Mechalarum

[magnifymicrobusiness1]

Business Name: Mechalarum City: New York State: NY Website: http://mechalarum.com I’ve told stories to entertain people ever since I can remember. I used to concoct elaborate choose-your-own-adventures to keep my siblings from going crazy during long car rides (more or less successfully). I first captured my words for posterity in a word processing program I had to access from MS DOS. I’ve always made a living off of writing in one way or another, but Mechalarum marks my first foray into turning my fiction writing into a business.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 32 - Not Very Science

I knew the first book I published had to be science fiction - or at least, science fiction-ish. General fiction was too constricting for me, and though I love reading fantasy, I knew I wouldn't let myself get away with not having some basis in "reality."

I love science shows, I've read quite a few "how things work" books, and the Internet is only a quick click away if I have questions. Then again, I'm not an aerospace engineer, biologist, computer scientist, or mechanic by any stretch of the imagination. I've done my best to explain things without having to employ a full-time fact-checking staff, and certainly taken liberties here and there.

I also have to deal with a heavy dose of wild, baseless, unrelenting hope. Sure, it seems like with our current technologies we may never reach the stars, but maybe, just maybe, some wild leap in scientific understanding will lead to a breakthrough that we never could have expected. So for those who might say "science doesn't work that way," I say - not yet :)

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 31 - Relating to Technology

Science fiction can very easily overcomplicate itself in terms of technology. It’s just so exciting to explore new technological ideas!

Technology is never, actually, complicated. The only thing that keeps us from understanding it is the language and conceptual models used to describe it.

Kiellen and Tash are interacting with an amazing complex piece of technology and doing something that no human on Earth can, at this time, do. Painting the act with recognizable words such as “pattern” and “dance” can bring us a bit closer to something that would otherwise be out of our grasp.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 30 - Playfulness

Any novel that doesn’t plumb something of the depths of human emotions isn’t worth the paper - or pixels - it’s written on. Perfectly okay to do it in a subtle way, or to explore something light like laughter or wistfulness, but without some sort of meat, there’s just nothing to sink your teeth into.

At the same time, plunging straight from heavy emotional moment to heavy emotional moment can quickly tire and bore readers. If ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING IN THE STORY IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE, there’s no break, no mental “period” at the end of a sentence of feeling.

The best stories follow a roller-coaster course from levity to darkness. Even a brief moment of humor can put the serious action before and after it in perspective - or starker relief.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 29 - Character Sketch

Not every character gets the full 50 years future-and-history treatment. Some are there just to act as foils or devices. It’s still important to leave room for them to grow, in case they end up playing a larger role at a later time. But we don’t have to really get to “know” everyone.

That being said, a few broad strokes - an argument, a haughty attitude - can go a long way.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 28 - Education

Education is one of those things that’s often overlooked in fictional tales. Often, either the story prominently features advancement of the human mind (Harry Potter!), or the characters are assumed to already know everything they’ll need to know.

In fantasy and science fiction, it’s an especially useful tool. The reader gets to learn about the author’s universe in an organic way, right along with the characters.

Of course, there can only be so many books set in boarding schools (well, there can be infinite books set in boarding schools, but I’m sure people will get tired of them eventually, right??) But just like in real life, education doesn’t have to stop when you forever leave uncomfortable desks and chairs behind. The Citadelians have incorporated lessons into the music they listen to. It’s a theory I’d love to see in practice more (supported by Johns Hopkins, no less!) I already get songs stuck in my head all the time. Wouldn’t it great if, instead of the Macarena or that other super catchy song, I had the periodic tables or physics formulas stuck in my head?

You’re welcome.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 27 - Worlds Within Worlds

I used to spend pages and pages describing my environments in grade school. A decade of technical and web writing beat the tendency to ramble out of my system, and honed my ability to get to the point. As I edited Mechalarum, I realized that I’d all but forgotten to root it firmly in time and space.

The details of my world are still somewhat roughly etched - I want the reader to paint their own mental pictures, instead of having to squeeze my visual cues into the frame. Part of it is impatience - I want to get to the meat of the story, the character flaws, the battles, the plot twists. As time goes on I imagine I’ll have more time, focus and skill to work in these details. For now, scenes like this provide lush scenery in an otherwise linear world (perhaps fittingly?)

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 26 - Hygiene

If a person wants to obsess over the minutiae of daily life, she’s more likely to play The Sims than to read a book. Still, tapping into the execution of the base human daily tasks most of us share is a great way to flesh out a story.

You’d think that scenes of bathing and grooming would be overlooked in an action/adventure/speculative fiction. In truth, these scenes can be some of the most iconic, and in fact play a central role in the greater story. I haven’t read the books yet, but the bathing scenes in Game of Thrones speak louder than their banality would suggest. An image of Alanna bathing before her grand trials in the Song of the Lioness series is burned into my brain. “Autowash” takes on a whole new meaning when combined with Leeloo’s confused shiver and Korben Dallas’s googly eyes in the Fifth Element.

My point is, you can say a lot with a little soap and water. Or lack there of, in my case.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 25 - Pop Culture

It’s impossible to avoid referencing popular culture when writing, even if you’re creating a science fiction or fantasy story that has nothing to do with our modern times.

It’s especially telling when you see or read “old” scifi. They have magical devices that let them speak with anyone at the press of a button! The computers show pictures in color! They treat all races and genders with respect! (How novel.) Everything from technology to interpersonal relationships to language (groovy, yo) changes quickly or slowly with the times.

Since you can’t beat them, I say join them whole-heartedly. “Myth-cracking” is obviously a reference to a popular, nerdy show from the early 10’s. In this case, it’s an especially important nod, as I’m using it to set the scene of the “news broadcast” that frames the rest of the story. News-broadcast-framed stories have also featured in several examples of recent pop-culture media; and so the referential cycle continues. But when the reference is gone from the popular conscious, the story will inevitably change.

Also, on a meta note, sorry for the delays in posts this weekend! Took some time to chill out from all the book launch activities :)

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 24 - Memories and Dreams

The best stories are slices of time from fully-formed worlds. Dramatized, for sure. Larger than life, of course. But time goes on, both before and after the series of events that make up the particular hero’s journey. There’s no real beginning, and no true end.

Weaving details of the past and future into a novel is an interesting challenge. If your narrator is close enough to the characters to get inside their heads, thoughts and memories are hugely useful, as long as you make sure to avoid too much telling (vs. showing). Conversations, especially with new characters unaware of past situation, are another great tool (though infodumps are a common trap). Sidetexts can be a fun way to flesh out your world’s history, as long as you don’t rely too heavily on them in the main story.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 23 - Deceit

One of the most exciting parts of building the layers of a novel is playing the characters off one another. I love it when I know something that my heroes - or villains - don’t know. It makes me feel like I’m in on a secret, and builds dramatic tension.

In just a few simple words - “over in Ruchus” - the reader has suddenly been given a huge chunk of information. The CItadel isn’t the entire Mechalarum universe. Though it has ostensibly been cut off from the rest of the world, at least some of its inhabitants are not quite so imprisoned.

Things were different, in the early drafts. The Citadel was a last bastion of humanity, instead of a base from which to launch a secret attack. Kiellen and Gage might not know much about the world at large, but Kiellen at least knows she’s headed there.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 22 - Mastery of Tools

One great way to paint a villain is to illustrate the way he or she treats those around him. A sure-fire villainy indicator is the good ol’ “less than human” approach.

Jolorn’s attitude is not subtle. He straight up calls Kiellen a “tool.” If you’re the kind of person who believes that people need to be “honed,” “shaped,” “worked,” or “used” - preferably by you - chances are you don’t always have their best interests at heart.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 21 - Point of View

Mechalarum went through many iterations before it found its final form. (Pre-order-ers get to see all 100,000+ words that got cut!)

Writing in Jolorn’s point of view wasn’t in any of the original versions. It was only after beta readers pointed out that he was too unsympathetic, too much of a caricature villain that I decided we needed to see inside his head. What we see still isn’t completely flattering, but at least we get a sense of his motivations and thought processes.

Something I struggled with was what exactly I should call Kiellen when Jolorn was thinking about her. It’s kind of a meta question, like wondering how people see you, and separating that from your own understanding of yourself. It’s a subtle difference, but in my mind it would feel far too intimate to say “Kiellen stared past his shoulder.” This is a quasi-military setting. He would hardly ever address her by her first name. It’s possible he wouldn’t even know it. Although he’s been interested enough in this case to learn it.

The issue with thinking this way is that it can confuse the reader to jump from one form of address to another. I still remember how I struggled to get Dostoyevsky’s characters straight, when they seemed to be called by new names every other page. Hopefully in my case the switch is more edifying than baffling!

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 20 - Speech Styles

Dialogue is so core to fiction, yet there are pretty solid limitations to how you can make it your own. Stray too far from the norm, and your readers end up putting the book down in frustration. Stick too closely to how “real people talk,” and you sounds like an emergency call transcription. (“So, ahhh, I was waiting at the curb. I had just walked my dog. It was a great day, really warm, uh, not warm, um, like hot, but just the right temperature.”)

Often the best path is to inject just a tiny hint of “other” into your dialogue if you’re trying to claim it for your own. When Kiellen refers to herself in the third person, it creates a clear sense that we’re not in Kansas anymore - hopefully without too much confusion!

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 19 - Contrast

Sometimes the best way to call attention to an important aspect of the universe you’re creating is to create a detail that is at odds with the rest of the world.

It doesn’t have to be something that would be out of place in the “real” world. (Yep, totally not going to take for granted the idea that the world in which I exist is categorically any more real than any other.) For example, a lime green armadillo wearing a crushed velvet vest and drinking ice water out of a highball glass would appear mighty odd sitting by the side of the freeway, but you can go a lot more subtle in most cases..

The Citadel is an invented city, a place that was built for a singular purpose in a short amount of time at huge expense. I’ve made sure to carefully exclude details that would be at odds with this - the warming of a face under the sun, or a secret meeting by moonlight. But the fact that Jolorn sits behind perhaps the only wooden piece of furniture in the whole place says a lot - both about the environment, and about the man.

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 18 - Xenophobia

Anyone who has ever been labeled as “different” by those around them knows what it’s like to be on the receiving end of Jolorn’s unrelenting hatred.

There’s not much you can do when faced with someone who’s already made up his mind about what to make of you based on factors over which you have little or no control (glasses, height, the fact you came from another planet). Even worse, prejudices are an easy way to transmit and assess information in neat little packages - our shortcut-loving brains lap that stuff up. And so, discrimination quickly spreads.

Xeno is a root with Greek origins typically used to mean “stranger” or “foreigner.” In ancient cultures, the foreign or unknown was often a cause for fear and distrust. You may not have liked everyone in your tiny mountain village, but at least you knew to what extent they were likely to screw you over. You had to work together to ensure your mutually continued existence. A newcomer had no such compunctions, and so your very survival might have depended on identifying and ostracizing the other.

Funnily enough, xeno was also used to describe guests, and in some cultures strangers were not to be feared, but to be welcomed and learned from. Jolorn’s attitude may be a common one, but it is not universally held by a long shot. 

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Mechalarum Page-a-Day: Page 17 - Artificial Environments

It’s been a rough couple of days. Much more tech support than I’d hoped to do and… a coffee spillage that may or may not have fried my laptop. The verdict is still out - I won’t know for a week how she fares. I’ve counted my lucky stars up, down and sideways that all my important documents - including all of my Mechalarum materials - were either on Dropbox or Google Drive. Still, it’s hard and stressful to come back from something like that.

But I’m still ready to go strong. I just finalized my files on Amazon for the pre-order, so everything is good to go live on October 9. I have even more fun stuff planned for the next week and a half, so stay tuned!

Today’s page delves a bit into what separates the Citadel from the rest of the Mechalarum universe. The Citadel has not existed forever; older adults such as Jolorn remember a time before their world shrank to include only the small city under the dome. The Serl’s attitude reflects what I imagine I’d feel if I was stuck in a nanofiber bubble for twenty years. To knowingly sacrifice the sight of mountains, rivers, sunlight, stars - now that takes dedication. And a powerful motivating force.

Humans weren’t meant to deal with completely artificial environments. Though we’ve stretched the limits of what we can endure, boundaries still exist. It will be interesting to see how we deal with this as we progress to the moon, Mars, and beyond. Will we evolve to love the sight of plastic and steel more than sky and earth? Or will we learn how to take the pleasures of terra firma with us?