Hello, dreamers. It’s WIP Wednesday.

It’s been a long and bumpy road, but I’m finally back at it. I’m writing this on Monday night, and as of this evening, I’ve written about two thirds of the first chapter of Aquarius 1. It feels good to get into the head of a character again, and I’m pleased with what I have so far. That said, here’s the latest on my current work-in-progress:

Aquarius 1

Having written Pioneers, which begins aboard a spacecraft similar to the Challenger, it was easy to just slip into a rut. My first attempts at the opening chapter of Aquarius 1 hewed to a familiar script, and I hated it. But the biggest changed I’ve made is seeing the story through Anita’s eyes. It took some time, but I finally nailed it down.

Anita is an astronaut. She’s spent years of her life in space, on a spacecraft a lot like the Challenger. So to her, none of this is that new. She’s excited for the mission, but it’s not like she’s experiencing wonder and amazement at the incredible spacecraft she’s on. The only thing that makes this special for her is their mission, and the fact that their mission has taken them to an alien star system.

She’s also a scientist, and an engineer. So I began to view the Challenger as, well, I would. She talks about living on a wheeled spacecraft hurtling through space as though all of this is normal. Because for her, it is. Her quarters are cramped, but not overly so. Her bed is fitted with a flight harness, but that’s typical on a spacecraft. All the furniture is bolted securely to the floor, because of course it is. She doesn’t think “the air smells like a hospital”, she thinks “the atmospheric scrubbers are working”. She doesn’t think “it’s weird that the corridors all slope in either direction”, she thinks “the wheel must be spinning, because I’m walking on the floor”.

With all that in mind, I was able to condense the scenes in which she and the ship’s astronomer make their way to the command module. What had previously taken roughly a page was boiled down into a couple tight paragraphs, which manage to tell the reader a lot about the Challenger without feeling like an info dump. For the first time, I feel this story is coming across the way I want it to: concise yet insightful.

My next step will be crew introductions, which I plan to tackle tomorrow. But if all goes well, I’ll have knocked out this chapter and the next by the time this post is published. I have to admit, it’s hard not to rush things; I’m approaching the book’s first action sequence, which I’m very much looking forward to. But all things take time. I’m still trying to settle into a groove. But I’m sure I’ll get there.

The POVs of this story may end up slowing my typical brisk clip: as I’m writing, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll be capable of switching between Karen and Anita in the same day. The coming days will be a crucial test: the third chapter, as currently planned, will show both Karen’s and Anita’s POV. It remains to be seen if I can easily pass the story off from one to the other. But we’ll see how it goes. I’m in uncharted waters here, but I’m excited. This feels completely unlike anything I’ve written before. And I can’t wait to see how it goes from here. – MK