MISSION: SUCCESS
Laurie's Journal

I have good news and bad news to share about my writer's journey from this past week. The good news is I finished my short story The Shell and the Star. The bad news is that when I re-opened the manuscript, the resolution I thought I'd already written--with its cool twist and brilliant wrap--uh...wasn't there!

Gasp! Wait. What?

Cue compulsory hard drive scour for a more recent version. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

I know I wrote the grand finale. I remember writing it. I know it's somewhere...but I can't seem to find the coordinates of the point it occupies on this plane of existence. Doubt ensues. Did I write it and not save the file? Did I pen it in a notebook that has since been misplaced? Did I only dream I finished the story?

My FNF (For Now Fix) was to rewrite a new ending. Unfortunately, I know it's not THE ending that originally came out of my head. It's a bit flat and uninspired and so not ready for prime time. Some writers probably would have set it aside to work on it another time, but I felt a need to wrap the story. I guess it's like training a dog or a horse and always wanting to end the lesson on a positive note instead concluding with a negative experience. My muse had to have that cookie. My head required a sense of accomplishment so I didn't succumb to frustration.

Now I can press reset and mull over other options for a more fitting finale. Maybe even try re-conjuring the original wrap from my subconscious since the details are eluding me. In the meantime, it is a setback. The Shell and the Star will remain in sort of a Limbo of the Lost until I can create a satisfying fix.

Thought for the day: It's too bad our brains don't come with an automatic backup system.

So I'm curious. Has this ever happened to you? I'm sure this is more of a pantser's malady than a plotter's. A plotter would have every detail down on paper, most likely color-coded and cross-referenced. Pantsers...not so much. This scenario is when the head-to-page style of creative writing can really backfire on ya. *wipes soot from face*

ABOUT THE SHELL AND THE STAR

Here's a little about the story in question.

A female resident of a high-tech spacestation and an ocean-dwelling male discover they have more in common than being the children of high-ranking officials. An arranged courtship by their parents leads to unexpected consequences that could save--or destroy--both races.

The title The Shell and The Star represent the standards of the two species. The Star is the emblem of the Talstar Space Station in geosynchronous orbit over planet Veros. The Shell is the icon of the aquatic Perling species who live more primitive lives beneath the surface of the shallow seas.

Excerpt:

“You have a suitor.”

Jinn peered up into her father’s eyes as he floated into place before her. Is he joking? Since she’d come of age, five long years had passed without a bid for her hand. She’d given up hope of ever having a mate.

“Who…who makes this request?”

“The Fourth Dominant of the Perling.”

Jinn gasped, reeling like the oxygen had just been sucked out the airlock. A Perling Dominant? An alien? “Father, no! I can’t—“

“You will answer his bid,” her father insisted, grabbing a handhold to anchor himself in Talstar’s zero gravity.

“But why? Why would a Perling Dominant want my hand?”

“Not the Dom himself, girl. He asks on behalf of his second son.”

Jinn dropped her gaze to her small fists clenched around the frame of her sleeprack, her shoulder drifting to bump the bulkhead. “Why would even a second son want me?”

Jinn sets out on a reluctant mission of discovery, where she learns not only about the Perling race and her intended mate, but secrets from the past that she never could have imagined and promises for a future that she never dared to dream.

The Shell and the Star is currently about 12,500 words and takes place in a distance future of the Draxian Universe on (or above and in the waters of) planet Veros. When it's completed, my plans are to scout a home for it in an upcoming SFR anthology or offer it as a free standalone story.

SCIENTIFIC BREAKTHROUGH INSPIRING FOR SFR

A new medical breakthrough might just be the stuff of SFR writers' dreams.

A team of scientists at Boston's Childrens Hospital have developed an exciting new treatment, an oxygen particle that can be put into the bloodstream to oxygenate the blood. Result? You don't have to breathe to live! At least for about 30 minutes.

How does it work?

By creating particles containing oxygen gas pockets inside lipids fats, the resulting globules can hold four times the oxygen of a red blood cell and are flexible enough not to get log-jammed in blood vessels, causing dangerous gas embolisms. The particles are simply injected directly into the bloodstream. The new therapy can be used to treat a number of maladies that deprive the body of oxygen--such as pneumonia, collapsed lung, or hemorrhaging of the respiratory system--long enough to treat the patient before the brain is damaged or destroyed due to lack of oxygen. This helps ensure survival for the precious minutes while surgeons are working to treat the damage.

Future potential?

This is where things really get exciting. As the therapy is developed to allow for longer periods of oxygenation, if you can imagine it, it can probably be applied. Think about Navy Seals who would no longer need underwater breathing gear for missions. How about undersea researchers, ocean rescue efforts, submarine accidents and other situations where the particles could be injected into the blood to allow first responders to deploy without gear--or someone trapped underwater to survive long enough to be recovered. (Remember the intentional drowning and resuscitation scene from The Abyss? Problem solved.)

Now apply a little imagination and think about the implications for outer space exploration and future colonies.

You can read more about the breakthrough here: TechWench

Or watch a short YouTube video:




A MESSAGE TO OUR FOLLOWERS

Sometime in the next week or two, this humble blog is going to achieve a major milestone--125,000 hits over it's lifetime. We appreciate all our followers, old and new, who have helped to steadily raise our stats with each new year, and even each successive month. With so much content available on the internet, and a plethora of blogs on every conceivable topic, we're glad you're willing to spend a little of your time with us here at Spacefreighters Lounge.

Bartender, fetch another round of Billins--on the house!

PING PONG

I really enjoyed the discussion inspired by Sharon's blog about authors behaving badly. Food for thought to all aspiring writers, for sure.

Donna, I'm looking forward to this week's more in depth review of the new Star Trek Into Darkness movie. Your blog last week didn't give away any of the Trekker goodies that came out in the story, but definitely clued me in on what to watch for. I saw the 3D version.

Pippa, good luck with organizing/arranging the next SFR blog hop in June. It's a big job, but a worthy undertaking in how it benefits and raises awareness of the SFR subgenre as a whole.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS SHINES

Spock and Kirk re-imagined by J.J. Abrams.

In 2009, J.J. Abrams did the impossible.  He re-imagined one of the most iconic of science fiction universes for the blockbuster screen triumph STAR TREK.  He took a huge risk in recasting the characters we had all grown up with and millions had a fierce allegiance to: Captain James T. Kirk, First Officer Spock, Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy and the others of the crew of the starship Enterprise. But not only did the old fans love his new TREK, thousands of new fans flocked to his banner.

This weekend Abrams sets himself an even greater challenge with the opening of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, the second in his re-envisioned series.  With this film he’s forced to develop the characters he merely introduced in his first outing; he has to create a story that is fresh and relevant to our time, but which uses elements of the original series and movies; and he still has to please his divided audience of old and new fans.

I’m happy—no, I’m ecstatic—to say he’s succeeded by a lightyear!  STID has no shortage of pulse-pounding action, eye-popping special effects, beautiful space shots, cool unidentifiable technology and random aliens. In fact, there is enough of those things to keep any SF geek happy sorting them out for years.  But the real beauty of this film is in the emotion it so willingly offers as a legitimate part of the story.  The heart of STAR TREK has always been the relationships between Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and secondarily between them and Uhura, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov.  This film understands that and doesn’t shy away from it at crucial moments.

The genius of Abrams’ approach to the new TREK was in developing the alternate universe concept from the very beginning of the story in his first movie.  That allows for differences in history and slight differences in personality, but allows us to see that Kirk, Spock and the others retain the same basic character in this new timeline.  Their reactions to their new situations are the same—they’d give their lives for each other, even if the outward circumstances are reversed, for example.  

But Kirk and Spock are younger in this universe, and they have some growing to do.  The process is fascinating.  They misunderstand and lose faith in one another, have flashes of insight about each other, come to rely on each other and eventually bond in ways only brothers-in-arms can know.  In the original series, McCoy was much more a part of this process and this film misses that a bit, but there will be other opportunities in the future to make up for it, I’m sure.

That Abrams (and his co-writers, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelhof) let us see this character growth is an indication of the respect they have for the TREK franchise and its fans.  Abrams has admitted he is NOT a TREK fan (he’s a STAR WARS fan, and, back in the day, TREK and WARS fans just didn’t get along), but he has at least been wise enough to pay homage to the original in his work.  This film, in particular, is full of references to TOS (as one reviewer said, scattered like Easter eggs throughout for fans to find).  

Things look bad for our side: the Enterprise falls to Earth!

Even the story is drawn from an iconic episode of TOS.  Unlike many reviewers, I refuse to give away the “secret” of the plot or the identity of the villain.  I’ll talk about that in next week’s post, when more folks will have had a chance to see the film.  The “reveal” is made well into the film and provides a distinctly “aahh!” moment, so I won’t be the one to ruin it for you.  The wonderful thing about it is the way Abrams and his co-writers braid the elements of the old story into the new one, twisting the events of the old timeline to fit this new, alternate universe.  (And because this is a new universe, there can be no endless arguing about, “Well, that didn’t happen in the original series”.) Not surprisingly for the creator of such intricate storylines as Lost and Fringe,  foreshadowing is used to great effect here, with random scenes coming back to take on meaning as things come together later in the film.

If I have one criticism, it would be of Benedict Cumberbatch, who underplays his villain almost to the point of blandness.  Chris Pine’s Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Spock are formidable acting opponents, filling the screen with charisma.  And their crew members—Karl Urban as McCoy (perfect!), Simon Pegg as Scotty (hilarious!), John Cho as Sulu (a captain in the making), Zoe Soldana as Uhura (saving the day, while giving Spock hell) Anton Yelchin as Chekov—are no slouches, either.  You need some big teeth to chew the scenery with that lot.  But more about that next week, too.

After the mixed reaction to Tom Cruise’s OBLIVION, and the fun, but brainless, IRONMAN 3, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS leads off what looks to be a terrific summer science fiction movie season with a bang.  Go!  Go twice!  Pay extra for 3D if you can tolerate it, but don’t wait for this to shrink to the size of your home screen.  It’s too much big fun in outer space.  And meet me here next week to talk about who that bad guy really is and what he’s up to!

Cheers, Donna

Love the author, love the book?

Recently I picked up NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman. For probably the third time. I don't know why, but each time I've picked it up before, despite enjoying his writing, I put it aside after a few chapters. I do think that sometimes you have to be in the right frame of mind for certain books.

I don't know if it's because of what the Internet is doing to our brains, or just because I don't have much time, but these days I almost always have a few books in progress, and sometimes I set them aside quite a long time before going back. But it is rare I'll go back to a book more than a couple times if it still hasn't grabbed me.

So why did I go back to NEVERWHERE? Because lately I have come to really enjoy Neil Gaiman, the personality. I loved the speech he gave to the University of the Arts class of 2012 (Make Art). I loved the speech he gave at this year's London Book Fair (Be Like Dandelions). And I especially loved his 2013 New Year's wish, which goes like this:

May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art (write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can). And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.

This is the way I want to live, and this quote was a refuge for me during this year's Monty Python Event.

So about a week ago, I picked up NEVERWHERE again, and I've had a hard time putting it down (alas, revisions, they do interfere with the TBR). I am truly enjoying it. What changed? Is it about the book itself, or about the fact I like the author's personality? Whichever the case, if I hadn't started taking an interest in the author, I might not have picked up the book again, and I think that's worth something.

Here is another example -- Hugh Howey, author of WOOL. (Feel free to comment on WHY these are both male SF authors. I'm not sure if it is significant, but I suspect it has to do with the fact there are few female SF/F authors who are so public.)

I read the WOOL omnibus edition last year, and I was an instant fan. Gripping, character-driven post-apocalyptic sci-fi with strong female protagonists and even a touch of romance. Wahoo! As I tweeted to #fridayreads shortly after I started the book, dude can write. No wonder he's sold so many damn books.

A month or so back, Howey did something that pissed off a lot of people. I don't want to make this post about that, or jump into the controversy. But if you don't know what I'm talking about, a Google search will quickly catch you up. You can read a recent explanation/apology from Howey here.

When I read Howey's original post, I could see why it exploded in his face. While I'm not going to comment on what he did, I will say that I spent a LOT of time thinking about it, considering the various viewpoints of those defending and crucifying him (and everything in between). As authors/public figures I think we must pay close attention to events like these.

My question for the purposes of this post: Did it affect my enjoyment of his work, or my desire to read more? For me, the answer is no. This could be in part because I had already read his work and become a fan, and through that I feel I know something about him as a person. It also reminds me that he IS a person, in addition to being an author and public figure, and all persons do things they regret.

The question I will never be able to answer, though, is would I have picked up his book if I'd discovered the controversy beforehand. There are so many books, so little time, and it doesn't take much these days to nudge one off my list. And honestly I would have been the loser in that; it's a fabulous series. I'll be interested to hear what my co-bloggers have to say about this, since I don't believe they have read WOOL yet.

Okay, one more example and then I want to hear what you think! I have told the story many times about how Stephenie Meyer's personal success story -- writing from the heart, believing in her story and herself -- gave me a much-needed shove toward my first serious attempt at completing a novel. In fact, I ended up submitting to (and contracting with) her literary agency.

I read and enjoyed the TWILIGHT series. And I intend to read THE HOST eventually (see previous comment about the TBR). Because she was so open about her experience and encouraging to other writers, I will probably always be favorably disposed toward her work.

So do I have some kind of conclusion here? In reading back through the post, I think I've concluded that writer personalities do matter, but they are only one aspect of the whole marketing package. Not a deal breaker, not a deal maker. And individual circumstances have to be factored in. If you have a stack of NYT bestsellers, your personality may not be so important. Maybe not the case if you're a debut author with a knack for offending people.

And none of this takes into account the fact more books will be sold when there is controversy.

This is fairly new territory for all of us -- having so much access to authors, as well as channels for broadcasting both reader and writer opinions. It certainly presents both opportunities and pitfalls! I love the game creator character
in the YouTube series THE GUILD. He is paralyzed by negative gamer feedback (most of it downright nasty and personal). He keeps spreadsheets of comments, and they've made him so neurotic he can no longer create.

What do you think? Which authors do you love as people, and why? Do your feelings about the person affect the way you feel about their work?

SFR Brigade Unveils Cover Art for Upcoming Anthology

The SFR Brigade community of Science Fiction Romance writers and authors is in the process of developing an anthology of SFR stories for an upcoming summer release--Tales from the SFR Brigade.

As part of the process, the community put together a team to recruit cover art submissions and select just two designs to go to the overall membership for a vote. Today we're revealing the final product.

So, with no further fanfare... *whips off the veil*

The goal of the anthology is to promote quality works of SFR and to entice new readers to sample the subgenre.  The anthology will be offered for free. 

We're proud that the Spacefreighters Lounge blog partnership had quite a bit of involvement in the anthology. One of Pippa Jay's short stories--"Imprint"--was accepted for inclusion, and Laurie A. Green worked behind the scenes as a coordinator and editor for the project.

Of the anthology, Laurie says, "I'm very excited about the anthology and its potential to introduce the Science Fiction Romance universe to a multitude of new fans. There are nine exciting stories by nine different SFR authors, some very well known in the subgenre and others who are emerging as talented new voices. The stories include near future, apocalyptic, space opera, Earth-based and alien romance, and have it all--adventure, mystery, suspense, high stakes, and of course, romance! You might even be surprised to discover a couple of favorite SFR characters among the cast."

As time draws near for the launch of Tales of the SFR Brigade, we'll announce it here.

Cover art designed by Melody Simmons of Ebook Indie Covers. Special thanks to Melody for her expertise with the final design.