Cli-Fi
John J. Falco
I've been away perfecting my story Israel Falls. I've reworked it into a first person diary format. So here's the query and the first chapter (not proofread). What do you think? Does it work?? For those that will ask. He describes the setting on the second page.
Dear Agent,
I am seeking representation for my novel. Israel Falls, is a diary direct from the deranged mind of Henry Wilson, the last known and dying survivor of a cataclysmic event that ripped through the space-time continuum. While organizing his logs for an audience of one, seems like a waste, he hopes to leave a behind a guide which might help someone learn from the mistakes we made. What follows is a rough chronicle of events. Part timeline, part historical record, and part warning about the dangerous empire of time traveling humans and how with his help, we destroyed the universe.
Here is the first chapter.
Log…1?
I f***ed up. It wasn’t just the end of the world that I was facing. No, it was the end of everything. Well technically the space-time continuum basically ate itself as much as I understood the topic. Time Travel was never my purview. But that’s what happens when you are tasked to save the world, you don’t know what you are doing, and you fail.
I struggled with whether or not I should actually write this damn thing. There’s no telling whether or not anything would even read this. But I look at it as a mental exercise disguised to help me figure out a way out of my particular predicament. Who knows perhaps retracing my steps will help me. Where’s the clue? That’s what I’m good at. I gotta figure out how the suspect—in this case me, destroyed the universe. I also have to figure out how to reverse it, if possible.
My first step in writing this thing was to figure out a new way to actually tell time in order to organize my thoughts in a clear and concise manner. Since there technically isn’t time anymore thanks to my screw up and there’s no constant to tether past, present or future. It can be quite challenging to write this thing in narrative format. You know the normal, “One sunny day a long time ago, Mr. Henry Wilson went to work, like it was any other day.” Nope can’t be done. The timeline would be a complex mess that made no sense. How do I know? Well first of, there’s no sun, there’s no days, and there’s no point in time to measure a “long time ago”. Also, as much as I like reading books, I’m not much of a writer and I tried to start and then I stopped writing this thing about 50 times.
I thought about splitting it up and giving this thing two points of view. One from mine and one from Johnny’s. Well as much as I think I can read his mind or decipher what he was thinking at the time. Since my training is in police work, I think I’m pretty good at that. He is after all my best friend. Or was? Ugh Time Travel. So confusing. But that wouldn’t have worked either. There’s too much that I need to talk about, explain, or even try to wrap my head around before I even think about giving Johnny his own act. Leave out everyone else? No can’t be done. Scholars might say Johnny McIntyre’s changes to the timeline directly caused its own destruction, but I’m far from convinced of this. Plus, they’re all dead! I’m the scholar now bitches.
What was left? Tell it from my point of view from the future? Only a few years ago? Start in the distant past nearly a thousand years ago? Combine the two time periods and go back and forth between both time periods? Then what about all the trips done in the meantime? I’ve seen time travel dramas before on TV or in movies, and usually the setting does not portray that the entire society has access to these time travel devices like humanity had actually achieved in the late 21st century. It’s usually a ragtag group of people who accidentally discover it. Making up the rules as they go. Not a well-adjusted culture at the height of its power which figures out a way to incorporate time travel into the daily rhythm of life. The storytelling format just isn’t possible with a world obsessed with time travel. Juggling a bunch of different multiverses is quite a challenge. Trust me. I had enough trouble dealing with my own branches. It has to be a dairy of sorts.
My decision in labeling these journals or logs really wasn’t as glamorous as all that. I basically just gave up. You can tell this by considering the title and chronology I chose. Ah! But what about the question mark at the end? Well, I questioned this because this log could easily go at the end as well as the beginning.
Dear Agent,
I am seeking representation for my novel. Israel Falls, is a diary direct from the deranged mind of Henry Wilson, the last known and dying survivor of a cataclysmic event that ripped through the space-time continuum. While organizing his logs for an audience of one, seems like a waste, he hopes to leave a behind a guide which might help someone learn from the mistakes we made. What follows is a rough chronicle of events. Part timeline, part historical record, and part warning about the dangerous empire of time traveling humans and how with his help, we destroyed the universe.
Here is the first chapter.
Log…1?
I f***ed up. It wasn’t just the end of the world that I was facing. No, it was the end of everything. Well technically the space-time continuum basically ate itself as much as I understood the topic. Time Travel was never my purview. But that’s what happens when you are tasked to save the world, you don’t know what you are doing, and you fail.
I struggled with whether or not I should actually write this damn thing. There’s no telling whether or not anything would even read this. But I look at it as a mental exercise disguised to help me figure out a way out of my particular predicament. Who knows perhaps retracing my steps will help me. Where’s the clue? That’s what I’m good at. I gotta figure out how the suspect—in this case me, destroyed the universe. I also have to figure out how to reverse it, if possible.
My first step in writing this thing was to figure out a new way to actually tell time in order to organize my thoughts in a clear and concise manner. Since there technically isn’t time anymore thanks to my screw up and there’s no constant to tether past, present or future. It can be quite challenging to write this thing in narrative format. You know the normal, “One sunny day a long time ago, Mr. Henry Wilson went to work, like it was any other day.” Nope can’t be done. The timeline would be a complex mess that made no sense. How do I know? Well first of, there’s no sun, there’s no days, and there’s no point in time to measure a “long time ago”. Also, as much as I like reading books, I’m not much of a writer and I tried to start and then I stopped writing this thing about 50 times.
I thought about splitting it up and giving this thing two points of view. One from mine and one from Johnny’s. Well as much as I think I can read his mind or decipher what he was thinking at the time. Since my training is in police work, I think I’m pretty good at that. He is after all my best friend. Or was? Ugh Time Travel. So confusing. But that wouldn’t have worked either. There’s too much that I need to talk about, explain, or even try to wrap my head around before I even think about giving Johnny his own act. Leave out everyone else? No can’t be done. Scholars might say Johnny McIntyre’s changes to the timeline directly caused its own destruction, but I’m far from convinced of this. Plus, they’re all dead! I’m the scholar now bitches.
What was left? Tell it from my point of view from the future? Only a few years ago? Start in the distant past nearly a thousand years ago? Combine the two time periods and go back and forth between both time periods? Then what about all the trips done in the meantime? I’ve seen time travel dramas before on TV or in movies, and usually the setting does not portray that the entire society has access to these time travel devices like humanity had actually achieved in the late 21st century. It’s usually a ragtag group of people who accidentally discover it. Making up the rules as they go. Not a well-adjusted culture at the height of its power which figures out a way to incorporate time travel into the daily rhythm of life. The storytelling format just isn’t possible with a world obsessed with time travel. Juggling a bunch of different multiverses is quite a challenge. Trust me. I had enough trouble dealing with my own branches. It has to be a dairy of sorts.
My decision in labeling these journals or logs really wasn’t as glamorous as all that. I basically just gave up. You can tell this by considering the title and chronology I chose. Ah! But what about the question mark at the end? Well, I questioned this because this log could easily go at the end as well as the beginning.
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