{"id":22324,"date":"2014-02-13T06:48:08","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T11:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/?p=22324"},"modified":"2014-02-13T06:48:08","modified_gmt":"2014-02-13T11:48:08","slug":"s-e-gilchrist-five-things-i-learned-writing-star-pirates-justice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/2014\/02\/13\/s-e-gilchrist-five-things-i-learned-writing-star-pirates-justice\/","title":{"rendered":"S.E. Gilchrist: Five Things I Learned Writing Star Pirate’s Justice"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Carly has one focus in her life: to return home to her terminally ill younger sister. When she learns that a Darkon traitor possesses gateway maps to Earth, she uses all her skills to track him down. But capturing the charming star pirate turns out to be trickier than she anticipated\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Volkar is determined to prove his innocence to those who drove him to a life lived on the Outer Rim, and he will overcome anyone who gets in his way. But his surprisingly sweet captor has some skills that will come in handy, so he strikes a deal: the maps for her help. Neither expect their partnership to turn into more, but as dark secrets are revealed, their lives become forfeit \u2014 and the relationship blossoming between them nothing but a starburst of happiness in the deep shadow of the sky\u2026<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

DON’T ALWAYS GO WITH YOUR FIRST IDEA<\/h2>\n

You know that wonderful sparkling moment when an idea pops into your head and you go, OMG that would make a great story!<\/em> It\u2019s quite possible it will, but I\u2019ve found if I brainstorm my initial idea, really throw a bunch of ideas into my hat (and some are way out of the box) and mix it all up, I can come up with a stronger storyline.<\/p>\n

Once I have my initial premise and my major characters, I like to list down 25 things that I want to happen in my story (note this doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019ll go with every single one of these ideas). Then, I\u2019ll list down as many ideas I can think of that MIGHT happen using 10 as a minimum number. I\u2019ll brainstorm all the major characters\u2019 worst fears and their secrets and decide how I can use one or both as the major climax or turning points. For example; in this book, Carly\u2019s worst fear is she\u2019ll never find her way back to her ill sister. So I had the gateway maps snatched from her fingers and now out of her reach.<\/p>\n

I did also, initially, have everyone achieve their HEA then I threw that idea out the window too.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll leave it up to the readers to decide whether that was a good decision or not.<\/p>\n

I’M A RESEARCH JUNKIE<\/h2>\n

Writing spec fiction gives you the perfect excuse to spend literally days researching (in other words procrastination) if you\u2019re not careful. There is so much fascinating material out there and all available at the press of a key. Then there are all those DVD documentaries to purchase. And did I mention the books? See-I\u2019m addicted to research.<\/p>\n

Speaking of which, did you know scientists are working on the feasibility of making a space elevator? Recent theories are the use of carbon nanotubes and laser technology. We could hop on the elevator and get off on a space station then board a ship to\u2026.?<\/p>\n

PHYSICS MAKES MY BRAIN IMPLODE<\/h2>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, science fiction is king. What I hate is me burbling excitedly about a new idea (well, new to me) of say, space travel only to be shot down in flames with a physics lecture by my youngest son. \u201cThat isn\u2019t possible, mum\u2026.\u201d<\/em> And he goes on to explain why and I go, \u201cDamit, I thought I was onto a good thing.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard keeping up to date with recent discoveries, especially if you\u2019re like me starting off on the hind foot with basic knowledge and with limited writing time in the first place. But what happens if you write something into your story and THEN find out it\u2019s not feasible?<\/p>\n

I used space stealth technology in my book, Star Pirate\u2019s Justice<\/strong>. And apparently it\u2019s technically impossible. The radiation the heat of a space ship gives off can be detected. So to make my idea more plausible I\u2019ll spin it a little further in my next book which I\u2019m currently writing. I\u2019ll give my alien race the know-how to funnel this heat radiation into another dimension. And when someone points out it\u2019s too far-fetched? Chocolate and wine sound like a good fall-back position.<\/p>\n

LOVE WHAT YOU WRITE<\/p>\n

I love reading an action adventure book and I’m totally addicted to sci fi TV series. Often though, I’d wonder why the writer or producer didn’t spice the story up with more romantic interests and hefty doses of spicy sex. The first story I wrote was a 50k word contemporary romance which basically had girl meets boy, falls in love, argues then has a HEA. This story had no fire, no depth and no voice. Plus it interested me about as much as shopping for groceries. (And I’m certain would have sent the world into a coma.)<\/p>\n

I had my light bulb moment \u2013 I\u2019d write what I love to read and watch: a sci fi romance where I could have fun, make up my own rules and make my protagonists face confronting issues. And that story, Legend Beyond the Stars<\/strong>, became the first in my sci fi series and my first published single title. This current release, Star Pirate’s Justice,<\/strong> is definitely more action orientated with slightly less emphasis on the romance. So I\u2019m finding that with each new story I write, I\u2019m morphing more towards an action romance type of genre. And I love it!<\/p>\n

DEVELOP A THICK SKIN & DON\u2019T BUY A GUN<\/h2>\n

Not everyone is going to love your book, the baby of your heart, the story you poured over almost twenty-four hours a day and wrestled with in the sleepless stretches of the cold nights.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re kidding me right? How dare they criticise my characters, my story, my writing style? Don\u2019t they realise I\u2019m the writing guru of the world?<\/em><\/p>\n

Okay, back to planet Earth. People are going to say, I don\u2019t like it<\/em> and sometimes not in a very nice way. My first bad review depressed me for days; I felt like a failure, that my writing sucked, that no one else would ever buy my book. I felt as if the entire world pointed its collective finger at me. I never wanted to write again. Then came the anger…what do they know anyway?<\/em><\/p>\n

Please…time to grow a thick skin and suck down a healthy dose of reality.<\/p>\n

Focus on the readers who do like your book and your writing style. (And yes, I do receive great reviews too.) I know some writers never read their reviews but I do; I like to see what resonated with readers, what worked and what didn\u2019t. I read the reviews because I want to learn and improve my craft.<\/p>\n

Because in the end, the reason I write is to entertain and whisk a reader away from everyday mundane life, if only for an hour or two.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t buy a gun.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

S. E. Gilchrist can’t remember a time when she didn’t have a book in her hand. Now she writes stories where her favourite words are …’what if’ and ‘where’? She lives in urban Australia and writes in the genres of futuristic\/sci-fi, fantasy, pre-medieval, post-apocalyptic all with a \u2018hot\u2019 flavour and sweet, contemporary rural romances.<\/em><\/p>\n

S. E. Gilchrist is published by Momentum Books and Escape Publishing and is an indie author.<\/em><\/p>\n

S. E. Gilchrist: Website<\/a><\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0Twitter<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Star Pirate\u2019s Justice: Amazon<\/a><\/span> |\u00a0Amazon<\/span> Australia<\/span><\/a>\u00a0| Amazon UK<\/a><\/span> | \u00a0iBooks<\/a><\/span> |\u00a0Barnes and Noble<\/a><\/span>\u00a0| Kobo<\/a> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carly has one focus in her life: to return home to her terminally ill younger sister. When she learns that a Darkon traitor possesses gateway maps to Earth, she uses all her skills to track him down. But capturing the charming star pirate turns out to be trickier than she anticipated\u2026 Volkar is determined to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22324","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-theramble","8":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pv7MR-5O4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22324"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22327,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22324\/revisions\/22327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terribleminds.com\/ramble\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}