Hello welcome to another post. This time a reflection on my very chaotic work surrounding and answering the driving question below.
How can sci-fi/fantasy fiction help us imagine a different future?
By using the world of sci-fi, you can break the laws of nature and spacetime. This can allow for a highly scientific book with less boundaries while keeping the realism. On the opposite side, fantasy is a world with no limits and is implausible. Take the Mandalorian for example, items like beskar and lightsabers will eventually be possible to some extent. Then take John Wick and his suit that can stop bullets without damaging the suit. We can make a bullet proof suit however that suit can only take so many hits, eventually something like the suit will be possible. Sci-fi allows for people to imagine a different future just like Star Wars and John Wick.
My learning process began by reading Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld which expanded my knowledge on the steampunk theme and the Darwinism theory. While I found the book underwhelming, the central idea/concept of it was good but my interest was lost quickly. As we read the book, I had to complete a reading role for each slotted amount of chapters. We had to rotate: summarize the chapter, find interesting vocabulary words, create a piece of art or find a way to connect the story to real life.
The next step in the learning process was that I wrote a story spine on our own vision of the sci-fi/ fantasy theme. Then I extended this into a plot synopsis, peer critiqued, drafted it again, then self critiqued the plot and played with my main character’s backstory. For my main character, Ghost, I mutilated stuffed animals and attached various stuffy limbs together to create a new creature. To complement my creation, I wrote a resume for him and brought him to life. Below is a photo of my frankenstuffy
I then began the long chaotic process of writing my short story. Through many drafts and expansions, I completed my drafts 1 and 2. I then completed a peer critique with my classmates to give me some extra insight into what worked in my story and what did not. This was a helpful process. After some more revising, expanding, critiquing and re-revising again, I completed my short sci/fi fantasy story centered around my stuffy creation.
here is my plot draft
Once my story was complete, I began the planning for a minute long movie trailer for my book. I used heavy amounts of green screen to film due to its sci-fi/fantasy origin. I chose my key scenes before filming the scene bases that later would be heavily edited. I proceeded to obtain all the content from the internet that would be added on top of the raw footage that I filmed. After that, I cut the scenes to fit together and properly overlay. This continued with the addition of sound effects and music. This is quite a tedious and time consuming process but is worth the effort. Finally I cut the video apart to add in spaces with text. Overall, I am happy with the end result of the trailer as it represents my short story and my character well.
During this extent of my learning experience, I improved on my writing skills and focused on bringing my messy ideas together. I also worked on my filming and editing skills; I still think there is room to expand my filming skills, however, more projects and revision are necessary for improvement.
below is my short story
There was a husk, a shell of a person you could say, his name was Ghost. One that had seen it all, he knew more than any and was perfect, creepily perfect, too perfect. He was a hard working person who knew almost everything and had a degree in everything, except law. He was a higher up at Notownedbyawarcriminal Inc, a company owned by Timmy. Timmy was a man who only cared about money, he had no morals, he would work people to death and paid no one for their work and used death threats to keep them in check. Ghost had worked there for years, and had seen many Timmys rule the company; he did not know for how long and they did not know how much longer he would last.
Ghost was the lead of the legal team, ironic as he had no law degree at all, he creates documents with hidden clauses so Timmy can sue for monetary gain. Even Ghost was not paid for his work out suing other companies to the ground. Regardless, he had been there for so long a degree would have been useless even if it was even possible to obtain one due to the world’s companies eliminating education to keep people working.
Day in and day out he made illegal deal after illegal deal, bringing in trillions for Timmy and never saw a single penny of it. Yet he was never aware, the husk of himself was just too ignorant, and this kept him working all these years. It was as if he worked robotically. Like a kind of limbo or trance where you’re awake but at the same time asleep; you can’t wake up but others can wake you.
The husk, being just a body itself, can evolve an immunity to control. As Ghost drank and ate the same company supplied food as the other workers, his limbo was brought further from his consciousness due to Timmy drugging everything that the workers consumed. Timmy was using an age-old mixture of lab made stimulants that can emulate mind control. The immunity that Ghost was slowly building over his existence was making this drug ineffective and allowed him to have some control from limbo. Over time, he finally had a window into the world, a view from his internal prison.
Eventually, due to the drug taking less effect, Ghost’s work quality noticeably degraded making Timmy suspicious about his free labour. Timmy sent Silencers, a team of genetically modified and chemically enhanced assassins, to drug test Ghost and kill him if he had gained immunity to Timmy’s mind control stimulants..
As things turned out Ghost had developed an immunity and so the Silencers prepped a batch of Francium bombs. By precisely firing a needle into the vacuum sealed tubes of Francium, the exposure to air caused the Francium to rapidly decay and atomize everything around it. This in turn woke Ghost up fully.
Suddenly the internal prison in Ghost broke, setting him free, however, he awakened with no arms or knees as a result of the explosion and he was in complete shell shock. He fainted as something or someone picked him up. Awaking on a lab table of unknown material, he discovered that a set of metal arms labeled Levium were fused to his shoulders. At the same time, legs labeled Dlevium replaced his missing lower limbs. He blacked out again…
When he gained consciousness again, a computerized voice explained to him what had happened to his body. It stated that his arms and the lower half of his legs had been replaced, while elaborating that the new limbs had some certain powers. A robotic arm handed him a manual on what the limbs could do; the manual was heavy and the size of a library. He fainted again…
He woke up and was directed to a firing range located in the next room over. A map on the floor indicated he had been transported to the other side of the world. In this firing range, he slowly began to learn what he could and couldn’t do with his new found power. He was also informed, with an LCD screen, of the state of his former company and what had been going on while he was in limbo previously. Ghost had had no awareness of what had gone on in his former life.
He began to devise a plan. He was now in a constant state of fury due to the lives being wasted by Timmy. He angrily wanted to stop Timmy and the other companies from working people to death for monetary gain. The plan had a massive preference for revolution and massive explosions. He opened up a laptop to his right and promptly ordered 7 B-30 stealth bombers and 21 Plutonium reactors from Floormart. Using a digital map on the laptop, he located the facility that created the drugs used by Timmy and other inhuman companies.
First he flew a modified B-2 into the stimulant facility completely obliterating it, stopping the drugging of the workers outside of the stimulant facility. (the corrupt ones inside were completely vaporized) Ghost was immune now to any form of damage, blunt force, heights, radiation, you name it, all forms of damage. He walked over to a nearby hot dog stand completely unharmed to the mass damage he had just caused.
At this time, the stimulants had worn off causing mass shock in the workers. This quickly turned into rage and revolt as the now aware workers waged mass destruction of guerrilla warfare campaigns on the companies. Ghost used this as an opportunity to take control of the rebellion army by giving perfect war plans to defeat the remaining armies. This was so he could begin to direct the creation of democracies and the rebuilding of the old world.
Using the new power he gained from freeing the workers from their mind control, he directed the rebellion into destroying everything the corrupt companies had built. Ghost swiftly stomped any remaining enemy defences with tactical nukes in his conquest to the enemy stronghold. City after city, army after army, building after building are all destroyed by the wrath of the rebellion in their conquest for freedom.
As the war blitzkrieged to an end, Ghost prepared to go after Timmy and torture him. He found and captured Timmy, who was eating a soggy taco on the 111th floor of his skyscraper. He proceeded to silently shove a chloroform soaked towel in his face. Instantly Timmy was knocked out, which allowed Ghost to tie up and abduct him. On the way to a gladiatorial arena, Ghost stopped and bought a hotdog. Once at their destination, he waited for Timmy to wake up completely and untied him. Ghost then gave him a sword and forced Timmy to a duel (loser gets slowly quartered). Ghost and Timmy fought hard, blade to blade with sparks flying from the intensity. Eventually Ghost chops Timmy’s feet off rendering him unable to fight, then proceeds to quarter Timmy and atomizes the pieces with a small scale nuke.
Cue the rebuilding time lapse. 2 words later, the world is rebuilt and democracy is restored. Ghost returns to his life from eons ago, as a science teacher at a university that teaches anything and lives in the center of the planet. The way he did this is unknown and how he got a hot dog vender outside is even less known. END