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I finally hammered out the Table of Contents (TOC) for my proposed science fiction novel (I’m stuck on giving the book a title at the moment). You wouldn’t think a TOC would be hard to put together, but I had to consider the appropriate “building blocks” for the book. What information would I need to present, and in what order, to create a cohesive storyline taking place over maybe a century or so?

Here’s what I’ve come up with so far. Note that I’m not revealing the names of all the chapters:

1. The Machine That Loved God
2. The Maker Dilemma
3. The Good Android
4. Uncooperative Neighbors
5. The Rescuers
6. – – – – – – – –
7. – – – – – – – –
8. Vesper 21
9. – – – – – – – –
10. – – – – – – – –
11. – – – – – – – –
12. – – – – – – – –
13. Epilogue

The Epilogue is somewhat controversial since it changes the end of the novel. Depending on whether I include or exclude it, the whole meaning of the story alters, and rather drastically, too. If I leave it out, I promise a lot of religious people, mainly Christians, aren’t going to like me. I think secularists, atheists, and the average science fiction reader would be more than OK with it, though.

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