It’s just that Natasha Romanov, Steve Rodgers, and Bucky Barnes have super powers.

Avengers Endgame is a classic elemental heist plot. It has all the elements of the heist down to the whiteboard presentation—though the Avengers’ ‘whiteboard’ is far more high tech. All the team members play have their various jobs and roles just like in an Oceans 11 type story, but the characters are wearing superhero outfits and have superpowers. Endgame combines that aesthetic with the elements of the heist story.

While people will dabble in various elemental genres, they don’t enjoy reading outside of their aesthetic genre. The publisher, whether traditional or independent, must clearly convey what the aesthetic genre is. The foremost place to accomplish is the cover design, and in the blurb. Failing to do this well can lead to disappointed readers and poor reviews.

It’s also advisable to stick to one elemental genre early on. This is a lesson I had to learn the hard way. The current manuscript I’m shopping is a science fiction portal fantasy thriller. My story has thriller elements and portal fantasy elements set in a science fiction aesthetic. This has created challenges as I attempt to market the book to agents and publishing houses.

Having a clear vision of your aesthetic and elemental genre early on will help you communicate what your story is about to future readers, agents, and publishers. What is your aesthetic and elemental genre? Why did you decide on those choices? Let me know in the comments.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept series and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently querying his science fiction portal fantasy thriller novel. 

Ted has a quarterly newsletter which you can join here. You’ll get the latest on his writing and publishing as well as links about writing, Star Wars, and/or Marvel.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

structure your novel with harmon’s story circle

In the early 2000s, Blake Snyder released Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need. This work on story structure became often cited and highly influential. While originally written for scripts and screenwriting, many authors saw value in adopting it’s three-act structure concepts for their novels.  

Hollywood continues to innovate. In recent years, a different take on story structure has gained popularity. Dan Harmon, the co-creator of Rick and Morty, developed a structure called Story Circle. Michael Waldron, showrunner on the Disney+ Loki series, adopted it. He had previously worked with Harmon on Rick and Morty.

Proving we all stand on the shoulders of giants, Harmon created his Story Circle based upon the monomyth theory of Joseph Campbell, also known as The Hero’s Journey. Like Snyder’s three-act structure in Save the Cat!, the Story Circle helps an author structure their story to give the audience a satisfying and entertaining experience. 

The Story Circle is composed of eight steps. 

  • Step 1-You. 
    • A character is in a comfortable situation
  • Step 2-Need
    • However, they seek something
  • Step 3-Go
    • They venture into an unfamiliar place or situation. 
  • Step 4-Search
    • They get used to or adapt to their new situation
  • Step 5-Find
    • They get what they’re looking for
  • Step 6-Take
    • They pay a high price for it
  • Step 7-Return
    • They go back to their familiar situation
  • Step 8-Change
    • They have changed

You want a circle like this for each main character, and for your antagonist. You’ll also want to do one for each episode or book in the series, but also a larger one with these steps as the characters progress over the entire series. 

This is an oversimplification of the process. Let’s look at an examples to flesh this out. 

Step 1-You

Introduce your main character and their world before the events of the story begin. In order to appreciate the change at the end of the story, we must firmly establish where the character started and who they were.

Loki Episode 1–We introduce Loki after his escape from the Battle of New York.

Step 2-Need

Some event takes place that presents a problem or question to our main character. Step one, You, answers who the story is about. Step two, Need, answer what the story is about.

Loki Episode 1–Loki wants to escape so he can be special. He needs the Tesseract back.

Go

This is the step where the character leaves their normal world and enters the unknown. The Need has to drive your character into action. If there’s a Need, and your character doesn’t Go, you might as well roll the credits. The story is over. While your character must have agency, it’s up to you as the author to set up the circumstances in such a way that the character can’t refuse to go.

Loki Episode 1–TVA needs his help. Loki steals a time device and escapes.

Search

This doesn’t have to be a literal, physical search (though with Loki it is). This is where the author starts throwing obstacles and complications at our character. The character must learn and change from each challenge they overcome.

Loki Episode 1–Loki is unhelpful. He searches the TVA for the Tesseract.

Find

Congratulations! Your character has searched and grown and found the thing that started him on the journey. Roll credits. Or not. Your character’s journey up to this point has shown them what they needed at the start is no longer what they need. Plot and character development will dovetail.

Loki Episode 1–Loki finds the Tesseract. It’s being used as a paperweight.

Take

“The bill comes due,” as Mordo said at the end of Dr. Strange. The character must pay a price for their victory. She loses something important to her in finding what she thought she needed. This could run the gamut from a simple setback to the death of a major character, depending on the genre and the type of story you want to tell.

Loki Episode 1–Loki takes the Tesseract. He realizes it won’t get him out of the TVA. Its magic doesn’t work. His magic doesn’t work. He’s not special.

Return

The character returns to their normal life with their prize, and lessons learned. They are no longer the person they were when they left on their journey.

Loki Episode 1–Loki returns to the interrogation room.

Change

Change must happen to the character, but the author can show change to the circumstances in the world as well because of the character’s actions. The changes don’t always have to be positive. Perhaps the character changed for the better, but the world changed for the worse and you’ve set up the sequel. 

Loki Episode 1–Now Loki is broken and ready to help the TVA. Notice that he’s helpful is on the polar opposite point of the circle from his being unhelpful.

The beauty of the Story Circle is it can apply to many stories, whether they be romance, mystery, thriller, or comedies. As a cycle, the story circle is wonderful for serial content like TV shows, movies franchises and book series. It’s a more refined Hero’s Journey. A more cathartic journey of true evolution that is more character driven than plot driven. 

You don’t have to choose between the Story Circle and the three-act structure. You can use them both to better understand your story, whether you meticulously plotted out every detail or discovered it organically as you wrote the first draft. The important thing is to arrive at a great story. Use any and all tools and techniques at your disposal.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted has a quarterly newsletter which you can join here. You’ll get the latest on his writing and publishing as well as links about writing, Star Wars, and/or Marvel.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

the eight types of time travel

Time travel is a stable in science fiction. Countless books, comics, movies, and TV shows have used it as their main plot device. Even more have incorporated it into a key moment of the story. Over the years, eight major types of time travel logic emerged. Recently, YouTubers Eric Voss and Héctor Navarro examined all eight types, and looked at which one gets it most correct in term of the real world science behind science fiction.

Type 1 Anything goes

Definition: Characters travel back and forth within their historical timeline.

This approach frees you to have fun and not get lost in the minutiae of how time travel works. Usually, there’s a magical Maguffin that to quote the great Dr. Ememett Brown, “makes time travel possible”. Writers have used a car, a phone booth, and a hot tub, among other options. This approach leads to inconsistent limits on the logic of the time travel, but this doesn’t mean the story is poorly plotted, won’t be enjoyable or won’t be an enormous hit. This approach is more science fantasy than science fiction with no basis in real-world science.

Examples: Back to the Future, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Hot Tube Time Machine, Frequency, Austin Powers, Men In Black 3, Deadpool 2, The Simpsons, Galaxy Quest, Star Trek TOS, Doctor Who, 11/22/63 by Stephen King.

Type 2 Branch Reality

Definition: Changes to the past don’t rewrite history. They split the timeline into an alternate branch timeline. This action does not change or erase the original timeline.

As authors got more familiar with the science behind time travel in theoretical physics, this type, based upon the many worlds theory in quantum mechanics, emerged. When the character travels back into the past and changes events, they create a new reality. Their original reality is unchanged. Branches themselves can branch leading to a multiverse of possibilities.

Examples: The Disney Plus series, Loki, used this extensively. See also: Back to the Future Part II, Avenger’s Endgame, the DC Comics multiverse, the Marvel Comics multiverse, Rick and Morty, Star Trek (2009), A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.

Type 3 Time Dilation

Definition: Characters traveling off-world experience time moving more slowly than elsewhere in the universe, allowing them to move forward in time (but not backward).

This type is the based upon our scientific understanding of how time slows down as you approach the speed of the light. This is a forward-only type of time travel. There’s no going backwards.

Examples: Planet of the Apes, Ender’s Game, Flight of the Navigator, Interstellar, Buck Rodgers.

Type 4 This Always Happened

Definition: All of time is fixed on a predestined loop in which the very act of time travel itself sets the events of the story into motion.

This one can confuse and delves closer to the realm of theology than science. It feels gimmicky, and has become something of a trope making it hard to pull this off in a satisfying way for your audience. This type also invites the audience to question if your protagonist ever had free will or agency in the story.

Examples: Terminator, Terminator 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Game of Thrones-Season 6, Twelve Monkeys, Interstellar, Kate and Leopold, The Butterfly Effect, Predestination, Ricky and Morty-Season 5, Looper.

Type 5 Seeing the Future

Definition: After seeing a vision of their fate, characters choose to change their destiny or embrace their lot.

We’re stretching to call this time travel, but it provides your story with built-in conflict and stakes. Will the hero choose to walk the path knowing how it will end, or will they choose a different path?

Examples: Oedipus Rex, A Christmas Carol, Minority Report, Arrival, Next (Nicolas Cage), Rick and Morty-Season Four. Star Trek:Discovery-Season 2, Avenger’s EndGame with Dr. Strange and the Mind Stone.

Type 6 Time Loop / Groundhog Day

Definition: Characters relive the same day over and over, resetting back to a respawn point once they die or become incapacitated.

This type gained popularity after the movie, Groundhog Day, became a tremendous hit. Most of the other examples take the Groundhog Day idea and put a slight twist on it. Like Type 4 “This Always Happened”, the popularity of this type can make it harder to pull off in a fresh and innovative way.

Examples: Obviously, Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. Edge of Tomorrow, Doctor Strange in the ending battle with Dormammu, Russian Dolls (Netflix), Palm Springs, Star Trek TNG.

Type 7 Unstuck Mind

Definition: Characters consciousness transport through time within his body to his life at different ages.

Nostalgia for the past and dreaming of the future are core parts of the human experience. This type runs more metaphorically than scientific.

Examples: Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Desmond in the series Lost.

Type 8 Unstuck Body

Definition: A character’s body or object becomes physically detached from the flow of time within the surrounding universe, becoming inverted or younger. Only certain objects or bodies are unstuck from time. Also called Inverted Entropy.

This one will blow your mind if you think about it for too long. Like Type 2 “Branch Reality”, this one comes from the realm of quantum mechanics and theoretical physics. Scientists and mathematicians have all the formulas worked out to make this de-aging a reality, but currently lack the technology to control all the variables in the ways needed. It would like scientists working out than an object could break the speed of the sound in 1890. It would look inconceivable, given the technology of the day, but I wouldn’t put limits on human ingenuity.

Examples: Dr. Strange (the Hong Kong battle). Tenet, briefly in Endgame with Scott Lang and Bruce, Primer.

If you’re writing a time travel story, you’ll need to decide which one of these types you want to deploy. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. In many ways, its similar to designing your magic system, especially if you go with a Type 1 time travel story. The most important thing remains to have relatable characters and to tell a great story while being internally consistent with the rules and logic of your story world.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted has a quarterly newsletter which you can join here. You’ll get the latest on his writing and publishing as well as links about writing, Star Wars, and/or Marvel.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

You Need to Attend a Scifi/Fantasy Writers Conference

Writer’s conferences are, once again, gearing up to welcome attendees. These annual conventions (in-person, online or a hybrid of both) are where writers gather to meet and learn from industry professionals, successful best-selling authors, literary agents, editors, and each other. Conferences host lectures, panels, and workshops geared to help writers at every stage of their writing journey. You will socialize, improve your craft and perhaps even start a career altering relationship.

There are three major reasons you should go to a writers’ conference: learn, make friends, and pitch.

Learn from the best teachers

The faculty at a writer’s conference comprises best-selling authors, top literary agents, and world class editors. These generous people provide firsthand knowledge gained from years of experience in the publishing business. Besides the large group lectures and panels, many conferences offer you the opportunity to get one-on-one time with these professional (usually for an additional fee). You can get feedback on your own writing or ask the burning questions you’ve always wanted to.

Make some new friends

Friendships start with a shared experience, or a shared passion. At a writer’s conference, you’ll find people who both have shared your experience of writing a novel and share your passion to get published. Every person, from the greenest newbie to the most hardened veteran, spent serious money and took days away from friends and family to be there.

Writer’s conferences know many of their attendees are introverts, and this concept might make them a little nervous. They will often have places and events setup to help introverts break the ice and get conversions started. As a bonus, your fellow introverts will understand in a way few of your other friends do when you need a few minutes of solitude to recharge.

Pitch your novel to agents and publishers

Most writer’s conferences host events where you can pitch your novel to an agent, editor, or publisher. You’ll know your pitch didn’t get lost in an email inbox with thousands of others never to be read. You gave it to them one on one. The agent will hear your passion for the project, and you’ll be able to answer their questions on the spot. You’ll receive invaluable feedback on your project as you watch their facial expressions and body language.

Now that you know why you should attend a writer’s conference, let’s look at a couple of writer’s conferences specifically geared to writers of science fiction and fantasy novels.

SFWA Nebula Conference

Home to nearly 2000 authors, artists, and allied professionals, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is one of the oldest and largest conferences for speculative writers. This year’s conference was held the first week of June and was online only. At the conference, the SFWA announces the winners of The Nebula Awards for the best novel, novella, novelette, script, and short story. Dates and locations for the 2022 conference are yet to be announced.

World Con

The World Science Fiction Convention aka “Worldcon” is a five-day international conference attended by thousands of writers, artists, fans, editors, publishers, academics and dealers of the science fiction and fantasy community. You’ll see a celebration of Science Fiction and Fantasy in all its forms: books, film, TV, art, comics, anime and manga, and gaming. This conference announces the winners of the prestigious Hugo awards. This year’s conference will be held December 15 through December 19, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Realm Makers

Realm Makers is a niche conference for creatives who love Science Fiction and Fantasy and profess a Christian worldview. It’s a place for you to learn, share your talents, & meet with people like yourself. This conference hosts the Realm Awards to recognize the best speculative fiction written by Christian authors. This year’s conference will be held July 15-17, 2021 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Writer’s conferences provide a range of benefits to attendees and should be something every aspiring author plans into their yearly schedule.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted has a quarterly newsletter which you can join here. You’ll get the latest on his writing and publishing as well as links about writing, Star Wars, and/or Marvel.

Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

advances in rocket propulsion to inspire your science fiction

There’s an important difference between Science Fiction and Scient Fantasy. Scient Fiction is based on real world science, even if that science is theoretical. Science Fantasy looks and reads like Science Fiction, but it’s not based on real world science. Science Fiction spends more time explaining how the technology in their created world works, while Science Fantasy treats it as akin to a magic system. The classic delineation is Star Trek is Science Fiction, while Star Wars is Science Fantasy.

Known and mundane

Chemical rockets have been powering human spaceflight for decades. Every rocket used this type of propulsion. Whether the fuel is liquid or solid, it’s burned with an oxidizer to create rapidly expanding gas. The design of the rocket gives the gas only the rocket’s nozzle as an outlet and thanks to Newton’s Third Law of Motion, all the force going out causes a reactive force pushing the rocket to the stratosphere and beyond.

SpaceX, one of the leading innovators in space travel, has begun tests on The Raptor, a full flow staged combustion (FFSC) engine. It’s still a chemical reaction, but it’s more fuel efficient and generates more power.

Are you telling me that this sucker is NUCLEAR?

Nuclear fission reactions recall visions of mushroom clouds and destruction, but much like how we can use fire or electricity for both destructive and constructive purposes, this potent reaction is being tested as a possible propulsion source. It works like a chemical rocket. Gases are heated and given the nozzle as their only escape.

The problem with fission engines is size. The current fission reactors are too large for a space faring vehicle, but research and experimentation continue. The other issues is launch failure. It’s one thing when a chemical rocket explodes, but a nuclear rocket could spread radioactive material over a large area. That is not ideal.

It’s electric

There are few sounds more iconic than the Twin Ion Engines of a Sienar Fleet Systems T.I.E fighter. This technology is getting some real application. The drives ionize particles and fire them out a thruster. They are fuel efficient and can even be solar powered. Real-world applications include Esa’s SMART-1 mission to the Moon and Bepi-Colombo mission headed to Mercury.

The major issue with ion drives is speed. They are too slow for any manned mission, but NASA is working on more powerful versions for a proposed moon mission.

Solar sails

Versions have of Solar sails have appeared in popular Science Fiction and Science Fantasy. The real-world versions rely on catching photons emitted by the Sun. They propel the sail through space. There is an inverse relationship between distance from the Sun and speed. The Japanese IKAROS spacecraft and the Planetary Society Lightsail-2 project have both employed this technology. Unfortunately for solar sail enthusiasts, these engines make the ion engines look fast.

Scientist continue to push the boundaries of our technology, chasing the dreams birth in them by writers of great science fiction. The writers inspire the scientist to reach new heights and the discovers the scientist make inspire greater and more fantastical stories from the writers. It’s a beautiful, symbiotic relationship.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted has a montly newsletter which you can join here. It’s a roundup of links about writing, Star Wars, and/or Marvel with brief commentary from him.

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)
Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Should You Base Your Novel on Your RPG Camapaign?

Many fantasy writers got their introduction to the genre not through books but through Table Top Role Playing Games (TTRPG), or more recently, through computer Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG). It is not uncommon to see a new fantasy author’s first attempt at writing being a translation of their TTRPG campaign or an adaptation of their MMORPG experience. This has generally not been seen as a great idea, but a new genre is turning that advice on its head.

Why you don’t want to turn your TTRPG or MMORPG into a novel

TTRPG campaigns, while fun to play, often lack the narrative structure novels need. A TTRPG isn’t designed with a three-act novel structure in mind. That’s not the intent. Unless the author relentlessly edits the campaign, this can lead to muddled middles, and wandering plots.

Sometimes experienced TTRPG players create amazing characters, but even well designed TTRPG characters and MMORPG characters can lack for well defined wounds and inner arcs. The main character in an MMORPG is not driving the story the way a great protagonist will. The story is happening to them, and they are along for the ride. This can also be true to a lesser degree in TTRPG characters.

Enter LitRPG, Isekai and GameLit

My current work in progress is a Portal Fantasy and in doing research into comparable novels, I discovered a relatively new subgenre of Portal Fantasy. You’ll see the terms LitRPG, Isekai and GameLit all used to describe it. Many of the available works are translations of books originally written in Russian, Japanese, and Korean where the genre was born.

The main idea is the entire book happens inside the virtual reality of the game. It’s a mashup of Matrix, World of Warcraft , and Jumanji, with a dash of Ender’s Game. The idea of going inside a WoW-style MMO as a major plot element is hardly a new idea. You’ll see this trope in Daemon by Daniel Suarez, Halting State by Charles Stross, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and Reamde by Neal Stephenson.

The key element in LitRPG books that differs from those novels is the game play mechanics are explicit both for the reader and the characters. In LitRPG, you’ll see actual lines like this in the prose:

Damage taken. Hit Points reduced by 5: 11 (weapon damage + strength) – 6 (armor). Total: 35 of 40.

Buff gained: Strength +1, Energy loss reduced by 50%. Duration – 12 hours.

You’ve been hit by Messenger Gnoll! Damage sustained: 16 points. Life 44/60

LitRPG/GameLit/Isekai is a sub-genre of the sub-genre of Portal Fantasy. It features a protagonist from one reality transported to the game world by some means. In the game world, they have some sort of progress – usually tied to the concept of experience points. They receive gear from defeating their enemies and may or may not join up with others to overcome obstacles. GameLit books tend to be lighter on the actual game mechanics part than other LitRPG novels.

Why do LitRPG novels work?

Reading one of these books can feel like a guilty pleasure, and they can be surprisingly addictive. Similar to how mystery readers love to solve the crime along with the detective, many authors and readers of LitRPG enjoy having the characters strategize within the constrains of the game rules.

The protagonists in this genre can be bland and nondescript, but that’s part of their appeal. It makes it easier for reader to see themselves as the protagonist. Your previous place in life whether as a lovable loser or a Type A overachiever no longer matters. Now, only your knowledge of the game and its mechanics is important.

These MMO-in-book-form allow the reader to experience an RPG in a way they may no longer be able to. As MMO and TTRPG players mature, they may no longer have the large blocks of time needed to devote to these games. Through LitRPG, you can level fast, find hidden secrets, talk to illusive NPC characters, and defeat the most difficult encounters. All on your own time table.

Most of us have given up on finding the Ring of Power, or lifting Mjöllnir, or getting a letter from Hogwarts. But video games are a real part of our world. Long after we’ve abandoned the games in favor of work and family responsibilities, we can still be the hero of a virtual world as we follow along with the protagonist of our LitRPG. But, if you’re going to write one of these, remember readers also want empathetic characters, stimulating plots and intense drama. Those aspects of LitRPG/GameLit, like with any books, are the still most important.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted as a bi-montly newsletter which you can join here. It’s a roundup of links about writing, Star Wars, Marvel, and/or the Panthers with brief commentary from him. Think of it as a kind of ICYMI (In Case You Missed It). Eventually, you’ll see info about my his books, and even receive free short stories.

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)
Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Four Popular Options for Map-Making Software

World building is a critical part of any speculative fiction work. As we create new worlds, one of the best ways to make them real to us and eventually to our readers is with maps. Maps help us in every stage of writing, from where our characters need to go, to the obstacles they face. Is there a giant mountain range between them and your Mordor? Is there a lake or ocean they must cross before they can scale the Cliffs of Insanity?

Let’s look at four popular options for map-making software. These run the gamut of functionality, price, and ease of use.

Campaign Cartographer 3

Campaign Cartographer 3 website

Like many things in the world of software, there’s a proportional relationship between how powerful a software is and its learning curve. Campaign Cartographer 3 (CC3) has a wide variety of options, but a steep learning curve to go along with it. Budget several hours to go through YouTube video and do some practice on minor projects. Once you master it, you can make some beautiful maps.

The site isn’t easy to navigate and tries to steer you into far more expensive bundles, rather than the $30 price tag for just the software. If you need to create several maps, and can dedicate the time to learn it, CC3 is a superb choice.

Wonderdraft

Wonderdraft website

On the other end of the spectrum, you have something like Wonderdraft. Wonderdraft is a fantastic software. Its intuitive interface makes it simple to pick up and start producing right away. You don’t have to sit there and draw every single little building in your world. There are a ton of exceptional assets to use. It even has a distance ruler. For those of you who love to start with a hand-drawn map, with Wonderdraft’s overlay feature, you could sketch out your map on paper, upload a picture, and trace everything in the software.

Wonderdraft has an active subreddit called r/wonderdraft where users share their creations. You can get inspiration for your own worlds or get help from the community.

 Inkarnate

Inkarnate website

Inkarnate is another user-friendly option. The developer has been making steady improvements, adding new assets which only increase its value and functionality. The sticky wicket with Inkarnate is the monetization model.

Inkarnate uses a subscription model. If you don’t purchase the subscription, you do not have the copyright to the maps you create. But if you produce a map while you have their subscription, you don’t lose the rights if you subsequently drop the subscription. You’ll have to weigh the subscription cost versus a purchase of one of the other options, but I do like how Inkarnate gives you the ability to try before you buy.

 Ortelius

Ortelius website

Ortelius is a powerful map making tool with some significant drawbacks. It is only available on the Mac platform. In addition, it is expensive, but will produce a high-resolution map.

Fantasy Maps Facebook Private Group

Facebook group

If you’d like more discussion of the various map-making tools, this is a fantastic private Facebook group. Besides great discussions, you’ll be able to look at maps other creators have made, and even find people who will make a map for you.

 I have no affiliation with any of these programs, and there are no affiliate links used in this article.

What mapping software are you using for your current work in progress novel? Do you use one of these or something else entirely?

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted as a bi-montly newsletter which you can join here. It’s a roundup of links about writing, Star Wars, Marvel, and/or the Panthers with brief commentary from him. Think of it as a kind of ICYMI (In Case You Missed It). Eventually, you’ll see info about my his books, and even receive free short stories.

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)
Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

A proven process for dealing with Rejection

 The long-awaited email from the agent arrives. With a trembling hand, you open it. Polite greeting, generic praise and wham, there it is. Rejection. You drop your head to the desk.

Now what? A bevy of emotions will roil through you. You need a process to work through your emotions and make some tough decisions. Let me show my process for dealing with rejection. I’ve unfortunately gotten too much practice lately.

Stages of Grief

Now is not the time to be making decisions. That comes later. Right now, deal with the stages of grief. Rejection causes emotions like grief, and you’ll go through the same stages. You’ll start with the visceral denial. Oh god, no. Please, not again. This was going to be the one! That will give way to anger. You’ll be mad at the agent, the publishing house, your beta readers, your critique partners, random people on the Internet, and Bob from Accounting. Do not send any emails or Tweets, or make any posts on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever social media site you are on.

Next, you’ll bargain. You’ll parse every word in the email. You’ll ask your writer friends what it means. While you’re doing that, start mentally preparing for the toughest hurdle yet. The feelings of depression. That little voice that says: I’m never going to get published. I’ll never be good enough. Why am I wasting my life away at this? I should quit.

Let me say it again. Now is not the time to be making decisions. Take a break. Read a book, play a game, discover the secret to time travel. Do anything but think about your book. Those feelings will pass, you’ll reach acceptance, and you’ll remember that…

It’s all a part of the game

Every writer gets rejected. Every famous writer has a story about getting rejected dozens of times. It’s just part of the gig. We know this on an intellectual level, but somewhere along the way, we let ourselves think that we’ve hit our quota and the next query is going to be ‘the one’. In the words of Wesley from The Princess Bride, “Get used to disappointment”.

Okay, so you’ve processed through the emotions. You’ve given yourself some space and time to recover. Now, you can start making decisions, and you’ll start with the most important question of all.

Do you continue the journey or quit?

If you want to be a writer, but don’t enjoy writing and querying and marketing and publication, it’s okay to give it up. The journey from writer to author is all about the process, and there are a myriad of careers that pay off faster, and make much better money. Go back and remind yourself why you wanted to be a writer in the first place. Is that reason still enough for you to press on

To answer the question, Ask it

Andy Stanley wrote a fantastic book on how to make decisions called Ask It: The Question That Will Revolutionize How You Make Decisions. Mr. Stanley outlines a process that boils down any decision to framing it in this manner: “based on my past experience, my current life situation and my future hopes and dreams, what is the wise thing to do?”

Walk through those steps. Think about your past experiences. What has led you to this moment? What have you learned along the way? Think about your current life situation. Do you have kids now that didn’t when you started, or have the kids gone off to college? Finally, think about your future hopes and dreams. Where do you want to be in a year, five years, ten? What’s the next best step to get there?

More questions if you decide to press on

If you decide you want to continue to pursue your publication dreams, there are more questions you should ask yourself. These are inspired by a blog post from Sarah Rexford, former columnist in this very space.

Questions:

  • Am I continuing to educate myself about writing, querying, marketing, and publishing?
  • Am I looking for small wins like writing blog posts, or short stories?
  • Am I working on my brand?
  • Am I growing? How does my writing compare to a month ago? A year ago? Five years ago? 
  • Am I writing? The old axiom is still true. Writers write.

Rejection is an avoidable career marker. It means you’re putting your stuff out there. Take the time to process through your emotions and carefully decide on your next move.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

Ted as a bi-montly newsletter which you can join here. It’s a roundup of links about writing, Star Wars, Marvel, and/or the Panthers with brief commentary from him. Think of it as a kind of ICYMI (In Case You Missed It). Eventually, you’ll see info about my his books, and even receive free short stories.

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)
Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Navigating the Social Media minefield as a Speculative Fiction author

It’s a complicated time to be an author trying to build your platform on social media. It’s a weird time to be a human, much less one that spends large chunks of their days creating imaginary realms for their readers to enjoy.  The various online spaces feel like they’re filled with people weighing your every word to determine if you fit into their box, or some other. Those who they find agreeable are loved, accepted, and promoted. Those they deem to exist in the other box are ignored, ridiculed, and discouraged. We need to build a platform to connect with readers, but the these days it feels like trying to clear a minefield in a TIE fighter.

The disagreements don’t even have to be about deep political viewpoints. Something as simple as a sports team allegiance can lose you followers. Some of the worst online battles happen between different parts of the same fandom particularly in the speculative fiction space. Whether its SciFi versus Fantasy, or Original Trilogy versus Sequel Trilogy, the intensity of the rhetoric would make even the politicians blush.

I’m an ambitious writer. I want my stories to have a wide appeal. I don’t want to post anything that might alienate someone from giving my books a chance. So how do we navigate these treacherous minefiled?

I’ve found the key is discernment and empathy. Empathy is your superpower as a writer. Designing a great antagonist is the hidden key to unlocking this superpower.

“Fiction gives us empathy: it puts us in the mind of other people, gives us the gifts of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.” Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker award-winning author Neil Gaiman.

Develop empathy with people by making them great antagonists

Antagonists are critical to your story. They need to be every bit as fleshed out, multi-dimension and real as your protagonist. They need to have complex personalities, and deep motives. Sometimes what drives your antagonist is a good good quality taken too far. It morphs into something darker. Someone with a strong work ethic becomes a workaholic. Love turns to jealousy. High self esteem becomes conceitedness.

Ask the same sort of questions about the people you struggle to have empathy for that you ask of your antagonist. Who are they? What life experiences have shaped them into the person they are today? What are they listening to, or reading that is forming their core belief system.

You don’t have to agree with their positions or their actions. They may be wrong, completely wrong, but you can still have empathy and show them kindness.

Is this a hill to die on?

One of the defining phrases of my twenty-five-year marriage has been ‘a hill to die on’. This is a military phrase which refers to capturing or holding the high ground, usually a hill. As Obi-wan showed us, holding the high ground gives you a military advantage. But not all hills have equal strategic value. Some hills are the key to victory and must be held no matter the price. Others aren’t worth the cost in men, or ammunition. It’s not a ‘hill to die on’.

Here’s a lifehack for you. If you don’t argue with people, they assume you agree with them. This isn’t to say you must agree with anyone. We all have deeply held beliefs and convictions. But what’s required is for you to do a cost-benefit analysis.

A biting quip or a brilliant reply to an argument may feel good in the moment, but you probably haven’t changed anyone’s mind, and you might have lost a future reader. No matter how clever or persuasive our arguments, we are unlikely to change anyone’s mind in a quick, online interaction. Real change only happens in the context of deep relationships. You may have instead earned yourself a long time enemy.

As hard as it is to do, simply not replying is often the best answer. I recently had a tweet get far more engagement than I thought it would. Many responses were supportive, but some of them were not kind. There was an emotional sting that will now form into a callous to develop that thick skin so critical to success as a modern writer. Rather than get into an argument, I simply ignored them.

Best social media advice still holds true

The core advice, communicated to me by writing coach Janeen Ippolito still stands. Have one social media platform that you are consistently posting to and interacting with people. I’m better at Twitter than IG so that’s where I do most of my interactions. Be at least findable on every other major social media platform, if only to funnel traffic back to the ones you find most comfortable with using.

I hope as we move into the new year, there’s less of trying to make every issue a binary choice, and forcing people into one of two boxes, mostly so we can dismiss or denigrate those people not in our box.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)
Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

MILITARY UNITS AND RANKS FOR YOUR SPECULATIVE FICTION NOVEL (Part 2)

Happy New Year, awesome authors! As writers of speculative fiction, military forces are a staple in many of our stories. Basing these on a real-world equivalent force can bring greater realism to our writing and help the reader suspend their disbelief of the more fantastical elements. Last month, we delved into unit and officer rank break downs, and looked at the commanding officers in a military force. This month, we’ll dive into the real boots on the ground: the enlisted men who carry out the General’s plans and strategies.

Enlisted Ranks

The highest-ranking enlisted soldier in any military force is the Sergeant-Major. You’ll find these soldiers in the leadership of every Battalion, Brigade, Regiment and Division. These are the people charged with planning the actual operations of the enlisted men in their unit. The role of the Commanding Officer is to decide what needs to be done and communicate that vision to his men. It’s the Sergeant-Major who has to make it happen despite whatever obstacles might stand in the way.

Below the Sergeant-Major are the senior field soldiers. The name assigned to the rank represents its unique specialty. For a cavalry or infantry force, the name of the rank is a Master Sergeant. For your heavy artillery units, the name of the position is the Gunnery Sergeant. If you have a medieval or fantasy setting where archers are a major part of the military force, the senior field officer goes by Bowyer Sergeant. These three ranks are equal in the chain of command hierarchy.

Each of these positions also has a colloquial name. The colloquial term for a Master Sergeant is “Top”. Gunnery Sergeants are “Gunney” and your Bowyer Sergeant is “Strings”. Last month, we discussed the ‘Light Colonel’ alternative name for Lieutenant Colonel. This is only used as a conversational way to refer to the Colonel, but they are never addressed this way. The same applies to the alternative names for Sergeants.

The next rank down is your Senior Sergeant, also referred to as a Staff Sergeant. This is the first rank an enlisted man can achieve where management and coordination are the primary concerns. These men rose through the ranks as Sergeants where they excelled at showing the men how to get things done and kicking them in the rear when needed. The Senior Sergeant must now delegate those tasks. The opportunity here is for the classic trope where an employee or solider is great at their job so we promote them to management. But management is a dissimilar skill set from whatever their job previously was. Being good at the former doesn’t always translate to being good at the latter.

Under the Staff Sergeants are the Sergeants. This is the rank where soldiers prove themselves through years of service accomplishing their assigned missions. Sergeants have the primary responsibility for the training of the soldiers under his command. He acts as a surrogate father figure. Though typically around 24 years old, to the fresh 18- to 19-year-old Privates, the Sergeant is as old as dirt. His word is taken as absolute truth. If the Privates paid him no heed, the wrath of the gods falls on their miserable heads. In peacetime, a Sergeant can expect to remain at this rank for eight to twelve years before receiving a promotion. In wartime, that timeframe is reduced, sometimes drastically.

Below the Sergeants are the Corporals who are essentially Sergeants in training. This is the first enlisted rank with the responsibility to lead other soldiers, the Privates and Lance Corporals. Sergeants and Lieutenants evaluate the Corporal before handing them a squad of 13 other soldiers to keep alive.

Lance Corporals are your most experienced enlisted soldiers who have not yet been given command over other soldiers.  

The Private First Class rank shows the soldier is no longer a fresh faced recruit and might actually be useful for something.

Privates are the lowest rank in the military force. The recruit earns this rank after completing their Boot Camp, or whatever name you give the initial combat training in your story world. The higher ranked soldiers continue to use many unflattering names for the Privates.

Differences between officers and enlisted men

In most militaries, the lowest ranking Officer is in a higher position in the chain of command and “outranks” the highest ranking Enlisted person. Despite that, there’s a certain amount of professional respect and courtesy between the ranks. A Lieutenant learns quickly to listen to an experienced Sergeant Major. If there is any disagreement, the chain of command is strictly observed. Its importance simply cannot be overstated.

In many medieval and fantasy settings, the officers come from the nobility. One requirement of being nobility is raising and leading of units from your population composed of locals, peasants, farmers, and indentured servants from your lands. In those cases, the rank of the officer frequently derived either from their societal rank, or from the size of the force they could muster. You can see different levels of this, as well.

Use this information as a launching point

Don’t look at this series as a strict model you must emulate in your stories. That’s not the intent. Rather think in terms of what roles you need depending on the size and purpose of your military forces. Get creative with the names or titles you use to describe them. I enjoy looking at historical sources, or other resources. For my WiP, Divine Choice, I used the names of the levels in the old Dungeons and Dragons games I played as a kid for the inspiration for my ranks.

This is an opportunity to reinforce your world building. The ranks need to sound like they belong in your world. You don’t want to create a fantasy world based on ancient Greece and then have your ranks named things like Lieutenant Commander.

Let your creativity and world building shine through, and make your military forces a seamless part of your world.

Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)
Categories
Fantasy-Sci-Fi

Military Units and Ranks for Your Speculative Fiction Novel

As writers of speculative fiction, military forces are a stable in many of our stories. Basing these on a real-world equivalent force can bring greater realism to our writing and help the reader suspend their disbelief of the more fantastical elements. Let’s examine the ranks and numbers of a modern military force structure which you can use as a jumping off point to build realistic forces of your own.

The numbers you’ll see are the optimal numbers, but keep in mind we rarely see these in reality. Units are in constant flux as soldiers transfer into or out of the unit. Some soldiers will invariably be sick, or wounded — even in peacetime — as training accidents will occur. Even in the military, people take vacations, are on TDY (temporary duty), or even spending time at home.

Unit and rank breakdowns

I’m using the US Army at the end of the second World War (~1945) for the unit numbers, but this will apply to most of the US forces of the last hundred years. Authors can make their own choices to change these as needed to fit your science fiction or fantasy setting. Because of space constraints, we’ll only examine land forces. Naval ranks for a more science-fiction/space opera-based storyline may be a topic for future discussion.

We’ll work our way from smallest to largest. As an author, you want to spend the most time with small groups of soldiers. Big, climatic battles are great, but ultimately our stories are about our characters, and how they interact with the surrounding people. This is most easily seen in a smaller group setting. Always set up your story so that even in the titanic battle, it’s the action of your character or characters that sways the day. They should always be at the focal point. Your MC must take the one hill that controls the battlefield or make the perilous flight down the trench to hit the thermal exhaust port.

The smallest grouping is the Strike Team or Fire Team. This is six or seven individuals with various roles and skills. A Corporal or Lance Corporal leads a Strike Team. Two Strike Teams form a Squad. A Squad will have twelve or thirteen members and is led by a Sergeant.

Four Squads come together to form a Platoon. Fifty fighting men and women (and aliens depending on your world) acting in (we hope) unison. At this level, we refer to Commanding Officer (CO) and Executive Officer (XO). The XO is the second in command. He takes over should something happen to the CO. For a Platoon, the CO is a Lieutenant, and the XO is a Senior Sergeant.

Three Platoons form a Company. You’re up to 150 soldiers. CO is a Captain; XO is a Lieutenant. I never spell that right on the first attempt. Four Companies make up a Battalion. Here the CO is a Lieutenant Colonel (abbreviation Lt Colonel) or a Major. The XO is a Major or Captain.

Three Battalions form a Regiment led by a Colonel as CO and a Lieutenant Colonel as XO. A Regiment is almost 2,000 warriors strong. Three Regiments form a Brigade commanded by a Brigadier General. At this size, the commander needs more than one assistant. Brigades have an Officer Planning Staff, but this staff is not in the Chain of Command.

Finally, two Brigades make up a Division led by a Major General and his staff. (The famous 82nd Airborne is a Division.) It’s 10,800 warriors led by 642 Officers. 11,442 men, women, elves, dwarves and whatever other races inhabit your worlds.

Officers and Gentlemen

As you examine these ranks, don’t think you are required to use each one in your forces. Instead, think more of the roles you need for your characters and story depending on the size of purpose of your military forces. These will allow you to give realistic ranks to your characters. You can also get creative and come up with your own rank names, as I did in my current WiP, and eliminate ones you don’t need.

The highest ranking officer in a military force is the General. It doesn’t matter how many stars. Below him is the Lieutenant General. This character should have experience in multiple types of engagements. The Major General is a senior strategic official. Their experience is better used for developing an overall strategy rather than implementing tactics on the battlefield. Below them are the Brigadier General, Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel and Major. A Colonel might be in command of a Regiment, or a member of a General’s Planning Staff.

Lieutenant colonels are also referred to and addressed in correspondence as ‘colonel’. This gives rise to alternative terms. For Colonels, you’ll hear full colonel, bird colonel, or full bird colonel. A Lieutenant Colonel is called a Light Colonel. This is only used as a colloquial way to refer to the colonel, but they are never addressed this way.

The Captain is the first officer rank where your character must have shown true leadership ability. You’ll see Captains used as a Company Commander, or ‘detached’ as the Commanding Officer of many ‘special assignments’.

The first rank where the officer is given responsibility for the men in his command is Lieutenant (or First Lieutenant). A smart Lieutenant will rely on the experience of his Enlisted Executive Officer — a Sergeant Major or Senior Sergeant. The Senior Sergeant will show the Lieutenant him how to get the job done.

Second Lieutenant is an honorary grade for an Officer in Training. You’ve heard of low man on the totem pole. Second Lieutenant is the dirt into which the totem pole is placed.

Going Medieval

For more medieval or fantasy settings, you’ll see ranks like Knight-General for the Commander-in-Chief of an Order of Knighthood. The senior field Commander of an Orders’ forces is the Knight-Commander. Knight-Captain is the highest rank an independent Knight can attain without declaring oath to a liege.

The Holy Quest is a key accomplishment for any knight and a fantastic event to center your story around. Prior to taking the Quest, your character is a Knight. After they have completed their quest, they become a Knight-Lieutenant.

In the next part of this series, we’ll look at the real boots on the ground: Enlisted men and woman who get the job done and the ripe opportunities for conflict that arise between the enlisted men and officers.

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Ted Atchley is a freelance writer and professional computer programmer. Whether it’s words or code, he’s always writing. Ted’s love for speculative fiction started early on with Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, and the Star Wars movies. This led to reading Marvel comics and eventually losing himself in Asimov’s Apprentice Adept and the world of Krynn (Dragonlance Chronicles). 

After blogging on his own for several years, Blizzard Watch (blizzardwatch.com) hired Ted to be a regular columnist in 2016. When the site dropped many of its columns two years later, they retained Ted as a staff writer. 

He lives in beautiful Charleston, SC with his wife and children. When not writing, you’ll find him spending time with his family, and cheering on his beloved Carolina Panthers. He’s currently revising his work-in-progress portal fantasy novel before preparing to query. 

  • Twitter: @tedatchley3
  • Twitter: @honorshammer (gaming / Blizzard Watch)