You Did What in Your Story?

My current project is a novel called The Orange and the Black. Three middle-aged men lose their jobs in the recession—jobs that are unlikely to come back—and they are living off the income of their wives. They escape to the boredom and depression of unemployment by making good on a prank they planned as teenagers but never carried out, stealing and ransoming a local monument—a three-ton sculpture. Of course, it turns into something much bigger.

One of the stumbling blocks I have encountered is how they move this monument. Remember, it weights three tons. For various reasons that become evident in the plot, they choose a technology that is not new, but they apply it in an innovative way. My dilemma, and I have talked with some physicists and chemists about this, is that there are limitations to the technology that might compromise its use for this particular purpose.

As one college professor of physics told me, “It will work in theory, but the reality is that you have some issues.”

I am enamored with the idea, but I could not figure how to get around the problems.

Then this last weekend I went to the UCLA Writers Faire. The event was a series of panel discussions of the various aspects of writing. In part it was a sales pitch for the UCLA Extension Program for Writers, but I still found it useful (and admission was free). One of the panel members of a discussion entitled Truth and Imagination was Michael Buckley, a writer and faculty member who recently authored a collection of short stories called Miniature Men (click here for a reading by Buckley). Among other things Buckley writes science fiction, and he is also referred to as a futurist. He made a comment during the discussion about giving credence to lies in your writing. I realized this man had the answer to my dilemma.

After the lecture I posed my question to him. Without going into detail, I explained the technology problem using the words of the college physics professor: “It will work in theory, but the reality is that you have some issues.”

Buckley’s answer was concise and direct, and I paraphrase: “If there is scientific truth behind what your characters are doing, use the truth to conceal the lie.”

This is the strategy I have been following, but I’ve been blind. Buckley crystalized it. If I incorporate enough scientific fact, the reader will overlook the lie. He might even overlook the lie if he is a physicist and knows better.

I need to speak to some experts, including a few electrical engineers, but now I know how to move that three-ton sculpture.

See ya’ later.

WhatIfYouCouldNotFail.com by Tim Sunderland is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.