So I’ve suspended two novel projects because of the “long play” I have in mind, where (as I’ve teased once or twice) everything’s connected.
Everything’s connected
What does that mean for projects moving forward? I have to create a several things:
- Firstly, a time line into which each and every novel I write from now on will have to fit within.
- Secondly, decide what technologies, scientific developments and social changes I intend dealing with, as continuous themes, interweaving and spanning the various novels.
- Thirdly, which characters or families bestride these novels, why, and how they interact and intersect with the aforementioned.
Now, I know none of this is entirely new, but it’s something I feel needs to be done, rather than writing one-off, disparate and disconnected stories.
Aim high and be bold!
Instead, I want a narrative that spans decades, and towards the end, centuries:
- Earth Day, the first novel (or novella, if you like) is more of a fable than science fiction.
- Stunned (presently on pause), is a comedy thriller with a political slant.
- Wraith (also on pause and presently only provisionally titled), is a superhero story with a difference.
- Perditions End is a time travel saga, where our protagonist is attempting to solve a series of murders that implicate him as the aggressor.
- Ascending Angels (written but pending a complete re-write of Perditions End, the first, or “prequel”) is a very ambitious novel with several very well-defined threads, the first of which is a complex heist thriller, the second is a metaphysical exploration, including a search and rescue, while the third is a race against time scenario, to avert a global catastrophe, invoked by the a conflict between two alien races.
- An as-yet untitled and only provisionally understood novel, tying together Ascending Angels and Aeon, which will, amongst other things, provide the story behind Bingley and Forsyth.
- Aeon is something quite different and a departure from the usual science fiction subtleties, this time, we’re deep into the realms of science fiction proper.
Aim high and be bold! That is my mantra, and I shall not shy away from this agenda.
