Embarking on new adventures
The first two parts of "Embarkment 2577" are now available as e-book novellas for 99 cents each, and I'm hoping to get done with the third part during this week. I usually never write in first person, but when I started on this story, looking through the eyes of the main character went automatically. I debated for months whether to change it or not, but finally decided that it did lend an intimacy that third person could not. I’ll leave it up to you, the reader, to tell me if it was a good idea or not.
The story also turned out to be more bizarre than usual, and “Brand New World” is filled with things yours truly find funny. “High Gravity” is more serious, and once I got to “Adam and Eve” I had settled down. (Adam and Eve is, by the way, my favourite part of the story.) I’m sure it’ll be too much for some readers, and not enough for others, but I hope I can make someone at least smile.
As the script grew and Alex’s adventures took form, it became clear to me that I had three neat parts on my hands. Should I split it up or leave it together? To me, a novella is something disappointingly short; I have just gotten going with my reading when it ends. Still, in this day and age people are used to a convenient and easily digestible 20 minute sitcom format, and a chunk of novel can be too long to get through. The novella format is also very well suited for e-readers, and that is how the majority of my books sell. Seriously, if you're reading a book on your phone, a novella starts to seem more than long enough.
After debating with myself for a long time, suffering horrible indecision, I talked to my friend Jamie, and reached the conclusion that I could do both. Why not both split the material into three novellas and make a volume containing them all, like it was originally intended.
This left me with a new problem; tying the novellas together so a person could read number two or three without a clue to what happened in number one. I solved the problem through writing prologues, with Alex giving a brief recap to what has happened recently in her life. When I read them now, they do seem a little corny, but I can’t think of anything better. If a “eureka” moment strikes I might re-do it, but until then, you get to live with it the way it is. It’s not perfect, and I think that a reader jumping into it all in the middle might still have some problems, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
:-)
You can read the first chapter of "Brand New World" on my website www.mariahammarblad.com.
"When Alexandra wakes up in an unknown environment, populated by a cat-like woman with a tail and a hologram of a rockstar, she knows that she has to be hallucinating. Maybe she has hit her head, or finally suffered that nervous breakdown. It doesn't get any better from finding out that she died and was taken into the future by the elusive Adam, whom she can't remember, or from people telling her that she's on a spaceship.
The last year or so is gone from her memory, and she has no choice but to try to adapt. As days go by, her new environment becomes more and more unnerving. She finds herself helpless, and completely dependent on a man who isn't even human."
The story also turned out to be more bizarre than usual, and “Brand New World” is filled with things yours truly find funny. “High Gravity” is more serious, and once I got to “Adam and Eve” I had settled down. (Adam and Eve is, by the way, my favourite part of the story.) I’m sure it’ll be too much for some readers, and not enough for others, but I hope I can make someone at least smile.
As the script grew and Alex’s adventures took form, it became clear to me that I had three neat parts on my hands. Should I split it up or leave it together? To me, a novella is something disappointingly short; I have just gotten going with my reading when it ends. Still, in this day and age people are used to a convenient and easily digestible 20 minute sitcom format, and a chunk of novel can be too long to get through. The novella format is also very well suited for e-readers, and that is how the majority of my books sell. Seriously, if you're reading a book on your phone, a novella starts to seem more than long enough.
After debating with myself for a long time, suffering horrible indecision, I talked to my friend Jamie, and reached the conclusion that I could do both. Why not both split the material into three novellas and make a volume containing them all, like it was originally intended.
This left me with a new problem; tying the novellas together so a person could read number two or three without a clue to what happened in number one. I solved the problem through writing prologues, with Alex giving a brief recap to what has happened recently in her life. When I read them now, they do seem a little corny, but I can’t think of anything better. If a “eureka” moment strikes I might re-do it, but until then, you get to live with it the way it is. It’s not perfect, and I think that a reader jumping into it all in the middle might still have some problems, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!
:-)
You can read the first chapter of "Brand New World" on my website www.mariahammarblad.com.
"When Alexandra wakes up in an unknown environment, populated by a cat-like woman with a tail and a hologram of a rockstar, she knows that she has to be hallucinating. Maybe she has hit her head, or finally suffered that nervous breakdown. It doesn't get any better from finding out that she died and was taken into the future by the elusive Adam, whom she can't remember, or from people telling her that she's on a spaceship.
The last year or so is gone from her memory, and she has no choice but to try to adapt. As days go by, her new environment becomes more and more unnerving. She finds herself helpless, and completely dependent on a man who isn't even human."
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