Post by Teskas on Mar 8, 2009 10:52:26 GMT -5
I recently acquired Jeff's technothriller, Virtu@lly.eliminated. Apart from the novel as a story, what struck me was the quality of the composition.
Into the tale of a computer expert trying to track down a killer, which is straight detective/mystery genre, there are woven several sub-plots ("sub" might not be the best description, but I believe it is technically correct). The hero has been neglecting his marriage and disconnecting with his Christian religious commitment. He wants to do the right thing, but rather when it doesn't inconvenience him.
There's also an interesting mix of fantasy and technology, with the description of the virtual reality interface the hero has created to surf on the net. (Check out the sword fight in cyberspace, fellow Anomalians, if you get the chance.)
The most obvious element is the technology. The author had to have labored long and hard for the amount of computer science detail which is in evidence. Then there is the element of harnessing the technology to a detective story.
It is actually quite a complex novel, and I was struck by the amount of work which went into it. Layer after layer of stuff was there, moving the plot, but it wasn't intrusive. It rolled smoothly along from one scene to the next, and within particular scenes, from one theme to another.
What I would like to know is, Jeff, how did you go about constructing your story?
I'm not sure these are the right questions, but what was your jumping off point? Did you have your plot laid out like a superhighway before you started to write, or did ideas pop up and slot into place--wing it, as it were? Did you do all your research at once? And how did you weave the crisis of faith into the plot? Was that done afterwards?
I know its been a while since you wrote this book, but if you can recall, I'd really like to know how you managed to handle so much disparate material and make it come together.
The reason I ask is that I have a story (in a huge, amorphous, hard-to-get-my-head-around sort of way), but its like herding cats to get it together. Characters, and their story-lines, seem to wander off and want to do their own thing. So how does one construct something well put together?
Into the tale of a computer expert trying to track down a killer, which is straight detective/mystery genre, there are woven several sub-plots ("sub" might not be the best description, but I believe it is technically correct). The hero has been neglecting his marriage and disconnecting with his Christian religious commitment. He wants to do the right thing, but rather when it doesn't inconvenience him.
There's also an interesting mix of fantasy and technology, with the description of the virtual reality interface the hero has created to surf on the net. (Check out the sword fight in cyberspace, fellow Anomalians, if you get the chance.)
The most obvious element is the technology. The author had to have labored long and hard for the amount of computer science detail which is in evidence. Then there is the element of harnessing the technology to a detective story.
It is actually quite a complex novel, and I was struck by the amount of work which went into it. Layer after layer of stuff was there, moving the plot, but it wasn't intrusive. It rolled smoothly along from one scene to the next, and within particular scenes, from one theme to another.
What I would like to know is, Jeff, how did you go about constructing your story?
I'm not sure these are the right questions, but what was your jumping off point? Did you have your plot laid out like a superhighway before you started to write, or did ideas pop up and slot into place--wing it, as it were? Did you do all your research at once? And how did you weave the crisis of faith into the plot? Was that done afterwards?
I know its been a while since you wrote this book, but if you can recall, I'd really like to know how you managed to handle so much disparate material and make it come together.
The reason I ask is that I have a story (in a huge, amorphous, hard-to-get-my-head-around sort of way), but its like herding cats to get it together. Characters, and their story-lines, seem to wander off and want to do their own thing. So how does one construct something well put together?