This week’s challenge has been time, trying to write before work. Or early morning. On Saturday, I was so busy I had to wait until the middle of an Uber shift to work on the novella. Or maybe this is a novel. I say this because, after two weeks, Chapter 1 checked in at 4200 words. Yikes!
This was to introduce my two protagonists: Tomle Modesto and Mitusko Yamato. They’re both from aristocratic backgrounds, and they both don’t seem to get that nobody in the Navy cares. I suppose this will need a rewrite as they’re raiding an asteroid, and The Expanse has sort of made the details a little more complex.
Already, as of Sunday morning, the manuscript is 20 pages. The Exile ended at 67 pages. This looks like it will be twice as long. Mind you, The Exile was handwritten, which means there will probably be added material with the next pass. But this sequence, the opening sequence, is one of about fifteen in this novella, which means we can possibly go into novel territory. Is this something I want to avoid?
Probably. Holland Bay‘s follow-up is being written piecemeal, and I’d like to be able to focus completely on it before year’s end.
This, too, is the end of the Compact Universe series for the foreseeable future. Like the old Deep Purple song suggests, the slow hand may be dragging on, afraid to meet the dawn.
Check back in with me when I’m in the final act and can’t wait to get the damn thing finished.