Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Project Mandelbrot

I like code names. I don't know why, but they sort of add an aura of mystery or even a sense of nobility to various endeavors. Software projects are often given code names, too. For instance, Windows XP went by the internal name of "Whistler" and Vista carried the name "Longhorn" for a time. So, to mimic the time-honored tradition of naming software projects, I've decided to start naming my writing projects...maybe more as a means of motivating myself than anything else.

Maybe this is sort of like a battle cry, I don't know. I do know that the next book I'm working on is going to go by the new code name of "Project Mandelbrot". On the surface, it's going to be a series of short stories set on the Earth and Mars, and will stretch across several decades of time. Underneath, at both the micro and macro level, it's going to be most structurally complicated thing I've ever attempted to write. I can't get into too many specifics at this point, but if get this to work, I'm going to use it as a stepping stone for my next non-fiction book. At a later date, I'll also dig into the zany structure behind this book and how it took years to develop.

It's also going to involve fractals. Lots of them. If you ever get bored and want to read up on those, start with Mandelbrot himself or the mathematical set that is named after him. I hope some of the stories will also instill a sense of wonder about science and just plain tell an intriguing story.

In other writing news, I've posted one of the short stories from Corridors over on Wattpad for a while. Check it out and let me know what you think.

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