Hello readers, authors, unregistered users and the like,

 

 

It's been a long time since I've written. I've decided to start a blog about my latest story, "Six Seconds," which has been published as part of the fantastic "A Night to Remember" Spring Anthology. To anyone who hasn't read it/is considering to read it, I'll give you a brief overview.

 

 

What is "Six Seconds?"

 

"Six Seconds" follows Callen Worthwright, a young man who, while driving back home from his snowboarding expedition, takes a dangerous shortcut down Blackcomb Mountain. He hits a patch of black ice, loses control of his car, and crashes it into the Pacific Ocean. Mortally wounded and trapped in freezing water, a mysterious presence speaks to him and grants him six hours to see the one person that is holding him the most back in life: Sage Hefferman -- a boy and a long-lost friend whom had gone missing for many years to come.

 

Callen is propelled by supernatural means kilometres across the country and lands in Sage's home turf... naked.

 

Needless to say, his arrival comes as a complete and utter shock to Sage.

 

Click below for an excerpt:

 

"Six Seconds" is primordially a Romance/Suspense but it touches on a lot of other genres. According to my beloved editor and a story writer himself, colinian, it is a "fantasy and a bit of science fiction and a bit of horror and a love story all rolled into one. And a mystery, too." It is around 19K and will take you about an hour to read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Were the Inspirations? (some spoilers)

 

The creative process is a complex procedure of remixing all things you have read, watched, and experienced, to create an end product that is a unique blend of all of that. With that being said, I feel the need to attribute elements to my story to these following muses. There are many other inspirations that I drew upon including tragic real life events, bone-chilling EDM and other fantastic novels, but if I listed all of those we'd be here until next week! So, here are the four main driving forces behind "Six Seconds:"

 

 

First, the words "A Night to Remember." It was what started this whole procedure. When I read them, they had such an impact. No immediate ideas popped into my mind of course, but I knew I had to do something because the line was so simple yet so powerful and really resonated within me (I think this was suggested by comicfan). Just read it out loud. Read it in the most monotone way possible. It still sounds fucking dramatic and sexy as hell.

 

Besides getting the ball rolling, these words played further roles in developing the events in the story. "Six Seconds" involved several major life-changing nights that Sage and Callen could and could not remember: Callen's accident, Sage's secret, their memorable sleepovers, etc.

 

 

 

Secondly, a part of Sage's character motivations, as well as several romantic aspects, was inspired by a book, "the Keeper of the Isis Light," written by Monica Hughes. The novel follows Olwen Pendennis, a girl who had been transported onto a distant alien planet to safe-keep it for immigrating humans who were coming from an apocalyptic Earth. Her human physique had been medically altered so she could survive better on the planet Isis, and her appearance stirs up controversy and prejudice when the immigrants land on their planet. Notably, it stands in the way of her love for a young man who was amongst the new settlers. Obviously, it is a very different story from "Six Seconds," but Olwen's strength, her need to be free from the authoritative voices that caged her life, dictated her happiness, really had a big impact on me, and influenced Sage to embody some of these character elements.

 

 

 

Thirdly, the basic framework of "Six Seconds" was inspired by the phenomena when your brain remains active even after your heart stops beating. You are pronounced "dead," but there are some cases where victims claim that they can still observe their surroundings even afterwards because of the fact that the ganglia in your brain continues to fire action potentials through synapsing neuronal cells. Ben Breedlove's story is one notable example, a real life tale which was the first catalyst in the planning process of "Six Seconds."

 

 

 

Finally, the story was influenced by the concepts of "hypertext" and ultimately "multiverse (multi-universes)." Initially, "Six Seconds" didn't start off including that topic, but then I read "Garden of the Forking Paths" by Borges, which was assigned to me in one of my university classes. I hated the story at first. The language was pedantic and after reading it three times I was still like "what the fuck I don't get this shit," but when I dug deeper into "Schrodinger's cat," the film "Source Code" and started tying it into things that I learned in the past such as wave-particle duality properties of light, the concepts of alternate universes, alternative realities, and the illusion of time -- it all began to make sense, and I realized that it just fell into place with the theme of my story.

 

And plus, quantum physics is simply fascinating.

 

 

What if, in every turning point, every subsequent moment of decision, both and all outcomes continued to exist, and there is a bifurcation and creation of another dimension? What if reality isn't as we know it? Isn't linear? And is instead a vast, immensely complex, infinitely growing, phylogeny of possibilities?

 

I mean, could another you exist, right at this moment, wearing another sweater, walking down a different street, who made a different career choice? Could we have fallen in love with another person? Could perhaps some of our deceased still be with us in another universe whom had avoided untimely accidents and diseases? Could there be a parallel you who was happier?

 

And relating back to "Six Seconds" -- could Callen and Sage finally be together? And, if space and time were so vast and indefinite as we know it and don't know it to be (another quantum video for another day), could Sage and Callen actually exist in another reality?

 

I certainly believe so.

 

I certainly believe that there are many Sages and Callens as there are ponies and Finns and Edward Cullens floating out there in our ever-expanding whole universe somewhere.

 

(I'm only half-joking).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So What do You Think?

 

... of that? The confounding existence of Sages and Callens and mythical creatures? About alternate realities and brain activity after cardiac arrest?

 

... About "Six Seconds" in general? Did the story make you think and wonder? Did you cry?

 

I hope you did.

 

I'm kidding.

 

(I'm only half-kidding).

 

Leave me a review to tell me your thoughts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ps: Artwork?

 

I was initially going to use this drawing as a cover for my story but I never got around to completing it because I was in the middle of studying. I still don't think I'm going to use it and I might actually remove it altogether because this is only my interpretation of how the characters look like. It is certainly not everyone else's.