Author worldlines…
Recently a house blew up in Hutchinson, Kansas—a tragedy caused when a car hit the house and broke a gas line. There hasn’t been much follow-up since then (news media aren’t good at that), but the tragedy sent me back a few years. I spent the summer I turned twelve with my grandfather learning what farm life was all about (growing up in California’s San Joaquin Valley had already given me a good idea, though) and meeting relatives I didn’t know I had (and have sadly forgotten about). During that period, I visited Hutchinson. I don’t remember who the relatives were, but they were nice people who treated me well.
That news item started me thinking about worldlines. MS Word thinks that should be two words (MS Word makes a lot of mistakes, so every author should be on guard), but it’s one word in physics. A worldline is the path an object takes in space and time; the term was invented for relativistic discussions. In quantum gravity, quantum history is preferred, because all worldliness are possible, making up a bundle, but some are more likely than others, in a quantum-probabilistic sense. If your eyes have glazed over by now, you can reopen them. Except for the term worldline, I’ll discuss writing issues here, not physics.
Human interactions often leave human beings’ worldliness an entangled mess, a huge bowl of spaghetti, more so now than ever before because people travel a lot and interact on social media (OK, that’s not spatial, but it’s an interaction in time). The more entangled authors’ worldliness are, the better chance authors can tell interesting stories because a complicated and winding worldline in space and time implies authors have a lot of experiences that can influence their fiction. In brief, they have something to write about. They might be making it all up, but those experiences will have a positive influence on what they write. Even for sci-fi authors, because good sci-fi is about human experiences and relationships for the most part. They’ve experienced human situations and problems, so, even if their fiction has a futuristic setting, their characters’ worldlines will seem all the more human.
The length of an author’s worldline is important. We’ve all heard of child prodigies who write a full novel in their teens (I did that, but I was no prodigy—I don’t think it’s that hard either), but I can’t imagine that novel’s characters are anything but caricatures (my first novel probably suffered from that—I tossed it when I went to college—but I’d been to Kansas the summer before!). After all, children who are authors don’t have long worldlines. They don’t have enough experiences to make their fiction seem real (and I agree with Tom Clancy that fiction must seem real, even if it’s sci-fi or fantasy).
MFAs have the same problems. They might be fine for teaching their students story elements and how to use the English language and construct interesting sentences and paragraphs, but they can’t lengthen worldlines. A wannabe author at twenty usually doesn’t have the experiences even a thirty-year-old has. There are exceptions—growing up in a ghetto, military service, and so forth—but those exceptions might not have the desire to be an author either (in the cases mentioned, the person might just want to forget about the experiences). One way to acquire those experiences is to get a journalism degree and work in media, and forego the MFA. Reporters gather experience and learn to write at the same time.
The same lack of experience goes for the stereotypical reclusive author. I might have reclusive tendencies—I was what would be called a nerd in high school—but our nerd herd was my social group, and I can comfortably say my worldline is quite entangled even if I’m more of a social misfit. (Have you lived outside the U.S.? I have!) On the contrary, I think my antisocial tendencies allow me to be a better observer of human interactions. None of my characters are like me, although I suppose they all have something of me in them (especially Rolando Castilblanco—I too pop a lot of Tums). But I think they’re more tempered alloys of personal traits I’ve observed on my long worldline. Same for situations and settings.
I’ve often heard it said that everyone has a novel in them. NaNoWriMo broadcasts that, I suppose. I’d like to believe it’s true; as a reader, I enjoy having many stories to entertain me. But there’s no doubt that some people have more entangled worldlines than others. Those are the ones whose stories should be published, whether the worldliness define their fiction or they write interesting memoirs. We now have the means that allow that to happen. Whether their stories will be read is another question. That depends on the readers’ worldlines!
***
[Note from Steve: Due to circumstances beyond my control, there’s been a problem for readers wishing to make comments on articles in this blog. That problem has now been solved, so comment away! I apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused.]
Great Spring Thaw Sale. Every two weeks, with one week overlap, starting April 1, one of my books will be on sale at Smashwords (the overlap means that there are usually two books on sale). (Yes, it’s been going on…sorry about that, but it was announced on my Home page and elsewhere.) Take advantage of this to download some entertaining spring reading. Each ebook will be on sale for $1.99, regardless of the normal retail price. Access my author page for the entire list of ebooks. (Remember, Smashwords offers ALL ebook formats, including mobi format for Kindles.) Use the coupon code for the ebook on checkout.
In libris libertas!
