Friday 1 January 2021

The Unexpected In Fiction

Poul Anderson's first, Psychotechnic, future history series was pre-planned and contains almost no continuing characters (three characters appear twice and that's it) whereas his second, Technic, future history series grew organically and incorporated two long sub-series, both packed with continuing characters. This meant that the author wound up developing his characters and their interactions in (some) directions as unexpected to him as to his readers.

"Margin of Profit" introduces Nicholas van Rijn.

"The Three-Cornered Wheel" introduces David Falkayn.

In "A Sun Invisible," Falkayn is employed by van Rijn's company.

In "The Trouble Twisters," Falkayn meets van Rijn.

"Lodestar," originally expected to conclude the series, introduces van Rijn's granddaughter, Coya Conyon.

Mirkheim introduces Falkayn's mother, brothers and sister and David and Coya Falkayn's daughter and son, the latter named after his great-grandfather.

"Wingless" introduces Nicholas Falkayn's son, Nat.

In The People Of The Wind, a remote descendant, Tabitha Falkayn, informs us that David Falkayn's granddaughter named the planet Avalon.

I think that Anderson introduced David Falkayn in order to have him employed by van Rijn but that that was as far as any pre-planning went. At the end of Mirkheim, Falkayn has become acting CEO of Solar Spice & Liquors while van Rijn embarks on an important mission elsewhere. "Wings of Victory" introduced the Ythrians as a distinct plot element but then "Wingless" fruitfully fused them, plot-wise, with the Falkayns in the colonization of Avalon.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Actually, we first see the name "Ythri" in the original, unrevised version of "Honorable Enemies." So, even that name was reused or repurposed.

And Dominic Flandry was an even more "organically developed" continuing character. At least partly because Anderson impulsively linked the Flandry stories to those featuring Old Nick in THE PLAGUE OF MASTERS.

Happy New Year! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

The Technic history is better, I think, because it's more like "real life".

Which is a mass of accidents and low-probability events and individual decisions making things happen that the people involved never anticipated.

As Helmuth von Molkte said, with profound truth: "Planning is everything, but the plan is nothing".

Planning in the Asimovian-Psychotechnic sense is impossible, because contingency rules all.

Even Asimov came to see that -- in one of his Foundation books, there's panic when Hari Seldon's image comes on and talks about the challenges facing the Foundation... and is talking gibberish about a future that never happened, because the "Mule", an unpredictable mutation with mental powers, came along.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

I agree: the Technic history feels more ALIVE, more like real life than Asimov's FOUNDATION books came to feel for me. The impossibility of "planning" in the Asimovian sense, was probably a reason for Anderson abandoning the Psychotecnic series.

And I certainly remember that scene from FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE on how the rise of the Mule made nonsense of Seldon's "Psychohistory." It was actually one of the more LIVELY parts of the book!

Ad astra! Sean