Ivonia
08-21-2005, 05:05 AM
I'm in the middle of revising my novel now (I finished a first draft of it luckily, but it's really crappy hehe). It probably would be better in the Sci-Fi forum, but since more people come here, I think I'd get more responses here.
Anyway, I saw that I more or less skipped most of the training of the hero (he's a fighter pilot, and there's a huge space war going on, so he has to get training for both fighting in planetary atmospheres and in space). I show virtually none of the "atmospheric flight training" (basically I skip to the end of it, and just show him and other cadets flying to a space station to start learning space combat), because the majority of the combat the hero is involved in takes place in space anyway later in the book.
Is it a big deal if I basically "summarize" most of the hero's training? I will cover some parts of it, but I've been thinking about changing it to where his training is rushed, and he's booted out there into combat much sooner than he expected (in the story, the good guys are getting their butts kicked quite badly and as a result need everyone they can, so the training time is shortened, particularly for pilots), and it shows as a result (the hero does get beaten up pretty badly in his first real fight).
I decided to add this in after I saw that the previous draft the hero was simply "too powerful" and never had any real defeats, and therefore didn't seem as realistic. I think that if he does fail at times, despite his best efforts, readers will sympathize with him a little more (not because he's an idiot, but because the bad guys aren't idiots).
Another reason I want to skip it is largely because I don't think it's very important in the long run (heck, in Star Wars, Luke Skywalker never received any real training at all, despite his claims of being a good pilot, and suddenly he's already flying an X-wing hehe), and readers will probably want to see the hero in action as soon as possible (especially after reading the early chapter that leads to the war in the first place. I know I want to see the hero fighting after what happens in that chapter).
Do you think I could get away with skimping on a lot of the training (I will show some critical parts that the hero does indeed put to use later in the book, but I don't think people otherwise need to read every little detail either). It's not that I want to rush the hero into combat for the sake of having fight scenes. It's that the good guys are dying, and the hero doesn't feel like there's anything he can do to help while he's stuck in training (and for anyone that knows, how long do pilots generally take before they become certified and trained on flying aircraft, particularly for the military? For my story I guessed about a year, is that roughly correct?), and he wants to get out there to do what he can before they lose all their forces. He wants to protect his family and friends, and I'm sure readers will want to see him doing that, not get stuck reading about him in training.
In World War 2, Japan used to train their pilots, but as they were losing, it got to the point where basically, if the pilot could control the plane (packed with explosives) long enough to crash into a US ship, that was good enough (aka the Kamikaze attacks). So it's not like shortening the training is terribly unrealistic (the good guys are in a similiar situation, minus the training to kamikaze hehe).
Also, if I show training for stuff he doesn't use, I don't think readers will like that. I remember when I was being trained in the Army, one of my instructors told me that our training wasn't to make us experts on the equipment, it was simply to familiarize ourselves with it, and that our regular duty stations would give us the training on it (and it was true. In fact, due to the nature of my job, half of the stuff I saw in training I never even saw put to use). I think if I show something, but then don't use it, readers will feel cheated to have to read about it, but then nothing comes of it.
So, what are your thoughts on this?
Anyway, I saw that I more or less skipped most of the training of the hero (he's a fighter pilot, and there's a huge space war going on, so he has to get training for both fighting in planetary atmospheres and in space). I show virtually none of the "atmospheric flight training" (basically I skip to the end of it, and just show him and other cadets flying to a space station to start learning space combat), because the majority of the combat the hero is involved in takes place in space anyway later in the book.
Is it a big deal if I basically "summarize" most of the hero's training? I will cover some parts of it, but I've been thinking about changing it to where his training is rushed, and he's booted out there into combat much sooner than he expected (in the story, the good guys are getting their butts kicked quite badly and as a result need everyone they can, so the training time is shortened, particularly for pilots), and it shows as a result (the hero does get beaten up pretty badly in his first real fight).
I decided to add this in after I saw that the previous draft the hero was simply "too powerful" and never had any real defeats, and therefore didn't seem as realistic. I think that if he does fail at times, despite his best efforts, readers will sympathize with him a little more (not because he's an idiot, but because the bad guys aren't idiots).
Another reason I want to skip it is largely because I don't think it's very important in the long run (heck, in Star Wars, Luke Skywalker never received any real training at all, despite his claims of being a good pilot, and suddenly he's already flying an X-wing hehe), and readers will probably want to see the hero in action as soon as possible (especially after reading the early chapter that leads to the war in the first place. I know I want to see the hero fighting after what happens in that chapter).
Do you think I could get away with skimping on a lot of the training (I will show some critical parts that the hero does indeed put to use later in the book, but I don't think people otherwise need to read every little detail either). It's not that I want to rush the hero into combat for the sake of having fight scenes. It's that the good guys are dying, and the hero doesn't feel like there's anything he can do to help while he's stuck in training (and for anyone that knows, how long do pilots generally take before they become certified and trained on flying aircraft, particularly for the military? For my story I guessed about a year, is that roughly correct?), and he wants to get out there to do what he can before they lose all their forces. He wants to protect his family and friends, and I'm sure readers will want to see him doing that, not get stuck reading about him in training.
In World War 2, Japan used to train their pilots, but as they were losing, it got to the point where basically, if the pilot could control the plane (packed with explosives) long enough to crash into a US ship, that was good enough (aka the Kamikaze attacks). So it's not like shortening the training is terribly unrealistic (the good guys are in a similiar situation, minus the training to kamikaze hehe).
Also, if I show training for stuff he doesn't use, I don't think readers will like that. I remember when I was being trained in the Army, one of my instructors told me that our training wasn't to make us experts on the equipment, it was simply to familiarize ourselves with it, and that our regular duty stations would give us the training on it (and it was true. In fact, due to the nature of my job, half of the stuff I saw in training I never even saw put to use). I think if I show something, but then don't use it, readers will feel cheated to have to read about it, but then nothing comes of it.
So, what are your thoughts on this?