NaNoWriMo 2021 - Weekly Progress

It’s update time! I will be doing a brief update on my work in progress here and you will see an update each week. The title of the science fiction short story collection is called, “A Far-Reaching Thread.”

You can also see my progress at nanowrimo.org.

WRITING PROGRESS*:

Number of Days: 30*

Word Count: 36,201*

Average Words Per Day: 1,167*

Average Writing Speed: 1 word per minute*

*All stats updated as of November 30th

NaNoWriMo 2021 - Writing Progress

Remaining Days (couldn’t fit all on chart):

• Nov 28th - 268 words

• Nov 29th - 438 words

• Nov 30th - 308 words

Now you know where I stand and I got more exciting work to go! How have your WIP’s been going? Are you meeting the goal or going beyond it? Give yourself a pat on the back. You’re awesome! Keep it up!

Falling short? Don’t worry, you’re awesome too! Writing is tough. As you can see, I’ve had my off days as well. Remember, don’t be discouraged if you can’t hit the goal every day. It’s all about the journey. This month is about challenging yourself to start, continue, and/or finish your novel. Remember, you can do it.

I hope you all have an excellent time writing next week and until next time…

Read, Write, Edit, Repeat

- J. J.

Writing Update - May & Onward

Hello everyone,

It has been a while since I last posted here and some of you may be wondering what happened to me. Radio silence does not equal dead, at least not in this case. In fact, I have been quite busy. I’ve been working on several short stories and editing a novel.

During January and February, I worked on several different flash fiction and short stories. I always enjoyed creating short stories. It was what got me into writing in the first place. Being able to have fun and write whatever popped into my mind is a great way to relax and improve my writing craft.

I know what you’re going to ask: “Hey, that’s great! Can we read them?”

Not yet. I have been going through all of them, one by one, and editing them. I want to deliver better work every time and if I don’t edit, you don’t get the content you deserve. Also, I have been taking some that I really enjoy, and I’ve been attempting to get them published in a few magazines. My mini goal this year was to get at least three short stories sold to a science fiction or fantasy magazine. It’s an ambitious goal, but even if I got just one story published, that would be incredible!

Now, if I don’t get a short story or flash fiction published, what do I do next? The plan is I will do another round of edits and then put them on the website…for free! Not all the short stories, but the ones I enjoyed the most. Some may be quite a bit different than what you are currently accustomed to, but some may feel familiar.

I’m also planning on doing a small information blog about short fiction magazines. There was a ton I learned when researching short stories and I would love to share what I learned with you. Another blog I would also like to share with you is about editing.

Around the middle of January, I was asked to edit a novel. No, this isn’t a big-name author or ghostwriter. It was my brother. He has a story that he’s been eager to tell, and I’ve been helping him go after it. In a later blog, I may go through the process of what I did and what I learned from the experience. However, this experience is still ongoing and I’m sure I’ll learn more as I go along.

I also plan this year to make some additional changes to the website, but when those happen, I’ll let you know.

Until next time, read, write repeat.

-J.J.

Ethics in Science Fiction - Why Morals Matter

As I have been preparing for National Novel Writing Month (now only six days away), I had a question that consistently popped up as I prepared my story: “How does ethics affect technology?”

I had taken psychology classes in college where we discussed morals and ethics, but not through the lens of technology. We didn’t debate the ethics behind self-driving cars or proper levels of encryption for computer programs. The ethics we discussed were framed often around laws and non-technology life such as contracts and business operations. However, that doesn’t cover the full scope of this changing world.

Technology is rapidly changing life as we know it and leading to some incredible, yet potentially scary outcomes. Like social credit systems and growing national surveillance, ethical questions around these topics are more mainstream than even five years ago.

It makes sense that debating the moral and ethical stances of these topics will be a long, winding road for common day people and governments for years to come, but, what if, science fiction had the answers?

For my story, I wanted to learn more about the ethics surrounding A.I. technology. During my search, I stumbled upon an article from Journal of Future Studies entitled, “Science Fiction As Moral Allegory.“ Written by Timothy Dolan, the article dove into science fiction in terms of the broad history of the genre, it’s impact on society, and it’s use for building a better future through moral questions the stories can raise. I highly recommend reading the article if this interests you.

One quote that jumped out at me from a writer perspective was:

“Good science fiction is never about building utopias as much as about warning of the dystopias seeded in their attempt.”

— Timothy Dolan

The idea that good science should not be evaluated for potential dangers it could cause in the future is a real risk we run into everyday. For example, self-driving cars are great, but what if I can’t control the car, or worse, the car ends up controlling me and sends me into the river? Is it moral and ethical to allow technology to operate itself when the lives of others both or outside the vehicle could be negatively impacted? It’s a good question to ask. It doesn’t mean that self-driving cars are evil or bad, but with every technological advancement, risks need to be weighed.

I believe this same approach should be applied to science fiction stories. By not looking at and explaining the possible issues with a science fiction world of your creation, it can lose depth in the story and make it more difficult to build a compelling story.

It’s in asking these questions that brings out great stories and helps us all challenge our own ideas and beliefs.

To learn about the morals and ethics in technology, science fiction may be the best place to start. Science fiction tackles these topics in ways many of us fail to think about. That is why I’m researching topics like these for my next story more closely than I had before and I implore you to do the same for your next science fiction story.

What are your thoughts? Do you think ethics and morals matter in science fiction? Should escapism without moral thought be done in science fiction? Do you think all stories contain some moral or ethical lesson?

Let me know in the comments below.

Until next time, write, read, repeat.

-J.J.

AI and Science Ficition - What is the Future?

I was scrolling through my Twitter feed today and came across an article over at Arstechnica about science fiction and AI. On the article, it has a video interview with Robin Sloan, the author of Sourdough, talking about how to write a novel with machine learning.

The idea of writing novels with machine learning has been around for a few years now, but it hasn't really caught on outside of a fun hobby. Most people probably heard about it, shrugged, and completely forgot about it. 

And I don't blame you, there are still a vast amount of limitations and problems. It isn't exactly Shakespeare, but it certain does try. If you are a curious person and want to learn more, definitely check it out on Robin Sloan's website. He has a cool little machine learning program you can download and play around with.

What the article made me think about was how science fiction is evolving today and how it might look in the future. Many science fiction classics like Blade Runner, Man in the High Castle, War of the Worlds, were created back in the 60s and if you read them, they still feel unique, rooted a fiction world that still seem unbelievable.

However, there are stories about space travel that now seem more likely than ever before. Stories like The Martian and Interstellar feel more possible every single day. I mean, I doubt we'll discover time travel in the vacuum of space after traveling through a black hole, but stranger things have happened before. People still pour all the flavors from the soda dispenser in their oversized cup...

I digress. 

Science fiction and the landscape of the stories will start looking quite different moving forward. It has already started, not just from a content perspective, but a creator perspective. Sci-Fi greats like N.K. Jemisin is an unstoppable powerhouse of science fiction/fantasy stories. Martha Wells is another great science fiction author, creating the Murderbot Diaries (Yes, it's as cool as the name suggests). These two are first names that comes to mind, but there are some many others moving the science fiction genre forward. 

Artificial intelligence is a common subject in science fiction, but the way it can be approached in the future will make for incredibly interesting stories. I just keep thinking about all the amazing possibilities of science fiction moving forward and how it can show us our evolving world.

Stories about the dangers of advanced technology implants (transhumanism), how humans and advanced artificial intelligence co-exist, how the ideas of deities and politics transform when facing superior technology advancements or the discovery of new life.

I'm barely scratching the surface and I know this must sound like complete idea vomit, but I'm really excited about it. 

So, the questions I didn't really address yet, "What is the Future?" More robots? Decentralized economies? AI overlords? All of them? 

I don't truly know, but I am excited to see what's happening next. 

-J.J.

I am back...and I'm PUBLISHED!!!

Remember a few blogs ago I mentioned I had a big surprise? Well, this is the surprise. I will have my first short story published in the anthology, "The Monsters Hiding in Your Closet."

The anthology is about monsters that can be found in your closet. Well, maybe not your closet, but somebodies. There are 10 stories in total, all geared to children 9-12 years old, but I think teens and parents could enjoy them as well!

I have been waiting a few months to officially announce this and I am beyond excited to finally see the anthology come together. Right now, it is in the process of heading off to print.

The anthology drops October 1st, but you can pre-order the anthology here on Amazon.

Now that I am back after a month of near silence, I hope to bring some more comic book reviews your way. I am going to push my original timelines back a bit, focusing on a blog per month.

Why?

Because I want to bring quality content together and I feel like a full month gives me the time to actually deliver. Longer, more focused content around comics, movies, and writing. Hopefully more content you want to see. For example, do you want to learn about how to network with other writers or how I got involved in publishing a short story to an anthology? I can answer questions like that.

So, please leave a response in the comments what you would like to see more of. More comic book reviews? Writing Prompts? Challenges?

Let me know and I can start getting you the content you would like to see. You can email me, but the best ways to get in touch are through the comment section below and my Twitter: @JjLahr.

-J.J.

Writing Monsters (and other resources) Review

October has arrived and Halloween is only a few short weeks away, so I thought it would be appropriate to talk a little bit about monsters. Well, writing monsters to be exact. As mentioned in last week's writing update post, I told everyone that I would be talking about some writing resources I bought off Writer's Digest.

I bought a two e-book bundle and a webinar on world building. The two books were, "Writing Monsters: How to Craft Believably Terrifying Creatures to Enhance Your Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction," and, "Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction: How to Create Out of this World Novels and Short Stories."

Both books were authored or co-authored by Philip Athans, author of Baldur's Gate and former editor at Wizards of the Coast. When looking at his vast experience in the science fiction and fantasy world, from a novel and game perspective, I thought he would have some great advice on how to create stronger works in those genres. I was correct.

Each book tells you exactly what to expect from it right in their title, no detours. I haven't finished either book because its only been a week, but from the little I have read of each I learned quite a bit.  From, "Writing Monsters," I learned how to see monsters as metaphors. Ironically, that is what drew me to getting this bundle in the first place. It helped me think differently how I approach creating monsters that fill a world, regardless of genre.

Creatures often occupy the horror, fantasy, and science fiction worlds, but they can occupy every other genre if we let them. From a child's pet to a towering giant, creatures (and by extension, monsters) should be in stories to create depth. Using metaphors is a unique way of doing that.

The other book, "Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction," was a great resource on how to develop a world and story construction, allowing to go back to basics on how to craft a living breathing world and the story inside it. It was also a spectacular reference for key elements in fantasy and science fiction stories that often go overlooked like: Economy, Religion, Government, etc.

Even as I worked on short stories, I often found myself having questions about these elements and it slowed down my writing process. The book helped me, especially for science fiction and fantasy stories, think about the story takes place in first in order to better craft a complete story. 

It doesn't need to be done by everyone because each person has their own process, but for me it was a great help.

In regards to the webinar about world building, I decided to hold off on viewing it until I finishing reading both books as I feel the webinar may be a greatly complimentary piece to the reading.

Overall, my early impressions of these books are extremely positive and I will be sure to continue to use them in the future as I try to create more engaging stories. The books also gave me a great idea for a short story (that and the beautiful fall weather). My goal this month is to have this short story completed before Halloween and released for everyone to view.

I will keep people posted on the progress and where it can be read on the next few blog posts this month.

Until next week, keep writing everyone! -J.J.