I tried… negative word count.

This is an odd one for me. Basically, I’ve switched to watching almost exclusively Korean shows on Netflix. I like them because they present new ways of looking at things, but still retain a semblance of plot and character growth.

They have a lot of fantasy and supernatural tales, and aren’t afraid to dabble in sophomoric humor, so you can further see the appeal to me. I started watching a new one last night involving a fantastic creature trying to become human. At one point he said, “I don’t think like humans.”

This stuck with me. When we write, even our aliens and fantastic creatures have to be presented for human readers. We have to put things in their language. However, this could be a relatively cool plot point in itself.

I intended to work on my Space Opera this morning, but I’m dwelling on the possibilities for characters who aren’t human. I have Percy the Space Chimp and his human girlfriend specifically in mind.

The natural flow of a trilogy is introduction to the world and environment along with some characters and an introduction to the struggle in book one. This one is already written.

Book two is where the bottom falls out. The enemy has some victories, and things start to fall apart for the heroes. This is what I will be working on this year.

My focus is book two, but to finish the thought, book three involves a regrouping with little hope of success, and even a possible suicide mission, that manages to overcome the great evil. For an example reflect upon the original Star Wars Trilogy.

Here I am in book two. Percy is only part human, and I have a perfect alien character to lead him into the idea of not thinking like a human. This can cause problems in his relationship, his loyalty to the cause, and his leadership ability.

What I wound up doing was deleting about 500 words from this project, because I like the idea of where this new thought could take me. This means I need to spend some time in the daydreaming phase, and it’s perfectly okay here. It’s Sunday, and not like I’m squandering my best writing opportunities away. Maybe by next week, I can get this story really moving.

Leave me some comments. Do you watch any K-dramas? What do you think about classic trilogies? Are you a fan of “pull my finger” comedy? Have you ever had a negative word count day?

Writing Saturday

I looked up from my iPad after the day’s work was finished. “3000 words, not too shabby.”

Percy the Space Chimp poured another cup of Huloran tea. “I don’t know, dude. You spent an awful lot of time playing dress up Barbies.”

“I’m worried about it, too. Think of it this way, the Cicis are identical. Having two-dozen of them wandering around the resort was bound to draw attention. I had some dress up, and some dress down. They visited hair salons and such to differentiate themselves from their sisters.”

“Lotta words dedicated to that, and why the rest of us?”

“I have to think on the trilogy level. I have words at my disposal, and there could be a plant and payoff type lesson in there somewhere. Disguise might come back with a huge upgrade. As far as the rest of you, Leo was wearing cast away stuff that belonged to you and the Cicis after you burned all his clothes in an earlier section.”

“There was nothing wrong with my shirt.”

“Nothing at all, if you’re a Space Chimp, but Leo isn’t. None of it fit right.”

“Plopping us in a resort city to go shopping doesn’t feel like a space opera.”

“You know why you were there, and it wasn’t shopping. You have the spy photos, the good guys want them, and that’s where they wanted to meet.”

“Why did Buffer wind up with Lisa’s vest thingie?”

Lisa stood and twirled. “Cute, huh?” Her vest extended into skirts alongside her thighs, and long tails in back. The buttons around her waist enhanced her figure.

“That’s how it works sometimes. Lisa has a great outfit, and I wrote it into the story. It might move in the wind or action scenes like a superhero outfit.” I turned to her. “This tea is wonderful.”

“Science Fiction Amazon seems to have everything. I can get you a six-pack of lightsabers if you like.”

“No. That was someone else’s story.”

Percy snorted. “At the end of the day, we didn’t sell our photos, and we didn’t get paid. It’s another wild goose chase.”

“True, but now you’re going to the secret scientific spy city.”

“That sounds more promising.”

“Hope so. I was going to call it the Skunk Works, but that’s a real place. Rat Works seems to have been adopted by a company. What do you think of the Snake Works?”

“Does it really matter?”

“Yes. I want it to be a city readers will remember. A place to explore and dwell on. I have some cool new characters at that location.”

“Great… even more to share page time with. And what’s with me ping-ponging between paranoia and trust lately?”

“It’s the life of a spy. You’re paranoid about everything, but Buffer is helping you see that trust is part of the mix, too. Both have their uses in this line of work. I need to come up with a name for the guy who runs the place. He’s going to be helpful to your career. Then I finally get to use Ray Dongas.”

“What’s his deal?”

“I decided the story needs one of my batshit crazy characters. I was reading about Radon Gas one day and the name just came to me.”

“What’s his deal?”

“He runs the warehouse district at The Snakeworks. Okay, it’s more like he rules it like a minor kingdom. He’s going to be, let’s call it colorful. He’s got to be some kind of alien, and might be a good guy to make friends with.”

“You haven’t let me make many friends, so far.”

“You’re a little bit prickly, sweetie,” Lisa said. “Maybe this is one of those times to trust. Trust your author.”

Percy pushed his cup away. “Got anything stronger?”

“There’s some WhistlePig Rye in the kitchen.”

“Guess I’ll have to trust that, too.” He made air quotes around the word.

Lisa got up to fetch the whiskey. “You know, Craig, you’re going to have a Ray in this series, but you’ve also written a Ray into the hat series. Are you worried about that?”

“Crap! I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Ha haha!” Percy pointed at me. “Looks like it’s your turn to be paranoid, dude.”

“Better bring a glass for me, too.”

***

I still need to come up with a new post for my next Story Empire slot. I’m not coming up with much. All I have now is something about the interpreter character, so that’s pretty thin. There are a few weeks left, so I might come up with something this weekend. Hope all of you are getting to do whatever you like for a couple of days.

Return to the Writing Cabin

I got an early start today, and flew to the writing cabin in the dark. It’s been snowing like crazy in Idaho, but we have a lull today. It’s the first of six days off I have, and intend to make the pixels fly.

Snow covered the landing strip, but I managed without too much of a problem.

Lisa my robotic assistant met me at the back door. “Glad you made it. What are we working on today?”

“I looked at her ‘Lizzie and the Pythons’ tee shirt. “Cute, but it looks like you already know.”

“I knew you’ve been dabbling from home, and took a WAG.”

“Good guess. Let’s get started.”

“There are some people in your paranormal office.”

I wound my way inside to find a chimpanzee in a space suit, sitting beside a man whose head had been replaced by a flaming jack o’ lantern.

The pumpkin guy wore a black tuxedo. “I know I’m going to finish my part today, but I could wear other outfits, maybe cover some different roles in the story.”

“Make sure Lisa has your contact information. I may need a cop with a pumpkin head later on. Can you change your head out? It should look a little different.”

“They can do it down at the union hall. Thanks for your consideration.”

The chimp spoke up. “What about me, dude. You’ve left us floating in the yellow zone for a month.”

“That’s not completely true. You passed through the yellow zone and are floating in enemy territory. You guys were always a side project for when I run into rough patches. The Midnight Rambler will hit one, then I’ll move you to your spy project.”

“When might that be?”

“I have a nice stretch of writing time. Might be in the next few days. Besides, you’re earmarked for a trilogy, so chew on that.”

“Lucky monkey,” the pumpkin head said.

“Don’t call me a monkey. I’m a Space Chimp. An ape, not a monkey.”

“Calm down. I need to finish up with him today, then Lisa can cashier him and send him home.”

“And then it’s back to the space opera?”

“Maybe. I have a couple of gods I need to work with. Twins from the Gemini constellation.”

“I’ll see your twins and raise you twenty-six identical clone chicks.”

“How did I get stuck with you, anyway. The Cicis are hot.”

“All Humans seem to feel that way, but I couldn’t care less. I think it’s because I’m becoming the main character right now.”

“Be a good… Chimp, and let me work on Midnight Rambler. I need three complimentary titles for your trilogy. Work on that. I’m thinking of ones that read, ‘Of X andY,’ where the variables change per volume in the series.”

“Fine.”

“And can you do it in the other office? This is where paranormal stuff happens.” I settled in to work, and it turned into a banner day. It came to around six-thousand words on Midnight Rambler.

It’s kind of dialog heavy, but The Hat books always seem that way. Still, there was some good stuff happening. Lizzie might have found a boyfriend, we drove a magical car, and a major storm event is keeping her from any real success. Then there was a major shootout at Eat The Worm, one of the Pythons’ main venues.

Lizzie’s boyfriend needs life sustaining drugs, and the only person who can make them is missing. Boyfriend is on a clock now, and the storm isn’t helping.

That’s where I decided to call it a day. I picked up the Space Chimp and we walked into the lobby.

Lisa counted out cash for the pumpkin head. “I love your tux.”

“Thanks, your author gave it to me. I love your tee.”

“I had to steal it. I’m not in this story, but one of my old calendars is.”

“Do you get a residual for that?”

Lisa glared at me. “Doesn’t look that way.”

“Bummer. If you need me again, just call.”

The extra left, then Lisa turned to us. “What happens next?”

“I’m going home. This is Percy, and you can hang out with him.”

“He’s been here a week. I know his name. We finished the originals, do you want to start on the remake Planet of the Apes movies?”

“Eh, why not. Gives us something to do while the mighty author plays with his paranormal stories.”

I’ll make you some popcorn.”

***

That was my day. We’ve had so many leftovers from Christmas, but we’re finally getting down to the end. Turns out goat cheese dip makes for a fair lunch, and chocolate eggnog is good in coffee. I’ll take up the keyboard tomorrow, but Percy is likely to be disappointed for a few more days.

Something Wicked: The Colony Series

Welcome to another day of the Story Empire, Something Wicked blog tour. Today it’s my pleasure to host Harmony Kent and her Colony Series.

Harmony is a big supporter of all authors, so make her feel welcome here today while it’s her turn to shine.

Hello everyone, Harmony here. Thanks for hosting me today, Craig! It’s great to visit with you and your readers to kick off my second stop on Story Empire’s Something Wicked Blog Tour. In keeping with the scary theme, I’d like to visit the world of Exxon, where settlers on a new planet discover they’re not alone …

The situation is desperate, and every decision could mean the difference between life and death. What would you be willing to do to survive?

After writing my latest novel, FALLOUT, I fell in love with the world of Exxon so much that I jumped straight into writing a brand new trilogy, The Colony Series. Here, we revisit Exxon 1 roughly 500 years after the Fallout and the crazy president. The population of all six Exxon planets find themselves struggling to survive in the worst over-crowding crisis in history. The desperate rush to find new planets to colonize means that corners are cut and proper checks are not made. Added to that, those in power failed completely to anticipate the lengths that a despairing and distraught population would be willing to go to so that they could ensure a place on the next mission.

 

What happens when your damaged ship lands on a lonely planet and the natives are not freindly?

About the Series:

Exodus

 

The situation is desperate, and every decision could mean the difference between life and death. What would you be willing to do to survive?

The year is 3570.

The Exxon system has become dangerously overcrowded. The conditions desperate.

Hurriedly, the Exxon Co puts together a mission to occupy and tame three newly discovered planets on the outer edges of settled space. Unfortunately, the company didn’t realise what people would be willing to do to secure a place on the mission. Neither could they predict just what the humans would find when they finally reached their destination.

Sabotage leaves Isla and her team in a bad fix. And when they nurse the damaged ship to an unplanned-for planet and crash land, they soon discover they’re not alone.

With help at least ten months away, can the settlers survive this latest conflict?

 

If you enjoyed FALLOUT, you’ll love The Colony Series.

 

 

The Colony

In this second book of the series, the settlers make it to C3, only to find alien life on the planet.

The natives are not friendly.

The humans find themselves plunged into a brutal fight for survival.

Meanwhile, the sabotage and in-fighting that broke out on-board ship in Exodus is far from over.

Is this the end for the settlers?

 

 

 

 

Upheaval

In this third book of the series, it’s a new team and new times with new agendas.

The replacement leadership breaks the tenuous peace agreement so arduously fought for in The Colony. Canlore is thrown into war once more.

The relief ship was supposed to bring deliverance. Instead, all it brought was more politics and change.

Can anyone make it through the upheaval?

 

 

 

 

 

To get a notification when this series goes on sale, please follow Harmony’s Amazon Author Page.

_______________________________________________

About Harmony:

After spending around thirteen years as an ordained Buddhist monk, living in a Zen Buddhist temple, and six years after a life-changing injury following a surgical error, Harmony Kent returned to the world at the tender age of forty.

Now, she is famous for her laughter, and has made quite the name for herself … she’s also, um, a writer … and fairly well known for that too. She’s even won a few awards. Harmony lives in rural Cornwall with her ever-present sense of humour, adorable husband, and quirky neighbours.

Harmony is passionate about supporting her fellow authors.

 

 

To Learn More About Harmony Check Out:

Website|Story Empire (co-authored) |Amazon Author Page |

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