In September of 2007, I started this blog
with a bit of writing advice. A little over a year later, I discovered how
little I knew about writing after hearing children’s writer, Lin Oliver speak
at a convention hosted by the Minnesota Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators. Since then, I have shared (with their permission) and applied the
writing wisdom of Lin Oliver, Jack McDevitt, Nathan Bransford, Mike Duran,
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, SL Veihl, Bruce Bethke, and Julie Czerneda. Together
they write in genres broad and deep, and have acted as agents, editors,
publishers, columnists, and teachers. Since then, I figured I’ve got enough
publications now that I can share some of the things I did “right” and I’m busy
sharing that with you.
While I don’t write full-time, nor do I make
enough money with my writing to live off of it...neither do all of the
professional writers above...someone pays for and publishes ten percent of what
I write. When I started this blog, that was NOT true, so I may have reached a
point where my own advice is reasonably good. We shall see! Hemingway’s quote
above will now remain unchanged as I work to increase my writing output and
sales! As always, your comments are welcome!
This was the very first
real science fiction story I was every actually paid for. The milestone was
incredible as it was the absolute peak of my writing career at that time. The
family was living on a farm in western Wisconsin while the paperwork for our
first home was wending its way through the banks; I’d gotten a surprise job working
with the Science Museum of Minnesota’s NEW EXPLORER’S project, “Dive Into
Darkness” – but I’d never had a story published in a major magazine before this
one.
Science fiction in a
religious magazine had always seemed to be to have to include some sort of “Jesus”
scene – but I hadn’t written that into the story. Briefly, a young woman was
training for a paramedic-type corps on a colony world that had been forcibly
settled by Muslim and evangelical Christians by Earth’s government, in an
effort to eliminate anyone who disagreed with the United Faith in Humanity [the
YA novel I’m writing here takes place in the same universe at a different time.
You can read MARTIAN HOLIDAY by going here: http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2009/02/possibly-irritating-essay-paulo-on-mars.html
I started this novel eight years ago and it’s part of my round-robin posting.
Also, there are missing chapters. Not sure why, but there are. From chapter 26
forward though, there aren’t any breaks. Remember it’s a FIRST draft!]
At any rate, Keen
Hernandez is ostracized because the paramedic corps is largely male and Muslim.
The story is predictable – she’s gifted, her commander/teacher hates her guts
but secretly believes she’s gifted. He’s injured during a training mission that
becomes a real emergency. She saves his life despite his orders to leave him
alone. He demands to see her after the emergency and she expects to get canned.
Instead, he admires her, passes her, and asks to hear about Jesus from her.
It was so
predictable it was formulaic.
But that’s what
worked here. The publication was a Christian teen take-home magazine designed
to reach kids and give them tools to witness to their faith. Science fiction,
while a powerful tool, was highly unusual in the realm of Christian fiction. It
still is. Especially when it was grounded in reality and written by someone who
has secular SF credentials.
Another reason it
sold was because the world it took place in was one I’d been playing around in
for a few years. I can describe it to you clearly and since the publication of “Test”,
I’ve written two other stories set on this planet (which was named after a
friend of mine who has since passed away). One of them, “Teaching Women to Fly”
was published in the first issue of STUPEFYING STORIES, two others, “Krasiman,
Monkeyboy, and the Frog Father” and “THE GRASSRIVER GAOZHONG BRICK AND MORTAR
& VIRTUAL HIGH SCHOOL HONORARY MARSHARK
FROM OUTER SPACE” remain unpublished but both helped me develop Enstad’s Planet
more fully. I knew this world; knew its history, its people, and how it was set
up. There’s industry, and despite what the government of Earth wanted to
happen, the Muslim colonists, the Christians, and a smattering of Hindu
created viable and vibrant society.
There are more
stories here. Lots more. Maybe Keen Hernandez will come back!
In summary, the things
that went right with “Test” were its uniqueness, an editor who prized it for
its uniqueness, and the well-developed world it took place in.
I like Enstad’s
Planet and I want to see other things happen there. In the four universes I’ve
drawn up, I once realized that there are trillions of stories in those worlds.
There are WAR AND PEACE stories, VORKOSIGAN SAGA stories, DUNE stories, THE
FAULT IS IN OUR STARS stories, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE stories…in all of these
universes. I am not good enough yet to tease out the really grand stories.
But I AM good enough
to tease out the small ones. This was the first. It hasn’t been the last, and
perhaps someday they will all come together into a Future History that will
bear my name!
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