Catherine Finger

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Tech Talk

January 24, 2021 by catherinefinger Leave a Comment

I have a confession to make: I may have a slight tech addiction. And I’m not just talking about killing zombies or expanding my online Township empire. I’m talking the rabbit holes I jump down on a regular basis that more often than not find their way into my fiction writing. My current novel features a sixty-year-old protagonist living in the year 2061with a limited vision for life after retirement. Sound familiar?

In an effort to illustrate what addiction looks and feels like in a novel world, I have her growing overly dependent on her A.I. companion, Carver. As the story opens, she prefers his company and their private world to “real” people. What will it take to lure her out of her head and into the real world? What lures us into living in our own “real world” today?

Meaningful relationships, the beauty of nature as represented in my awesome mare Clara, my fabulous canine companion Christie, and the beauty of the Wisconsin world around me—even in winter—all lure me into living robustly on a daily basis. Weaving these basic concepts into a future fictional world are forming the basic structure of my newest story world.

A tech addiction in the year 2021 may not look all that different from a tech addiction in the year 2061—sure, the toys will be cooler, but the basic human drivers remain the same. Our need for connection, intimacy, safety and knowing and being known by others can help us build more satisfying relationships and communities in real life—or online.

What if the relationships we build in the future are with artificial intelligence (A.I.) entities? Will they still count? More to the point, will our minds, hearts and souls make distinctions between humans and A.I. entities in our online relationships? And if you build relationships online—what unique factors exist to differentiate between an A.I. friend and a human friend?

These questions bubbled up as I noticed the changes in my own behavior as a result of COVID19. I have developed deep friendships with people in my coaching and writing communities online—and I “see” many of them on a weekly basis. I haven’t seen most of my “real” friends in my “real” life that often as a result of quarantines and social distancing over the past year.  Integrating these concepts into my writing has led to a story world that keeps me coming back to the keyboard.

Filed Under: & Life, Christian Fiction Tagged With: Artificial Intelligence, Christian Sci Fi, Fiction;, Sci Fi, Writing Ideas

Dreamy Ideas

September 8, 2020 by catherinefinger Leave a Comment

Where do you get your ideas?

We writers know, love, and sometimes hate this age-old question. 

My Jo Oliver thriller series started with a desire to write compelling stories of triumph, choice, and the power of emergent faith and community. Each story was fueled by a strong character, a plot idea, or an idea of what justice might look like via a twisty series of events. And while I am playing around with my next installment, I find myself distracted by new dreams.

For the past year or so, I’ve been toying with a new story that I finally had to start writing. This idea came to me in my sleep. Literally. I dreamt of my protagonist and how she meets her man— a paunchy insurance salesman with a deep alternative history steeped in international espionage. I loved the scene that first appeared to me in that memorable dream and ignored it soundly for about a year.

Yet the dreams returned. At night. While napping on planes. And once, while driving, an idea presented itself so strongly, I had to pull off the road into a highway oasis and furiously stab it all down on fast-food restaurant napkins. That chapter involved a kitchen island sex scene, with my 60-something arthritic protagonist secretly desiring to be ravished by her man on her granite counter—while fearing the possibility of breaking a hip with equal ferocity.


I’m thoroughly enjoying creating a life of unexpected purpose and adventure for two recently retired individuals who find themselves at the same banquet table at a hotel facing the New York Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. Stuff happens—and it is stirring my writer’s heart to share their story, giving me that excited I can’t wait to get to my keyboard to see what happens next kind of feeling. 

Rest assured, as the story reveals itself, I’ll share more with you!

Enjoy today,

Catherine 

Filed Under: News & Updates, On Horses, Writing & Life Tagged With: Dreams, Transition, Writing Ideas

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