Tuesday, December 20, 2016

The "Fires of the Djinn" is probably over my head.

I'm trying hard to make it believable, but I'm not sure it's possible. I'm 30 pages from the end of the first rewrite, and I've made it better, but it is still a stretch.

I like writing in the "real" world, but I am always aware that it is only a facsimile of the real world. Maybe all writers feel that way. It is the facsimile that readers want; the real world is what they live.

Thing is, I still think Firefighters Versus Terrorists is a neat premise, and likely to be timely, so I had to try. It probably contains some of my best writing....but is still difficult to pull off.

After the holidays, I'm diving into research with the goal of adding enough verisimilitude to hopefully make the whole story plausible. Plausible is probably the best I can hope for.

The point of the second rewrite will be to make it as realistic as I can. But there are elements to the plot that probably make that impossible. I should have stuck to ground level POV, instead of making it "big." (Astronauts, big wigs, L.A. and San Francisco, Jihadists, etc.) The "big" part came from that agent telling me to do that and to write "100 kickass" pages. 

If nothing else, this has been a good learning experience. It still possible I can pull this off. I'm giving it time and doing my best.

I've decided to go with the plot as is, because the changes I was contemplating probably won't make the story any more plausible, which is the reason I was thinking about the changes. So no point.

Hopefully, readers will give me the benefit of the Suspension of Disbelief long enough to enjoy the story. What I can do is try to ramp up the tension, make the action scenes vivid. The overall plot arc is what it is.

Writing "Said the Joker, to the Thief" was a reminder that in fantasy, everything works, as long as it is internally consistent. Writing "I Live Among You" was a reminder that a straightforward first person narration eliminates a lot of the space and time problems.

It's probably time for me to figure out my strengths and weakness, and do the first and avoid the latter. 


9 comments:

Dave Cline said...

I was always curious as to whether you could pull that link off -- firefighters vs terrorists.

I think it could work "if" you made the firefighters, or ONE specific firefighter detective who uncovers, tracks and eventually exposes and suppresses the jihadists' plot.

BUT, the terrorists are not using forest fires as their primary weapon. They're using the disruption of electricity across the nation instead. Blow the transformers, blow the switching stations, blow the high-tension wire systems -- way out in the boonies where the firefighters work -- now that is plausible if not probable. The fires are the by-product of how the terrorists are blowing the transmission grid.

*Just my 3.5 cents*

Dave Cline said...

Or you want an equally probable terrorist target -- Cushing OK, and/or the vast network of natural gas pipelines that crisscross the west.

Jihadists in cahoots with Russian and Venezuelan operatives, set on blowing up Western fossil fuel distribution systems (thereby boosting both of those failing crude oil based economies), would definitely make a compelling case for Fires of the Djinn.

Duncan McGeary said...

Book is written, so...

Idea was, all it would take was a low-tech match to cause mayhem. (Like box cutters, you know.) Nothing the NSA can stop. Gasoline, flares, that kind of thing. If they know when and where to set them.

The recent fires in Tennessee killed 14 people and were set by a couple of teenagers. So the idea is that a organized effort could really cause problems.

Big fires can be really big. The Peshtigo fire, or the Big Burn. And that was when the country wasn't as populated.

Dave Cline said...

Fires set around nuclear missile launch facilities might escalate the terror aspect. Did you ever read The Monkeywrench Gang? How I learned about sugar in the gas tank and thermite.

Dave Cline said...

Here's a question for ya. How does an author research terrorist behavior and techniques without raising the ire of the FBI/NSA/HSA/ISA/CIA/TSA/AFT/BorderPatrol/ETC and their Carnivore (and the like) wire-tap and comm tracing software?

Duncan McGeary said...

I'm just hoping they look me up and see that I'm an author.

Because, some of the questions I Google, oh, boy...

Dave Cline said...

Maybe being a "writer","reporter", or "research student" would be a good cover for a terrorist...

Duncan McGeary said...

I've actually thought of that. A writer, reporter, or research student might think of that, but a terrorist probably wouldn't.

Dave Cline said...

Fair point!