Listen to my Anti-Origin Story and you’ll learn how I scifi because scifi made me. One of my greatest successes as a person was the moment that my life was an anti-Origin Story. Scifi led me to that conclusion, and scratches the surface of why I’m grateful to both the scifi genre and to the community.
It’s no secret that science fiction has shaped who I am. I kept coming back to scifi over and over – it’s been a constant in an otherwise chaotic existence. I grew up watching scifi and understanding its purpose ‘as a vehicle for social comment, as networks and sponsors who censored controversial material from live dramas were less concerned with seemingly innocuous fantasy and sci-fi stories.’ In his own quietly subversive way, guys like Roddenberry and Serling shaped our culture; today we live in the future they helped create.
The Anti-Origin Story Begins
Science fiction has done a lot for me. First, it makes progress feel possible. Making scifi introduced me to the concept that creating art helps you create yourself. Even the bad parts of scifi seemed to challenge me to do better.
The entire process of making scifi humbled me. Trying to see success as a linear path has always led to dead ends. It’s never that easy. Making stuff yourself gives you so much respect for those out there doing the same.
Here’s where the anti-origin story happens. When you realize that ‘linear paths’ no longer apply to you. When you realize that following Bruce Lee’s ‘be like water’ advice means getting used to the cold. Some human beings weren’t born to follow, and the price of that path is loneliness. Your origin story happens when you realize there isn’t an origin story – it’s just you making it happen every day. Whatever it means, whatever this path is leading you to – a competent historian will make it look as though it was inevitable, but you know. We know.
Difficult Roads Lead to Beautiful Places
That’s the anti-origin story. Scifi wrote my anti-origin story – it helped me find my place in the universe – now I make scifi because scifi made me. This process led me to beautiful places. Respair over despair. Scifi “inspires curiosity through stories that demonstrate what could be created and what could become of society.” Science fiction is a weapon in the war against our dystopian reality. Writing scifi has been a way for me to escape all of that.
I’ll tell you a cool story – Mike.Sierra.Echo started out with a dream where a space elevator was rising from the earth over the top of ‘On the Turning Away’ by Pink Floyd. I woke up realizing I had dreamed the movie trailer for a movie that didn’t exist. What would a space elevator be doing that was so important? Why was it a story that needed to be told?
How I Know I’m An Artist
Taking a concept from idea to 60K-word novel. Then step back to go ‘wow, I did that.’ That process has done so much for my mental and emotional health. I have a lot of problems to overcome as a person – but I feel good about saying ‘they can’t take away the fact that I wrote a novel. I tried, I did, I shipped. I’m a real artist.’
As you chip away at the trauma and the baggage, you uncover the parts of yourself that aren’t pretty and can’t be blamed on others. I haven’t seen many stories that tell this emotional arc of ‘chaotic character development,’ so I wanted to tell a story that did. Something that got to the core ‘unclogging-a-drain-by-getting-up-to-your-elbows-in-dirty-dishwater’ messy truths. How criticism and self-work kick off a number of potential flight-or-flight responses. How you earn a lot of respect by doing the work.
But There’s More to It
Here is another truth from my anti-origin scifi story. ‘Messy’ kids? They aren’t messy at all. They were handed bad cards – nobody showed them how to recover. Not fair, not fair at all. Science, and science fiction, can be huge force multipliers to people climbing out of poverty. Anyone can help – you just have to care, first.
To help other ‘messy’ kids feel seen and understood, I started out with a protagonist who eventually became Mike. He’s the result of a lot of personal family trauma – losing your mom at a young age to a tragic accident and then watching your family implode under the stress. How would he come back from that? Why would a twelve-year-old steal a space elevator, knowing he’d get caught? How would he conclude that stealing with the space elevator was the only way to save it?
Mike lost his mom to a brain aneurysm (one of the scariest ways to go, IMO). Then he fell into the clutches of his controlling, narcissistic ultra-wealthy Grandma – an Elon Musk of the 22nd Century. How do you survive that? Could you teach her a lesson she couldn’t ignore or buy her way out of? Could you write a story that’s a blueprint for surviving a tough childhood?
Messy to Clean
You can’t just WRITE a story like that – it has to be fun. Like, how does a space elevator work, anyway? Why haven’t they built one yet? Assuming they solve all the engineering challenges, what would the space elevator like inside? How do you navigate the emotional minefields of narcissistic, controlling family? Minefields aren’t linear paths to safety, there are ways to identify and avoid danger zones. You can recover from setbacks and meltdowns. I wrote about all of that – a love-letter to a young ‘Me’ saying ‘Yes, you’re going to survive. Here’s a way to get through it.’
It’s not easy. Real, authentic science fiction has to exist as art beyond commerce if it’s going to be anything that looks like genuine, legitimate hope. Navigating the fine line between art and commerce means daily work. Science fiction is actualized imagination and determination. We have to do it every day. I had to ask and answer questions every day with Mike.Sierra.Echo. Where would the space elevator live? Would you even have it in North America? What would the launch complex look like from the outside? Answering all the questions forced me to write and re-write again to make it all fit together.
Of course you can lose yourself in the process of finding your way. Oddly enough, your inner compass tells you when you’re on the right path (or not). Want a clue? It’s easy – you’ll never be able to accept easy answers anymore. Our culture thrives on making things seem easy, only for you to realize that the work’s been subsidized with your money, or your freedom. You’ll never be able to do that anymore without your conscience going ‘yeah … no.’
Now, It’s Your Turn
Society also thinks that the strongest person in room is the one who cares the least. We can’t afford to tolerate that for too long. Our culture thinks that the strongest person in room is the one who cares the least. I firmly believe this won’t get us anywhere as a species. We defeat noise and rage by using kindness and love. Mike.Sierra.Echo is one boy’s story of figuring out how it works.
Ultimately, I told a story where people lost something big, found their way home. I wrote Mike Sierra Echo for the people trying to find *their* way home. I make scifi because scifi made me – my origin story, wasn’t an origin story at all.
The truth is, home isn’t a place at all. It’s a place inside you and it works wherever you are. It’s inside you, maybe it’s in another town, maybe it’s 100,000 miles into space. Telling the story of Mike.Sierra.Echo has taught me a lot about myself. Now I’m taking the next step forward by bringing it to life as a published novel. None of that would be possible without science fiction and for that, I’m forever grateful.
New for 2024 – Cat tax – I am a world-class Cat Rater on Mastodon and here is one of the cats I rated yesterday. “As an experienced curator of fine art, Yoyo evinces a quiet reserve with dignity and a taste for antiquities. 10/10 – down for a trip to the Met anytime!” https://mastodon.social/@inkican/111682346889455375
