What would you like to see in a book?

[Bakiryu]

Hello Everybody, as you may or may not know, I'm trying to write a science fiction book.

So I decided to ask, what would you like to see in a book? What ideas or themes explored and/or discussed?

Feel free to rant all you want :p

Thank you,


Jin

[Bakiryu]

what! nothing!? I thought at least one person would like to see something DIFFERENT and NEW in a book. Oh well.

[Pensive]

Hmmm in science fiction?

Eloui paper-dolls coming to life perhaps?

[Bakiryu]

That would be quite interesting, I want to write something people will actually READ (it has a lot of angst for some reason)

[Visionary3]

I have a notion you are putting us on. I'd think you would best know what you wanted to write about. But since you asked I'll play along.
I don't read much science fiction like my husband does because there is such a lack of romance in them. I loved The Ice People by Rene' Barjavel as it was a romance. The couple were uncovered in a chamber under ice, were resusciated, and brought the story of their failed utopian civilization into the future.
I think it would think it would be interesting how it would work out if aliens from flying saucers were proved to be real. And what could happen other than the story in The Day The Earth Stood Still.
How would it work out if we had compressed air cars & trucks and were not dependent on foreign oil. Would the freed up money be used for more space projects like cities in space where some people actually lived, provided they found a way to transport food, and goods up there. Then if that supply was cut off how they could survive up there.
These are just a few ideas off the top of my head.

[Bakiryu]

I'm not putting anyone on (that sounds weird anyway). I know what I'm writing about I just want to know what people WANT. I already have the first 10 chapter outlines and 60 unedited pages. But thank you for your ideas.

[quasimodo1]

To Bakiiryu: One particular and perhaps science-fiction related incident that I would like to see happen would be for all dosiers, resume's and personal information to have been deleted as of 12:01Am on any particular day. I would leave out financial information since that would be necessary for everyone to re-boot their lives. It almost happened at the IRS in the eighties. quasimodo1

[Bakiryu]

Yikes! That would cause a lot of trouble, it's a good idea thought. I wonder....

[Visionary3]

I'm not putting anyone on (that sounds weird anyway). I know what I'm writing about I just want to know what people WANT. I already have the first 10 chapter outlines and 60 unedited pages. But thank you for your ideas.

The more I think about this the more I am wondering if people know ahead of time what they want. I didn't know I'd like the Star Wars movies until I saw them because my hubby was keen to go.

Are Science Fiction movies or the Star Treck TV series any guide to what people want? Are the really famous SF writers' stories what people want more of? Or are they just hoping for something really different?

In any event I sincerely wish you luck with your book, sounds like you have a good start. Most of all I wish you luck finding a good agent so you have a chance to get it published.

[Bakiryu]

I liked Star Wars before I even saw it, since I heard what it was about and frankly, that kind of things fascinates. However I didn't know I would LOVE LOTR and I do now.

Perhaps nobody knows what they want until they encounter it. It sounds like a philosophical quandary....

[Shalot]

As long as a book is well-written in a way that draws me in and keeps me interested, I am happy. As far as subject matter goes, I can read about most anything. The only time I have ever been repulsed by a book was when I bought a book from Amazon, and went ahead and bought one of their suggested titles. The other book I ended up getting was about some girl that becomes a prostitute and it wasn't the subject matter that bothered me so much as the way it was written and the way the author chose to tell that story and the details that the author focused on. I wasn't reading a story so much as I was reading smut.

And I know I sound like a prude typing this, but I don't think that's why I didn't like that book. The book was gross.

Anyway, back to your original question, I guess just write about what you want --- make your reader interested in what you have to say. That's what I would do (or try to do) if I could write a book

[amanda_isabel]

Anyway, back to your original question, I guess just write about what you want --- make your reader interested in what you have to say. That's what I would do (or try to do) if I could write a book


true... make the readers interested in your book..

what i have always wanted to read in a book was maybe one of the characters was exactly like me, with my name too, but i had no relation to the author whatsoever.. :) kind of unlikely though.

[Bakiryu]

Yeah, I don't think I'll be naming a character Amanda_Isabel anytime soon. But keep your hope: there's always the sequel :lol:

[Haven]

With Sci-Fi, you can go almost anywhere. You can be past, present, future and just tweak the reality a little.

At the moment, the author that I truly respect in the Sci-Fi genre is William Gibson. He has matured into a truly fine writer of this type of literature. His latest book [I]Pattern Recognition is sci-fi, but not in the obvious sense. So really Bakiryu, it depends on what it is you want within this literary discipline. Gibson, in this novel 'tweaks' reality. I am awed by his skill and love his use of language. Use of language, think mentioned by Shalot among other posters, is for me the most integral part of anything that I read. I love a good book. While books like, Larry Niven's Ringworld are out there - no messing, inter-galactic and amazing in an earlier literary style.

As you are seeking ideas for writing within the sci-fi genre, I've chosen this excerpt from Gibson's "Pattern Recognition". It describes most perfectly what I believe is now our lives, as shaped in part by our interaction on the
forum[s] of our choice and the people that we meet there. :alien:

Althought this extract will give you no real insight into the story, it demonstrates the use of language that I totally admire. :)And the 'tweaking' of reality. :)

See what you think.

Pattern Recognition by William Gibson

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It is a way now, approximately, of being at home. The forum has become one of the most consistent places in her life, like a familiar café that exists somehow outside of geography and beyond time zones.


Chapter 1


THE WEBSITE OF DREADFUL NIGHT

Five hours: New York jet lag and she wakes in Camden Town to the dire and ever-circling wolves of disrupted circadian rhythm.

It is that flat and spectral non-hour, awash in limbic tides, brainstem stirring fitfully, flashing inappropriate reptilian demands for sex, food, sedation, all of the above, and none really an option now.

She knows, now absolutely…that Damien’s theory of jet lag is correct: that her mortal soul is leagues behind her, being reeled in one some ghostly umbilical down the vanished wake of the plane that brought her here…Souls can’t move that quickly, and are left behind. That must be awaited, upon arrival, like lost luggage.

She seats herself in his high-backed workstation chair and clicks the transparent mouse. Stutter of infrared on the pale wood of the long trestle table. The browser comes up. She types Fetish:Footage:Forum, which Damien, determined to avoid contamination, will never bookmark.

The front page opens, familiar as a friend's living room. A frame-grab from #48 serves as backdrop, dim and almost monochrome, no characters in view. This is one of the sequences that generate comparisons with Tarkovsky. The cult of the footage is rife with subcults, claiming every possible influence. Truffaut, Peckinpah . . . The Peckinpah people, among the least likely, are still waiting for the guns to be drawn.

She enters the forum itself now, automatically scanning titles of the posts and names of posters in the newer threads, looking for friends, enemies, news. One thing is clear, though; no new footage has surfaced. Nothing since that beach pan, and she does not subscribe to the theory that it is Cannes in winter.

She also sees that her friend Parkaboy is back in Chicago, home from an Amtrak vacation, California, but when she opens his post she sees that he's only saying hello, literally.

She clicks Respond, declares herself CayceP.

Hi Parkaboy. nt

When she returns to the forum page, her post is there.

I have cut off here Bakiryu, stemmed my enthusiasm...hope you like and hope it helps.

[Bakiryu]

I would like to read the books, there were a few words whose meaning i didn't know :)

[Haven]

just ask and if i can i will explain. thank you for your response.
Bakiryu, this author within this genre has been important to me for a long time. I think that if you would like to write in this arena, this is an excellent example of how to do it. IMO :).

Don't you just love the idea of 'jet lag' being described as "ever-circling wolves of disrupted circadian rhythm". And the idea of the soul being left behind, unable to keep up with the speed of jet travel? I often feel like I leave my soul behind... :)

[Bakiryu]

It does create a sense of imagery, but i don't think half of the USA population KNOWS what 'circadian' means!

[Mortis Anarchy]

I think a lot of people in Science and English know what that means...so that is quite a bit of the population. If you go through highschool, you've heard the word Circadian and understand the meaning. Plus, its just one word.

I've never heard of William Gibson. Then again I don't read a lot of sci-fi.

[Haven]

Gibson is American, so circadian, limbic [and all the other parts of the brain] and all his language usage, are definitley in the social cycle...:) . Thanks for the back-up Mortis. :)

Language and its use, is of primary importance in writing the utlimate literary work, like you don't know... doh. Bon chance, Bakiryu. I'll be there for the book signing. ;) If you get the chance, read this book it is very Animee in it's presentation. That is why I mentioned it. Thought it was your genre. If you liked the excerpt, you'll love the book.

[NikolaiI]

Well, I think paragraph and sentence arrangement is the most important thing. Which is why I have never written a good short story or novel, but I will someday. I like authors like Chekhov for their style, but my old favourites are Stephen R. Donaldson and others. Have you heard of him? He's got a couple of series', The Gap Cycle and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.

I guess I like deep characters and gripping and powerful plot lines. I wonder what your science fiction premise is? Those two series, one is a futuristic romp through outer space, in a unique style, and the other is a fantasy world with the main character a leper with magical powers..

I don't know if that was any help, but good luck! :)

[Bakiryu]

Gibson is American, so circadian, limbic [and all the other parts of the brain] and all his language usage, are definitley in the social cycle...:) . Thanks for the back-up Mortis. :)

Language and its use, is of primary importance in writing the utlimate literary work, like you don't know... doh. Bon chance, Bakiryu. I'll be there for the book signing. ;) If you get the chance, read this book it is very Animee in it's presentation. That is why I mentioned it. Thought it was your genre. If you liked the excerpt, you'll love the book.

I'll see if I can find it. :p I feel like an idiot for not understanding the meaning of those words, but then I've only learned English a bit recently. Most of the people I know (Americans) wouldn't know it. That's why it puzzled me.

[aeroport]

Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say, to paraphrase Martin Amis, what we really need is more sex! Okay, kidding.
Well, for me, any science fiction at all seems pretty appealing as long as it does not take too many liberties. There is more - infinitely more! - to the genre than space ships and laser beams, so really anything genuinely "speculative", supported by a relatively firm understanding of science - and of course enjoyable to read - can be decent.
That said, I will suggest, as an example of what you were probably aiming for with your question, something that has always interested me, though not a particularly optimistic idea: here on good old earth, we can more or less rest easy about the threat of asteroids and such owing to our good neighbor Jupiter - what Dr. Dawkins calls the "massive gravitational vacuum cleaner" of the galaxy - which clearly has been around since well before humans, as without such protection we would be hard put to make it too far. It would be interesting, then, to explore the consciousness of a race or civilization which has evolved without such a comfort (a race whose existence is even less probable than our own), which, having advanced enough to be aware of its vulnerability to the random physical threats the cosmos may pose, is utterly at a loss as to how to resolve this - and perhaps, perceiving a threat of just this sort, finds itself confronting the frailty of its collective existence, the impossibility of its survival, forced to accept the reality of immenint death.
You asked for it. :D

[Bakiryu]

:) I did. Man I have ideas here for, like, ten books :lol: