First Saturday Sci-Fi - March

Tegon Maus
Mar 5, 2017
4 min read

Today we're talking Sci-Fi with Jim Proctor !

Jim has been a laboratory scientist and engineer for the past 37 years. About 10 years ago, he began writing his first novel, a science fiction story about a manned mission to Mars. It was an action/suspense/who-done-it story. Next, he penned a short story, followed by a fantasy novel about a tribe of human-like people on a distant planet. That story was mainly about relationships between people. A short story he had written between these two novels was expanded and made into a 3rd novel. This ultimately became Veronica Phoenix.

1. Tell us about your favorite work… what makes it special ?

My favorite would be “Search for the Phoenix”. It is special to me for two reasons. First, it takes the story told in “Veronica Phoenix” and gives the reader a deeper understanding of some of the characters, and how Carl came to be in his predicament. It’s a story full of suspense and emotion. It’s a love story, a suspense thriller, and a story about lasting friendship. Second, it’s my most recent work. I try to learn and improve with each new work, so I think this one is my best, so far.

2. What do you think makes for good Sci-Fi ?

When I was a kid, I hated that book stores put Sci-Fi and Fantasy in the same section. To me, these were entirely separate genres, and didn’t belong mixed together. Over the years, especially since I started writing, I have come to realize that they have a lot more in common than they have differences. All fiction shares common elements. What sets good science fiction apart from fantasy and other genres of fiction is science. If you want to write good science fiction, it needs to have good science. That isn’t to say it can’t have imagined technologies that don’t exist today. That is very common in science fiction. But the science has to be believable within the framework of the story. If you are writing a story that takes place in 2017, for example, you can’t have your characters trot down to the spaceport and buy tickets for a hyperspace cruise ship to spend a holiday on a planet circling a star in the next spiral arm of the galaxy. If your story takes place in 2317, you might be able to do that. It’s not good science fiction if the science isn’t believable within the framework of the story.

Having said that, the story also needs all the elements that make a good fiction. It needs romance, human struggle, tragedy, comedy, and a thing called plot.

3. Do you think your books can help shape the future and if so how?

I don’t think my books will shape the future. Maybe some young kid will read something I wrote, and he or she will go on to become a scientist or engineer who invents something amazing thirty years from now. But that just means that boy or girl shaped the future. Maybe my book will help water a seed that grows inside them, leading them to do something great. That’s them, not my writing.

4. Do you have inside jokes or personal "Easter Eggs” hidden in your writing?

I do like to include jokes and “Easter Eggs” in my stories. In “Veronica Phoenix”, there is an entire chapter that is a “Jaws” Easter Egg. In “Search for the Phoenix” there are references to “Gilligan’s Island” throughout the story. I don’t think I have included any inside jokes.

5. Do you model your characters after people you know or do you just make them up?

My characters create themselves. I don’t consciously model them after specific people, though they may have characteristics of people I have known. I really just let the characters develop themselves as the story evolves. The process for me is more like, “Okay, I’ve got this woman… I’ll call her… Betty for now. Okay, Betty, go! You do your thing, and I’ll write it down.” And in the second paragraph, Betty will get into an argument with her mother, and that argument is where her mother comes into existence. And as I write their argument, I learn a little about both of them. They create themselves within the story.

6. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to take away ?

I think every reader should find a message in every book they read, even if the author didn’t intentionally write that particular message into it. I don’t set out to show the reader that “good triumphs over evil” or any other such message. For example, in my first novel (not currently in print) I killed my main character halfway through the story. What sort of message is that? Okay, maybe the message is, “The good guy doesn’t always win.” I didn’t set out to write a story that conveyed that message, though.

7. What is your favorite review?

I have had some wonderful reviews that made me smile and gave me a little boost to keep going with the next project. I’ve also received some critical reviews that helped me to improve my writing. However, I think my favorite review is one I received for a short story:

“5 stars - Good book - I would not read this book again it was just ok was confusingly friend of mine read it an she loved it” (That is a direct cut-and-paste from of the review.)

It’s my favorite because it reminds me that you can’t be everything to everyone. I’ve known authors who were truly upset by a review of their book. I don’t let a bad review bother me. If there is something I can learn from a review, I take it in and I improve. That goes for good reviews and bad reviews. Every review tells you something about your writing. Find the message and learn from every review.

What comes next?

I am working on a fantasy novel about an eighteen-year-old girl, living in the dark shadow of her older sister who died four years earlier, who needs to break away from her parents and go out into the world on her own. Add to that, a very unusual man who is going to need a friend he can depend on, though he doesn’t know it yet.

Where can we learn more?