Writing Report – 22 February 2018

Much like Wednesday, today was a little inconsistent with my writing speed, but I still accomplished everything I needed to do. It helps that I am feeling much better in a medical sense. I kept my eye on the end goal of my writing, and my perseverance paid off in a big way. Remaining vigilant and persisting through every doubt you have is a hallmark of a writer. You will work out the kinks as you write and those doubts will disintegrate into the void they came from.

Progress Report: Thursday 22 February

Focus of Writing: Eden

Word Target: 2,500

Words Written: 2,507

Overview: Thursday is Eden day. Eden is the fourth consecutive novel I write that is a part of the experimental series of novels I have going on that are set in a shared universe. Eden is definitely the easiest to write as I can draw on the world information present in the other 3 novels in the universe.

Do not mistake my complacency with Eden for simplicity. Eden is still a complex novel that requires perfect form, attention, and pacing from me. Eden, like Crucible and Chronicles: Ascension has a focus more on character than it does on the world, but the setting still plays a critical role in the novel. The way I write Eden is in such a way that it allows me to bring one of the largest primal fears of humans to the surface – the fear of death itself. Eden does take great liberties with the world, yet remains faithful to humans being humans. They have no powers and are at the mercy of something they can’t control.

For the characters, Eden has a clear focus on three characters at the start and will later expand to feature a diverse cast of around eight, though the focus will remain on a single character. The novel is told through the eyes of Alyssa Ryan Williams, who goes by her middle name in-universe. She is one of the few characters I have that uses a straightforward-no-bullshit attitude to everyone around her. She does show signs of emotion, though a lot of it is mother-bear like as, when the novel starts, her life revolves around her longtime girlfriend, Karlie Bull.

Ryan has a quirky relationship with her co-workers that the prologue of the novel focuses on. She gives off a vibe that is quite reminiscent of someone who does their job for the paycheck and the paycheck alone. That is not who she is, but she does her best to portray herself as that because, though she is quite feminine in her mindset, she is akin to an alpha male in terms of her relationship.

Eden, like Crow, is written in a linear first person style with a heavy focus on the more mundane aspects of what people see. There is no fantastic rainbow that shines like diamonds about the head of a homosexual. There is no attention drawn to the first transgender character of the novel. I am writing Eden in the way that Ryan sees the world around her. Nothing more, nothing less.

Ryan is the kind of female lead that does take command when the situation dictates it, though it is not her preferred role. She wants to help those around her and would risk anything to see them safe. That is the hallmark of her character. She is hardened against the horrors of the world, but she is the way she is because she wants to see people safe.

What I Did Today: Eden’s focus for today lay in setting up what the antagonists of the novel are capable of doing with a single fell swoop and seeing how Ryan reacts to what she sees. The whole of today lay devoted in building a sense of hopelessness, and I feel I managed to do that with fantastic success.

 The Best Samples From Today: For today, I need to look to the moment when hope of an easy escape fades from Ryan’s mind. It paints a vivid image of what it would feel like when the first strike is delivered.

The shockwave from the explosion hit like a wrecking ball. It blew people off their feet and Karlie’s car lifted a little and lurched forward. The heat followed a second later and I knew it burned my skin from the moment it touched me. My body began to drip with sweat. Karlie and I fell out of the car to escape the rising heat. I ran over to her and hoisted her to her feet. I looked back to where the explosion happened and saw the wave of fire continuing to advance toward us. I saw Sergeant Hart trying to help people up and guide them along the bridge. I looked to the other end of the checkpoint and realised we could not make it over before the firestorm hit us.

With Karlie leaning on my shoulder, I helped her over to Sergeant Hart. I tapped him on the shoulder and before he could react, I grabbed him by his belt and flung the three of us over the railing so that we slid down the embankment of the stormwater pipe that ran perpendicular to the road. Seconds later, the fireball roared over the top of us. It lasted a good five seconds before the wave continued on its outward propagation.

The whole first part is devoted to showing how advanced the technology being used against the people of Earth really is. For a bomb-like weapon to do such a thing is unheard of in practicality, especially at the distance the pressure wave does these things at. I envision the weapon used as something closely related to thermonuclear weapons, but with less of a focus on the nuclear part and more devoted to the force of heat alone.

The second paragraph highlights how intense and vicious the weapons are. It says to a reader that these are not conventional weapons, but it also shows how powerless a human is when compared to something designed to cause destruction.

How Productive I Felt I Was: For today, a lot of progress was made as the primary focus came back to the Main Dramatic Question: What do people do when faced with an alien invasion-propelled apocalypse? Without a single word describing the aliens outside of “alien,” I manage to build a sense of dread in the reader and, while I cannot say more because I will spoil the novel, it gives new insight to the shared universe Eden takes place in.

I continue my trend of meeting my daily quota and the way in which I write Eden helps distinguish it from my other novels. It is the only one of the six I am writing that I began as part of my writing challenge. It is also the second I have adapted from a screenplay I have written.

 What I Intend To Write Next Week: Next week will have a focus on building the antagonists of the novel more and delving deeper into the mind of Ryan so that the reader can better understand her motivations. Most of next week will look to provide an insight into how I view humanity and the value of life, but it will not be in a preachy way, because I see life in a cynical manner, much like focus character Ryan. I am looking forward to going deeper into the world of Eden.