Where science ends and
fiction begins.
Dean Crawford
As a
reader, I always find stories that blend within their fictitious pages a
liberal dose of real-life revelations far more satisfying than those that spring
to life entirely from the imaginations of the author. Novels like Jurassic Park and Contact expertly weaved the possible with the impossible to create
something that the reader could hold on to long after the stories ended: the
thought that “this could actually happen.”
It used to
be easier for authors to blend science fact with fiction, because technology
was often developed inside military-industrial laboratories far from the prying
eyes of the media and public. Left with a broad canvass of artistic license, authors
could let their imaginations run riot. But today things are changing fast and
directly in the public eye. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology are giving shots without a needle, as aboard the Starship Enterprise, using “Lorentz-force
actuators” to push a vapour through human skin without breaking it.
Teleportation is possible, albeit at a quantum level, by adjusting the spin of
individual protons separated by up to 16km – information passes from one to
another instantaneously. The video calls of 1980s TV shows are now a reality,
as are Star Trek style touch-screens
and “communicators” – our mobile phones. Key-hole surgery, the mapping of the
entire human genome, contact lenses with light-emitting diodes that allow the
blind to see and non-invasive prosthetic limbs that allow full use of arm,
hands and fingers are all fully operational. So how can an author stay ahead of
such vibrant technological achievements and continue to produce something that
is considered new?
For me,
the process is not always one of trying to create bizarre new technology but
rather applying current knowledge to age-old mysteries. We are a supremely
advanced species but there is an incredible amount that we do not know about
our own planet, let alone our own universe. I get a real kick when I read about
an unsolved mystery of science because I can instantly tell there’s a good
story in there somewhere; how did human civilisation rise so quickly from
hunter gatherer communities? How far can we extend human lifetimes? Is it
possible to see through time? Are there really monsters lurking in deep oceans
or in vast tracts of untamed wilderness? Whenever I see such articles I
immediately begin researching how far science has come within relevant
disciplines before starting the process of weaving what is fact with what is
fiction. Usually it is only plot and sub-plot that is entirely fictitious, with
the science as much as possible grounded in fact. When I then choose to write a
scene that really stretches the limits of what’s feasible, there are as few
questions as possible in the reader’s mind.
If an
author can do it well enough, then just like Gene Roddenberry, in time their
fiction becomes indistinguishable from fact.
Dean Crawford is author of high-concept, high-octane thrillers Covenant, Immortal and Apocalypse, which is out
now.
