Today am humbled beyond my ability to describe in learning that Thinking Horndog has approved the inclusion of my story into the Swarm Cycle Universe. Just a little more than a week ago, I was wracked with doubt about whether I could possibly earn a place among the writers who have made SOL such an interesting place. Could I write fiction? Would anyone possibly think the way someone like me wrote a story was worth their time? Would I be buried in bad votes and hounded with negative feedback?
Just a week later, I've somehow tricked thousands of people into thinking that I deserve their attention and hundreds into casting votes I'm not at all sure I deserve. I'm getting feedback from readers I had no idea that were on SOL - I had NO idea how many Vietnam and post-Vietnam era vets are readers out there, for example. I was astounded by the number of people who were volunteering to diligently alert me to proofreading and other mistakes I had annoyingly made so I could fix them in a relatively timely fashion. And nothing surprised me more than seeing authors who I had such reverence for take the time to reach out to me, and they told me they actually liked what I was doing, while rather patiently offering valuable suggestions about what I was doing with my storyline. I'm getting messages from Reluctant_Sir??? You've got to be kidding me! I'm a friggin' nobody!
I hardly feel worthy of the time, support and encouragement I have received from so many of you.
There's one more chapter to complete part one (of a planned three) which will probably roll out tonight or tomorrow, and I need to circle back and fix a few issues with the chapters I've already posted. Many readers wouldn't notice much of those changes, but if you haven't started yet, you might actually want to wait a bit. It should only take a couple of days. If you see chapter 10 appear, I'll be done with those fixes.
I may have to take a little time before jumping on Part 2, where we'll get to the Oxford being assigned an active duty role. This is where I have to start on the glide slope of fitting in with the story universe's "canon." Some of those discrepancies are due to my own ignorance, as I haven't read every previous story, and I haven't done a particularly impressive job of understanding the nuances of every story I have read, or remembering the details I should have been taking notes on before.
Some of those discrepancies are quite deliberate, and while that may seem strange to some, there are definite reasons why I'm doing that and no, it's not that I want at all to revolt from what came before I suddenly appeared. No, I'm not trying to bend the story universe in some new direction. You'll understand what I'm up to as we move forward. I hope you all will appreciate this strange approach as much as I desperately hope that I can effectively pull it off.
To those out there that might be in that place I was so recently ago, and are wondering whether they should try their hand -- think hard about it before you start, but absolutely start. I began by writing down questions I wanted my story to address. It's not "brainstorming," but "question storming." When someone reads what you've done, what questions will you have answered? No, nobody starts out reading a story because they think you have the answer to some question they've been struggling with, but we all actually have those subconsciously in our heads. Then start "question storming" on how you will address those questions. Don't worry about the answers, just start with the questions.
For me this fixes in my mind the bigger ideas, and then the paths I might use to start addressing them. To me a sci-fi story is a vehicle to talk about who we are today, and who we COULD be, where we get to set the boundaries in a way that gives a writer the freedom needed to make that discussion effective.
Thanks so much for all your support. I hope to improve so I can feel more confident in the trust you all have placed in me - trust that maybe spending time with my writings will be worthy of your time, and in so doing cause some positive enhancements in the quality, performance and experience of our human species.
Victoria!