Literary Speculation

    Metaphors can be more elusive than they may seem, and there have been countless times in which a story just flies right over my head. Kurt Vonnegut has done this many times, but again, I attribute this to my life experience, or lack thereof. As we grow intellectually we start to see things that we never even remotely thought possible or never had any interest in because we couldn't grasp them, but once we become aware we see that they really aren't that difficult to understand at all.

   In Vonnegut's "A Man Without a Country" most of the stories are his personal experiences throughout his life dealing with things as they seemed to him. He was very humble about trying to recall information of his past. To a lesser extent I can see this, but if I reread the book twenty years from now, I bet it'll be clearer.

    Sometimes these stories convey ideas about the future of society that, if understood, are cogent beyond belief! Ray Bradbury was particularly good at this, and his work has really made an impression on me. A great example was a short story he wrote about a late night walk where he and a friend were just walking for a breath of fresh air (as fresh as it gets) and were questioned by a passing police officer as to why they weren't back home. It's as though their very presence anywhere outside the confines of societal expectations is subject to suspicion. This kind of stuff is really quite terrifying. While my experiences thus far may not be quite as extreme, I often am questioned for things I do simply because they're "too far out" for many people to readily understand. This needs to stop, but will it? Really makes you think, doesn't it?

Diversity in Science Fiction

    This is the good stuff. This is what excites me about sci-fi writing, seeing how it intertwines with our own reality. The idea of our positions in reality as used for the content of our stories creates a certain sense of tact for readers and allows them to better immerse themselves in it. It would seem to me that science fiction has become aware of itself and became something more in the process.

    The idea of creating a setting that was believable is very important, especially for a story trying to convey itself realistically, so it would make sense that its roots can trace back to real-world experiences. On the other hand, it does need to break new bounds somewhere, lest it be more non-fiction. This is something I'm just in the process of learning, but I think I can appreciate its complexity and usefulness. I am looking forward to seeing how my work will evolve over time as I garner life experience and a better understanding of worldly affairs.

    One of the best things I did, probably accidentally, was that the time line dates back to the very beginnings of my writing abilities, and while it is a chronology of events narratively, it is also a chronology of my improvement. When I realised this, I began to see similar instances more and more often. It's amasing how often we inject ourselves into our work unintentionally, but somehow it all makes sense when you draw connections.

Cyberpunk

    As long back as I recall, there was the Matrix, everyone has seen this movie. The idea of interfacing with a cyber-generated world in which any of our wildest dreams were made manifest through simple thought seems preferable to any hum-drum reality we live today. I am familiar with Johnny Mnemonic in its basest form, I remember fun films like The Fifth Element which had cyberpunk motifs.

    For me, cyberpunk represents the idealist views of a consumer nation, where things are represented in the most widely available medium imaginable, an international network of some sort. Recently I saw the remake of Total Recall, in which anyone can walk into a kiosk and essentially download a series of memories into their minds which are tailor-made to seem like their best vacation experience. I think fantasy reality is more appropriate, but doesn't sound as good I guess.

    While the Total Recall remake was tolerable, my favourite use of the genre has to be Deus Ex,  where bionics have become a commercially available product and your character is a security guard whom has wound up in some corporate conspiracy to illegally augment humans for profitable gain. There is more to it, much more. I suggest a look into it. I've long been interested in bionic enhancement, combining the human form with machinery to achieve greater feats beyond the fundamental limits of human capability and endurance, it's such a great topic for expansion in any fictional or realistic setting!

Tales from the Multi-verse

    Let me begin by saying this is probably the most difficult aspect of storytelling I've ever attempted to understand. As a reader of Kurt Vonnegut and Ray Bradbury, the issues of social speculation and conventional application of human study are far more complex than many readers would be able to grasp. I accept this challenge...

    Science Fiction appears to be the most influential aspect of my life and everything I do or think about. Such as it is, I try to use my influences to the best of my ability to explore not just that things work, but why they work and how. There is clearly a profound effect on the genre of science fiction revolving around these principles, I believe this was the case in the 60s, when people wanted to understand the applicable nature of reality to the stuff they read. Writers like Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke are known as the "big three" in the genre because they redefined it, and made it something real to think about.

    Science fiction is now designed to make viewers think and accelerate their imagination by convincing them to see things that are not only possible, but even likely. Everything else, such as a war with extraterrestrial bugs, machine men, plasma rifles, etc. is just seasoning. The scientific and sociological aspects are the meat. These things are (to me) what makes great science fiction storytelling, although the look on Luke Skywalker's face when he discovered Leia was his sister was still pretty funny.

Space Operas

    Like Magic Realism and such, I wasn't familiar with the subgenre of space opera, but now that I am, I can see that I have been exposed to it longer than I can remember. It makes plenty of sense to me that I've seen it as much as I have, since long ago, I was a attracted to things that show the operatic, such as Gundam, Star Wars, Star Trek, Battletech and the strangely satisfying Titan A.E. which are all fine examples.

    I can appreciate its scope and the sense of adventure it portrays, bringing desirable motives and character to a narrative where such things may not realistically work out. It has had a profound influence on my life over time, and has enabled me to work more character and excitement into what would probably be a stagnant setting. The romantic qualities help characters seem more relatable and three-dimensional as they deal with all sorts of problems large and small. Further made possible by talented actors and screenwriters.

    The film "Forbidden Planet" was great insight to the world of the space opera in that it shows all the tropes clearly enough to see it in many other works. At least the reason it seemed to work for me was that it was an older film that I watched with the appropriate mindset. Some would say it was Star Wars or Star Trek, but those films I haven't seen in long enough a time to really appreciate the opera aspect. With new knowledge I do look forward to watching such films and series with great enthusiasm!

Fantasy and Fantasy Gaming

    Ah, video games, where do I begin? I can't say many of them were fantasy games, but I got my fill regardless. My brother who played Everquest, and countless friends who have subsumed themselves with the omnipresent World of Warcraft. I couldn't get into the actual game simply because I never had the patience or the tolerance of being called "n00b" every five seconds. I still have a deep appreciation for the fantasy genre and its quirks, but being the science fiction type, have mainly preferred technology over magic.

    Fantasy works have constantly appeared over my life and have taught me much about establishing character in ways I've never thought possible. Something about fantasy that never ceases to amaze me it the very tactile quality that it has as far as characterisation goes. Again traveling back to Warhammer, there is this medieval aesthetic in which technology is highly advanced, but is fading away due to the haptic mistakes of historians and the deteriorating technology that remains from a long-forgotten age.

    It's really neat how mysterious everything is and even a rifle or suit of armour has its own origin story and unique history. These sorts of things inspire me greatly to write more and more, putting character wherever I can. While I'm not entirely sure how well this translates to games like WoW or Everquest, I can at least confirm the multiplayer quests that groups of friends embark upon to uncover greater spoils or bragging rights among the international community, which essentially fulfills the same purpose, and as for storytelling, it allows players to create their own legends. Great stuff!

Magic Realism and Mythic Fiction

    By nature I'm a highly critical person, sometimes too much for my own good. I often pick apart fantastic details even if they don't need to be, but I will let them pass if they earn their place in the context of the narrative and don't simply just wave their hand and expect me to accept them. Magic realism has long been a part of my own work for a very long time, and I never even realised it until just recently. I know my work is less than perfect and as time goes on I'll see more and more errors in my work, but that's alright.

    It seems to me that magic realism has a lot to do with bending the ideal conventions of storytelling and using them for narrative effect. Many franchises I've followed utilise this in some fashion, such as Warhammer 40K, Halo and even Call of Duty which has moved onto the modern-fictional bandwagon akin to most (if not all) Michael Bay films. Halo is actually the best example I can possibly think of because of how literal it is. 

    Writers have gone through painstaking lengths to define just about everything there is in the universe for the last decade of its existence, almost to near pretentiousness. Every now and then, especially with the release of Halo 4 they seem to get even worse.