So, now I have to start writing my next book.\u00a0 And as I decided after finishing the last one, this time I must outline the story ahead of time.\u00a0 Sure, it\u2019s less fun than just starting to type and see where it ends up.\u00a0 But it\u2019s also so much less dangerous.\u00a0 I remember in the last third of \u201cThe Sniper\u201d I painted myself into a corner and I had to delete five thousand words and start off in another direction.\u00a0 And I got seriously confused and had to do a bunch of outlining anyway, so I might as well do some big picture plot planning at the beginning and leave the fine tuning to my unconscious while it\u2019s flowing through my fingertips.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s funny.\u00a0 It\u2019s not plot events that have been running through my head lately.\u00a0 It\u2019s characters.\u00a0 I feel like I want more people and different people showing up in the story this time around.\u00a0 I want some humorous characters showing up.\u00a0 I might even want a joke or two being told.\u00a0 And I think I want an academic type and maybe even an actor.\u00a0 I was listening to some Shakespeare recently.\u00a0 It was John Gielgud reciting \u201cTomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow\u201d from Macbeth. \u00a0And it struck me that a little poetry and a little philosophy might be a lot of fun to write into even a story like mine.\u00a0 Now, mind you, I said a little poetry.\u00a0 And it doesn\u2019t have to look like poetry.\u00a0 It just has to signify to me that maybe the character on the page has an immortal soul after all.<\/p>\n
And as for philosophy, well, it can be practical philosophy.\u00a0 It can be political philosophy.\u00a0 And what could be more timely than political philosophy in this time of collapsing republics and demagogues.\u00a0 Who knows, maybe Connors and Cutter may discuss the application of artificial intelligence to the problem of optimizing life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in North America after the end of Boghadair\u2019s War.\u00a0 Perhaps a completely impartial intelligence could be conjured up to play Solomon to modern day Americans who no longer seem able to live and let live.\u00a0 Maybe it can cut the baby in half in some modern sense and return us to a functioning society again.\u00a0 And when I mention Solomon, I think it\u2019s partially because I think there\u2019s a religious (or at least spiritual) dimension to our problems and for which a spiritual solution is necessary.\u00a0 And Christian revivals are a recurring theme in American history.\u00a0 And I\u2019m sure I\u2019m not the only one thinking we all need a spiritual boost just about now.<\/p>\n
So, yeah, I haven\u2019t got a working plot outline yet but I think it\u2019s time to start.\u00a0 As I\u2019ve said, I think Bogey will not be dragged into the main action any time soon but personally he\u2019s tied intimately to several important characters and I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll interact with them.\u00a0 Plus, I have to find out what happened with him and Becky.\u00a0 That sounded interesting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So, now I have to start writing my next book.\u00a0 And as I decided after finishing the last one, this time I must outline the<\/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":[1289,1263],"tags":[265,5205],"class_list":["post-36976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction-by-me","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-science-fiction","tag-the-sniper"],"yoast_head":"\n