Controversy with Neil. Human History

Posted on by Opher

Human History

I tend to agree here. I too see history as being a running battle between a powerful oppressive elite and an exploited majority.

I blame kings, politicians and religion. Power-seeking and wealth-seeking seem to be inherent human traits. Those in power are paranoid, want to hold on to power and suppress opposition.

Whenever we have seen movement from the masses in the form of revolutions they have only succeeded in replacing one elite with another and ended up with an even more repressive tyranny.

When we took up agriculture we lost it. We lost our closeness with nature and we traded a life of ease for a life of toil. That’s when we invented kings and religions and found ourselves enslaved.

Neil – you view of Greece and the Renaissance is far too western-centric. The biggest developments in civilisation were happening in India, China, Persia, Egypt and South America. We were a backwater of barbarians.

The enlightenment hasn’t happened for most of the world. We still need to free ourselves of religion and tyranny.

Turning Our World the Right Way Up

The Pornography Wars – The first Draft

Posted on by Opher

The Pornography Wars – The first Draft

I am partway through the last chapter of the first draft. Currently my latest novel is 48,000 words. By the time I have completed the first draft it will be in excess of 50,000 words.

The first draft is always the fun part for me. It is when I lay down the bare bones, find my characters, develop plots, personalities and allow the ideas to come to life.

A first draft always goes differently to how it was first envisioned (no matter how carefully the plot was scripted). As the character come to life things change. I find that they would not do certain things and would do other things.

A first draft is always about problem solving. How one can get from A to B. Why would this happen? What would be the result of that?

I like Science Fiction because it enables me to have a broader canvas. I do not write about magic or fantasy. I write about science and human nature. I take on board what Arthur C Clarke said about science – ‘Superior technology is indistinguishable from magic’. My aliens can do many weird things because their superior technology enables them to.  I like that.

In the next few days I shall complete the first draft.

I shall then carry out the first rewrite. I will put the flesh on the bones – the settings, descriptions, characters. I shall make them real. By the time I will have completed that I should have a word count in excess of 60,000 words. I will then edit and add. That usually adds a further 2000 words. Then it will receive a couple of further edits by which time I will have become sick of it!

A bit of time between edits is a good thing. It gives me perspective and objectivity. Too long and I’ll have forgotten too much. Too much editing and the writing becomes stale and overworked.

The joy of writing!!