If you draw a line graph showing the relative tension and excitement of a story, the line’s highest point should be at the climax of the story. Yes, yes, that’s the place, the magic spot where you want to bring your readers. And if applied correctly, with the right words and tone, with the correct use of rhythm, power and depth, readers will experience an ecstasy, a sort of rapacious delight that will make them come back for more and more and…
Author: James
Pilot, geek, retired, happy, healthy, loves science/engineering and writing SciFi books!! 🤓
MILK RUN- Simulating Gravity in Spaceships
Have you ever walked in an office building hallway and wondered what it would be like if there were no gravity? Without gravity to allow your feel to grip the floor, you’d have to grab hold of the cabinets (assuming they are bolted to the floor) and pull or push your way forward. You might even get an urge to swim your way up the hallway. Now imagine trying to do the same thing on…
MILK RUN- The Story’s Second Act Turn
First he overcame the discovery of his missing fiancée (Smriti) turned enemy and addicted to an alien drug, then a mutiny, then the near destruction of his ship. Now our hero, Captain Toby must over come the death of Commander Emerson who became a fatherly friend. Up to now, these three events have blocked Toby from achieving what he set out to do in MILK RUN’s First Act Turn sending him to his low point in this story. There…
MILK RUN- Rail Gun Battle Technology
MILK RUN is a series of scifi battles on many fronts- in space, the heart, between generations, with drug addiction and brainwashing. But for fun, I’m going to talk a little about a space battle weapon featured prominently in MILK RUN. The novel starts out in orbit around Saturn where a small Telrachnid gunship shoots out “a red hot stream of fiery particles“ at Earth’s newest battle space cruiser. The attack slices up the hind…
MILK RUN- The Story’s Double Whammy Low Point
A story’s Low Point throws you deep into the valley of despair where you, like our hero, feel closed in by walls too high to overcome. This is the fourth of the seven skeleton bones for my new novel MILK RUN. This fourth bone—the Low Point—is where Captain Toby is as far as it seems possible from achieving his goal. Three quarters of the way into the story, this is the all-hope-is-lost point. And for MILK RUN, there is a…
MILK RUN- The Story’s Diverse SciFi Characters: Toby and Smriti
In my last blog I talked about diversity of characters in books. So for this week, I decided to take a break from showing you the bones of MILK RUN to talk about the novel’s characters. It’s still a work in progress as I settle on the book’s plot points. But there are certain things I wanted to establish up front with the character backgrounds. The main characters of MILK RUN are: Captain Toby, Dr.…
Diversity In Writing
I recently saw a blog from a fellow writer about the tricky issue of diversity. Funny that he should explore this thorny bush because the topic has been on my mind for some time. I recently tweeted my disappointment when someone posted somewhere the following statement–“I just don’t see how non-white characters fit into my book.” To be fair, I recognize that every book is different and reflects the deep thoughts of the writer. But it…
MILK RUN- The Story’s Midpoint
Here’s the third of the seven skeleton bones for my new novel MILK RUN—a science fiction space battle tale about a young captain fresh out of space command school on his first assignment as captain of the USS Princeton, an old destroyer class spacecraft. Earth is losing the war against the Telrachnids and our young captain is chosen to deliver a new weapon to a secret starbase far from the front line fighting. But what our…
MILK RUN- The Story’s First Act Turn
Here’s the second of the seven skeleton bones for my new novel MILK RUN—a science fiction space battle tale about a young captain fresh out of space command school on his first assignment as captain of the USS Princeton, an old destroyer class spacecraft. Earth is losing the war against the Telrachnids and our young captain is chosen to deliver a new weapon to a secret starbase far from the front line fighting. But what…
MILK RUN- The Story’s Inciting Incident- Smriti
So here’s the first of the seven skeleton bones for my new novel MILK RUN—a science fiction space battle tale about a young captain fresh out of space command school on his first assignment as captain of the USS Princeton, an old destroyer class spacecraft. Earth is losing the war against the Telrachnids and our young captain is chosen to deliver a new weapon to a secret starbase far from the front line fighting. But…