So, not much to report here lately. I get that way when I'm writing. Its like the rest of my life goes on hold and I have to be reminded to go out and smell the roses once in a while. I have purposefully not been in the Zone for quite some time - at least a few years now - because the last time I was in the Zone, I was there for almost two straight years.
This time, my new novel is shorter, more focused, and a lot less involving - but a lot more fun. It involves a certain favorite hero of mine traveling through the last days of the life of Amelia Earhart (as amended by wikipedia ;) So far, I've written about her espionage against Japan, the crash of her plane, and her rescue by a Japanese submarine. In the near future, Amelia Earhart will face a Japanese firing squad. So much fun!
It has helped my writing process immensely that two fine actresses played Amelia last year giving me a great range with which to work for her character. Amy Adams played a young, feisty Amelia Earhart in Night at the Museum 2 - Battle of the Smithsonian. I love Amy Adams and she was great in this role. Unfortunately, her character was a little too cartoony for a serious attempt at portraying Amelia Earhart. But then, Hilary Swank played the title character in the movie, Amelia, opposite Richard Gere. She brought a more diplomatic approach to the character - deciding to make her a real person versus a fictional portrayal. Unfortunately for Amelia, the script gave Hilary Swank little to work with and one was left wondering just who Amelia Earhart really was and what drove her to be the kind of person who would want to fly around the world.
I opted for a middle ground on Amelia Earhart knowing that I need only keep to the accurate historical portrayal of her during the hours leading up to her ill-fated last flight (which was the first chapter of the book). After that, I was off in fictional speculative territory anyway. I've tried to keep Amelia real, but also offer some of the backbone present in Amy Adams portrayal. The more I write, the closer I think I'm getting to my ideal portrayal of this American icon.
Anyway, I'm enjoying writing again. I don't think I'll ever become the hermit I was during the writing of the ill-fated First Novel, but I might be a little more flaky as time moves forward. So, don't be surprised if I blow people off in the near future to spend more time with the lovely Amelia and her charming and enigmatic time traveling companion.
Monday, July 26, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
A new Non-Religious thought puzzle... Deep Waters Ahead!
So I had another errant thought the other day and I haven't really had any free time to play with it. So I thought I'd open the idea to the entire blogosphere to see if anyone has anything deep to add to the discussion.
The question is basically this: Is Time Fixed?
Now what got me to start thinking down this road are two things: first was the idea of relativity. In that, our perception of space is relative to our movement through it. Or to use the thought exercise from Einstein, if you are on a train, everything is whizzing by your window, but if you're outside, the train window is whizzing by you. Applied to time in a practical manner, does time itself alter the further away you are from events? Or does time remain static and only our view of it alters as we get further away from the event?
This led me to my second road: entropy. Or to put it more bluntly, nothing ever remains the same. Physical properties of all substances are constantly breaking down, transforming, etc... But since Entropy seems to be a function of time, does it also have an effect on the physical properties of a fixed event in time?
How does this all break out? Well, let's say that time was not fixed. Using an example of Bob the Caveman inventing the wheel, that fact might remain true for say, 1 million years. But eventually, as you got further and further from the event, the facts behind it would begin to erode. Time, itself, would begin to unravel, to fade, to be obliterated by all that follows that event. It would mean, in a practical sense, that after a certain point the past would be a meaningless blur.
We, of course, would take this for granted. We can't possibly know who invented the wheel, right? Its before there was any recorded history. But what about the events of yesterday. Are they fixed? Did what you did yesterday have any permanence whatsoever? Or will it fade from history and memory when there are no forces left to leave it in physical place (i.e. Its not recorded and there is no memory of it by any still alive)? Is this a natural function of space/time? Or is this only a function of limited human knowledge?
Anyway, I was just exploring cool ideas about time. I don't think we can suss out a real answer to the question, but its certainly fun playing around with it.
The question is basically this: Is Time Fixed?
Now what got me to start thinking down this road are two things: first was the idea of relativity. In that, our perception of space is relative to our movement through it. Or to use the thought exercise from Einstein, if you are on a train, everything is whizzing by your window, but if you're outside, the train window is whizzing by you. Applied to time in a practical manner, does time itself alter the further away you are from events? Or does time remain static and only our view of it alters as we get further away from the event?
This led me to my second road: entropy. Or to put it more bluntly, nothing ever remains the same. Physical properties of all substances are constantly breaking down, transforming, etc... But since Entropy seems to be a function of time, does it also have an effect on the physical properties of a fixed event in time?
How does this all break out? Well, let's say that time was not fixed. Using an example of Bob the Caveman inventing the wheel, that fact might remain true for say, 1 million years. But eventually, as you got further and further from the event, the facts behind it would begin to erode. Time, itself, would begin to unravel, to fade, to be obliterated by all that follows that event. It would mean, in a practical sense, that after a certain point the past would be a meaningless blur.
We, of course, would take this for granted. We can't possibly know who invented the wheel, right? Its before there was any recorded history. But what about the events of yesterday. Are they fixed? Did what you did yesterday have any permanence whatsoever? Or will it fade from history and memory when there are no forces left to leave it in physical place (i.e. Its not recorded and there is no memory of it by any still alive)? Is this a natural function of space/time? Or is this only a function of limited human knowledge?
Anyway, I was just exploring cool ideas about time. I don't think we can suss out a real answer to the question, but its certainly fun playing around with it.
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