Writing Report Week 6 – Ascension

The reports from this point on will vary in length and content, based on if I find an interesting aspect of the novel to use in the overview. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy my work as I go deeper into my writing challenge.

Monday 5 March Progress Report (Previous Report)

Word Target: 2,500

Words Written: 2,545

• Overview

Ascension was not something that I got done easy this week. I don’t know the reason behind it, but I do suspect that a lot of my enthusiasm went into the fact that one of my favourite TV shows, Ash vs Evil Dead, releases an episode on Monday for the next two months.

Let’s go with that excuse.

In actuality, I feel I could be at risk of burning out my mind, but then I woke up this morning and told myself that was not the case. I’ve had several interrupted mornings in a row and I attribute my lack of confidence today to that factor. I am a very peculiar person when it comes to my sleep routine, and the slightest deviation will mess up the rest of my day.

I still like the Ash vs Evil Dead excuse better.

• What I Did Today

Today I continued to build up the setting for the remainder of the novel and going into more detail about what to expect from the antagonist of the book as I move forward. I gave more backstory of the New Expoletian Empire, as well as writing more scenery porn for Science Fiction geeks. I remained subtle with it, but I had to include something about the world at some stage.

•  The Best Sample From Today

Today’s best work provides a reflection and an insight into the rest of the novel and helps a reader better understand the mindset of the New Expoletian Empire. It is quite mundane and does not provide much in the way of action, but I find the sequence is vital to the story.

“We’re an ambitious people. Perhaps too ambitious sometimes. The truth is, young Kile, is that the New Expoletian Empire serve as Galactic Peacekeepers. We are the ones who maintain order and balance. That is why the emergence of this Rainer is nothing but trouble. The thing that concerns us above all others issues is what he feels his ultimate goal is. See, Rainer believes himself to be a godlike being. It’s hard to argue with his success, but we have a plan. You’ve faced him down several times, Kile. That’s the goal of the Avenger. In hindsight, the name gives it away,” T’rrr said.

I always wanted to introduce the idea that people from Earth are not the good guys ever since the inception of Chronicles. I always skirted the line between good and bad throughout the original screenplays when it came to the Earth Empire as they are known. To tell the reader that Earth are the instigators of war against the POLICE OF THE GALAXY is eerily reminiscent of the situation in the world today where people do their best to fight authority on a daily basis.

I love it because it allows me to provide a reasoning for why Earth changes their stance in the screenplays after the Rainer story concludes.

• How Productive I Felt I Was

I fulfilled most of my goal from last week. I provided reasoning for Rainer being the bad guy and I began work on assigning roles to the crew of the Avenger while also leaving a lot untold. I have room for Rainer to give his version of events, which is something that most villains do not get a chance to do. I want Rainer to have a voice and for the reader to make their own assumptions based on what they are presented with.

I did not feel too stressed this week, though fatigue did afflict me for most of the day. That did not stop me from accomplishing my daily goal and Monday sets the tone for the rest of my week of writing.

•  What I Intend To Write Next Week

Next week will be settling the characters into the Avenger and beginning their hunt for Rainer. It is interesting, because once they start their mission, they have no contact with anyone but themselves. I figured this would be an important plot point to mention and it is a clever way to avoid any potential Deus Ex Machina later on.

NEWS:

I now have a Twitter account where I will post the occasional piece of inane commentary on what I am doing. You can follow me here or by looking for “@ItsAllieJames” on Twitter. I operate on a follow for a follow policy – at least while I have a small audience. Make yourself feel important and have a published author follow you. Go on, you know you want to do it.