The book Solstice is set out in a completely different way. The central character in this does have an identity, his name is Michael Lieberman. The author tells this story in the third person. This story has a very unusual and very effective way of evolving, as it is written as there are two separate stories being told at the same time. At the start we are set in an aeroplane flying over Central Siberia at this then leads you into the story. The chapter was left on a cliff hanger to make the audience think and then the next chapter starts as a completely different part of the story. The second chapter is then set in a Mansion in Mallorca, where our central Michael Lieberman is in bed, but the time at the start of this chapter is earlier than the time at the start of the first chapter. This
proves that the settings are completely different and they continue to do this throughout the book until at last they meet up and join together. When this happens it is easy to make the link throughout the book after some careful thought. The author however has a huge advantage over H.G.Wells as the book was written only a couple of years ago and so the idea of satellites and complex space travel is nothing new and unheard of, so it makes the plot all the more believable and David Hewson can use the ideas rather than try and think up his own which may not be as believable, and will save him time in writing the story.
In War of the Worlds H.G.Wells made a remarkable thought come to life, as with the Aliens being much more technologically advanced, they had a weapon which was a “heat ray”. Here is the paragraph which tries to convey this new idea to the audience:
It is still a matter of wonder how the Martians are able to slay
men so swiftly and so silently. Many think that in some way
they are able to generate an intense heat in a chamber of
practically absolute non-conductivity. This intense heat they
project in a parallel beam against any object they choose by
means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition-
much as the parabolic mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of
light.
As this demonstrates this is very awkward to explain as the author has to describe in what detail exactly what he means so that the audience can try to understand his idea and so to be able to concentrate on the story rather than trying to work out exactly what it is later on, so to do this the best way that H.G.Wells thought to do this was to compare it to a lighthouse.
In the 20th century book written by David Hewson if he simply said the aliens were using a laser beam or a laser gun to kill off the humans, all of the readers would instantly know what was meant by this and no complex in-depth explaining of the technology would have to be used.
This meant that in the time written the technologies used in the book would have to be suitable to the times, and if anything new is used then that meant the author would have to describe it in great detail which is an inconvenience to him and can make it more complicated to get the desired effect of the story.
The writing style has also changed the way that book is used to tell the story. As I explained earlier about the post 20th century book the stories jump around a bit and the reader can then think about some of the ideas and conclude from the ideas that have been given by the author. This however is very different in the War of the Worlds as the author tends to set down some basis for ideas but never gives the readers all of what could be seen, he lets them decide for themselves and they effectively have a more active part of the story, which ties in with the central character having no identity, and these two concepts add to the effect and the audience can put themselves in the picture which will make them curious and so they will read on.
If the writer of Solstice had tried to accomplish the same thing by using the ideas of the pre20th century writer then a large proportion of readers would generally not bother to read on as people in the 21st century do not read as much as people at the start of the 20th century
and have a less active imagination as most of the stories that are heard now are also seen as television is so popular.
Films are made which have been based on books which are pre 20th century and often they are not as the author originally intended as the books can be interpreted in different ways and so the originality and ideas which would have been captured in the book are lost. I think that this could have a big part to play on why writing styles have changed so much over the last 100 years.
The Differences in technology do affect the way that conflict is talked about and how the story is conveyed. In the first book the author describes the actual fighting a lot more and gives the audience a rough guide on what is happening but with the more modern book the technology is stated in more of a threatening way and so the audience are left to think about the possible effects of it all. There is not as much actual conflict but just a couple of attacks which cannot be countered by using military forces so again technology is used to prevent the attacks happening. In this sense the story is much more unconventional unlike the first book which if it had been written in this current of time would not have been anything ground breaking, but as it was written nearly one hundred years ago it was a step ahead of its time.
The War of the World has a lot of local language in it, custom to the area which the book the book was set in, which nowadays is a very uncommon thing to do as the books are sold as international products, not just to a specific country and so it would confuse and perhaps put of potential buyers. An example of this early writing style is on page 36 when the first speaker says “It ain’t no murder killing beasts like that,” Which is followed up by the Dark little man saying:
“Why not shell the darned things strite off and finish ‘em?” “You carn tell what they might do”
This is a clear example of local accent as the story is set in rural England.
The timescale of the two books are actually quite similar, War of the Worlds is set in a period over about a week and Solstice is set over a time period of about twelve days so there is not too much difference, even thought the books are set nearly a century apart. In the first book things seemed to be happening over a much quicker scale of time but this was due to the story having two stories going on at once until they joined together. I would say that conventions of stories and writing styles do change over time, due to technology on the outside world, with stories now being told in visual images and not just in words. The authors of the present moment in time no longer need to describe technology in such full terms as a large proportion of the time the readers will have heard of the technology used in books as it is all around us, where we live, where we work, and what is on television. In this way authors have changed their writing style to fit in with culture and practice around the world.