| Mooning Satellites – Feb. 22, 2008 |
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| Written by Gordon Carroll | |
 Two very cool events happened in space yesterday. First, the U.S. shot down a satellite. And second, there was a lunar eclipse.So what does that mean for us? I don’t mean us as in  Americans, or even us as in astronomy buffs. No, I mean us as in readers and writers. So what does it mean for us? Well, to start with, it’s double the fodder for our muses to work with. Think of the possibilities. We could write a story about a were-wolf caught in mid-transformation because of the sudden eclipse. Or how about we shoot down a satellite, but it’s the wrong one? What satellite was it then? If we wanted to write a techno-thriller (ala Clancy) it could be Chinese, or Russian in which case it could spark WWIII. Perhaps it’s worse than that, we could go horror and it could be the beginning of the end; Armageddon, (ala King’s The Stand). Or maybe SF and we shoot down an alien vessel. Or we shoot down our satellite but unbeknown to us an alien ship had just docked with it, causing them to crash on Earth. We could go back to the lunar eclipse and write fantasy. Our hero shifts to an alternate dimension during eclipses.We could mix and match. Romance—the fantasy hero that shifts dimensions during eclipses meets with a beautiful princess he must save in the mid-evil realm of Glowthorm.  More of a mix? Okay, let’ step it up and mix the actual stories as well as the genres. U.S. shoots down satellite during eclipse, which triggers a dimensional shift, while at the same time sending a counter pulse that stabs to the heart of the Sun, expanding its surface until it blisters the Earth, boils the oceans, and flips the evolutionary switch turning most of the surviving populace into blood crazed vampo-zombies.Anyway, the idea is… ideas. In an earlier blog I took the true story of a terrible tragedy where a student shot up a college classroom, and did a quick story with a Christian, horror slant. We writers can get our ideas anywhere from anything. I remember reading Stephen King’s  excellent book on writing called On Writing. He said he often creates his story plots with the simple statement, What if? Like What if a teenage girl suddenly developed psychokinetic powers? What ifs, are often what stories are really about. For instance with my newest novel Sleeping Dogs I went with the what if premise. What if a rough and tough, real world, PI who trains K9s, was also a Christian? And then I added some more what ifs. What if we could see into the canine’s mind and know what he’s thinking? And what if the dog was driven to kill the human so he could assume control of the pack?What if is a main course for our muse. There are plenty of other foods, but I tend to agree with Mr. King that what if is the beef of the plot business. And it is what’s for dinner. So writers, there’s a little food for thought to get you writing, and readers, this is a little peak behind the curtain of the writer’s mind and how we think in coming up with ideas and plots and themes. What do you say, shall we all go out together and moon a satellite? What if? |
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