Quantum Storytelling

Another package of research material arrived yesterday. This one had some really good nuggets: Dashiell Hammet Complete Novels, Raymond Chandler: Stories and Early Novels, Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, Writing for Comics by Alan Moore, and of course, Firefly.

I’m about midway through Red Harvest by Dashiell Hammet, and it’s really fantastic stuff. I would say even if you’re not writing a detective story, his pacing is something every writer should study. The story literally starts with a bang and doesn’t stop. There is no dead time, long pages of backstory, not a terrible amount of character’s musing or internal monologues. It’s all straightforward, solid, coherent, logical, exciting, rich storytelling. I can’t wait to read more.

As an aside, the Library of America publisher has done a great job with these books. Very slickly hardbound with smooth thin pages and an attached tassel bookmark.

I started watching Firefly last night. I couldn’t really understand what all the buzz was about, as it seems difficult if not impossible for Firefly fans to summarize what’s so cool about the series in a single sentence that conveys the concept accurately. After watching the pilot Serenity 1 & 2, I’m starting to grasp what’s so damn cool about it. For one, the characters are all interesting. They’re properly aligned in conflict with one another in interesting ways; Real Drama.

The pacing is also excellent. Something new, dangerous, or interesting is happening literally every second of screen time. If all his writing is like this, I’m beginning to understand why Joss Whedon has a decent sized gaggle of worshippers.

What’s with Understanding Comics and Writing for Comics? I don’t really intend to write one, although that’s an interesting idea. I think comics as a medium demand an attention to detail and structure that other mediums may not, with the exception of film of course. Take storyboarding and make it an official medium and you’ve got the world of comics. Because I’m interesting in script-writing along with novel-writing, comics are a very rich place to stick your literary nose.

Having recently finished Preacher I must say I’m on CLOUD NINE with all this great writing. I’m starting to get many, many ideas for how I want the construction of my NaNoWriMo story to play out over the course of November.

These are truly exciting times!

Things recently consumed…

Schrödinger’s Kittens by John Gribbin

I apologize in advance for any butchering here.

There are some truly bizarre theories in quantum physics. One of the more interesting ones involves an explanation of quantum entanglement. Two particles connected over space and time, but how? There is no evidence of any communication going on, and this is one of the greatest mysteries of the field.

One theory postulates a ‘handshake’ across both space and time, possibly backwards in time for each particle, which, in effect, cancels out the evidence of communication.

Instead of communicating across distance NOW, the particles are intertwined at their origin, which means any information about speed, location, values, and rotation is instantaneously transmitted back in time to the origin point, erasing any evidence of it.

This is pretty far out, and a bit difficult to wrap your head around. Keep in mind; it’s just a theory, but an interesting one.

Caves of Steel by Asimov

Earth societies live in giant steel caves. This frightened me a bit at first, because it’s similar to an idea I was exploring in my own works but the more I read I began to see marked differences between the caves of steel and my, uh, structures.

Bailey is very rational for a human, capable of great leaps of logic. This is one reason the spacers chose him to solve a murder on their turf. The dialogue and logical interplay between a human with strong understanding of logic, and the robot R. Daneel whose logic is perfect makes for an interesting dynamic.

Preacher graphic novels (1-9)

There’s a reason I’m not much of a comic fan. I’m not all that fond of superheroes with magical powers.

Garth Ennis has a lot of guts, setting Preacher within the Christian mythology. The series is extremely violent, blasphemous, heretical, and I thought that any Christian would probably be greatly offended by it. But if you read reviews online, surprisingly, there are many Christians who appreciated the series despite some of its more heretical content.

But let’s get to the meat of the matter…

The writing is just plain solid. Garth Ennis shows himself to be a very strong storyteller within the Preacher series. After reading the very first issue, my interest was piqued. By the third book, I couldn’t put it down. I was more engaged in Preacher than I’ve been in any fiction novel for a long time.

Preacher has great plotting, excellent twists and surprises. One thing I took special note of was little seeds planted in the story as to what would happen later. It wasn’t foreshadowing in the classic literal sense, but more illustrative foreshadowing. For example, you turn a page to find a completely new series of panels depicting people, things, or places you haven’t seen before. All you get is that one page to make sense of, which leaves you wondering. Of course, by the end of each book that ‘teaser’ is fully explained.

The series keeps you on your toes, and is well constructed. I dare say it’s an excellent example for any aspiring novelist as any well-written novel. The structure and pacing is simply superb.

All of these are having an interesting effect on the way I view my own work. I’d like to go through the Preacher series again and examine the story structure a little more closely. I think this one is going to have a pretty long-lasting effect on me.