GITM, and editing in reverse
June 23, 2019
As I've mentioned before, I've picked the next draft to try to wrestle into submission, Ghost in the Machine. I wrote it way back in 2013, as my third NaNoWriMo. I liked the story, but got distracted with editing my 2012 story. The feedback from family and friends is that GITM is interesting and marketable. I agree. Here's the blurb I did for myself:
Ghost in the Machine -Sc/fi - When a man's wife dies, his immediate goal is to adjust to his loss. However, her consciousness is preserved in an online AI - an advanced version of a cellphone AI she helped develop - so she's neither dead nor alive. She discovers more like her in there too, and finds a new role in life, helping others - including a woman from a shelter. However, a large corporation wants to steal this new technology and will go to any lengths - including wiping out all these new beings.
I did get some comments a few years ago so I added them in, printed a draft, and re-read the whole thing, just to reacquaint myself with it. I like it, but it does need a lot of work. However, since 2013 I've drafted three more NaNoWriMo novels, written over 150 Flash Fiction stories, entered contests, and read many 'how to write' articles. My skills have improved I think.
My first step will be to back up and ask myself what this story is about. Who are the main characters, what are their goals and issues, what are their choices and consequences and next steps, and why do we care? Then, I can devise a plot to tell that story. I'm also thinking that once I get down to the scene level, I need to treat each little one like a mini story, with all those same elements. I've been doing that for my Flash Fiction, and find it effective.
So, this story is about loss, and new beginnings. It's about developing new technologies, and the associated social and ethical implications. First we meet Ken, a main character, who loses his wife and partner, then regains her, in a way. He needs to deal with that, as well as a former business partner eager to steal their technology, and perhaps his wife's new life. Ken meets someone new, so does he move on? Maria, his wife, is my other main character, with many similar issues, but from a different perspective, from within the "Cloud". She's the one that's dead, yet not. What is her new role in life? I also have an antagonist, Tony, anxious to take it all over, along with foreign investors. Maybe Chinese. I have a selection of friends and family, as well as other 'beings' that Maria finds in cyberspace, with their own issues and new powers to observe and control- how do they all fit in?
Ken and Maria both have major roles, but the story is written more from Ken's POV. He has more IRL issues too, so I think he is the protagonist.
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