Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Why I write science fiction thrillers


I would have to say most of my influences for what I write are video games and animes.  There’s almost one playing all. the. time. at my house.  If The Husband and/or The Son aren’t playing video games, they’re watching animes. Since I’m usually taking care of The Daughter or reading/writing while they’re doing all that and I only get half or, most of time, only a quarter of the picture, my mind tends to fill in the blanks and a story is born.

I have to say though that the inspiration behind RENEGADE was a mix of a bunch of different things.  My fascination for all things ocean related.  My love for the 1990’s science fiction television show SeaQuest and my son’s favorite video game BioShock.  You’ll see a common thread, I’m sure.  They all involve the ocean!

I’ve always been fascinated with living in a colony on the ocean floor. In fact, I used to tell my mom when I was rich and famous marine biologist (ha!) living on the ocean floor, I’d buy my parents a house right next to mine.

When SeaQuest came on I was just becoming a teenager and I was like, "wow that’s not that far in the future. I could totally see all that happening!"

I started writing stories about people living in sea colonies, read as much as I could about Atlantis, even started taking more science and math classes in the hopes of learning the science behind the sea colonies,  but it was my perfect vision and a perfect society is boring. 

It wasn’t until years later that I was reading a news article about people’s obsession about being perfect, while listening to my son play Bioshock that it hit me.  A perfect society is only boring if it really IS perfect.  Not if it’s only the ILLUSION of being perfect. 

So, I was able to write a story incorporating almost all of my favorite things.  If only I could find a way to incorporate a horse in there somewhere.  :D

Too bad horses are messy and Mother doesn’t like messy things…

7 comments:

  1. I love ocean colonization stories, too! They're so fascinating! I'm putting Renegade on my wishlist right now. :)

    If you liked SeaQuest DSV, you should definitely check out an old 90s Australian kids' show called Ocean Girl. It should still be up on YouTube.

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  2. Hi Amanda! Thanks for the suggestion! I think I DID see that, but I'm not sure. *Goes to youtube*

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  3. I've always had an affinity for undersea societies. I love the premise.

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  4. OMG I LOVED SEAQUEST DSV!!!!! I cannot tell you how much I loved that show. Oh, and now you've done it - ripped open all my old Jonathan Brandis wounds.

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  5. Love the idea of sea colonies - awesome!

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  6. Seriously, Kristen?! Jonathan Brandis was my imaginary BF all through middle and high school! I still miss seeing him in stuff. :(

    KC: Thanks! :D

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