It all started on a long car trip to Florida . My husband, kids and I were on our way to my ‘ Happy Place ’. Ok, I’ll admit it. I am still a big kid. I love to play, and imagine.
Anyway, while on this long drive, my husband turns to me and says, “You should write a book. You loved to write when we were younger and you haven’t written since.”
I thought about what his said and replied,” Well, I did try to write that one book, but it was boring and didn’t keep my interest.”
Then he told me,” You should write science fiction. You like it, and you work in the IT field. That way you have no boundaries, you create your own.
That was a pivotal point in my writing career. He told me to think up something and share it with him. Well, let me tell you a little secret about my husband. He is a big science fiction fanatic, and has comic books, graphic novels, watches it and breaths it. It was the ultimate challenge, because I knew that he is a very opinionated person that would not hold back his comments to save my feelings.
I pondered over it so much that I ended up dreaming up Aadi that night. I saw his face, is mischievous smile and thought. “What is your story?”
The next day I thought about Aadi while at a traffic light, and thought up his adventure, by asking myself, what adventure would I want to do?
Well after Aadi whispered his idea to me, I was ready to write about him. Later that day, wouldn’t you know it, my husband asked me about my story idea.
I told him, that I had an idea about a boy who’s parents force him to go to space camp only for him to discovered that he was being experiemented on so that he could go to any planet, adapt to it, then dominate it. The best moment I can think of was when my husband’s face broke out into a grin and he said, “Write that!! I haven’t read anything like that before.”
My writing process is always evolving, and since this was my first completed novel I had a lot to learn.
I just started to write, and after I wrote the first sixty pages (which I wrote single-spaced, Times Roman – 10pt) I realized that I needed to take a step back and organize my thoughts.
This is how I wrote Explorer X-Alpha.
CREATED MY SHORT SYNOPSIS
Initially, I wrote a paragraph synopsis of the book. I didn’t want to forget anything I thought of when I came up with the story. Lots of writers do this and this is the first thing to do when you have an idea for a story.
OUTLINED IT
After trying to write it without an outline, I realized that Aadi’s journey was a lot more complex than I thought. I sat down and outlined the entire story. Then it hit me.
REFLECTION
After I completed the detailed outline, I realized I needed to build a new world. Further define my characters, and reformat. I realized that most authors write in 12-pt, Courier and double-spaced. I also found out that I had a word limit.
At that point I knew, EXPLORER X, would be a five book series.
BUILD SHRENAS ( World Building )
World building is one of the best treats for me with science fiction. I have no real bounds, and can create a world any way I like it. Well for EXPLORER X, I drew a picture of the world. I did horrible sketches of the beings and the animals I needed. Then I jotted down notes and rules about the world I wanted Aadi and Eirena to land on. If you want to know more about how I world build check out my blog, I did a detailed blog about world building.
EDITING – TAKES FOREVER
Editing, the final frontier. Remember all of those English classes where you write a paper, and the teacher makes you re-write it at least twice. Well, authors have to do this a lot.
I edited it, and changed it myself about three times. Then I sent it out to ‘Beta-Readers’ who reviewed it, and gave me back comments. I then edited it again two more times. At that point, I joined a Science Fiction Writer’s critique group at the Writer’s Center near my home. It was the most useful experience of all.
After the critique group, I edited it again. Even sent it to an editor for review. Then I started sending out letters to try to sell it to Literary Agents, and publishers.
OUTLINING THE COMPLETE SERIES
After I wrote the first book EXPLORER X – Alpha, I was advised by seasoned authors to start writing something new. Well, I had to get this story out of my head and on paper. I took several months to outline in detail the remaining four books of the series. I can’t wait to write them.
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