Saturday, April 27, 2013

Bellingham SciFi

If there is one reason to by the Bellingham Herald this summer, let it be to get the Science Fiction Serial written by local authors including myself.  I am writing part #3, which should be in print early August.  My turn to write just came up and I'm excited/overwhelmed with the possibilities.  Its a six part series, so part #3 holds a sort of anchor position.  From here the story should have it's focus and direction so it can come to a successful conclusion in part #6.  Eight Hundred words seems far to sparse for what I'd like to do or what I could do.  I think what I will do is write two versions and see which makes me happier.

In "Fields of Ores" news (which still needs a better title, readers) I got a spark and finished Book Three, Chapter 3.  I also came up with the naming convention for this book's chapters.  Each book has its own style for chapters names; like Book Two uses "The [appropriate noun for the chapter]" convention.  Book Three steals from Robert Kirkman and his convention for the Invincible TPB.  Adding nerdy little things like this is fun to work in to the works, but it has to meet my rule of not being shoehorned in.  If the nod or wink is to overt and just doesn't seem natural then it doesn't fit.  At one point I had Avin and Liam meet an old hermit named Old Obi; looking back even I roll my eyes.  I plan to still use Old Obi as a name check sometime in the future, but not as a throwaway character with an overly nerdy name.  Such things should be more subtle or at least intertwined into the world (such as your character isn't the only one who wears a Fedora in the whole universe, Mr. Weber).

If you've read, reading, or want to read what I have so far let me know if you pick up on any of these nerdy references and whether they are to overt and distracting.