Elliot Kessler

I recently finished writing the first draft of my newest science fiction novel, and it has been quite a journey so far. I have learned a lot about writing, and I understand the story and characters much more than I did before. I am grateful for the opportunity I was given.

However, the book is not finished yet, far from it. There is still a lot to go, and after a year and a half, I am only just beginning to fully understand the story and what I am trying to say.

There are a lot of things that are going to have to change if the book is going to be any good, and that especially includes the setting. The setting of the book needs to capture the mood and tone of the story well, and it also needs to give the reader something to explore. Most importantly, it must illustrate the themes of the story well.

The setting needs a lot of work before I move forward with the next draft. I had a vague idea of what I wanted the setting to be, but then it evolved into something else, and that something else turned the novel into something I didn’t want it to be. I want it to be a science fiction thriller that thoroughly explores addiction and loneliness. But it turned into a basic detective story with some sci-fi elements thrown into the mix. As interesting as that could be, I’m not sure that’s what I want this story to be. It may become that in the future, but I would love for the setting to explore the themes of addiction and loneliness as much as the plot and the characters.

The themes of the story are what drove me to write it. Addiction is something very harmful and important that most people shy away from, and I understand that. It’s embarrassing, personal, and scary. But like I said, it’s also important. It’s a topic that needs to be discussed, and I decided that if no one else was going to write a story about it, I would.

At first, the story was going to be a military space opera, but it got scrapped after a little bit of work because it didn’t fit the tone of the story I wanted to tell. Then I came across novels such as “Caves of Steel” by Isacc Asimov and “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Philip K. Dick. While looking for more novels like it, I stumbled into the cyberpunk subgenre.

I had heard of cyberpunk in the past, but I had not been very interested in it until then. When the second trailer for “The Batman” with Robert Pattinson was released on YouTube, I knew that I wanted to write a detective story, and cyberpunk was the perfect sub-genre for the job.

I began researching the genre, learning about its tropes and cliches, and reading cyberpunk stories when I quickly learned something: there are almost no clean cyberpunk stories. Most cyberpunk media is filled with sex, over-the-top violence, and a ton of cursing. As a Christian author and reader, I quickly realized that this wasn’t the right genre for me. I couldn’t write a story like the ones others were writing, and I thought writing a clean cyberpunk story wouldn’t sell well.

Because of this (and because I was too lazy to fully develop the setting and take the time to fully flesh it out), I decided to put the story in a modern setting. The only sci-fi elements were the implants that the story explores, which had to be there for the thematic side of the story.

As much fun as I was having with the book, the setting wasn’t working. I didn’t like how putting the novel in the modern world affected the story and the themes. It wasn’t the same as the short story I wrote, which I used to experiment with the genre, the novel’s main character, the themes, and the world of the story. I realized that it was much more exciting as cyberpunk. Putting the story in a future where technology was both a blessing and a curse was interesting. But I hadn’t fully realized its potential. I could use the setting to further explore the themes of addiction and loneliness.

Moving forward, I’m going to develop the setting much further, and I’m going to develop the side characters much further, too. Thus far, the main character is the most fleshed-out character, which is fine, but the other characters are not nearly developed enough. I plan on giving one of the characters his own side plot, which will further explore the themes and setting of the story as well as the character.

For now, I’m going to step away from the novel and come back in February so I can look at it with a fresh perspective. I’ll be able to catch some things I missed, and I will improve the story exponentially.

If there’s anyone out there who is also looking for clean cyberpunk, I would recommend checking out the “Tron” series and reading “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Both are very interesting and thoughtful works of fiction, and I love them. If you know of any other clean cyberpunk stories, please let me know! I’d love to find some more.

Thanks for reading! Have a fantastic day.