Quantum Storytelling

Jonathon Grant over at Oberon pointed me to a Joss Whedon interview.

I haven’t gotten sucked into Firefly or Serenity yet, but I’m already a fan based on what he says about his writing process:

“The way I work, I’m like a vulture. I circle and circle and then I dive. I usually don’t actually write anything until I know exactly how it’s going to turn out. I don’t “let the computer take me away.” I’m an absolute Nazi about structure. I make outlines. I make charts and graphs with colors.”

YES! I am not alone. I have done quite a bit of writing on Quantum already, but I’m still circling like a vulture, as he puts it.

He goes on in response to a question about Wonder Woman:

“Not for “Wonder Woman,” because I’m still working out the plot. But I’m finding the moments that matter; I’m finding the things that make the story really resonate; the things that I just can’t wait to film. I have great big questions to answer, but I’m in that beautiful, free-form poetical place where you just get to think up moments and see if they fit in your movie. And that’s almost more fun than anything. And that work, which is a vital part of what got me interested in doing the job in the first place, is being done.”

Being a Nazi about structure. Finding the things that make the story really resonate.

“I’m in that beautiful, free-form poetical place”

I think it makes a bit more sense if you reverse that to FORM-FREE.

THAT is Story DNA.

Inspiration, research, and play are mostly the same thing when it comes to writing.

Inspiration comes when something hits you, something speaks to you, or about your life, your problems. Or it simply shares a belief you have. It can come from books, movies, games, any form of media or medium.

Research is usually the act of seeking out specific kinds of inspiration, usually inspiration that’s focused on a certain topic.

Play is taking new info or knowledge, or ideas, and plugging them in various places. Probing the system. Gaming the system. It’s just as much a part of real life as it is game-playing. It’s also a huge part of the creative process.

This ‘holy trinity’ is what makes up the creator’s perspective.

And Perspective is really what it’s all about.

I’ve been researching Quantum Physics because my character Frank Quantum ends up dealing with it a lot in the story. There’s a lot of scientific explanation for what happens in the story, or backstory if you want to call it that.

I don’t intend to give a lecture on quantum physics in the beginning of the story. Michael Crichton tried that in his novel Timeline, and it was not only butchered but a little awkward. And when your goal is to tell a good story, scientific white papers are unnecessary.

They are useful for research though.

So I’m reading lots of quantum physics books. Not because I really need to… I could write the story without them. I’m doing this research for perspective.

There’s so much good stuff in quantum physics that you could supply 10,000 sci-fi stories with meaty material. It really is pretty weird. We’re on the edge of a whole new understanding about the universe. Some of it could change our world as we know it.

While it’s already been used as the basis for time travel, and a few other sci-fi premises, there’s still a lot to be milked out of the subject, fiction-wise. There are a few sub-categories of quantum physics that haven’t been explored by writers much at all. I’m actually a little shocked. Sci-fi writers do read this stuff, right?

I remember reading somewhere that Philip K. Dick subscribed to Scientific American or one of the science magazines. I can think of one specific instance where it paid off–one of his early novels. Solar Lottery, 1955. The solar lottery the title refers to is a lottery that decides who becomes leader of the galaxy.

Anyway, the process of the lottery is formed by the basis of John von Neumann’s Game Theory. *AHEM* His work on game theory wasn’t published until the 1950s I believe. So at the time Solar Lottery was written, it was brand-spanking new. Keep in mind there wasn’t much TV, no cable, nor any internet. If you wanted to look up information you had to get off your butt and head down to the library. And there was no guarantee they’d have the information you were looking for… especially not cutting edge science or mathematics.

So it was pretty smart for Philip to have his science mag subscriptions… which is the only likely place he got Game Theory.

In today’s world, we’ve got the web, and all kinds of information saturating the broadband and air waves, satellites, etc. But that doesn’t mean a mag subscription is a bad idea. I say wherever you can get fodder for inspiration, research, do it. It’s really more about perspective.

I had a subscription to New Scientist for a year, til they started to cover some of the same stuff over and over. And til I started to notice a ‘pattern’ in the information. They were featuring more and more stories from ’scientists’ on the fringe. People with really outrageous ideas and theories on what the future was going to be like.

That sounds perfect for someone looking for sci-fi ideas. For a while, it was. I did get some good ideas from the mag. But when you realize their goal is to sell magazines rather than provide strictly science news, the conflict of interest can jump out at you and pee on your cornflakes.

So after a year, I let the subscription slide. It was worth it for that year though. I did get a few reportings on the exact topics that Quantum features. But enough about science…

Another area of my research is a certain foreign culture. Frank Quantum and his family belong to this culture, and it’s another thing that sets him apart from other action or sci-fi characters. This foreign culture, it’s history, etc. are what make up a large part of the universe, backstory, and even some of the literary metaphors and symbolism of the story.

Between quantum physics and the study of this foreign culture, the story of Frank Quantum is pretty rich. I’m not done with the research yet. I still have a few connective holes and bumps. Things that don’t really tie together or make sense. Things aren’t totally coherent.

So I have to keep reading.

Something will jump out at me. I will find what I’m looking for. That’s the beauty of researching from multiple sources. Amidst several different angles, something will click. I’ll get a new perspective.

I suspect that’s why literary theory, writing and drama teachers, journalists, and other pros harp so much about perspective. The importance of perspective transcends writing… it’s very important to artists, musicians, songwriters, anyone who creates anything.

If it is godly to be a creator, and creation a matter of perspective, then perspective is GOD.

Drafting vs. Plotting

Novelists usually work by a process of drafting. They start writing and push straight through until they have a 1st draft. Then they change the things they don’t like in the 2nd draft, and push straight through again into a 3rd, etc. Drafting is a linear process of iteration.

Plotting, also sometimes called ‘blocking’ is used by film script writers to establish the scenes in a script, and to make sure all the significant moments are there. Plotting is not necessarily a linear procss, although it can be. But where it thrives is in its non-linear flexibility. The writer doesn’t have to push straight through with a draft. The writer can work on any scene or plot point at any time.

When I’ve discussed writing with others in the past, they seem to lean towards drafting as The Way to write anything. It seems that’s the way most novelists work too. In Stephen King’s On Writing, he says more or less that drafting is the only way to go. Otherwise you putz around, lose energy, momentum, and never really get anything done. And the only way you’re ever going to get a finished form for a novel or story is if you just push on through.

I agree 100% if we’re talking about just cranking out a novel. But that’s a novel. I couldn’t disagree more if we’re talking about writing something for any other medium, including film or games.

Why?

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