Writing a sci-fi novel
Posted: 2004-06-10 08:51pm
For most of the time I was away from this board, I've been working on a science fiction novel. It is now 150 pages long, and I've been having a nasty case of writer's block. I'll explain the plot in the hopes that someone will come up with a great idea for it.
Ivan: Elite genetically engineered soldier
It is the mid-21st century, and the US has fallen into a fundamentalist, militaristic theocracy. Ivan and several others have been raised and trained by that regime (without the public's knowledge of course). The regime didn't actually create him - it stole the zygotes from a genetic engineer who's now hiding with the rebellion and decided to use them for the upcoming war with China and Russia.
Near the end of his training, Ivan is given a next-generation battlesuit which enhances his strength, resilence, and speed (think Master Chief, but with more realistic tech). Since the theocratic America is so expansion-prone, it has occupied Canada for some time now and fighting a new Pacific war with China, plus dealing with a rebellion operating out of remote areas such as the Rockies.
Next, he and his comrades undergo Hell Month (a variation on Hell Week for Navy SEALs, but longer and worse). After that, he is assigned to a US Marine regiment fighting the rebellion in North California. On one mission, Ivan witnesses a horrible massacre of innocent women and children near the front lines, and he participates in it because of his relentless indoctrination (and something else, which I will mention later)
On the next mission, he is sent deep into the mountains of Northern California for a search and destroy mission. His battlesuit is hacked into by the rebels, thus landing him in a trap. The rebels bring him to their regional HQ, and secretly remove his neural implant (which has been mind-controlling him for most of his life). Then they expose him to the dire reality of life in America, which Ivan is unprepared for. Newly liberated from his invisible prison, Ivan wants to go back at first. The rebels release Ivan and his battlesuit (with its radio disabled) near a small town, where he can go to call his superiors for immediate rescue.
But as soon as he is home, he gradually realizes that everything the rebels told him is all true. With his enhanced intelligence and senses, he figures out that he has been doped for his whole life. This revelation turns him into a bitter antihero, and it isn't long before he commits big-time treason by refusing a direct order to kill a captured field commander and going on a rampage.
It takes a long time for the base's security troops to capture him (given his lightning reflexes, speed, strength, and armor), but by this time the captured commander has escaped. Ivan is subjected to a torturous reindoctrination session in which the Inquisition try to reintroduce his neural implant. Before they have a chance to do so, a rebel strike force arrives (commanded by the very same major Ivan helped escape) and spirits Ivan away in a furious corridor-by-corridor battle. Pursuers dog the strike force on its way back to base. Ivan meets the genetic engineer who came up with him in the first place there, and listens to his story.
A few days after the heist, the rebel brass and Ivan hatch a plan to raze an enemy base in Panama (the US occupies this area in the book) because it's where Ivan's mind was controlled from. Destroying this base will release his comrades from their mental prisons. Needless to say, Ivan and the rebels destroy the base in a massive attritive battle and disappear into the foliage.
That's the basic plot. The story is much more deeper. If you can, please give me any suggestions for new technologies, questions, and comments. I'm doing my best to incorporate every new technology I can think of in this book, to make it more realistic (and to make it more likely to win a Hugo or Nebula in the near future
)
Ivan: Elite genetically engineered soldier
It is the mid-21st century, and the US has fallen into a fundamentalist, militaristic theocracy. Ivan and several others have been raised and trained by that regime (without the public's knowledge of course). The regime didn't actually create him - it stole the zygotes from a genetic engineer who's now hiding with the rebellion and decided to use them for the upcoming war with China and Russia.
Near the end of his training, Ivan is given a next-generation battlesuit which enhances his strength, resilence, and speed (think Master Chief, but with more realistic tech). Since the theocratic America is so expansion-prone, it has occupied Canada for some time now and fighting a new Pacific war with China, plus dealing with a rebellion operating out of remote areas such as the Rockies.
Next, he and his comrades undergo Hell Month (a variation on Hell Week for Navy SEALs, but longer and worse). After that, he is assigned to a US Marine regiment fighting the rebellion in North California. On one mission, Ivan witnesses a horrible massacre of innocent women and children near the front lines, and he participates in it because of his relentless indoctrination (and something else, which I will mention later)
On the next mission, he is sent deep into the mountains of Northern California for a search and destroy mission. His battlesuit is hacked into by the rebels, thus landing him in a trap. The rebels bring him to their regional HQ, and secretly remove his neural implant (which has been mind-controlling him for most of his life). Then they expose him to the dire reality of life in America, which Ivan is unprepared for. Newly liberated from his invisible prison, Ivan wants to go back at first. The rebels release Ivan and his battlesuit (with its radio disabled) near a small town, where he can go to call his superiors for immediate rescue.
But as soon as he is home, he gradually realizes that everything the rebels told him is all true. With his enhanced intelligence and senses, he figures out that he has been doped for his whole life. This revelation turns him into a bitter antihero, and it isn't long before he commits big-time treason by refusing a direct order to kill a captured field commander and going on a rampage.
It takes a long time for the base's security troops to capture him (given his lightning reflexes, speed, strength, and armor), but by this time the captured commander has escaped. Ivan is subjected to a torturous reindoctrination session in which the Inquisition try to reintroduce his neural implant. Before they have a chance to do so, a rebel strike force arrives (commanded by the very same major Ivan helped escape) and spirits Ivan away in a furious corridor-by-corridor battle. Pursuers dog the strike force on its way back to base. Ivan meets the genetic engineer who came up with him in the first place there, and listens to his story.
A few days after the heist, the rebel brass and Ivan hatch a plan to raze an enemy base in Panama (the US occupies this area in the book) because it's where Ivan's mind was controlled from. Destroying this base will release his comrades from their mental prisons. Needless to say, Ivan and the rebels destroy the base in a massive attritive battle and disappear into the foliage.
That's the basic plot. The story is much more deeper. If you can, please give me any suggestions for new technologies, questions, and comments. I'm doing my best to incorporate every new technology I can think of in this book, to make it more realistic (and to make it more likely to win a Hugo or Nebula in the near future
)