My hard sci-fi novel, Plasma Dreams was finally published after
seventeen years. The travails of getting published are probably
as bizarre and convoluted as the plot of the novel. I had two
editors die on me, one agent who just decided she didn't want to market
the book after sitting on the thing for five years, not to mention the
normal travails of having large sections of manuscript simply disappear
into Microsoft purgatory. Because the time interval between the
original writing of Plasma Dreams (which only took about a year) and
its final publication was so long, I had to revise a good portion of
the science involved. Prophesies I had made in the late 1980s
had come to pass, and the novel could no longer be written in the
future tense. This actually wasn't too much of a problem;
the idea of a "past tense futuristic" work was actually intriquing to
my agent, (the one who actually DID his job).
I can't express the elation of finally seeing my labor of
love in print, though being far from a staggeringly lucrative
project. However, something is missing. This thing really
needs to be a movie. I really don't know how to go about
getting this done, but I do know it MUST be done. Plasma Dreams
is an important work, both artistically and philosophically. I
only hope this happens while I'm still breathing, and can reap the
rewards of my labors. When I wrote Plasma Dreams, it was way
ahead of its time. Now it is exactly on time...it addresses so
many issues that scientists are just starting to ask right now.
I do know that writing a novel and writing a
screenplay are two very different disciplines. I"m definitely
geared more toward the pensive, plodding approach to creating a
novel. I need someone with the rapid fire, visually oriented
mindset to help me make this thing come to pass. I know what I
want to see, but I don't know how to get it out of the book and onto
the screen. Hopefully, this forum will put me in contact with the
sort of person who understands my book(s) and has a passion for truly
unique cinema.
I am all ears.
Eric
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