#lost ground

[dbaydenny]

Lost ground can't be found

all that remains is unknown,

from dregs we proceed.

.

D W Eldred

[ey-melody]

so i stumble home

pack up my old memories

pictures of ma

my daddy's flask she gave me

keep it near your heart

she would always say

it's all he left

and that's where it'll stay.

and her leatherbound

book of psalms and prayers

she would always read

with patience and care.

a short walk to the cemetery

to pay respects before i leave

1901 to 1943

i run my fingers through her name

and the effigy.

[alchemiasart]

Do over

I think the most powerful thing I ever learned to do was to let go of pieces of story that didn't fit.

For so many years (drafts, volumes), I felt like I was betraying the spirit of my story - especially if they occurred to me spontaneously - by editing the crucial bits. I periodically produced brilliant snippets of prose and dialogue and exchange, and if they didn't fit the actual framework of the story, I would often abandon the story altogether for fear of having to "kill off my beloved."

(This phrase, "killing your beloved", has never been about characters exclusively, it's been about the pieces of the story or script or scene that you adore but just don't belong.)

As I work on my July book (my challenge now updated to trying to put out a book a month for a year), a story that I started several years ago as the first of a hard science fiction series, I am absolutely chuffed that I have not suffered any bouts of crippling anxiety or table-flipping rage at having to change fundamental pieces of the plot.

Not to give too much away, but "Lost Ground" is about a generational space ark with a human colony that ends up decelerating too soon and will ultimately miss its destination completely. This coupled with a rash of missing biomass creates a double-whammy of disaster. The story is about solving both mysteries and finding an alternative for the colony.

Now, here's the behind-the-scenes part: I use a lot of filler names and roles when I'm still in the process of flushing a story out, but sometimes my writer-anchor doesn't really want to let me update those bits when it's time to make them more interesting. I bullied it into submission this time (pun intended), and came up with these excellent modifications:

Changed the suite of directors from a total sausage-fest to a legally mandated distributed gender range, including intersexed and nonbinary people. (I'd like to think that future is cast in progressive thinking.)

Altered the descriptions of moving around the ship to reflect what would actually happen: a ship that uses rotary acceleration to create artificial gravity is not going to have windows that show the stars moving away behind them; the spin of the Drum will spin the stars so that the same constellations occur again and again, changing very slowly over time.

I decided that I also needed some cultural representation and decided that the Director of Reclamation who's job it is to handle expired bodies should absolutely be a total Goth. What other culture would maintain the appreciation of the macabre and the respect for the rites of death better than they?

Instead of relying on exposition at weird places, I invented a manual that provides excerpts of policy so that there's context for the decisions that seem obvious to the characters but might seem a little weird to the reader.

The fun part about this is that it's just the first story out of at least six that I've penned so far, following the colony aboard the Zarathustra through their trials and tribulations. The cast is massive, though, so I expect that there will be a number of short stories and spin-offs even before I get to the actual sequels.

But, I couldn't do it at all if it weren't for suddenly being okay with a little literary euthanasia.

[vilaspatelvlogs]

बड़ा सवाल: क्या असलियत से बेहतर नजर आ रही है इकोनॉमिक रिकवरी?

बड़ा सवाल: क्या असलियत से बेहतर नजर आ रही है इकोनॉमिक रिकवरी?

Ads से है परेशान? बिना Ads खबरों के लिए इनस्टॉल करें दैनिक भास्कर ऐप 34 मिनट पहले कॉपी लिंक अनुमानों के हिसाब से FY2022 में देश की GDP का साइज FY2020 से सिर्फ एक पर्सेंट ज्यादा होगा FY2020 के बाद से 5 पर्सेंट सालाना ग्रोथ वाले GDP के लिए FY2022 में जरूरी होगी 19.5 पर्सेंट ग्रोथ मौजूदा वित्त वर्ष की सितंबर तिमाही से इंडियन इकोनॉमी की रिकवरी उम्मीद से ज्यादा तेज रही है, लेकिन इसका साइज कोविड-19…

View On WordPress

[chickenparmejohn]

[persnrandm]

Flopsy has laid claim to my body pillow.

This is most disconcerting.

[testwood]

Album Review: Lost Ground – ‘Absent’ I saw Lost Ground open a gig in a small bar in Leeds a couple of years ago and I was completely captivated by their performance.

[senorboombastic]

EP Review: Lost Ground – Absent Bradford Math/Emo outfit Lost Ground are set to release their brand new EP on February 25th, with it being their first studio release since refining their ranking and becoming a three-piece.