Posted 09 May 2017 drafting science fiction
Since last week, I've been fussing about with Dragon Naturally Speaking, trying to get that set up with a varying degree of success (which, as it turned out, was mostly due to a faulty Line Input port on the digital recorder and not the multiple mics I bought and returned). But I've also been trying to hype myself up for the next new draft. I haven't done a new draft since the end of last year (Salvage in November and then a few Ehl'i Landor vignettes in December - or wait, were those in October? ideka). It's not that I'm not excited about writing a new story. I have a third book to write, though I am keeping that locked up until I know Salvage is on stable footing. I also have several ideas for side stories and prequels to the main Peridot Shift series. So that's where I started. A handful of people have read Flotsam in what is basically its current incarnation. To those whom I felt comfortable approaching, I asked: "What kind of backstory did Flotsam leave you wanting to read?" The response was unanimous (small pool of respondents, but still). One character stood out as a favorite, and was shrouded in enough mystery to demand expanding upon. Of course lifting that veil makes me nervous in its own way, so I'm trying to make sure this story is a story worth telling, and not just an unexciting wikipedia article. Trying to give it a full range of plot and character arc on its own, with just enough Easter Eggs to keep people tied to the excitement of the book they'll probably have already finished. I began an outline on Saturday, tripled it in size yesterday, and further expanded it today. Now it's in the print tray at home, hopefully to be read over by my husband today for feedback. Then I'll let it sit a bit, continue my research on desert survival techniques, and start dictating a new draft when my recorder situation is settled. If my voice holds out, the 13 hours I spend in the car to and from Nebula should give me the time I need to finish up the draft. Dictation definitely solved the question of whether the trip would be worth the time spent in the car! I gave myself a rough target of 40,000 words, but that's pretty arbitrary. I could make it a full-length if I wanted. I could make it shorter, too. But the outline I wrote is 2,500 words, so it won't be too short! I won't know how detailed it wants to be until I start drafting. I anticipate less dialogue than Flotsam had as a matter of plot device, which is fortunate for the flow of dictation but totally by coincidence (unless my subconscious was cutting me a break, entirely possible, though I have the fallback of writing this like The Road and fixing it in post). I still have to sort out whether I can learn to walk and dictate at the same time (I couldn't last week, when I tried, mostly due to being new at it and dealing with traffic crossings), so hopefully it's warm enough to walk about soon so I can test wind and traffic noise on the new headset (since my wind guards seem lost in transit). Regarding publishing, I don't really have news for you at this time. I touched based with my editor the other night and I know he's got Flotsam's latest MS in his queue. I anticipate some announcements from Parvus that I can share, but on their timeline, so just stay tuned for that. I'm trying to read more now that my brain has changed its tack. Currently at the top of my pile is The Druid Gene by Jennifer Foehner Wells, which is keeping me up late so I have to force myself to put it down after two chapters or I'll be up all night. I blame her for my oversleeping this morning. That's on my kindle. In print format, I have A Tyranny of Petticoats, the first story of which was fantastic (the nice thing about anthologies is I don't feel bad putting the book down to digest. The bad thing is it's hard to pick up again.). For audio, I'm listening to Jim Butcher's The Aeronaut's Windlass, but because of the dictation and trying to focus on a project at work I haven't gotten very far (haven't gone back after the first two chapters which I found I kept tuning out due to work focus). I'll probably listen to that on the road trip when my throat needs a rest. Okay, I'll wrap this up there. 750 words is better than I anticipated for this update, so I'll quit while I'm ahead.