Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The More Things Change...


First some exciting news! I submitted Screwing Up Time to the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Contest. And I found out that my novel made it to the second round!! I’m very excited. (The winners of the next round will be announced March 20.)

More good news. I’m over 75% done with the second big edit of the sequel to Screwing Up Time. I’d love to have it done by the end of next week, but I’m also having some editing burnout. And even chocolate isn’t soothing it.

Besides fixing plot holes and tightening up the words themselves, I also use the second edit to verify facts. I like to have two sources for each fact. So I’m reading sources that I didn’t read the first time. And I’m always amazed that sometimes ancient texts could have just as easily been written by my next-door neighbor.

The SUT sequel is set in an ancient, but fairly literate, society. Which means that there are a fair amount of primary sources. Though this doesn’t mean that they all have tremendous historical value, they do teach us a lot about people. For example, I was reading the translation of a particular tablet—a loose, condensed translation is “Several years ago we loaned you a certain amount of money for your travels. We have yet to see one coin of repayment.” The translator of this tablet and many others went on to say that he’s translated many tablets where parents complain about their children, businesses try to collect on loans and purchases of goods, etc. The translator comments that while times change, people stay the same.

I think that’s the reason that historical fiction, time travel fiction, science fiction, and even fiction in general is so popular. We see someone in very different circumstances—a king, a concubine, and a soldier who may live under the rule of Amenhotep, Alexander the Great, Henry V, or Genghis Khan—but their concerns are still the same. They want to take care of the people they love. They may be heroes, and sometimes even villains, but they have the same motives and desires that we do. Perhaps that’s why when we read, we can become them for a little while. After all, we’re really not that different. They may eat goat, drink date wine, and wear tunics, but they still want to get the girl and live happily ever after.

12 comments:

  1. Congratulations and Good luck! :D I really hope Screwing UP Time makes it through to the last round!

    Keep your head up with editing. Book two sounds amazing! :D

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  2. I love stuff like this! It's so true that people don't change--their environments do. And how cool is it that your book made it to the 2nd round?! Congrats!!

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  3. I DID get the girl, and now am living happily ever after!

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  4. Love this post. How cool. I really love that society just keeps turning over. Core values and needs remain the same throughout the ages. Love it :)

    Can't wait to read number 2!! Good luck with those edits :)

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  5. Congrats!!! That is really exciting. I agree that at the core we really all more similar than different no matter what sex, race, nationality, or apparently age you live in.

    Great post.

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  6. Congrats! on the great news! I was bounced in the first round last year and spaced it this time around. Started on Screwing Up Time and will get into it more this weekend! Its a fun story with wormholes and portals. Very cool!

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  7. Thanks, everyone, for all the well wishes! They mean a lot.

    Stephen, I hope you enjoy it!!

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  8. Wow. Congrats on making it to round two! That's pretty awesome.

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  9. Congratulations on making it to the second round. You should celebrate this weekend.

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  10. congrats on making it to round two. I know a number of other YA writers who are joining you. *starts chewing finger nails*

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  11. Best of luck on that contest. I couldn't enter, since it's sort of a collaborative thing, but do keep us informed. I'm excited to hear! :)

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  12. I so agree. The human heart desires the same things no matter when and where in time.

    Congrats on making it to the next round! Very exciting!

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