Casey Calouette's Blog, page 10
February 2, 2014
Edge of Solace
Choosing a name is tough. Choosing a name that isn’t campy, or pulpy, or cheesy is really tough.
The second book of the A Star Too Far series is called Edge of Solace.
On other exciting news I’ve decided upon Adam Burn for my cover. You can find his work at http://adamburn.deviantart.com/
I am beyond excited to see what he can come up with.
If all comes together I’m aiming for an early March release. In the meantime I’m starting the third book. The best way to be successful is to write, write more, write often, and read. So I’m reading loads of excellent fiction, and continuing to write.
William Grace continues on as the United Colonies crumbles. War isn’t just coming, it’s here.
547 Words
January 25, 2014
Novel #2 Finished
It is done. A bottle of quite fine sour beer sits before me. A celebration for the second A Star Too Far novel.
Now on to the first draft, and then off to my readers. After that it goes to an editor and off to you fine folks.
What is the name of the story?
Stay tuned…
93,084 Words
January 20, 2014
Modeling Binary Stars
Some of the things I wanted to do in the story required a bit of physics. I needed to know how a binary star behaved. Rather than hitting trusty MATLAB I bought Universe Sandbox and modeled it.
I don’t want to give too much of the story away but the modelling was a ton of fun. Want to know what happens when two stars collide? Go for it! Watch them go bonkers. How about an asteroid belt getting bowled into? Bingo! Let it go!
I’m sure I could have survived without modelling it, I know I could have. But it made it a lot more fun (to me at least) knowing that my modelling and plot points were realistic. This is how space would actually behave, not just as some figment of fiction.
84,250
On another note I’ve started on my Marathon Training, or maybe even my Ultra training. But Shhh! don’t tell my wife.
January 19, 2014
Writing in a Coward
Flawed characters are interesting characters. I had to write a character as a coward today and it was tough. Much harder than I expected it to be.
I wanted to change the scene, have him do the right thing. It would have been easy, but it also would have been boring. Instead he fails, in a very cowardly way, and lets a friend die.
But I console myself that a flaw, even cowardice, offers a chance for redemption. And if we like anything it’s seeing someone redeem themselves and do the right thing. The story is coming up on the climax. Oh and it shall be good.
83,200 Words
January 15, 2014
Brands in Space
On a few occasions I’ve mentioned brands. At first it was just going to be a water purifier, but calling it a Mitsubishi-Kubota made it more real. We, as individuals, identify with brands.
I see no reason why in the future this won’t be true. I think we’ll see more brands, and newer brands, but there will be brands we recognize today. Think starships plying the lanes with Coca-Cola in the hold, or at least the recipes.
What ripe pickings a world of agricultural colonists would be to a savvy marketer. Think Sears and Roebuck Circa 1900 meets the Whole Earth Catalog. Order anything from a tractor to lingerie.
Good day writing today, 1,750 words.
78,502 Words
January 14, 2014
$999.10 Used Paperback
So uh, if you happen to buy the used version of my book for $999.10 please let me know. I’ll toss in some banana bread or something.
There are vendors on Amazon who pull in data and relist books. Some list my book for a reasonable price used, even though I’m sure they haven’t actually purchased it yet. I’ve sold like eight copies of the paperback. A rather odd practice, and one I’m not sure could be profitable seeing as Amazon offers the best deal.
Went for a run today in the midst of a blizzard. Three miles in 30 mph winds with wet snow flailing about. And in it I saw how the whole book comes together. It was an epic moment. I sped up the pace and couldn’t wait to get home to write more.
My ideal day is Run-Write-Run-Write. If I could do that I’d be in shape for an Ultra (soon!) and crank out a novel a month. No better inspiration than a run.
76,733 Words
January 12, 2014
Sailing the Void
It’s been a pretty wicked few writing sessions. The final act is coming together and I’m laying out that groundwork for the end. Or what I think will be the end.
I use the flashlight method of writing. I write only as far as I can see with a flashlight. So as I advance into the darkness new ideas are revealed. I usually know how the end comes together, so it’s pacing into that. Getting exciting so far!
As it stands I’m looking at finishing the first draft by February 1st. After that it’ll depend on the editor and the cover artist.
74,725 Words – 1010 Today
January 7, 2014
Consistency
As I write this it is -15F outside with a wind howling hard enough to snap maple. I’ve read about trees exploding when it gets cold enough. Not that cold here I think.
I don’t mind the cold. Rather like it actually. It is weather with character. A pleasant day brings a pleasant smile, it’s nice. You don’t stare out in awe at ‘nice’. But a wicked good blizzard, that makes you feel alive!
Inconsistent weather makes for a nice backdrop to writing. When I first started writing it’d go in bursts. One day would be two thousand words and I’d not put down another word for two months. That was a hard habit to break.
Now I write 1,000 words every single day. Holiday or not. Birthday or not. Rain or shine. For me this is just as serious as a job. More so in fact.
I try to get ahead of my schedule so if I need a day off I can take it. Work, or family, or even fishing strikes. So a few days where I get an extra 100 words translates to less I’m in the hole. But 1,000 words has been a nice pace. I find I can think ahead 1,000 words worth of story.
I’d love to get 10,000 words a day. I know I could, technically it’s not a problem. I type about 1,000 words in half an hour. This pace is when I’m really rolling on a scene I’m excited to write. But time is the issue. I work full time, have a toddler, and need time to recoup.
Big day today, I broke 70,000 words on the sequel. It’s coming along beautifully. By the end of January the draft should be done. Then I’ll hit the edits. After that it goes to my editor. I’ll keep you posted!
70,000 Words – 1,140 Today
January 2, 2014
Escalation
I mentioned once before about getting into the Galaxy Shattering Escalation problem. To recap you find a need to make every scene and problem bigger, nastier, tougher, more Earth shattering. Then what that isn’t enough you ramp it up to Galaxy shattering, and finally the entire Universe sits in the balance.
In reality it gets kind of cheesy. In that case the plot drives the story instead of the character interactions. Take a bad situation, make it worse, see how everyone responds. No need to crank it up to 11.
New escalation can be fun. One game I played that did this very very well was EVE Online. It might start with a few ships engaging and maybe a larger ship came in. Maybe as bait, maybe foolishly. Then someone else would bring something bigger. And someone else. And someone else. Soon you had a few thousand people tossing every single ship they had into the fray.
Whenever you have something like that someone is going to lose out and big. Normally one side gets piled on, alliances flare up, agreements between enemies to see a third party hammered. I’ve taken part in a few fights like this, normally on the scout side watching the hostiles stream in.
And then it’s done. Poof. Given enough people and the right server I’m pretty sure these fights could go on for days. But as it is the longest it would last to is server downtime, 7am EST. In fact some people get into those fights and prepare for an all nighter.
So what is all of this building to in the A Star Too Far Series? You guessed it, a big big fleet battle. Unfortunately the physics in my universe don’t allow for the mass of fleets to travel from all around. But just as in eve, people tend to know where the fights will be.
65,900 Words – 1,200 Words since Yesterday
January 1, 2014
Failure is an Option
One thing that always bugged me about a lot of Scifi is that they win. Nothing wrong with winning mind you. It’s just you usually end up winning in a different way. A nice linear progression as the plans come through is boring.
I always like a good monkey wrench. It gets tossed into a story and things begin to change. Sometimes it’s subtle, a shift from one goal to another. Other times it’s utter violence.
When I’m writing a chapter and it’s flowing too nicely I make sure something bad happens. Bad things are interesting. Most days at work are boring, the only interesting days are usually when something bad happens. The kind of stories you answer your spouse with, “Whew, it was one of those days!” Not a boring day, but an interesting day.
In the particular scene I just finished writing everything was going well, a bit too well. The outline tied it together but I needed to liven it up. So I tossed in a super-heavy mech that shreds its way through everything. So how do you stop that Mr. Protagonist? Ahh, that makes it entertaining!
64,741 Words – 2,500 Words since last post
