Today was a good day on the novel.\u00a0 I figured out a plot device to externalize the main character\u2019s decision making.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to have one or more conversations between him and the AI.\u00a0 Now this may sound like a faddish decision because of all the AI-associated jibber jabber we hear about lately.\u00a0 But actually, I can think of a very famous usage of AI friendship in classic science fiction.<\/p>\n
In Robert Heinlein\u2019s novel, \u201cThe Moon is a Harsh Mistress\u201d the human protagonist is friend to and conspiracy partner with a self-aware computer named Mike.\u00a0 The conversations between them are a good chunk of the story and critical to the plot at many points.\u00a0 Now I don\u2019t need anything that extensive for my plot device but I need a sounding board for my character\u2019s decision making.\u00a0 I can turn a soliloquy into a dialog and that works better for the dramatic aspect of it.\u00a0 And since the AI is \u201cfemale\u201d it provides a different emotional feeling to the talk.\u00a0 It\u2019s funny, I had added a scene where the protagonist is mediating an armed standoff between two military groups and without realizing it, I had decided that he would follow up by surrendering himself to the US government.\u00a0 But once I did that, I realized that I had not foreshadowed this move anywhere in the story and no one would have expected it.<\/p>\n
So, I decided I needed to build up some of his thought process in advance for the readers to see.\u00a0 What I\u2019m still working on is the reaction to his \u201ccapture.\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m thinking about something like a general strike with the Teamsters and other truck drivers shutting down the supply chains for everything and the country grinding to a halt.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t thought all of that out yet.\u00a0 I need to up the ante and bring the book to an end on a high note but so far it doesn\u2019t have enough drama and excitement.<\/p>\n
Maybe I\u2019ll introduce an external threat to provide a reason for unifying the splintered Americans.\u00a0 Or maybe I\u2019ll have the protagonist provide a stirring speech to the nation that will galvanize a movement to strip the federal government of its oppressive powers and reassert the freedoms in the Bill of Rights in all of their aspects.<\/p>\n
And I have to do all of this without it seeming too much like a \u201cMr. Smith Goes to Washington\u201d moment.\u00a0 And that means I\u2019ll actually have to figure out what practical changes would be made to the current state of the federal government.\u00a0 Some of the things are easy.\u00a0 I\u2019ll abolish the FBI.\u00a0 I\u2019ll cancel the Patriot Act and the FISA Courts.\u00a0 The CIA will have to be reformed so that it can\u2019t touch American citizens at all.\u00a0 I\u2019m tempted to eliminate the IRS.\u00a0 In many ways the second Trump administration seems to be stealing a lot of my thunder.\u00a0 Maybe I should strike back by eliminating the Education department and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.\u00a0 No, I\u2019ll be big about it and stay in my lane.<\/p>\n
So today was a good day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today was a good day on the novel.\u00a0 I figured out a plot device to externalize the main character\u2019s decision making.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to have<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1289,818,1263],"tags":[1290,4484],"class_list":["post-32939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-fiction-by-me","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-my-fiction","tag-the-american-archipelago-book-1-the-sniper"],"yoast_head":"\n