24/7

By Mark W. Danielson

It’s hard to believe, but at least two generations have no idea what a rotary phone is. It was a simple communicating device. Just ten digits on a round dial. Stick your finger into the numbered slot, spin it until it stopped, and it dialed as it unwound. The 1946 Bell Telephone ad pictured above reads, “Some day, Bell Laboratories will make it possible for you to dial across the United States as simply and promptly as you dial a neighbor now.” Imagine that. But as late as 1971, I shared a phone line in Greeley, Colorado. They called it a “party line”, though I never heard one when I picked up the line. If a neighbor was talking on the line, I hung up and waited until they were finished. If something was pressing, I could ask that they end their call so I could use the phone, but nothing short of an emergency was so important it couldn’t wait.

But technology changed everything in just a few decades. Music went from LP albums to 8-Track players to Cassette players to CDs to iPods and iPads that sync with our car’s radio. Telephones went from hardwire pulse-dial to digital-dial to portable phones to pagers to car phones to cell phones to smart phones that let you talk while surfing the Internet. Will this rush in technology ever end? With ongoing research on digital information implants and pilotless aircraft, it’s quite possible there is a Terminator in our future.

Technology has also changed how we obtain news. For centuries, newspapers were the sole source of information. Back then, newspaper accounts were highly respected because they were heavily scrutinized by editors who demanded accuracy. Once news became instantaneous with the Internet and 24/7 news channels, quality reporting diminished. Newscasters soon found that retractions were easier than accurate reporting. Blame it on their producers who are so eager to find the next greatest story, ongoing stories such as the Gulf oil spill recovery, Japan’s March 11, 2011, nuclear power plant disaster, or the recent weather related destruction in the Southern United States are soon forgotten.

While on-line banking and e-trading revolutionized the speed of commerce, our electronic leashes now hold us captive. Like Pavlov’s dog, we salivate whenever the phone rings, and regardless of who is currently on the line, we ask that person to pause while we take the next call or answer a text. Somewhere along the line, we surrendered our freedom to employers who expect instant responses. Sadly, the tools intended to simplify our lives complicated them.

Authors are among the fortunate few who can use technology to create worlds without it. In the fictional world, no one rushes to answer phones or risks colliding with other cars while texting or talking on the phone. If someone is talking on the line, our characters on the other end will hear a busy signal. There is no option to press 1 for English or to leave a message. Yet in the real world, these authors can use instant information sources such as the Internet and satellite imagery to create accurate stories and scenes. Some authors like Michael Crichton and Dean Koontz illustrated life with and without technology in their respective novels, Timeline and Lightning. Both books became instant successes.

We can’t stop technology, but we can choose how we use it in our daily lives. At the same time, authors can choose how their characters will use this technology to their advantage. If you are writing a period novel, it is essential that you keep the technology period-correct. For example, a character in the 1980s wouldn’t know what a laptop or cell phone is. To them, Gateway is an entry point, and Dell is a valley. In the 80’s, phone booths had rotary-dial phones, and Collect Calls were an accepted form of communicating. Perhaps it’s time we re-wind the clocks and slowed our pace. At the rate we’re going, technology may be the death of us all.

State of Fear

By Mark W. Danielson

Right now, the South is experiencing record floods. Memphis is currently battling its problem with dignity and determination. Volunteers are tirelessly working to sandbag existing levees and create new ones. But as the water recedes in Memphis, the rising water will hit Vicksburg and every city along the Mississippi until it spills into the Gulf of Mexico. I have witnessed the flooding first-hand on my flights in and out of Memphis. In many areas, it is difficult to make out the river itself. In the spirit of Spock’s “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”, The Army Corps of Engineers blew holes in levees upstream to minimize the damage downstream. It appears it was the right decision, but for those living in the flood plain, the Army’s decision must have been horrendous. The media reports that this flood may wipe out the South’s fertile soil for years. Thus I introduce you to our current State of Fear. As Michael Crichton wrote in his book of the same title, there will always be a state of fear. Give it a week and the media will spread new fear and the South will be once again be forgotten.

No doubt this flood will impact the farmers’ ability to plant, but the season is early. Time will tell whether there can be a planting this year. As for the soil being ruined, I can only think of how the annual Nile River floods brought essential nutrients until it was dammed. Nowadays, these nutrients must be provided by man. Unless the Mississippi is bringing contamination along with its nutrients, the soil may have long term benefits from this flood.

Blaming everything on Global Warming inspired Crichton to write State of Fear. Those who have read it know it is the best non-fiction fiction book that’s ever been printed. For those who haven’t read it, it is probably worth your time. The world is in a constant state of physical change. People are Earth’s only inhabitants that are in a constant state of fear.

I have touched on this subject before and reiterate that fear is what mystery is all about. Fear of what will come next. Fear it might happen to you. The media is successful in presenting images that capitalize on this just as mystery authors capitalize on instilling fear in its readers. Sometimes fear is good, but it’s best to keep it in perspective. In the case of the floods, accept the fact that this major climatic event is no different from the devastating 1927 flood. On the positive side, authors like John Grisham may find this flood inspiring for a new mystery.

Black and White

By Mark W. Danielson

If darkness is the absence of color, white is complete color, and a rainbow is the breakdown of color, then what we see in life is everything in between. Some people refer to this as the gray area, but that definition is more rhetorical than factual. Still, it is the gray area that writers must illuminate.

Many years ago, one particularly good art teacher pointed out that there is no black in life, unless one was referring to complete darkness. Shading is created by removing color. A setting sun does this until all definition is gone. To the artist, shading is accomplished by using darker versions of the original color. The sharpness of a line depends on the distance in which it’s viewed. The same holds true for a color’s boldness.

Applying this principle to writing, backgrounds are normally a glimmer of the foreground, yet just like a painting, neither is effective if they don’t compliment each other.

Artists and writers are visual people who see things that others gloss over. But problems arise when inexperienced writers overstate. There is no reason to use paragraphs and pages to describe a setting. In most cases, less is more. Adjectives can be a detriment. Well chosen words allow the reader to create their own version of the scene.

Writing encompasses one other element that paintings cannot. A scene cannot be complete without sound. In Michael Crichton’s Timeline, one of his most powerful scenes is the absence of sound after his protagonist traveled back in time. There are no planes, trains, or automobile background noise, and suddenly, the sound of racing hoofs grows louder. Whether it’s a trickle of rain on the roof or a vehicle’s exhaust, adding sound to your setting is critical.

Readers are conditioned to think of black and white in terms of race, but even there, skin color is an interpretation that is oversimplified by stereotypes. The whitest albino still has tone, as does the blackest black. A Native American is hardly red, nor are Japanese yellow. With this in mind, you are probably better off addressing a character’s physical features than labeling them in a particular category.

Our world is full of color, and it’s a writer’s responsibility to ensure their readers share it. Keep it simple and appropriate to the scene and everything will come together.

Life After Death

By Mark W. Danielson

Michael Crichton was one of my favorite authors, and his premature death came as a shock. I feared that his passing would also mean the end of his writing, but then his assistant discovered a completed manuscript and delivered it to a publisher. Released last year, Pirate Latitudes is a swashbuckling tale of old Jamaica where justice was doled out with enough latitude to allow privateer raids on treasure-filled galleons. Like so many of Crichton’s novels, Steven Spielberg is turning this one into a screenplay. So, while Michael passed away in November, 2008, he gave life to a host of new characters in what may be considered his parting gift. But is this novel what he really intended?

I say this because a couple of scenes raise eyebrows. Of course I cannot discuss them without ruining the story, but similar scenes have appeared in two other tales not written by this author. These scenes are so obvious that anyone would question why they were there. Worst of all, neither of them added anything to the story. In fact, they are so uncharacteristic of Crichton that I question whether a ghost writer added them to complete the manuscript. But if this truly is Crichton’s work, then did he intend to have Latitudes published, or was it a work in progress? Unfortunately, we will never know.

This posthumously published novel makes me wonder what to do about the novels I tucked away with no intention of publishing. They are stored on floppy discs and in dusty boxes awaiting a re-look, but since I prefer looking forward rather than back, chances are that will never happen. Considering this, should I even keep them when they are in such disarray? I certainly wouldn’t want them to be a reflection on my writing, or have someone else complete them after my death.

At the November 2009 Men of Mystery, Michael Connelly touched on this subject saying he has stopped writing or editing several novels because he “wasn’t feeling it”. Perhaps after reading Pirate Latitudes, Connelly might delete his unfinished files so they won’t be discovered and published like Crichton’s book was.

Although this topic raises questions about disposition, I enjoyed Pirate Latitudes, and am glad I was able to read Michael Crichton’s final chapter. At least in this instance, there is no doubt that life exists after death

Frigid Opportunities

By Mark W. Danielson

What a way to welcome 2010! So much for Global Warming. January slammed the northern continents with record low temperatures. The late State of Fear author Michael Crichton would have loved to hear environmentalists like Al Gore explain this latest arctic blast. Don’t get me wrong; we can do a lot to clean up our air, but weather patterns are cyclic and ongoing, and as long as we are floating atop a molten core, we can look forward to more severe weather, volcanoes, and earthquakes.

But this cold snap also gives writers a wealth of situations for character development. The news recently reported iguanas falling out of trees when the Florida temperatures dropped below forty. Since these reptiles can’t handle the cold, their bodies go into hibernation. They’ll awake once the temperature warms, probably wondering how they got there. Now, imagine your character’s reaction while hiding in the Florida swap and one of these lizards falls on him.

Authors should welcome cold weather as an opportunity to create vivid scenes in their stories. For example, imagine a homeless man struggling to find shelter when the missions are full. Fighting for his life, his fingers and toes are numb. Since most people stay inside, there is no one to approach for help. In desperation, fight breaks out and he dies a violent death. His misery may be over, but it’s just beginning for the homicide detectives.

The detectives investigating this murder are subjected to the same cold. They find the victim’s blood frozen in the snow. There are tire tracks and footprints nearby, but did they come from the murderer? They find bare skin stuck to a metal post. Their breath is visible, their extremities numb and aching. Their mustaches are frozen from their dripping noses. The air stinks from alley fires and fireplace smoke. The dry snow crunches under their feet. A distant power plant creates an ominous cloud. Snow builds on windows as gale winds pile drifts. The white Hummer parked up the alley is barely visible in the freezing fog. Moisture from its exhaust shows its engine is running. Smoke drifting from the driver’s window shows it’s occupied. The detectives are being watched. Car chases on ice are always exciting.

Only your imagination and power of observation can limit the description in this winter murder. Next time you’re out and about in these extreme conditions, look around, take notice, and jot down your thoughts over a nice hot cocoa. After all, winter a great time for mayhem.