Some Ways Not to Lose Story Ideas

Whether an author is first coming up with a story concept, musing over how to approach that concept, planning a future draft, actually writing a draft, or revising a draft, the author never knows when an idea worth preserving will pop up. And many of us can't count on remembering that idea for very long, or even once we walk into the next room. (There's actually something called the "doorway effect" whereby short-term memory tends to evaporate once one passes through some sort of boundary.) So how can one avoid losing ideas about character traits, plot directions, new scenes, or "just right" endings? It's easy to say "write them down," but what if you're in bed, or the car, or in the shower?

Well, you need to have a way to write notes to yourself in those places. Yes, even in the shower. There's actually a product out there that could have been tailor-made for authors: Aqua Notes. I plug it whenever this topic comes up (and no one ever pays me for doing it). It's a pad with suckers on the back for sticking to shower walls, with waterproof pages and a special pencil for writing on them. I also keep a notepad with attached light on my nightstand -- though my handwriting at 3 a.m. is not always decipherable when I get up in the morning.

It's trickier to keep ideas from escaping if they show up while I'm driving. What I generally do is mutter to myself, repeating the idea, until I can pull over and get hold of my phone. Then I send myself a quick email. (One of these days, I'll figure out how to just talk at my phone, or at my newly leased full-of-bells-and-whistles car, and send myself an email while driving.)

What are your handy ways to keep ideas from getting away? Let me know in the comments!

All My Science Fiction, for National Science Fiction Day

 Happy New Year, all, and Happy National Science Fiction Day! 

In honor of the latter, here's a list of all my science fiction novels to date. As you can see, they're a varied lot. I've included links to the Kindle editions, but they're all available in paperback from many (mostly but not entirely online) retailers.

--The Twin-Bred series (Twin-Bred, Reach, and Leaders): This series begins on a planet colonized by us Earthers about seventy years before. Communication with the indigenous intelligent species has been difficult, and bewildering conflicts keep arising, with the potential to escalate into war. Dr. Mara Cadell, a scientist with a very personal secret, has a novel proposal for how to bridge this gap between species. For more details, see the link to Twin-Bred, above. All I can say about the latter two books without spoilers is that they continue the story of the Twin-Bred. To quote one of my favorite plays, Robert Bolt's A Man For All Seasons: "I trust I make myself obscure."

Water to Water: I think of this book as science fiction, but it could be read as fantasy. It takes place on a planet which has had no contact with humans, or vice-versa. It has sufficient intelligent species without them. It has certain aspects of a YA novel, including young protagonists, a quest, and coming-of-age themes. Here's a description: "Two young Vushla questioned what everyone knew about death. What should they do with the answer? When the time comes for Vushla to die, they go into the ocean and are dissolved away. Or so Terrill has always believed, and still believes after taking part in his father's final journey. But when he meets a young Vushlu who lives by the sea, Terrill must confront information that calls this fundamental belief into question. Will the two of them discover the truth? And what should they do with what they find?"

The remaining four SF novels are all set on this planet in the near future. All of them also have extensive courtroom scenes, informed by my other head's career, practicing law. I'll list them in the order of publication.

Division: This story's tag line sums up the central conflict nicely (if I say so myself): "New technology, new choices . . . but who gets to choose?" To be more specific:
     "Conjoined twins Gordon and Johnny have never let their condition keep them from living full and fulfilling lives. Gordon looks forward to many years of closeness and cooperation. Johnny, however, faces their future with increasing restlessness, even dread.
     "When the boys are in their teens, the new technologies of accelerated human cloning and brain transplants are combined into a single medical procedure. Someone whose body has suffered such extensive damage as to make normal life impossible may -- with court approval -- be cloned and then given a brain transplant into the clone body. With Gordon's unwitting assistance, Johnny realizes that this procedure provides the chance he had never dared to hope for -- the chance to live in a 'normal,' separate body.
     "But Gordon considers their conjoined life a blessing, rather than a curse. He has no intention of accepting separation -- not without a fight . . . ."

Playback Effect: This book gave me the weirdly invigorating opportunity to have breakfast with a sociopath. Here's the description: "In the near future, new technology records the highlights of emotional experience for others to share. Buy a helmet and you can feel the exhilaration of an Olympic ski jumper, or the heat of a lucid dreamer's erotic imaginings. Commit a crime, and you may be sentenced to endure the suffering you inflicted on others. But such recordings may carry more information than the public has realized. What will criminals learn about their victims? When a husband is wrongfully convicted of injuring his wife, how will their marriage change? And what uses will a sociopath find for recordings of the experience of death?"

Who: Here's another favorite timeline: "Have they changed their minds? Or have their minds been changed?" The context is digitally stored personality and memories, and the details: "Death is no longer the end. Those who prepare, and can afford it, may have their memories and personalities digitally preserved. The digitally stored population can interact with the world of the living, remaining part of their loved ones’ lives. They can even vote. Except - someone's in charge of the code. Someone who may have an agenda. After the young and vital Thea dies and is stored, her husband Max starts to wonder about changes in her preoccupations and politics. Are they simply the result of the new company she keeps? Or has she been altered without her knowledge and against her will? And if Thea is no longer herself, what can they do?"

Lastly, Donation: This book took the longest to write, if "write" includes writing, revising, running by beta readers, revising again, deciding not to publish it, leaving it to lie fallow for months, revising it again, and sending it out into the world. It is in some senses timely, not to mention possibly controversial and/or dystopian in parts. It concerns the possible consequences of (a) a ban on abortion, made politically feasible by (b) the development of artificial wombs, and the related technology for allowing women to "donate" embryos and fetuses, with (c) the entire setup controlled by centralized government. One of those consequences: mission creep. To know what I mean by that, you can click through to the description -- or read the book!

Happy reading, all, and may science fiction continue to lead us into (with apologies to Star Trek) strange new worlds, and unexpected ways of viewing our own.