Lexicon Lost and New Projects

Lexicon Lost

Crashed in Paradise           serial part 1
Embarked into Danger      serial part 2
Conflicts in the Capital     serial part 3
Venom and Politics           serial part 4

Available now on Amazon


Coming in 2017

Dappled Leaves and Midnight Sun:
Growing up without a Diagnosis


NaNoWriMo Project 2016

Fixed Flight of the Nightingale

NaNoWriMo Project

Since this novel shares a setting with my Lexicon Lost serial, I will have to choose the new story's place in the timeline carefully.  How long has it been since the Lexicon crashed into Eydan?  Is there direct contact with the planet or only long range scan and speculation.  I want my readers to see a bigger picture of the setting, but I don't want to give spoilers for the serial still in progress.

Fixed Flight of the Nightingale will definitely be a complete novel before I publish.  I hope the quick start with NaNoWriMo will get me well into the process.  I am used to writing in bursts, inspiration usually hitting me a half hour after I lay down or walk away from the computer.  That is why I am asking myself (and anyone who wants to give some input) questions that need to percolate.

In my neighborhood

No, actually they are rather fast children.  That's why you drive slow.

NaNoWriMo Project

The Nightingale Station harbors most of the humans living in system, while its ships explore and freight materials from mines.  One of the ships has discovered something extraordinary.  On a massive moon around a gas giant, surveyors find a derelict mining operation, with facilities embedded in frozen rock.  The facilities are ancient, and could not have been built by system indigenes since they were in a steam age when humans arrived.  Who built it?  Where did they go?  Is there something sinister on the galactic horizon?

NaNoWriMo Project

Important locations on station:

the best restaurant - what does their art look like, what music, what food (sight, sound, taste)

the cheapest restaurant - what does the local look like, what music, what food (sight, sound, taste)

the gardens/hydroponics

dock / port facilities

Medical bay / facility

the hall of congress or council

a common apartment - normal on-station living conditions

corridors, lifts, section divisions

NaNoWriMo Project

Things I need to think about:

How does a station sustain itself?  What forms of fuel do they use?  How do they grow food?  Do they have a currency?  What languages are spoken?  How are sections divided and how do people communicate?

How much gravity can a station produce with a spin?  Is gravity different in areas near the center than areas on the outer ring?

What is the (political) power structure?

How much say does Captain Symona have over her own ship?  Who does she deal with directly on station?

NaNo Ideas

Thinking about characters-

I want a ship crew of up to ten.  The ship will make supply runs, survey, maybe runs defense for the station.  The captain will be Andrea Symona. Her first officer and personal partner will be Rasa ... I have to work on a last name.  Some inspiration...

NaNo Ideas

The station commander at Nightingale needs a strong name.  I'm thinking maybe Jordan.  Suggestions?

Inspiration...

My NaNo book title will be Fixed Flight of the Nightingale.

The Nightingale is a space station in the Chordas system, on a wide orbit of the only class-M planet.  Far from Earth, they must fend for themselves.

National Novel Writing Month just around the corner.

I'm joining the National Novel Writing Month for the first time.  Nothing like a deadline to get things moving.  My handle is Skaldiduna if you'd like to buddy up.

                                                                 http://nanowrimo.org/

Accidental self-portrait