Category: creative writing

“The Fallen” 4/22

A special Halloween post. This catches me up to where I’m currently writing but am still struggling with a few ideas. I always liked Halloween as a kid; the costumes more than the candy (which I suppose is why I still cosplay into my dotage) and the unofficial transition to winter. I prefer things cooler to warmer. That will undoubtedly be one of the flash points when my wife (who likes things warmer) and I move for the last time.

I have a suspicion that the next few scenes are going to be a bit odd as I work my way through this predicament Allie is in. It is thus very likely that the final form of what will be this “chapter” shall be quite different once I get this finished and edited. But, that’s why I do this: play with ideas, elicit input, and force myself on.

Yes, another reference to LotR; I cannot help myself.

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“The Fallen” 4/15

Another interlude back on the surface, seeing how the rescue effort is developing. And, boy, is it. Even so, there’s much careful planning for phase two, the drone. Recall at this moment Kira has no idea how deep the hole is or how does it end. As she says, she is assuming the best for Allie and Zhukov and planning accordingly. I have Kira reflect a little on the political changes to Earth and Mars over the last thirty years.

The play on words of “A-Hole,” A for Alicia Alvarez, came to me before Mass yesterday, so I’m assuming the pun is divinely inspired.

Because there is a lot for me to learn in this second interlude, I may be back to a MWF posting this week. Apologies.

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“The Fallen” 4/11

“Here. We. Go.” I had to take most of Sunday off from writing as I was not sure how this entire scene would play out. At one point I was revealing too much and at another made Allie look like an ingrate. Not comfortable with either, I sat on my back deck, drank wine, and waited. Finally, Monday, I think I have things sorted. This is be a busy week.

Makarovs are very nice pistols. I’ve held one but never shot it.

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“The Fallen” 4/10

If I’m writing, it must be time for more food. This is another moment of peace. Things this week are going kinetic, starting tomorrow.

Since I know less about fishing that Alicia does (will), I had to pause to look up the different kinds of fishing line. Odd where stories take you, sometimes.

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“The Fallen” 4/4

And here’s a Machine Civilization first: an alien race. Recently, the stories have taken me places I never expected to go: for example, Fussy and Ed’s time slip in “Ice Inundation Intelligence” and me still not knowing what Kalí is. So, here are some aliens. Are they native to Mars or imports from somewhere else? Did they used to live on the surface then went underground as the atmosphere blew away? And, most importantly, are any still around? I have no idea.

Tiny cliff – or parapet – hanger as we go into the weekend. See everyone on Monday.

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“The Fallen” 4/3

Made a decision yesterday which resulted in the rewrite of a few paragraphs, about three segments from now. I now am much more comfortable with where Alicia is going. And that means *yeah!* back to daily updates, by and large. It also helps to put pressure onto me to say ahead of things rather than sitting about drinking Manhattans and not moving the story forward.

My editing of all this: people, dates, ages, locations, maps, is going to rival what I had to do for the American Imperium trilogy. And this is just a little girl lost down a hole. And, admittedly, I’m getting a “Moria” vibe, not “Wonderland.”

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“The Fallen” 4/2

Still not used to the whole single-character thing but trying to make a go at it. People who are lost are always told to “stay put and let help come to you.” But most people aren’t 4km under the Martian surface. A clever girl, but still a 15-year-old girl, Alicia thinks she should look around a bit.

Perhaps in a later interlude, I’ll have to describe what Kira might be doing by way of a rescue effort. I don’t know if they were in signal when Alicia fell, but the Midwife would surely get work started nearly instantly. Being Russian, I may just have her pick a “volunteer” and push him down the hole after her. The right thing, of course, would be to attach a sensor system run by an ES to a tiny motor and send that down to look around.

We’ll see. There may be some very odd things going on in time before all this is over. And, yes, I have to make a map of her adventures as I’m already lost.

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“The Fallen” 4/1

No, this will not be a recap of “Alice in Wonderland.” In fact, it is proving to be rather difficult: most of my stories are driven by character interaction. Once I focus in on Alicia Alvarez, alone, then there is much more exposition than I am used to.

That’s fine, I suppose. I often try to do something “different” when writing. That’s usually changing genres but in this case, I guess it will be my task to learn to write with only a single character.

Unless she meets something.

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“The Fallen” 3/9

“What’s behind curtain number one?” Now we know. This is, obviously, me ripping off Tolkien; I’ve long said that all writers “borrow” from one another, but “ripping off” sounds better.

This wraps up the Alvarez’s visit to Ekaterinburg. I’ll gloss their trip to the dams and move things along to their stop in what is de facto imperium territory. It will be a much more relaxed visit as everyone is on the same side. Once that is completed, I’ll close Part Three. Part Four still only exists as notes as I still don’t know what I’m doing with Alicia.

Below, Count Lavrov really steps in it, doesn’t he?

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“The Fallen” 3/7

Well, hello Another Dangerous Person. There is no way, none, that the PM of the Russian Empire is unaware of the unfolding diplomatic situation on Mars. Not about to let things get muddled, Reina obviously wants some skin, literally, in the game. So welcome Ivan, ladies and gentlemen.

Another slightly longer segment, but after spending the last two hours typing, I realized I’m 4000 words ahead of what I’m posting, and the Alvarez’s still aren’t yet to imperium territory for those talks. I might know where that’s going, but more importantly, I need to decide if this will be a novella (~35k words) or another novel (min 50k). Until I answer that, I cannot start Part Four.

When Sergei meets Ivan in the epilogue of Ice Inundation Intelligence, his private thought was, “how can such a nice kid be her son?”

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