Letters from Camp - July 1, 2023
Day 1 of Summer Camp
Dealing with the Dimi Mission is going to be one of my priorities this month. Before I can begin, though, I need to decide which Spaceport I will focus the mission on. At first, I was confused by the mission, because the entire series is centered around the Spaceport on Earth: an abandoned mall that has been turned into a science fiction themed tourist attraction.
But the more I thought about this mission, I realized that I do have choices. Hidden in orbit around Earth is a space station. Initially owned by others, it becomes the property of Earth a few books into the series.
There is also Lighthouse 42, a much larger station near the Sol system that serves as a jump point to connect with other Lighthouses around the universe.
Which one should I focus on?
I have a choice:
The Earth-bound Spaceport, with all of the silliness that happens there as my characters try to adjust to interacting with aliens
The Space Station in orbit around Earth, which includes a sentient computer, traps, and a sense of overwhelm as the characters try to learn how to manage something of this size
Lighthouse 42 - controlled by a powerful race of aliens, part of a gallactic network of stations, this thing is huge
Camp Chill, Dewy Diamonds, and Mental Health
Let's face it. I'm running 2 businesses, just starting the school, and trying to write. I've spent most of the last month sick. While I've done a pretty good job of clearing my schedule so that I can indulge in Summer Camp, I do still have work to do.
Today, listening to the prompts as they were revealed, I felt the beginnings of overwhelm, so I stepped back and took some time to rest and think. During the reveal stream, the amazing Strixxline suggested that I consider Dewy Diamonds with their more chill approach as a way to bring my goals of Diamond (32 prompts completed) and Camp Chill into alignment. This option should hopefully help keep me grounded so that I can avoid burnout. We'll see!
Peace is Overrated
Thinking specifically about the space station that I've imagined in orbit around Earth, in the original stories the transition to human ownership was fairly peaceful. Looking at the prompts today, I wondered: is that actually boring? What if my characters had to fight to gain control of it? That would definitely involve a military conflict that would focus on
I'm leaning towards focusing on the station in orbit.
This article is a stub.
I'll be adding more content to this article in the future.
Do you enjoy writing battle scenes? There are many approaches to take! Your idea about making your Earthlings fight to grab the space station only makes sense in terms of story. I can feel the thrill of anticipation now. But in terms of Dimi's Mission, you don't know what he'll choose to focus on or what he's going to say. Waiting for the surprise is part of the fun, or do you get to do the choosing?
I'm listening to the replay from yesterday's twitch. Getting more info now.
I didn't know what he'd focus on until I got the mission. We do have the opportunity to refuse to accept the mission, but I felt that if someone - after reading Spaceport - could feel that I hadn't fully developed that type of space, that this would be vital to me. Since creating that DS-9 type of vibe was exactly what this story SHOULD have already been doing. So I felt his mission was going to be vital for my success with the entire project. As far as battle scenes - no, I actually don't, and I think that shows in where I default to in these stories. But thinking about tension, that's going to help ramp up some of the stories. I'm still struggling to decide if I'm going to work on the orbital station or the actual "Spaceport" which is the ground-based entertainment venue. More possibilities on the station, but I don't want to lose the joy of the ground-based facility, either.
I'm glad I watched the twitch replay with the prompts today. I'll be participating in the summer camp this month, so hearing the prompts was helpful but Dimitrius' mission assignments were soooooo interesting. The opportunity to stretch your brain and your story, to widen the horizons and come up with new ideas and angles makes critiques so worthwhile - though not sure I'd classify it as a critique. But whatever - the idea and the results, are the same. It can be torture listening to somebody give feedback on your work, especially in front of other people! But it is an absolutely necessary part of the process. I know that the exercises he gives you will be of enormous help in moving your project forward. I'm excited about it, for you. Going further with the battle scenes idea - that is something only you can decide to include or not, and I'm thinking about your book Dominion of Darkness. When Nian and Elainya go to Aurora, it has been devastated by disease. The reader doesn't see the devastation as it happens, only the aftermath. I say this because the way you wrote it is one of countless ways we writers can show our world. Sometimes the reader "sees" the battles; sometimes they are told of them in the past tense, through other characters. You know what I'm talking about. In the case of Aurora, it must not have been germane to the book to show the disease ravaging the town. When I was reading, I accepted that without question. I wasn't thinking, oh, she should have shown the death, the suffering, the mayhem as it was happening. So, as far as writing the battle scenes for your orbiting space station, it may or may not need to be on the page and only you can decide that.
True. With Aurora, the key point is that if Elainya had been there, the disease would not have happened. She could have prevented that destruction, so it was important that this happen off camera. I *think* I included the scene where Nian goes in during a flashback, but I'm not sure if I have that in the book or in an extra bit somewhere. Again: the worst of it IS off camera, because I do feel that can be more horrific in some ways. For this battle - IF I write the battle, it will need to be very much on camera, because it will be the main characters in the heart of the conflict. I originally wrote it as a legal battle more than a military one, but I can see that having a military battle there would increase my conflict. And it would definitely fit the description of unequal powers. The humans have no power at all when they come to the station. So it could be a very interesting story. IF I have the skill to tell it!!!
I get your angst. It's probably something like the feeling I"ve had after my husband reads a draft in which a juicy scene happened off the page, was related afterward and he said 'you should have written this 'event' into the story.' I knew he was right. Sigh. So I wrote it. And it made the book better. It wasn't a battle scene, though. It was straightforward and simple in its execution, thank goodness. Sometimes they go that way. I'm pretty certain you left that flashback scene of Nian's in the book. I seem to recall it. Now, I'll be curious about the battle until I'm able to read it.
I'll get to it eventually!!!
That's the spirit!