Tag: novel

A Little Bit Of A Deep Dive Into Mission: Impossible — Fallout In The Context Of My #Scifi #Novel

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

The novel I’m writing is turning out to be significantly more action packed than I originally imagined. Going into this, I imagined this story would be a ruminative, introspective study of America in the Age of Trump. I thought it was going to be me my liberal, globalist cuck version of Atlas Shrugged.

Boy, was I wrong.

The more I actually write this story, the more it turns into a story that with a little tweaking here and there could be the basis of a tenpole summer popcorn movie like Mission: Impossible — Fallout. The comparison is not perfect, to say the least. That movie, as best I can recall, doesn’t even mention political parties even though it deals with some very political concepts in a general geopolitical manner. Meanwhile, my novel is pretty upclose and personal about modern politics for the specific point of moving the plot along.

I’m doing my best to mitigate this by having the female romantic lead center-Right in her politics, but simply by introducing politics into the story I’m going to piss people off from the entire spectrum of political views. But I know that going into this. But having said all that, I find myself thinking a lot about how I can learn from Mission: Impossible — Fallout when it comes to effectively conveying some pretty big concepts in an entertaining fashion.

The thing about Mission: Impossible — Fallout is it’s so action packed that you don’t really have time to contemplate its political views until it’s over and you’re having a sundae with your date at Dairy Queen. Then you might mention in passing the absolute lack of any mention of Left / Right or Democrat / Republican.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the movie and it has obviously left a lasting impression on me as I attempt to write my own piece of pop art. I guess the reason this is happening is time and again I find myself writing something pretty action packed without really meaning to, then I think about how Mission: Impossible — Fallout did it and how much of a struggle it will be for me to match that.

I do find it interesting the different internal logic of a movie versus a novel. In a movie simply don’t have time to get into details that in a novel you have plenty of time to talk about. I really, in a sense, would prefer to be a screenwriter at some point instead of a novelist, but this novel concept I’m working on is really, really strong and I want to write this story. I want, for my own sake, if not for the reader, find out what happens to these characters I’ve thought up.

But I’m just in the first draft and not very far long — as of right this second — as it stands. I almost want to watch Mission: Impossible — Fallout again just so I can study it’s storytelling method as I write my own tale. But I have a general idea in my head of what happened, so that should be enough.

Wish me luck.

V-Log: Contrasting & Comparing Of My #Scifi #Novel With Mission: Impossible — Fallout

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

It’s interesting how much I find myself influenced by Mission: Impossible — Fallout as I write this novel. Going into this, I did not really expect that to be the case. But as I actually write the novel, I realize M:I — F really helps me understand the expectations of pop art. I find it interesting how they never mention any political parties during the course of the movie, even though they talk a lot about politics in a general manner.

My novel, in contrast, wallows in politics. The whole crux of the conceit of the story is, well, politics. I take a very dim view of modern politics and human nature in this story, but in the back of my mind I find myself thinking about how M:I — F deals with it in an entertaining manner.

Here are some other videos I’ve done recently about all of this. Enjoy.

V-Log: The Trump Era & The #Scifi #Novel I’m #Writing

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

The more I write this novel, the more I realize there’s a real good chance that in the second and third drafts of this novel I’m going to “lean into” the metaphorical and allegorical potential of this story. There is a very key plot point about this novel that could easily be interpreted as a very Trump era quality.

But, really, the issue is more about shutting up and actually getting some writing done. I can pontificate all I want to, but if I don’t shut up and write, it’s all rather moot.

V-Log: Mulling The State Of The #Scifi #Novel I’m #Writing As Of Oct. 14th, 2018

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Something interesting to watch. In these videos, I talk a lot about where my novel stands right now. It’s fairly interesting to listen to me talk about it, if you’re into such things.

V-Log: Just Have To Put The Work Into The #Scifi #Novel I’m #Writing

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Some thoughts.

V-Log: Mulling Some Character Issues In The #Scifi #Novel I’m #Writing

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

It’s one of those times when I’m going to have to get creative. I have a really interesting notion about how to fix a structural problem in the novel’s characters….but I’m going to have to give it some thought.

The Portrayal Of Women In The #Scifi #Novel I’m #Writing

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I’m trying my best to write strong female characters in this novel, but…I have a feeling I’m not going to do nearly as good a job as I would like. My Hero is male and as such, well, that’s going to have some “weaknesses” that can’t be avoided. But I am, at least, trying.

I’m probably going to have six POV characters and two “main” characters. It’s looking like I’m going to have three male POV characters and three female POV characters. I currently am running the risk of making two of the three women a little too sexy for their own good and that has more to do with me being a middle-aged man than anything else.

And this is my first serious attempt at writing a novel, so give me a break.

I have no idea as I write this if this story is going to be popular or not. But it is a strong concept. It’s really strong. Strong enough that I keep writing it, keep finding ways to keep myself entertained long after I usually would get fed up and walk away from it.

I’ve also managed to not show what I’ve written of this first draft to as many people as possible. This first draft is good, yes, but it’s not THAT good and it’s very much not finished yet and very much, well, a first rough draft. So, it’s best if I keep it to myself for the time being.

I am really enjoying writing it, though. I just have to keep at it. I have to keep believing.

Some Idle Musings About Location In The #Scifi #Novel I’m #Writing

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

The thing about the novel I’m writing is, initially at least, it’s kind of located in a kind of meh place. It’s an actual literal place and as such it’s kind of uninteresting to someone living in LA or NYC. But that changes dramatically not so much because the location changes but because the use of the location changes.

Trust me, if you read what I’m writing, you’ll get it.

I have thought a lot about this and I am finally about cool with this. I’m ok with it now after some struggle because, well, the use of the otherwise unassuming location is interesting enough — really interesting in fact — that I think readers will really like it. And the reason I ultimately give for using the particular location makes sense in the context of the story well enough that I think readers will appreciate it.

And, as I’ve said, my expectations are really low. All I want is someone, one person, who I don’t know to read this novel and want to know what happens next. If I can get someone to read the entire finished product and they honestly liked what I wrote enough that they want to know what happens next, then it will be a success.

Anyway, I have a lot of work to do. A whole lot of work to do. That’s the thing about novels they don’t really tell you about — it just takes physical time to sit down and write 100,000 words, especially when you’ve done little, if any backend work. But that backend work is what I’m going to do after I finish this first draft.

The Influence Of Mission: Impossible — Fallout On The #Scifi #Novel I’m #Writing

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I’ve written — and talked — about this before, but it’s true: I think a lot about how Mission: Impossible — Fallout deals with major, macro political issues in an entertaining manner. Now, one thing I noticed about that movie is they don’t talk about Democrats or Republicans. There are some allusions, but nothing concrete.

The novel I’m writing, in that respect, is definitely different. I kind of wallow in name brand politics for a very specific reason — this novel is kind of my Atlas Shrugged for my own particular brand of globalist, liberal politics. It’s my own personal critique of the Trump Era…in its own particular manner.

To put another way, I’m definitely writing this novel and seeing how I can deal with the issues of the day in a metaphorical manner. It may not be the first draft, but by the second or third draft, I suspect that will be pretty fleshed out. But anyway, I’m really enjoying writing this first draft so far and one of the things I’m using as a guide is what I remember of Mission: Impossible — Fallout. It’s probably not going to be very obvious to anyone who read this first draft (not that anyone will) but I really did like that movie and I liked how it was a “woke” (to a certain extent) action adventure summer tent pole movie.

That’s my ultimate goal for this tale I’m writing — that it would be a very accessible, rip-roaring yarn that when you put it down, the first thing you’re going to think is 1) what happens next 2) this should be a movie.

Regardless, I probably should be working on the novel right now instead of writing about writing a novel.

Idle Musings About #Writing A #Novel You Want To Turn Into A #Screenplay One Day

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

I’ve finally gotten passed the passionate part of writing a novel and I’m just…writing a novel. It’s kind of, by definition, a labor of love. You aren’t getting paid and you know you have just the barest possibility of writing anything eventually that at some point someone you don’t know might read and actually like.

Having said all that, these cold hard facts don’t stop you from thinking — as you write the novel — who would play different characters in it should it ever be turned into a movie. You also find yourself daydreaming about what kind of movie it would be if it was one. As it stands, this scifi novel I’m writing might be described as, “Contact meets Colony meets…”

No.

While this novel definitely has elements of Contact, and Colony and Under The Dome and upcoming movie Captive State, there are some pretty big aspects of this story that defy ready comparisons. The basic conceit of the story is pretty unique. And one element of the story that I don’t know how comfortable movie producers would be with is its naming of names when it comes to politics. In fact, as I imagine it going into this story (I’ve barely gotten into the second chapter at this point) the story is going to wallow in contemporary American politics to such an extent that it might be a turn off to some people.

Maybe a lot of people.

But the interesting thing is I’m well aware that if I’m not careful that this story is going to come off as something of a liberal globalist fever dream. So, I’m working hard to try to make at least one sympathetic character center-Right. In fact, as of right now, the romantic female lead is going to be that center-Right character. One of the things I’m learning as I write this novel is if you have one character you pretty much have to have another character floating around for them to talk to. It’s difficult to have any conflict if all that happens is you have a character look around in awe at all the cool stuff happening to them.

One element of this story which — if it somehow miraculously becomes a movie — would set it apart, is the space aliens are not 2001 ethereal types. They’re well versed in the human condition and rather matter a fact about working with humans to save their sorry asses. I don’t know how easy it would be to describe that in a movie, given how conditioned mainstream audiences are to space aliens who are completely clueless about humans and how they operate.

Regardless, I love movie and as I write I do find myself thinking about who might play this or that character. It’s interesting how the original Star Wars has such a young protagonist and how that plays into the Hero’s Journey. When you actually sit down to write a story — be it a novel or a movie — basic things like your Hero’s age begin to really play a lot into how you construct your character.

I haven’t done squat of the heavy backend lifting when it comes to writing this novel, but this first draft is just to try to get the story down, to understand what I’m trying to say. One element of this is the novel, if I’m able to pull it off successfully, could easily be an allegory for the Trump Era. But that’s something to think about in the second draft, I suspect. This first draft is just to settle on the basics of what is happening.

Writing this novel, I have Mission: Impossible — Fallout in the back of my head a lot. This I’m writing starts off a lot more dramatically than I first imagined. I know the general macro story fairly well, it’s the micro elements — the nitty gritty elements of having characters walk around in this expansive universe I’ve constructed that I am enjoying processing. Anyway, I need to actually get the hard work done of writing the novel first and foremost. I can’t screw around writing about writing forever and expect to actually finish anything.

But sometimes I find myself feeling like taking a little break, to process things before diving back in.