I have over 2 million words of untamed text laying around looking untidy. These are the idle time fruit of an imagination unbridled by common sense or planning. It’s mainly a lot of smaller stories, ‘shorts’ as well as a few dozen longer stories that are more self sufficient.
What do do with it? Well, I treat it like building blocks and that’s pretty logical. ‘The Camper’ used quite a few of them for the ‘segways’ where the main protagonist put her foot on the throats of those impeding her plans. The next book, working title ‘Making Kate Stellar‘ will comprise maybe 90% of this content, rewritten and joined into one longer and more linear story this time.
Thinking some more, maybe 70% as a LOT of rewriting will be required.
Short Stories = Vignette Shorts
For now and for fun, I’ve been thinking of releasing some very small segments, “Vignette Shorts” I’ll call them, of pretty much random content over the millennia I have written for.
How many? A few dozen I’m thinking. Lets see. If it works it will continue etc.
What will they be about? Mainly science fiction. Some thinking points, ramblings, on ‘stuff’ loosely aligned to the Stellar Universe as well.
Stellar Vignettes – The Challenge
These will be from any of the already defined protagonists, any time, and any place. I am thinking totally random jottings.
One benefit, you can read them in any order and not lose out. Each will be stand-alone without prequel or sequel – but each will be part of a story to be released (maybe) later.
You the reader will be challenged to make sense of it and I will enjoy that.
There will be a thread but it may not be exposed till a much later book is released. This is the benefit, the pleasure, the gift that keeps on giving when there is a lot of material already existing that can be drawn on and even better, defines a framework that is consistent.
So, your challenge, should you accept it, will be to fit these Stellar Vignettes into that framework and make sense of it.
Even better, you may just enjoy it!
My challenge will be to not create ‘spoliers’ so I must be content-circumspect and careful. Also, with the vignettes I will need to re-craft some of the existing material for the same reason. For example, in writing a vignette about the JRF (see below) I don’t want to take away from the 2nd era of the Stellar Universe and reduce the impact of that topic from the book.
Off topic. The lyrics to Fleetwood Mac song “Walk A Thin Line” lyrics come to mind. Regularly. It seems to touch a nerve with me.
Stellar Vignettes From A thousand years of options
With a few million words to play with, ideas spanning a thousand years, a story line that threads through it all – these are the raw ingredients.
I could write about the JRF (Jupiter Reclamation Facility) where asteroids are melted down for use. Why at Jupiter?
There is the ZenBu monastery on the planet Providence and its construction, a random-piled rock construction on a ridge overlooking an inhospitable plain. The feeble sun shines down on the few gnarl wood trees highlighting the harsh environment, a fitting place for refuge from civilization.
Then there is the construction of Warbird, the dirty dark secret of the Stellars. Who made it? Why would the Stellars want such an engine of destruction, capable of pulsing the gravity of a significant portion of a planet and incinerating it? For what reason would something that is capable of pulsing a sun into a short term nova level energy release exist? It is the dirty little secret that Jellz must come to terms with. And who is Jellz?
What is a memoir cube? Where is one to be found? Who created it? What is inside it?
Perhaps I could do a vignette about the construction of OS1 (Orbital Station One), the home base of the Legion and its role for coordinating all space based activity in the solar system.
There! I’ve given you about what OS1 is, and that will be used in the first story.
There is the construction of Mantissa Base, situated on the edge of the solar system. It listens for intruders, its Warbirds ready to respond accordingly, its surface studded with ‘significant final surprises’ for those foolish enough to find it.
Index Base, the sister base to Mantissa Base is nestled in one of the most inhospitable places of the solar system. Shielded by enormous atmospheric storms, its emissions engulfed by flux tubes carrying millions of amps of current hide its existence. Floating close to a major solar system nexus, Index Base remains hidden almost in plain sight keeping its Warbirds ready.
One thing I’ve hardly written about is the Igors, the comms satelites that use QEM (Quantum Entanglement Modulation) to break the speed of light barrier for information transmission. Without timely information transfer, how would civilization fare on far flung planets?
From my own childhood and upbringing there was only one thing my father was afraid of so I wrote about ‘Stormdragon’. It brings small towns to a stand still when it lands.
Those are just the start of the topics.
The Goal
So, my goal will be a vignette story of 1 to 2 thousand word posts and ideally one each week on a totally different topic / era / person.
I’ve always admired people who get things done. Done is such a difficult achievement that has eluded me so often.
I’ll try to set aside a few hours during the week to quickly dash out a ‘Vignette’ then tidy it up and release it on, say, a Saturday night. GOAL!
it is late Thursday night now. Saturday night is looming.
So my goal is to do this, create a ‘Done.’
Vignette…
I do like this word!! Google tells me it means “a brief evocative description, account, or episode,” and that is about right.
It’s late. I’m off to bed. I know I’ll edit this post tomorrow to remove some of the many sillies in it. (I did!).
Good night all – ‘Richard