Inadvertent Science Fiction

[MelissaBaby]

When I set out to write my series, Mary and Alvin my concept was that I would create two characters who would fall in love, then follow the length of the relationship. My thought was to get into the everyday drama that people face in trying to build a life together. (A far cry from my previous writing.)

What I did not consider was that, carried to it's conclusion, this narrative would cover decades of their lives, and I began the series in a contemporary setting. Their story might not end until well into the second half of the century. Needless to say, "everyday life" is going to change dramatically in many ways during the course of their lives.

I'm curious to hear from other authors as to how you would proceed. Would you ignore potential changes, leaving them in an unchanging world? Hint around the edges at changes in the world while leaving their lives essentially unchanged? Go full on science fiction, have them, oh let's say, visit the grandkids in the Asteroid Belt?

Of course, they could just break up after a year, but that's unlikely.

I'd be interested in your thoughts.

 

[NotWise]

I'd be interested in your thoughts.

If it's all about their relationship, then what happens around them is secondary, right? And only those things that effect their everyday lives are important. People vary a lot in how many new things they let into their lives as they age, so their own environment may be little changed, depending on how you write them.

More generally, by mid-century our global petroleum supply will be significantly depleted. Gasoline or diesel anything will probably be a thing of the past. Public transportation and electric vehicles will rule. I have no clue what they might do for heating oil.

I think the biggest changes I've seen in my life have been in communications. I don't know if I expect a lot more changes, but it seems like wearable personal computing devices may be common, and I anticipate that there will be implants of various kinds (other than pace makers).

Pick the climate predictions of your choice.

 

[SimonDoom]

When I set out to write my series, Mary and Alvin my concept was that I would create two characters who would fall in love, then follow the length of the relationship. My thought was to get into the everyday drama that people face in trying to build a life together. (A far cry from my previous writing.)

What I did not consider was that, carried to it's conclusion, this narrative would cover decades of their lives, and I began the series in a contemporary setting. Their story might not end until well into the second half of the century. Needless to say, "everyday life" is going to change dramatically in many ways during the course of their lives.

I'm curious to hear from other authors as to how you would proceed. Would you ignore potential changes, leaving them in an unchanging world? Hint around the edges at changes in the world while leaving their lives essentially unchanged? Go full on science fiction, have them, oh let's say, visit the grandkids in the Asteroid Belt?

Of course, they could just break up after a year, but that's unlikely.

I'd be interested in your thoughts.

This is a very personal decision. Nobody can really tell you what to do. You have a vision for the story you want to tell, and noone's advice is going to be better than your own vision.

But since you asked, I'll give you my opinion.

If I were writing this story I would attempt to identify the one most important source of conflict/drama in the story. I would play out the story until that conflict/drama ended, and then I would end it. I would not attempt to tell the story going on and on into the indefinite future, where, as you note, you will have to speculate about things and tread on sci fi grounds. I would end the story then, even though readers would know that they had a lot of life to live and their own story was not complete.

I think this is the most poignant and satisfactory way to tell a love story between two people.

But that's just me. If you want to do otherwise, no one can tell you that you should not.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Following your story cycle as I am, I would not try to anticipate the future, except maybe punt on a five year look see, at most.

Mary and Alvin is about people and place, and in that sense is already drenched with nostalgia.

I'm reading it as if they are aged 'today', and the story arc is set in the past. Even if there are precise "era clues" - and there are, because you've got young Mary in 2018 - you've also got young Alvin twenty years back, with a different set of temporal tip-offs.

But for your story, "set time" doesn't seem to me to be important, because it's a timeless tale, it's not speculative fiction. I think, if you're going to write 'future time,' you need to do that from the get-go, because your story would then have a quite different theme. Think of Stephen King's 1963 thing - it's obvious from its opening premise that it's going to be a a parallel history speculation - Mary and Alvin equally obviously, isn't that.

It's a very good question though - I place my "personal" stories any time in the last four decades, so I occasionally ponder the "when is this set?" question. Never a concise answer.

 

[MelissaBaby]

If it's all about their relationship, then what happens around them is secondary, right? And only those things that effect their everyday lives are important. People vary a lot in how many new things they let into their lives as they age, so their own environment may be little changed, depending on how you write them.

More generally, by mid-century our global petroleum supply will be significantly depleted. Gasoline or diesel anything will probably be a thing of the past. Public transportation and electric vehicles will rule. I have no clue what they might do for heating oil.

I think the biggest changes I've seen in my life have been in communications. I don't know if I expect a lot more changes, but it seems like wearable personal computing devices may be common, and I anticipate that there will be implants of various kinds (other than pace makers).

Pick the climate predictions of your choice.

Thanks for your thoughts. The setting is a small town, where things change less than they might in a more urban setting. The focus definitely needs to remain on the relationship, but I think some acknowledgment of the changing world is inevitable, and you've identified some obvious areas.

I can easily see Alvin putting solar panels on the roof or Mary moving to a more high tech job. I am somewhat concerned that they live right on the coast!

 

[MelissaBaby]

This is a very personal decision. Nobody can really tell you what to do. You have a vision for the story you want to tell, and noone's advice is going to be better than your own vision.

But since you asked, I'll give you my opinion.

If I were writing this story I would attempt to identify the one most important source of conflict/drama in the story. I would play out the story until that conflict/drama ended, and then I would end it. I would not attempt to tell the story going on and on into the indefinite future, where, as you note, you will have to speculate about things and tread on sci fi grounds. I would end the story then, even though readers would know that they had a lot of life to live and their own story was not complete.

I think this is the most poignant and satisfactory way to tell a love story between two people.

But that's just me. If you want to do otherwise, no one can tell you that you should not.

I have a very good vision of the general course of the relationship, and how it plays out. I suppose I am thinking more in terms of "color", if you will, not anything that would have an impact on the crux of the story. I'm curious as to how others might try to convey change, without losing the focus on the relationship.

 

[NotWise]

I have a very good vision of the general course of the relationship, and how it plays out. I suppose I am thinking more in terms of "color", if you will, not anything that would have an impact on the crux of the story. I'm curious as to how others might try to convey change, without losing the focus on the relationship.

Medicine is another field where things will change. Like it or not, there's a lot of research aimed at extending human life expectancy. So far a lot of those improvements have extended life after health has declined, after mental facilities are fading, and maybe after the will to go on isn't very strong.

If we make it possible for people to live 150 years (as a doctor friend of mine believes we will) then I think there will be more questions asked about why and more people answering it in their own ways.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Following your story cycle as I am, I would not try to anticipate the future, except maybe punt on a five year look see, at most.

Mary and Alvin is about people and place, and in that sense is already drenched with nostalgia.

I'm reading it as if they are aged 'today', and the story arc is set in the past. Even if there are precise "era clues" - and there are, because you've got young Mary in 2018 - you've also got young Alvin twenty years back, with a different set of temporal tip-offs.

But for your story, "set time" doesn't seem to me to be important, because it's a timeless tale, it's not speculative fiction. I think, if you're going to write 'future time,' you need to do that from the get-go, because your story would then have a quite different theme. Think of Stephen King's 1963 thing - it's obvious from its opening premise that it's going to be a a parallel history speculation - Mary and Alvin equally obviously, isn't that.

It's a very good question though - I place my "personal" stories any time in the last four decades, so I occasionally ponder the "when is this set?" question. Never a concise answer.

One of the nice things about writing, as opposed to making a movie or some other visual art, is that you don't have to show a complete tableau. The reader can imagine future fashions or architecture, the writer doesn't need to go to great lengths to describe them. I will, of course, keep the focus on the relationship between Mary and Alvin, but as I have discussed before, it's also meant to be a love story about a place, and that place will change. Maybe that creates an opportunity to emphasize that which doesn't change. Decades from now, folks will still root for the Red Sox and while the bay may be deeper, or warmer, the wind will still fill sails.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Medicine is another field where things will change. Like it or not, there's a lot of research aimed at extending human life expectancy. So far a lot of those improvements have extended life after health has declined, after mental facilities are fading, and maybe after the will to go on isn't very strong.

If we make it possible for people to live 150 years (as a doctor friend of mine believes we will) then I think there will be more questions asked about why and more people answering it in their own ways.

That is a point which will matter in the story if I carry it forward far enough. Of course, you can write about elderly characters without specifying actual age, so that's a work around.

(And yes, I am aware that at some point I may find out what level of interest there is in reading a romantic story about old folks.)

 

[Kantarii]

The stories I write that are rooted in the real world subject my characters to all kinds of drama in life, toils and twist in relationships and, yes, age and suffer from the choices they make. I like to humanize my characters and make them as relatable to the reader as much as possible. Does it work? Doubt it, but that’s what I prefer to do with the characters I create.
Kant

 

[MelissaBaby]

The stories I write that are rooted in the real world subject my characters to all kinds of drama in life, toils and twist in relationships and, yes, age and suffer from the choices they make. I like to humanize my characters and make them as relatable to the reader as much as possible. Does it work? Doubt it, but that’s what I prefer to do with the characters I create.
Kant

That is certainly my intention as well. I want my characters to be as "real" as possible. The problem is, as they grow and age, the world will be changing around them, and how to present that.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

The core of Mary and Alvin's story is the relationship between the characters. While it might be realistic to advance the setting as time passes for the characters, I don't think it's necessary. They will still drive places together, no matter what fuels their car. They will still call each other, no matter what form their phones take (at least Alvin better remember to call).

Frankly, I don't think the story would suffer if you were to ignore the passage of time completely. It's an ambitious project you've undertaken to follow their lives for so long. I say let the characters age and grow, but set every story as if it was "today". The people who are reading it (and giving you scores I'm jealous of) aren't reading for your insight as a futurist; they're reading for your insight into the struggles of relationships.

As for changes in Londonderry, a restaurant closes, a new one opens. One year the tourist trade is good, the next it is slow. These sorts of things are cylical regardless of technology and climate change. Small towns will always have ups and downs and struggle to keep up, but they find ways to adapt. You are at your very best when you write about the places you know. If Londonderry exists as a town out of time, encased in amber, unchanging, I don't think it would hurt a thing.

You once suggested that you might try putting Mary and Alvin in a stand-alone story outside of the larger narrative so you could play in other categories. If you feel the need to stretch as a writer and try your hand at furturism, perhaps you could write a sci-fi stand-alone and see how it is received.

 

[MelissaBaby]

The core of Mary and Alvin's story is the relationship between the characters. While it might be realistic to advance the setting as time passes for the characters, I don't think it's necessary. They will still drive places together, no matter what fuels their car. They will still call each other, no matter what form their phones take (at least Alvin better remember to call).

Frankly, I don't think the story would suffer if you were to ignore the passage of time completely. It's an ambitious project you've undertaken to follow their lives for so long. I say let the characters age and grow, but set every story as if it was "today". The people who are reading it (and giving you scores I'm jealous of) aren't reading for your insight as a futurist; they're reading for your insight into the struggles of relationships.

As for changes in Londonderry, a restaurant closes, a new one opens. One year the tourist trade is good, the next it is slow. These sorts of things are cylical regardless of technology and climate change. Small towns will always have ups and downs and struggle to keep up, but they find ways to adapt. You are at your very best when you write about the places you know. If Londonderry exists as a town out of time, encased in amber, unchanging, I don't think it would hurt a thing.

You once suggested that you might try putting Mary and Alvin in a stand-alone story outside of the larger narrative so you could play in other categories. If you feel the need to stretch as a writer and try your hand at furturism, perhaps you could write a sci-fi stand-alone and see how it is received.

Thank you, you are always helpful.

I believe you are right, that Alvin and Mary's Londonderry is, perhaps, a Mayberry or a Star's Hollow, a place that exists on it's own plane, barely touched by the world around it. I think I can allude to changes in the world without having to postulate any specific new technology or describe any political or historical events.

Alvin's world has already changed. His little coastal town is now home to a banking center that brings in people from around the country to work there (one in particular, of course.) His daughter is gay. Her partner is Latina. But whatever else changes, people will still fall in love, their lives will contain joys and sorrows. And there is plenty of time to consider this issue. I hope to chronicle their lives together, and after six chapters, I'm barely a month into it!

 

[NotWise]

I hope to chronicle their lives together, and after six chapters, I'm barely a month into it!

It sounds like you might challenge War and Peace (for size, anyway).

 

[R. Richard]

the best science fiction involvers one big lie. You invent a world(s) with certai8n things (usually technological or paranormal.) Once you have set the stage, things have to work within that framework.

 

[MelissaBaby]

It sounds like you might challenge War and Peace (for size, anyway).

Someone asked me if I was going to write about every time they dated or had sex. No, of course not, as time goes on I don't intend to follow them day to day. It's an interesting idea, but I would have to quit my job, school and my boyfriend to write it and god know who'd want to read it.

 

[MelissaBaby]

the best science fiction involvers one big lie. You invent a world(s) with certai8n things (usually technological or paranormal.) Once you have set the stage, things have to work within that framework.

I am not really interested in writing science fiction, although I do read it. But it occurred to me that if you are writing a long narrative that continues into the future, you have to consider elements of how society, technology, etc. will change as time goes by if you intend to keep it realistic.

 

[jomar]

My vote is to let tech and such progress dip in around the edges. Could be fun to make stuff up as another way to show the passage of time. Might be a little late if your six chapters in but an ongoing “struggle” to master/cope with new tech could even be a metaphor for...well, you get the picture...

 

[rutger5]

I am not really interested in writing science fiction, although I do read it. But it occurred to me that if you are writing a long narrative that continues into the future, you have to consider elements of how society, technology, etc. will change as time goes by if you intend to keep it realistic.

Only problem with that is what are the odds you will accurately predict what things will be like 30 years in the future. I remember some friends in their teen years complaining that life wasn't like it was predicted in the Jetsons.

Of course if people are reading your story in 2050 and laughing that you got it wrong that would mean they were actually reading it though.

 

[Kojak01]

Only problem with that is what are the odds you will accurately predict what things will be like 30 years in the future.

What does fiction have to do with 'accuratly predicting' something?

I've been thinking about a science fiction story and the funniest would be to be able to make up how things would be...

"The art of prophecy is very difficult, especially with respect to the future"

 

[Alice_Rosaleen]

"The art of prophecy is very difficult, especially with respect to the future"

Nothing dates faster than our vision of the future...

 

[MelissaBaby]

My vote is to let tech and such progress dip in around the edges. Could be fun to make stuff up as another way to show the passage of time. Might be a little late if your six chapters in but an ongoing “struggle” to master/cope with new tech could even be a metaphor for...well, you get the picture...

Well, I'm six chapters in but only a month has gone by in the narrative. The issue will come up when I'm ten, twenty, thirty years down the road.

I agree with you that the best approach is just a hint of change here and there. Chapter One begins with Mary riding her bicycle. Maybe when she's older she will still ride it, but when she gets tired, she will tell to take her home and it will. Maybe they will make love on Alvin's sailboat while the AI takes the controls.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Only problem with that is what are the odds you will accurately predict what things will be like 30 years in the future. I remember some friends in their teen years complaining that life wasn't like it was predicted in the Jetsons.

Of course if people are reading your story in 2050 and laughing that you got it wrong that would mean they were actually reading it though.

Exactly. But more pertinently, I want the reader to focus on the relationship, not what new gadgets the characters are using or things like that.