Creating Fictional Technologies
Feasible, plausible, useful - but not necessarily comprehensible. (1/3)
[This is Part 1 of 3. Jump to Part 2 or Part 3.]
My prose output is currently centred around speculative fiction, embracing sub-genres set in the near future. The first novel is resolutely earthbound, embracing whatever optimism remains. The second will venture upstairs, where falsehoods abound.
Most of my characters can’t exist in joyful places, surrounded by smiling faces. Instead, survival is uppermost in their minds, and some will do whatever it takes to successfully reach the end of their arcs, no matter the degree of suffering inflicted on both themselves and any co-opted others - myself included.
I like to keep my shit real when mixing STEM into human-centric speculation
(as if we can comprehend any other kind).
Technology, to a greater or lesser extent, typically plays a role within any conjured-up world. I’ve tried not to disappoint or subvert such expectations with my current creations. Extrapolation of the narrated present into what might or could be is key to such stories, no matter what devices might be placed within them. Some writers relish the opportunity to act like capricious gods, crowding out characters with cleverness, but I like to keep my shit real when mixing STEM into human-centric speculation (as if we can comprehend any other kind).
So, if I’m going to invent something, it has to be feasible, plausible and useful, but – and this is important – not necessarily comprehensible. You probably can’t explain how a microprocessor works, but you’re harnessing several of them to read this1.
Like a baby given a new toy, an audience can be teased, delighted – even educated – when grasping hold of something different and interesting. Readers should be rewarded without incurring fatigue, excessive hesitation or – horror of horrors – being completely stumped by what they’ve read. Their suspension of disbelief should be voluntary and seamless, requiring only a modicum of mental effort. That’s my aim, at least, although you can’t please (or fool) everyone all of the time.
Novel #1 draft excerpt — ‘The Long Train’
“Westward, a distant glint catches my eye. A thin, silver line undulating in the angle between a strung-out escarpment and the almost featureless desert plain. As I scan the object with my binoculars, it continues south, hugging the bottom of the far range, on a convergent course with my own plodding steps towards the nearest settlement. The snake-like thread thickens into a winding train composed of countless goods wagons, but it’s strangely headless. Instead of a locomotive engine, interspersed throughout its serpentine length are tractor units with curious humps, like mechanical camels. I recognise it now. It’s the infamous Long Train – my only apparent means of escape from this barren region.”
Off the top of my head (a telling creative expression in itself), here’s a mixture of historical and contemporary tech to consider:
DNA Sensors
These support the premise in last week’s short story:
Engineered Embryos
Such a possibility underpins my ‘The Geneleon’ short story:
What were your immediate thoughts after reading this list?
Quick,
now!
“There are no new ideas under the Sun” is an oft-cited phrase amongst fiction writers. Ignoring the class joker asking, ‘yes, but which sun?’, it’s very likely someone, somewhere, at some point has previously dreamt up of your great-fantastic-unique-amazing-innovative idea. But they might not have implemented it, practically or otherwise. And this idea, whether freshly minted or faded with time, has never been written about before in the unique way you can (unless you’re a plagiaristic fool). Story isn’t about the keenness of the premise, the uniqueness of the idea, or the sophistication of the technology. It’s about the perceived reality of the images and emotions you induce in your readers.
Never forget that a person writing something which is then read by someone else is a form of telepathy. The greater the fidelity of the hallucination induced by a writer in the reader’s mind; the deeper the hole the reader falls into; then the more intimate the forged connection between the two parties. Our brains are excellent hallucination-generating prediction machines, and the best creators of all flavours harness this capability for intense, dramatic effect.
Large lightbulbs aren’t illuminated and bath-time ‘Eurekas’ shouted just because you stamp your foot. In fact, these events are less likely to happen in a forced or constrained environment. Serendipity, a meeting of like-minded souls, our mysterious subconscious and, oddly, a lack of staid stimuli2 are far greater influences on creativity. My ideas come to me on waking early; in the shower; exercising with eyes shut astride torture gym equipment; driving a familiar route. A cross-dimensional, slip-wise braindrift has to occur for our weird and wonderful minds to make 1 plus 2 plus 3 equal to 100 without coercion or solicitation. I’ve no idea how our astonishing, squidgy skull-lumps manage it3, but thank goodness they do. Without such an innate capacity to surprise both ourselves and others, life would be exceedingly dull.
Light bulbs aren’t illuminated and ‘Eurekas’ shouted because you’ve stamped your foot.
I’ve listed below the creative process I probably go through. I say that because long-standing habit of action and thought means I’m not always aware of what’s happening, most of the activity being subsumed into my subconscious. Sorry, but it’s like asking a painter how they mix accurate colours, or a cyclist how to balance on a bike.
You might also notice the omission of a discrete ‘Ideation’ step in this process, which could be construed as a grievous oversight. After all, isn’t the concerted act of generating new ideas the essential crux here? I’d argue the contrary: I don’t think truly innovative elements in novels derive from an author deciding, “today I will spend several hours dreaming up cool new ideas for my book.” Such wasteful activity only happens when someone is paid to stand with you and others in a room, unhelpfully dishing out copious marker-pens and Post-It™ notes whilst reciting from a screen. (Although… ker-ching!)
So perhaps the steps I’ve laid out relate more to supporting the innovation process, both before and after the mysterious, masked activity of human ideation. To attempt to dive deeper would mean recitation of worn philosophies; teasing apart the latest theories of mind; dissecting neuronal electrochemical interactions; invoking multicellular plasticity and connectivity. Which is all very tedious – unless you’re one of my favourite self-penned characters, who are very special with respect to these multi-faceted constructs.
One possible process breakdown for ‘How to Make Up New Stuff’:
Scan
Passive horizon watching via newsletters, news sites, specialist subscriptions, traditional magazines. Always keep your phone handy for jotting down notes.Explore
Dive into those more interesting rabbit holes. Often mistaken for procrastination! Today’s exploration is tomorrow’s unhindered word flow.Investigate
Now dig into the specific details, ferreting for the aspects you’ve identified as beneficial to the story you want to tell. Capture/bookmark relevant resources using tools like Google Keep, a Scrivener research folder, Evernote etc.Condense & Collate
You might have discovered a lot more than you expected (or need). Merge duplicative sources into just the key points; winnow these down to the essentials. You only need the triggers – trust your brain to fill in the rest when you think deeper about these captured elements.Extrapolate / Synthesise
Can be easy or difficult, depending on capricious imagination. Explore different ‘what if’ scenarios, take a ‘sideways’ look, extend the technology into a different place, time, society, setting…Summarise
Try to capture what it is you’ve just created using only a succinct sentence or two. If you find this challenging then your reader will also struggle, as you’ll be forced into detailed exposition within your writing. Work at it as hard as you would when editing a vexing sentence.Document
Add details and key references into the relevant world building element(s)
(e.g. within a dedicated Scrivener project research folder using a custom template).Integrate
The culminative effort after all the above: Incorporate the technology within your prose, either directly or tangentially; in depth or superficially. I tend to divide this this up as follows:
a) Light Integration e.g. a cultural given; a reference to, or attribute of, an object or character; a transport method.b) Heavy Integration e.g. societal threat; key hierarchical element; major plot turn.
I’ve outlined my process in a deliberately generic manner so it can be applied equally to dragons or hovercraft or planets or whatever else you can think of. Let your imagination rip!
This week’s post has been quite the journey. I do hope you gained something from my mingled outpouring of facts and fiction. To lose you would be very amiss of me.
I’ll be continuing with the innovation theme in next week’s post, taking one of the technologies listed above as a prompt to generate two creative outputs: a short story and a novel extract. The former will be available to every reader, the latter only to my paid subscribers.
Until then…
JR
It may also surprise you that physicists and engineers can’t agree on how aerofoils generate lift, yet both parties willingly board aeroplanes.
Yes, someone’s thinking (or might even mention) ‘psychedelic drug use’, but it won’t be me. My brain is odd enough already.
Despite having sliced one into pieces – no, I’m not joking.